Enjoying Being "In The Hole"

Circa 1980
"F..k You!" my banker said and hung up. My banker of that moment was a man of clean living except for his drink of choice, lots of wine. He was also a man of deep faith or so he said. Wouldn't say s..t if he had a mouthful.

I had just left his office after getting into a beef with him over a combination of debts and over drafts of over $900,000 secured by nothing except my sincere conviction that I would "do a deal" and repay him. He thought that I could give him a partial payment and that I was holding out on him. He refused to understand that I was supporting an ex-wife, helping my kids get started in business and living an above average life style starting with always flying first class. I hated the back of the "bus" for starters plus the time it took to deplane.

After leaving his office, I drove to the local pharmacy to pick up a prescription and noticed they were selling lottery tickets (lottery tickets had just entered the economy). I purchased 5 tickets and called the banker from the car and said "I have great news for you, I'm working on paying off my entire loan and overdraft." All excited, he virtually shouted "Great what are you doing?" I said "I just bought five lottery tickets." "F..k You!" he said and hung up.

I ultimately paid that loan down to $90,000 and was always current on my interest payments. But the big honchos in S.F. weren't satisfied. They said that I had turned that loan into an "evergreen loan." They threatened to take me to court to collect. I, in turn, threatened to sue them for lending me the money (Lender liability it was called). So we had a standoff. They proposed that I pay $50,000, and we could say goodbye to one another. I then called my friendly banker who went berserk and screamed that it would hurt his bonus. I volunteered to make up the shortfall which didn't suit him. After deciding that I really owed the money and I that didn't want my banker screwed on my account, I repaid the bank 100 cents on the dollar plus accrued interest…well over $100,000. The banker, in gratitude for paying off the loan, then refused me a small loan saying that he didn't want my name on his books.

The Italians have a proverb: "Unless you can stand ingratitude, never do anything for anybody."