Thursday, August 23, 2012

Wealth Watch: The Hamptons Mole on the Summer of Pent-Up Anger Against the Rich


  
[Back in June, New York Magazine readers were introduced to Joe Schwenk, a Hamptons contractor who had taken to Twitter to dish dirt on the "hedgies" and "citiots" who hired him for odd jobs..]

It was another summer in paradise.  My guys and I did just about everything. Beyond the leaky roofs, broken pool heaters, and $50,000 tree installations (for one tree, singular), we also built a backyard dirt bike track for a kid's 13th birthday party and fixed a photo booth in a rich guy's basement in the middle of the night. We drained an entire pool for fear of contamination by a dead raccoon, and we drove dogs (plural) to acupuncture appointments.

We even jump-started $100,000 electric Teslas. For three different people.

This year, the houses are bigger, but their owners seem shorter. And technology finally made it out here. Today, unfreezing someone's Wi-Fi is as important a skill as fixing a clogged sink drain.
My $99 smartphone has enabled a larger online following than all of our local newspapers combined. The result? Not much. Some new customers, some sketchy e-mails from reality-TV producers, but, most importantly, everyone is paying their bills on time…

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