Jun 03 2009
This Guy Went From Ordering Steak & Lobster to Serving it!
The times are hard….extremely hard! Everyone is feeling the effects of the economic situation. Believe it or not, even Bill Gates and Donald Trump are feeling the effects, even though I’m sure the majority of us would rather be in their shoes right now. This story is about a guy named Carlos Araya. He went from making about $200,000 a year to %25,000.
Here are some excerpts from that article on his situation:
- “Carlos Araya used to order lobster, filet mignon and $200 bottles of red wine at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan.
Now, he seats customers at its Tribeca branch.
Mr. Araya, 38 years old, lost his job in 2007 as a crude oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After visiting dozens of headhunters with no luck, he applied in August 2008 to be a host at the Palm to support his wife, two young daughters and mortgage payments. His salary has plunged from $200,000 to $25,000.
If the financial crisis was the flood, then the Arayas are one of the families standing in the stagnant waters left behind. Some former Wall Street employees, highly trained and accustomed to comfortable salaries, are having trouble translating their specialized skills to other fields that pay well, and instead find themselves forced to accept low-wage work. Now, Mr. Araya is on the brink of losing it all and is doubtful that he will ever return to Wall Street.
And he isn’t alone. Nearly 25,000 jobs have been lost in New York City’s financial sector since August 2007, according to the New York State Department of Labor. The finance industry in New York is expected to lose 56,800 jobs from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2012, according to projections from the Independent Budget Office, a publicly funded information agency.
Nowadays, during Mr. Araya’s late nights at the Palm, reminders of his old life crop up when former colleagues come in. Some are encouraging and offer hugs. Others sneer, he says. “The way they look at you, you know they’re thinking negatively,” he says. Some are laid-off like him, and ask if the restaurant is hiring.
Although he’s thankful for the work at the Palm, paydays can be bittersweet. “At the end of the week, I get my paycheck,” he says, “and I think, ‘I used to make this much in a day.’ ”Mr. Araya now is the one who gets his children ready for school. He’s learned to tie pony tails, inadvertently shrunk sweaters in the wash and knows which grocery store has the best price on milk.
Last month, for the first time, the Arayas didn’t make a mortgage payment. Their savings are almost depleted. The mortgage, taxes and fees for the family’s condo cost $6,200. Combined, he and Denise bring in $4,000 a month. Three months ago, he and his wife applied to restructure their mortgage. The bank told them it is still processing the request. They fear foreclosure and bankruptcy.
Recently, their oldest daughter asked Mr. Araya if the family would have to move. He told her he didn’t know. She countered: “How much money do we need?”
“The way she looked at me,” Mr. Araya says, “I could tell she was counting the money in her piggy bank.” He went into the bathroom and cried. After a few minutes, he dried his eyes and walked back into the living room. “
