Slashdot Mirror
Hi-Tech Repo Man
jhaberman writes: "MSNBC has an amusing article.
It is a ride-along with a Silicon Valley repo man. You know, those guys who swipe cars from people who can't pay. He is taking cars right out of all the big players (Apple, Intel, Cisco, Sun) parking lots! Needless to say, he has quite a bit of work right now. Hilarious."
Has he taken the Andover Slashdot cruiser yet?
The problem is that we here in America rarely take the long view. It's always "Buy something, hope it lasts a few years, buy something else to replace it." I grew up in a part of the country where keeping old cars running for a long time was a part of the way of life. For some reason we've lost that part of our culture in our "buy buy buy" consumer feeding frenzy.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
Excuse me, but Shadenfreude is a (DUH!) German term, tangentially related to enjoyment at seeing the self-inflated succumb to their own hubris.
There's nothing 'only in America' about it.
These people *knew* they were in a speculative bubble, and just chose not to recognize it. They gambled that they'd cash out some tasty stock options befor the souffle' fell, and they lost.
I have ZERO pity for these people. None. Nada.
Having known some leeter than thou yuppie wannabe scum personally, I feel that these folks are getting off far too easily.
Eventually, the greedy have to pay.
The dotbomb debacle was swift, sure justice, and I've enjoyed every second of it.
Brak: What's THAT?
Thundercleese: A light switch.. of TOTAL DEVASTATION!
The sickening read of this article basically states what a high kick this guy gets off the human misery that is a round of layoffs, just so he can make a few bucks.
.com's own damn faults for going haywire when a much more modest care would have not got them in this situation.
Not really. What he was saying is that he feels bad when he has to repo a car from a mother of two that is doing the best she can, and that it's the
Not so much he gets a kick, as it's hard to feel sorry for them.
I can afford it :-) Sure, I work for a 'dotcom', and we're doing pretty darned well, but I'm not stupid enough to go out and spend a lot of money I don't have. Heck, I'm about to take a honeymoon, and it's all paid for. Now, did that come from money from the 'dotcom' craze?
No! I saved this money into a savings account and some stocks for YEARS, just for either a honeymoon or a serious vacation. Go figure, I have a lot of 'dotcom' friends the repo man will meet, while I have no bills I can't handle on much above minimum wage, and I've even gotten ahead on most of the payments on stuff I do have (car insurance, house insurance, etc) so if I DO have to get a new job, I'm not scrambling for cash.
I have zero sympathy for 'dotcom' geniuses who dug themselves into a hole. Dad worked in a factory his whole life, and I learned what it means to have a backup plan for when it all goes to hell! Thanks dad!
My family is from Latin America. I have relatives that, I assure, have studied as hard and worked twice as hard as you do, and never even had a chance at the kind of lifestyle you were enjoying. There are physicists and doctors from the former eastern bloc that drive cabs in the US. During the boom, folks like you (although not necessarily you) smugly claimed that they *deserved* their wealth, which (since wealth is relative) is an implicit claim that others deserve their lack of it. That is what makes the comeuppance so sweet.
Okay. Yes, options have a time limit, usually several years, or near termination of employment. I don't believe it is common practice to have options that must be exercised soon after they vest.
Holding onto stock in a hot market is smart, yes.
Not having the cash to cover a tax liability you cannot escape is *stupid*. You should at least sell enough to cover the tax on the option benefit, else you simply put yourself at greater risk.
This is not about foresight, it's about risk. If you invest in some hot company on the market, you only risk your investment, no matter how volatile the stock is. Better even, if the stock bottoms out, you can at least use the capital loss against your other capital gains.
A stock option benefit is a different matter altogether. the moment you exercise, you incur a taxable benefit. You WILL have to include it in your income for tax purposes, and WILL have to pay whatever tax you owe on it. So it only makes sense to ensure that you can pay up, otherwise, you are taking a big risk.
Lottery tickets in the glove boxes of expensive cars purchased by once-rich executives. I love it.
like most other repo men, he owns his car outright.
Too bad I can't say the same about all the code I've written...
Heehee...
"Sun Microsystems. We put the dot in 'OH SHIT, WE'RE BROKE!'"
- - - - -
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
While right now the tech industry is in a slump, and I'm lucky to be one of the techs who was intelligent enough to live within my means, I still have to resent the tone of the article.
- --------
"Whenever another company announces layoffs, we get all excited". Straight from the article.
Yes, it means you get more business, Mr. Repo man, but slow down for a second and realize that the 8,000 layoffs mean two things. 1) They mean that 50 workers who lived too lavishly will pay for it. 2) They mean that the other 7,950 workers who were just trying to get by in the most expensive place on this coast to live, are now probably apartment/home-less.
The sickening read of this article basically states what a high kick this guy gets off the human misery that is a round of layoffs, just so he can make a few bucks.
The article portrays the tech workers in a very bad light by focusing on the lavish, stupid guys. But frankly, when I read the article, it puts this repo guy in a FAR worse light.
-----------------------------------------
Funny, even before the dot bust one of the perks I got working for a chip maker in colorado springs is "repo man protection".   Seems some of the fab workers had/have credit trouble so about the only thing security actually does besides endangering all donut species is chase tow trucks out of the parking lots.   Since some of the good ones can get in and out faster than security can respond, and w/o leaving license plate images on the security cameras (so trespassing charges can't be filed) there is a special locked parking area for those that really don't want to take chances.   Sounds like this practice may become more common
Mr. Kevern is offering prizes to all dealerships to hand over the names and addresses of all Microsoft employees buying 'clean' cars (ones without payment protection plays).
While Mr. Kervern does not believe all Microsoft employees intend to default on their repayments, he feels he has a right to be ready just in case.
Meanwhile, in other news... Bugs Bunny episodes are going to be banned for being "racially charged." Now that's news for nerds, stuff that's interesting, I'd think. I may be wrong.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Still their own stupid fault. I'm young, slightly immature, and certainly inexperienced...yet I have the intelligence to realise that borrowed money is expensive money, and living beyond your means is risky business. The repo man won't get my vehicle because I paid cash for it. I'd rather have a less expensive used car that's cheap to insure and paid for than a luxury vehicle or big SUV that I have to make payments on. I get sticker shock from the depreciation cost of driving a new car off the lot, so I don't do it ;-)
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Actually, there is a difference.
Silicon Valley attracted a whole lot of scum in the past decade. Some of us, who knew about Silicon Valley fifteen years ago, maybe even know the difference between TTL and CMOS logic gates, are a little pleased that some of that scum is now being hosed off the pavement.
It's not really 'revenge' or a manifestation of envy so much as the satisfaction of knowing that in the end everything generally does work out fairly.