Big John called me one day with a problem. “My new ‘Man Friday’,” he said’ “Got a problem. Could you give me a hand?” I told John I’d be down directly.
Big John was the iconoclastic Gordon Drive
John would hire a personal assistant to run his home, his domestic operation. All but his private zoo, which was his exclusive domain. His assistant would see that the home and lawn maintenance were attended to, the autos in perfect running condition, the groceries stocked, the laundry done, everything so John didn’t have to worry about such trivialities.
In return, Big John was very generous. He’d pay a handsome salary, allow Friday to use the yacht, the cars, treat the house like it was his own.
Once Friday, when he asked John if he’d help him purchase a car, was pleasantly surprised. John bought him a Jaguar convertible, and financed it so Friday could pay him whenever he could. John was like that. To a fault.
So when he told me he had “Man Friday” problems, I knew what it probably was. Familiarity breeds contempt. Almost every Friday he hired eventually stole from him. And John would never prosecute, just let them slink away.
This case was the same deal, exceptional only in the depth of Friday's greed. On the books, the lawn service was being paid $500 a month, when the real cost was $450, the lawn guy kicking back $50 to Friday. The butcher charged $200 a month for steaks, which was 20% over the actual price, the extra kicked back to Friday. And so it went, with Friday jacking everyone he could. He even tried to get cut-rate newspapers off the kid that delivered Naples Daily News by threatening to switch to the News Press.
When I questioned him about his corruption, he came apart like a pair of Bangladesh
We weren’t done with this Friday. About a month later, John called me up. “Got a call from Friday this morning,” he said. “Wanted to know if I’d give him a reference? What do you think?”
When I got done laughing, John said, “I guess that’s a No.”
That was Big John.
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