Ex-Wall Street Trader Now Works Where He Used to Eat

There's a harrowing story in the Wall Street Journal today about a guy who's gone from ordering filet mignon at midtown's Palm Restaurant to working at their Tribeca location. No schadenfruede here; Carlos Araya, the son of a cab driver from Queens, worked his way up to become a successful crude oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The father of two young girls, he lost his job in 2007 when the financial industry got necklaced with a flaming tire. Now he's a host at The Palm. His wife went back to work as an administrative assistant; together they're pulling in $4,000 a month, but they're starting to miss mortgage payments on their Battery Park City apartment, and Araya tells the Journal, "At the end of the week, I get my paycheck and I think, 'I used to make this much in a day.'" Most awkward are the old colleagues still dining at The Palm; according to the article, "some are encouraging and offer hugs. Others sneer. 'The way they look at you, you know they're thinking negatively,' he says." And still others come in to ask if the restaurant is hiring.

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By John Del Signore in News on June 2, 2009 2:31 PM

Comments [rss]

Jerky

Anybody who had a mortgage, two kids, a wife, and was living in downtown NYC, yet was splurging on $200 bottles of wine while only making $200,000 a year (and apparently saving little) obviously had zero financial sense. If he was, say living in Dallas or Houston he wouldn't have had a problem, but NYC, not so much!

GoToHell

The economy began collapsing in the summer/fall of 2007, but neither the media nor the government, at the time, were willing to admit it. They were putting their heads in the sand. They only officially acknowledged it in the winter of 2008.

longacre

Fair enough, but oil traders were still doing pretty well for themselves, were they not?

NannyState

"he lost his job in 2007 when the financial industry got necklaced with a flaming tire."

I certainly hope we will be taking this up with the South Africans that did this.

longacre

Oil did not peak until July 2008. The flaming tire did not land until Lehman died in September 2008. Was this guy trading oil for subprime mortgages? I wish him luck, but it seems unlikely that he was fired as a result of the economy collapsing a year before the economy collapsed.

arrogantnative

The firings did start in 2007, however in 2007 the only people being fired were people who did't know what they were doing and were lucky they still had a job. The massive layoffs that led to talented people being let go didn't start until the 2nd half of 2008.

r1b2

Didn't bank any of it? Hard to feel sorry. And, are we to believe the best he could do is wait tables? No banks keen to pick up a guy with his skill set at a discount? Hard to believe.

Steven

Once you start rolling in the big bucks you feel some sort of entitlement. It's like I have to live this luxury lifestyle still, enough though I don't have the money for it anymore.

goyogago

I'm supposed to feel bad for a couple pulling in $4k a month??? LMAO.

neonwattagelimit

While I don't exactly have reams of sympathy for this guy - plenty of people have it worse - $4k per month for a couple with two kids and a mortgage ain't a whole lot. It's not exactly destitute, but it's low enough that money is a concern.

'Course if I were this guy, I'd be selling my apartment and moving to a cheaper part of town...but that's me.

Rocknrope

Who's going to buy that apartment in this market? This guy is screwed all around. What he should have done is not buy a place in Manhattan for 960K, and gotten a place where he grew up in Queens or Brooklyn for half that amount. Sure, his commute would be longer, but he would have half the nut he's got to cover now.

If there's anything to be learned by everyone out of this recession, is that when the good times come back, don't use it as an excuse to spend every damn penny you have, and save double what you were putting away.

JacqueMehoff

I would be living out of an RV.

Rocknrope

Where would you keep the Pb?

JacqueMehoff

why in the glovebox, of course.

where it should be in TV and Movies.

when the good times came back, I still saved and got burnt.

cash is king and no bank accounts.

maryjr

Some people in this thread seem bitter.

SC

So, this guy's hurting. There's a lot of people who are hurting, and didn't get to have as much fun as he did before. Cry me a river.

JacqueMehoff

shoot, I wouldn't mind a job as a Host at The Palm.

DOLPHIN

If he is as successful as he is, why can't he just trade on his own?

I would think he would make more money that way.

DOLPHIN

If he is as good as he says he is, he would have been trading on his own.

Why would you need to be a trader at a big firm to make that kind of money?

matty

He's lucky he's got a job in the restaurant industry. They're harder to come by now that everyone is laid off. If anything he's lucky to be able to get cash to pay his bills and have a little extra left over at the end of the month.