Wall Street. A place of money, bailouts, and bad Donald Trump hair. Today's suggestion took me to the heart of New York's financial center. Now this adventure was a kind of modified adventure of sorts, as the suggestion by Nora was to sit and give out free advice like in the PEANUTS comic strip where Charlie Brown would ask Lucy for advice, and she would in turn tell him to do really stupid things (like this blog). I'm all for giving bad advice, but I am wasn't sure New Yorkers would be as forgiving as Charlie Brown. So I need a place that allowed me to give awful advice, but at the same time, shield me from any revenge, repercussions, or attacks on the good ol' conscience. You guessed it. Wall Street.
I headed down there right around lunch time in order to maximize the amount of hungry suits 'starving for a meal of my newly founded wisdom?' (this was the runner-up for sign ideas). Thank goodness it was a beautiful day out, and that Sandra, the Brazilian chefe (maybe a bad translation?) documenting me, was along for the ride. We got off the subway and I headed right for my favorite spot: in front of the New York Stock Exchange. The hustle, the money, the well
tailored suits and over-gelled hair (bankers and 'The Outsiders' are the only ones who can pull this look off). It was perfect. People immediately were curious what I was going to do, because there is a lady following me with a camera filming my every move. I could tell the police got a bit worried, as all of a sudden about 6 cops with machine guns showed up.....yikes. But I pulled out my sign and began waiting takers. All of a sudden, everyone around pulled out their camera and began laughing and taking pictures of me. But everyone seemed a bit nervous of approaching such a strange fellow. One lady approached, but she only wanted to know where the big bull was at (down Broadway. Anything else? No. Okay. Bye). Finally, a father/daughter combo from Amsterdam came over asking "uhhh, what are you doing?!" So I explained and talked with them for a while, then a Brazilian fellow came up and began chatting too. All of a sudden we were laughing and joking, talking about Wall Street, life, embarrassment, and who speaks German. I don't.
With this interaction, people began feeling a bit more at ease, and wanted to chat or take a photo with me. Lots of giggling from girls, strange looks and grins from men, and plenty of
downright frightened stares. Some people tried to make it look like they weren't taking a photo of me, but I knew they were, so I waved at them. Every couple of minutes, someone new got up the courage to come talk to me. I tell you, the best people in the world are the people willing to talk with a guy who holds up a sign. A tip of the cap to you, friends. We would talk about anything. One fellow asked advice on life in general. I said learn to be happy with whatever situation you are in (And yes, I thought of that myself thank you). I don't have a job, but I'm trying to make the best of it. We talked about sports. I told people to invest in African water lillies. The best part was just meeting an eclectic group of people. Germans, Brazilians, Dutch, Americans. I
could tell it made their day to talk, and it made mine. Thanks friends. The one thing everyone said was "how do you not have a job? You would be a perfect employee!" Preaching to the choir people! I realized I should have brought resumes with me to hand out. One guy came up and stared at my sign for a couple minutes, so I asked if he needed advice or wanted to talk. He looked at me strangely, and said "this is not the place to get into my problems, plus I don't even know where to start" then wandered off down the street. Creepy. Seek real help my man!
The best person who came and talked to me was a strange man who wanted to know when the end of the world would be. But he didn't ask it in a joking way, he asked it in a very serious way, and when I said I wasn't too sure, he stared at me intently and said "well I guess you don't have all the answers huh?" But this guy was awesome. He had earplugs in, which for the life of me I could not understand why. Maybe he was going swimming later? I'm guessing he was Jewish because he wished me a happy Jewish New Year ( 5772 or something?) . He also predicted someday I'll "go to the top". I hope my man. I should have gotten his number and figured out if he plays chess....
I also spent a little time out in front of the Trump Building, where almost everyone coming in and out was in a expensive suit. This was a little different than the NYSE, because here, it was strictly Wall Street dudes and ladies who somehow still have their job after the meltdown. None of them wanted to talk, which maybe makes sense, because if they still have their jobs, they are probably doing something right. Or left. Or who knows. Wall Street baby!
But after a couple of hours, many photo moments, random conversations, and moral encouragement, I decided to pack it up. What a great day to meet people, even the police officers who were carrying loaded machine guns. As I was walking by them, they stopped me (Oh shit), but then began laughing, asking how it went, and if I have any advice for them (don't shoot!). They thought it was pretty awesome. So there you go. The strong arm of the law is on my side.
Tomorrow will probably bring a challenge I am scared poop-less about, a challenge I hope to pull of, and live to tell about it. Send in your suggestions because a new poll will be up Wednesday. Follow along on twitter. Tell your friends, and let me know if you need any advice!
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