Just arrived

[Frenchy]

I was given pity sex by a lesbian once, back around 2001 while wrapping up at the university. She mistook my misanthropy for loneliness. It actually wasn't that bad. Needless to say, she remained a lesbian after the encounter.

Thinking of this actually led me to run a Google search on her (haven't spoken to or even thought of her in 20 years). Wow. She's now the senior vice president of a major wealth management firm. The kind of gig that can pull in almost seven-figures if you're good at it. And, she's apparently involved in all sorts of charity organizations helping challenged youths, homeless, etc....so it appears she's still a humanitarian.

Senior-VP is usually not such a high position in the financial biz (where inflated titles are the norm). If her firm follows the standard system it’s below Director, Managing Director and then the top guys.
But happy to know you didn’t disgust her from charity work

 

[MikeH]

Senior-VP is usually not such a high position in the financial biz (where inflated titles are the norm).

I once worked with an IT startup that had just around 20 people in their payroll; 8 of them were VPs.

I guess titles are cheaper to give out than salaries.

 

[Frenchy]

I once worked with an IT startup that had just around 20 people in their payroll; 8 of them were VPs.

I guess titles are cheaper to give out than salaries.

It’s also a trick not to pay overtime . Some people actually refuse to get a VP title for that reason

 

[Sudsy]

It’s also a trick not to pay overtime . Some people actually refuse to get a VP title for that reason

Shhhh!!!! Don’t give away evil HR secrets!!!

 

[Keihan]

Senior-VP is usually not such a high position in the financial biz (where inflated titles are the norm). If her firm follows the standard system it’s below Director, Managing Director and then the top guys.
But happy to know you didn’t disgust her from charity work

I guess these wealth advisory firms are different from actual banking institutions? I have no experience in either of those sectors but two of my aunts were/are officers at one of the state's largest banks. As I understand it in the banking world, there are three types of "VP" at the bank: AVP (Assistant Vice President), which is a bootlicking glorified receptionist who makes $35k/year, VP, which is a bullshit title handed out just for staying with the bank a long time and probably makes at most $60k/year (that's one of my aunts, who can't even pay her medical bills), and then up on the top floor of HQ there are SVPs, like my other aunt. Nobody ever asked what she made, but I was told the base salary was around $250k and the annual bonuses could often triple that.

But I'm glad to hear the hierarchy is different in the advisory world. I hate hearing about classmates doing better than myself, although it's not particularly difficult to achieve that feat. Every time I get one of those semi-annual magazines from my alma mater highlighting some asshole alumnus striking it rich, I want to fly back there just to shit on his/her doorstep. The bright side is that most of my classmates were fucking idiots and the school was a joke, so at best they have feature stories about some d-bag doing charity/humanitarian work in some third-world country. Hah. Loser.

 

[Frenchy]

I guess these wealth advisory firms are different from actual banking institutions? I have no experience in either of those sectors but two of my aunts were/are officers at one of the state's largest banks. As I understand it in the banking world, there are three types of "VP" at the bank: AVP (Assistant Vice President), which is a bootlicking glorified receptionist who makes $35k/year, VP, which is a bullshit title handed out just for staying with the bank a long time and probably makes at most $60k/year (that's one of my aunts, who can't even pay her medical bills), and then up on the top floor of HQ there are SVPs, like my other aunt. Nobody ever asked what she made, but I was told the base salary was around $250k and the annual bonuses could often triple that.

But I'm glad to hear the hierarchy is different in the advisory world. I hate hearing about classmates doing better than myself, although it's not particularly difficult to achieve that feat. Every time I get one of those semi-annual magazines from my alma mater highlighting some asshole alumnus striking it rich, I want to fly back there just to shit on his/her doorstep. The bright side is that most of my classmates were fucking idiots and the school was a joke, so at best they have feature stories about some d-bag doing charity/humanitarian work in some third-world country. Hah. Loser.

shouldnt be much different in what you call wealth advisory but I must admit I don’t know well this industry in the US

btw if your aunties worked for First Hawaiian, probably little do you know (or even they know) that for many years they actually worked for the French . Bwaaaah ah ah

 

[MikeH]

It’s also a trick not to pay overtime . Some people actually refuse to get a VP title for that reason

Ah, our laws said that overtime is not paid already from manager level so that is why every code monkey was Development Manager when I was still doing real work.

 

[Frenchy]

Ah, our laws said that overtime is not paid already from manager level so that is why every code monkey was Development Manager when I was still doing real work.

Yeah but if you end up with an army of “managers” for only a few grunts the MInistry of Health and Labor and Whatever Else I Forgot could become suspicious so it’s a fine balancing act

 

[Keihan]

Ah, our laws said that overtime is not paid already from manager level so that is why every code monkey was Development Manager when I was still doing real work.

That sounds like anything unionized over here, especially in the big industries like hotels or law enforcement. A number of my classmates became chefs in high-end hotels and even after twenty years they refuse promotion to management or director positions. Same thing with my buddies at the local PD, who spent years building up credentials cycling through vice/undercover, SWAT, IA, etc., and in the end refuse the stripes and go back to patrol. Promotion to management/leadership means no overtime eligibility and sometimes at-will job status. A veteran Major at the PD probably makes a salary of around $85k; a grunt patrol cop who works almost all his days off doing overtime and special duty, like my buddies, is now making anywhere from $160k to $200k, just driving around in circles in a personal vehicle with free gas and $800/month vehicle "allowance" (i.e., happy hour beer money after shaking down the Chinese MP). Makes you wonder why you bothered with the university.

 

[jackdee]

Digging the tangents

 

[Keihan]

Digging the tangents

Apologize for that. Seems to happen a lot around here. I have an excuse (Costco vodka). Not sure what the other guys can blame it on.

 

[Frenchy]

Apologize for that. Seems to happen a lot around here. I have an excuse (Costco vodka). Not sure what the other guys can blame it on.

… an unhealthy passion for tangents

 

[MikeH]

… an unhealthy passion for tangents

I always use a condom so I stay healthy even with tangents.

 

[CharlieSimms]

Costco vodka… At least be a true player!

 

[EnglishVisitor]

Well if we are now going down the alcohol tangent line - any suggestions of places with a good collection of whisky for sale?

 

[Keihan]

Costco vodka… At least be a true player!

View attachment 17912

I actually had to Google that to confirm it was real. I had no idea. But that's also because I don't bother browsing the "darker" liquor section at Costco. Coincidentally, I was just at Costco about eight hours ago picking up another haul of Kirkland vodka and chardonnay.

I can honestly say that I cannot remember ever tasting cognac, but I know I must have because it elicits a gag response that probably comes from some long-forgotten teenage experience. However, my aforementioned Google search yielded some pretty interesting responses and even some rave reviews. I'm headed back to Costco later this week to pick up some bulky items. Perhaps I'll grab a bottle of this XO and try it out with a cigar on my condo tower roof? I have no idea how to properly drink this abomination so it's either mix it with soda water and ice cubes or dump it neat into a whiskey snifter and pair it with a new Cohiba dark I've been aging for a few months. I seem to recall cognac being sickeningly sweet so that should pair well. All goes well, I'll be gangsta-rapping before the night is over.

 

[Frenchy]

I actually had to Google that to confirm it was real. I had no idea. But that's also because I don't bother browsing the "darker" liquor section at Costco. Coincidentally, I was just at Costco about eight hours ago picking up another haul of Kirkland vodka and chardonnay.

I can honestly say that I cannot remember ever tasting cognac, but I know I must have because it elicits a gag response that probably comes from some long-forgotten teenage experience. However, my aforementioned Google search yielded some pretty interesting responses and even some rave reviews. I'm headed back to Costco later this week to pick up some bulky items. Perhaps I'll grab a bottle of this XO and try it out with a cigar on my condo tower roof? I have no idea how to properly drink this abomination so it's either mix it with soda water and ice cubes or dump it neat into a whiskey snifter and pair it with a new Cohiba dark I've been aging for a few months. I seem to recall cognac being sickeningly sweet so that should pair well. All goes well, I'll be gangsta-rapping before the night is over.

i first thought it’s a fake Cognac , but it looks like the real deal , made in the Cognac AOC with ugni blanc grapes.
So here we go… the decadence of western civilization is such that we now make an XO Cognac for Costco . My life and more importantly French pride are completely meaningless… I will buy as much Louis XIII as I can and drink it to oblivion

 

[jackdee]

It’s nice to be in the company of gents with real class

 

[rikkun]

 

[Keihan]

Well if we are now going down the alcohol tangent line - any suggestions of places with a good collection of whisky for sale?

Assuming you're in Tokyo, no. I've never been whisky shopping in Tokyo.

In Osaka, yes. I know of a couple of extremely good places with the best prices you'll see. No idea if they're still open, however.

If Tokyo is anything like Osaka, you'll want to find a family-run warehouse-type liquor shop out in the suburbs. They will not be located anywhere near the city center (cheaper rents, cheaper liquor). In my case, when NOVA set me up in one of their shithole, overpriced "furnished" 1k units in the middle of fucking nowhere, they also gifted themselves a number of extremely bad, hungover lessons because right down the street, in the backstreets along the local train line, was a massive liquor distribution warehouse run by an old family and they had EVERY-FUCKING-THING and for far cheaper than any department store or even standard liquor shop in town.

All of a sudden I could afford to drink classy and get all the stuff I could've never afforded back home. Whereas I was chugging Canadian Mist and 7-Crown with Diet Coke and ice, now I could afford to mix Johnny Walk Black (1900 yen for 1L), Glenlivet and Macallan 12 (maybe 2500 yen?) with Diet Coke and ice. That's right, I did that. Shit, they had bottles of Johnny Blue for 8800 yen. Rows and rows of sake and shochu and a decent wine selection, too. Even better, they had a massive selection of snacks, and all the kinds of Japanese snacks I absolutely love for drinking solo (arare, saki ika, nori ten, etc.). It was like a one-stop-shop for alcoholics. Once in a while, when I'm back in town, I go walking in the old neighborhood and pop into the warehouse for the nostalgia. But then I realize that the old timers who used to run the register are probably dead and the little girl who used to help her grandparents and stock shelves is probably married with kids and not having sex anymore, and then I feel old and then I get angry and then I just go back to my hotel and drink myself to sleep hating Osaka and dreaming about hopping on the shinkansen tomorrow and going somewhere else.

If you have free time, just go walking around any nice suburb, and look for the warehouse with the alcohol sign/flag and pallets upon pallets stacked up out front. Should do fine there.

 

[Frenchy]

Assuming you're in Tokyo, no. I've never been whisky shopping in Tokyo.

In Osaka, yes. I know of a couple of extremely good places with the best prices you'll see. No idea if they're still open, however.

If Tokyo is anything like Osaka, you'll want to find a family-run warehouse-type liquor shop out in the suburbs. They will not be located anywhere near the city center (cheaper rents, cheaper liquor). In my case, when NOVA set me up in one of their shithole, overpriced "furnished" 1k units in the middle of fucking nowhere, they also gifted themselves a number of extremely bad, hungover lessons because right down the street, in the backstreets along the local train line, was a massive liquor distribution warehouse run by an old family and they had EVERY-FUCKING-THING and for far cheaper than any department store or even standard liquor shop in town.

All of a sudden I could afford to drink classy and get all the stuff I could've never afforded back home. Whereas I was chugging Canadian Mist and 7-Crown with Diet Coke and ice, now I could afford to mix Johnny Walk Black (1900 yen for 1L), Glenlivet and Macallan 12 (maybe 2500 yen?) with Diet Coke and ice. That's right, I did that. Shit, they had bottles of Johnny Blue for 8800 yen. Rows and rows of sake and shochu and a decent wine selection, too. Even better, they had a massive selection of snacks, and all the kinds of Japanese snacks I absolutely love for drinking solo (arare, saki ika, nori ten, etc.). It was like a one-stop-shop for alcoholics. Once in a while, when I'm back in town, I go walking in the old neighborhood and pop into the warehouse for the nostalgia. But then I realize that the old timers who used to run the register are probably dead and the little girl who used to help her grandparents and stock shelves is probably married with kids and not having sex anymore, and then I feel old and then I get angry and then I just go back to my hotel and drink myself to sleep hating Osaka and dreaming about hopping on the shinkansen tomorrow and going somewhere else.

If you have free time, just go walking around any nice suburb, and look for the warehouse with the alcohol sign/flag and pallets upon pallets stacked up out front. Should do fine there.

… that or Don Quijote or even Bic Camera in more downtown locations. Sometimes they have great deals on booze

 

[Keihan]

… that or Don Quijote or even Bic Camera in more downtown locations. Sometimes they have great deals on booze

But they don't tend to carry some of the more obscure or difficult to find stuff, or has that changed? My old shop in Osaka had a couple bottles of Yamazaki 12 during the Great Shortage a few years ago (is it over yet?) and sold me one to take back home, and there was another similar shop in town that was the only place you could find Blanton's bourbon. And those two shops were way cheaper than anywhere else at the time.

But I stopped toying with expensive stuff years ago. It's a luxury, being able to survive on Costco vodka, Costco chardonnay and, now, apparently Costco cognac. And I was told one of the Costco whiskies was actually quite good. I tried the Costco gin last year, which was London Dry so not my type (the only gin I'll drink is Hendrick's) but certainly not bad for around $16 for a 1.75L.

And just for you, Frenchman, I have a bottle of this in the fridge right now.

I'm so not kidding...this stuff is really, really good for $19.99. I mean, seriously good. It's not quite Moet, but for a third of the price I take this fucker up to the roof of my condo and pound the whole thing before I finish a 5" Macanudo robusto.

So sip on THAT.

 

[CharlieSimms]

Damn skippy. Costco has all the French bases covered. Sip your champagne in your Lacoste polo while nibbling on escargot right outta the oven. All the very best of la France right in your living room. No passport required!

 

[Sudsy]

All the very best of la France

I saw no mention of crêpes.

 

[just4fun]

I saw no mention of crêpes.

J Depp mentioned crepes on de bed