All the things one could say about Rio and I'm going to talk about pizza!
I remember Heitor telling me last year when we were here never to eat pizza in Rio, because it is the worst imaginable. I set that down to some kind of twisted city pride, the way there are probably people in New York and Chicago who will never agree on what pizza should be like. After all, I thought, pizza in São Paulo isn´t such great shakes either.
Well, this year we have been forced by circumstances to eat pizza in Rio on two different occasions at two different restaurants, the most recent being earlier tonight, so the experience is fresh in my mind.
Here is the problem: they don´t use any tomato sauce and, unless you order a cheese pizza, not very much cheese either. You are left with a thin crust, my preferred style of crust at least, with the ingredients of your choice piled on, and that´s about it. You get an inkling that something is different when the waiter brings ketchup and mustard to your table along with the plates, while you´re waiting for your order.
More about Rio later. We arrived a week and ago and will be here for another 9 days or so. Seeing lots of movies. Haven´t been to Copacabana, Ipanema or any of the other beaches except to ride by in a bus on the way back from a movie last Sunday.
Rio is apparently, along with Chicago, one of the two strongest contenders for the 2016 Olympics. It is hard for me to believe that any city really wants the Olympics, and it is equally hard for me to think they would actually be awarded to Rio. As I said, more on that later, as I´m tired. Also, Heitor is just getting back from the last movie of the day and needs to do some writing.
Tchau.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Root Canals and Rio
I believe I promised/threatened some information about a Brasilean root canal. Well, they´re probably about the same as a US root canal (no surprise), except that they seem to be a heck of a lot cheaper.
I have now had 3 visits to the dentist, the first one being after hours at 7 p.m. He took xrays, identified the problem and tried just doing a filling, although the tooth had already been pretty heavily worked on and he wasn´t particularly hopeful. That visit cost me R$75.00. A couple of days later when, as expected, the filling hadn´t really solved the problem, I went back for a second visit, and he did the root canal. That time I didn´t pay anything. Today, I was back for the third appointment and he finished the root canal. Mind you, there is a language problem between us, but that was my understanding of what he was doing. Today I paid R$390. So the total so far is about $260 US.
I still have to make one more visit in about 3 weeks, when Heitor and I get back from Rio, when he will put on a crown, so the final total is going to be more, but it´s not likely to be too shocking.
The next installment will be from Rio. Heitor and I leave tomorrow and don´t return to São Paulo until 9 October. Heitor will be working hard, and I will not be doing much of anything, except maybe see about 1 movie per day, maximum. Heitor will have to endure many more than that, and then write about them. I have the better deal.
Tchau
I have now had 3 visits to the dentist, the first one being after hours at 7 p.m. He took xrays, identified the problem and tried just doing a filling, although the tooth had already been pretty heavily worked on and he wasn´t particularly hopeful. That visit cost me R$75.00. A couple of days later when, as expected, the filling hadn´t really solved the problem, I went back for a second visit, and he did the root canal. That time I didn´t pay anything. Today, I was back for the third appointment and he finished the root canal. Mind you, there is a language problem between us, but that was my understanding of what he was doing. Today I paid R$390. So the total so far is about $260 US.
I still have to make one more visit in about 3 weeks, when Heitor and I get back from Rio, when he will put on a crown, so the final total is going to be more, but it´s not likely to be too shocking.
The next installment will be from Rio. Heitor and I leave tomorrow and don´t return to São Paulo until 9 October. Heitor will be working hard, and I will not be doing much of anything, except maybe see about 1 movie per day, maximum. Heitor will have to endure many more than that, and then write about them. I have the better deal.
Tchau
Monday, September 14, 2009
Frankie Part Four, Epilog
Ok, let´s bring this thing to an end.
Frankie has a healthcare nurse-like person, Marta, who visits him in his apartment once a week.
When Marta heard about Marcelo, she reminded Frankie that there is an agency whose mission is to protect the elderly, although it was a little too late for protection in Frankie´s case. Marta said Marcelo needed to be reported to this agency, whose office is actually quite close. I go by it several times per week. Frankie thought that was a good idea, and he made plans to do so.
In the meanwhile, Frankie contacted José Luiz, Marcelo´s roommate and ex-lover. I had tried to talk him out of this, for selfish reasons mostly. I reminded him that, while we both thought José Luiz was honest, we didn´t know he was, and that he, Frankie, needed to have someone else (read, me) present when he met with him. I wanted Frankie to report Marcelo to the agency Marta had told us about, to count himself lucky that he lost no more than he had, learn the appropriate lessons and move on. But Frankie had a connection with José Luiz that went back several years, to the time he and Aida first met Marcelo, and he needed to have this talk with him.
One night I got a call from Frankie about 9 o´clock saying that José Luiz was at the door to the building, so I went over and let him in, and went with him to Frankie´s apartment. He pleaded with Frankie not to report Marcelo to the agency because the two of them had lived together so long that any investigation of Marcelo would end up touching him and his career as well. He promised that he would personally make restitution. Frankie, at his most indecisive best, asked me what I thought he should do. I could tell he wanted to agree to José Luiz´s proposal. My sage advise was to do whatever he wanted, with the proviso that, if he agreed not to report Marcelo at this time, he still reserve the right to do so at some point in the future if José Luiz failed to live up to his agreement. I believe that is how it was left, with the agreed-upon sum of something between R$500 - R$1000. This meeting lasted well over an hour any only ended when I insisted it was past my bedtime. There was too much rehashing of the same details.
José Luiz is an attorney, but more of the bureaucratic than the money-making variety. Frankie and he agreed that they money would be paid in two or three installments. A week or so later Frankie left for Los Angeles, where he will be until early October. I have no idea whether José Luiz has made any payments, but I sure hope he has, because I don´t want to get dragged back into this morass.
Marcelo, by the way, has disappeared. José Luiz said Marcelo was pretty much just curled up on the sofa, not going anywhere or doing anything. He, José Luiz, was going to be kicking him out of the apartment. I have no idea if that has happened. I only know that I used to encounter Marcelo on the street now and then, but I haven´t run into him since the initial show down. And that´s alright with me.
That´s all folks.
Stay tuned. The next installment will be "My Brasilean Root Canal."
Frankie has a healthcare nurse-like person, Marta, who visits him in his apartment once a week.
When Marta heard about Marcelo, she reminded Frankie that there is an agency whose mission is to protect the elderly, although it was a little too late for protection in Frankie´s case. Marta said Marcelo needed to be reported to this agency, whose office is actually quite close. I go by it several times per week. Frankie thought that was a good idea, and he made plans to do so.
In the meanwhile, Frankie contacted José Luiz, Marcelo´s roommate and ex-lover. I had tried to talk him out of this, for selfish reasons mostly. I reminded him that, while we both thought José Luiz was honest, we didn´t know he was, and that he, Frankie, needed to have someone else (read, me) present when he met with him. I wanted Frankie to report Marcelo to the agency Marta had told us about, to count himself lucky that he lost no more than he had, learn the appropriate lessons and move on. But Frankie had a connection with José Luiz that went back several years, to the time he and Aida first met Marcelo, and he needed to have this talk with him.
One night I got a call from Frankie about 9 o´clock saying that José Luiz was at the door to the building, so I went over and let him in, and went with him to Frankie´s apartment. He pleaded with Frankie not to report Marcelo to the agency because the two of them had lived together so long that any investigation of Marcelo would end up touching him and his career as well. He promised that he would personally make restitution. Frankie, at his most indecisive best, asked me what I thought he should do. I could tell he wanted to agree to José Luiz´s proposal. My sage advise was to do whatever he wanted, with the proviso that, if he agreed not to report Marcelo at this time, he still reserve the right to do so at some point in the future if José Luiz failed to live up to his agreement. I believe that is how it was left, with the agreed-upon sum of something between R$500 - R$1000. This meeting lasted well over an hour any only ended when I insisted it was past my bedtime. There was too much rehashing of the same details.
José Luiz is an attorney, but more of the bureaucratic than the money-making variety. Frankie and he agreed that they money would be paid in two or three installments. A week or so later Frankie left for Los Angeles, where he will be until early October. I have no idea whether José Luiz has made any payments, but I sure hope he has, because I don´t want to get dragged back into this morass.
Marcelo, by the way, has disappeared. José Luiz said Marcelo was pretty much just curled up on the sofa, not going anywhere or doing anything. He, José Luiz, was going to be kicking him out of the apartment. I have no idea if that has happened. I only know that I used to encounter Marcelo on the street now and then, but I haven´t run into him since the initial show down. And that´s alright with me.
That´s all folks.
Stay tuned. The next installment will be "My Brasilean Root Canal."
Friday, September 11, 2009
Frankie Part Three: The Marcelo Solution
I neglected to mention one other thing that tipped off Frankie about Marcelo´s dishonesty even before he registered the disappearance of the Tums. Frankie has an old friend in her 70s who has power of attorney to act for him. One day Marcelo came back from the bank and said that someone there had told him that this power of attorney was no good because the woman was too old.
Frankie was positive this was nonsense, and he confirmed that with the attorney he had used to set everything up in the first place. Nevermind the fact that there was no reason for the subject to have even come up between Marcelo and any of the bank personnel. Frankie told me about this and we agreed that Marcelo appeared to be up to something. This was the first time that I had any inkling that Frankie used Marcelo for any activity relating to his bank accounts. Frankie would then occasionally tell me that Marcelo had once again brought up the matter of power of attorney, never directly saying that he wanted to have that power, but always hinting that Frankie needed to make a change. I was never a party to these conversations, by the way, because I avoided Marcelo as best I could. This all happened before we checked the bank balances and found proof that Marcelo was stealing.
Instead of just confronting Marcelo immediately, Frankie had a clever little plan. The first thing he needed to do was get his keys back, so he called Marcelo and told him that he had left his own set of keys in a taxi and that he needed Marcelo´s set. Then he brought up an old subject that had been tabled for several weeks. Marcelo had a DVD player that he had once told Frankie he would sell him for R$100. Frankie verified that Marcelo still had the DVD player, so he asked Marcelo to bring it over, set it up, and let him use it for a few days to see if he liked it. Done.
I don´t recall the exact sequence of things, but Frankie also went to the bank, explained what had happened, cancelled the card and requested a new one. He also verified that the card had never been used as a credit card, that Marcelo hadn´t made any internet purchases.
Frankie wasn´t interested in pressing charges, because he knew that his own laxity was a large part of the problem and that it would come down to his word against Marcelo´s. But, before confronting Marcelo, he wanted to go back to March and see if he could identify other doubtful bank transactions. That proved to be very difficult. A lot of transactions were questionable but, on the other hand, might have been valid. It was just too long ago to remember. Frankie did, however, find one incident that he was sure was more evidence of Marcelo stealing from him. Frankie had received a small settlement from Aida´s estate and Marcelo had deposited it for him, but not quite all of it. The deposit was a few hundred reiais short.
I said that Frankie was indecisive. He wanted to have a confrontation with Marcelo, but he kept putting if off. For one thing, Marcelo had some of his DVDs and CDs that Frankie wanted returned. We finally managed to do that exchange on the street one day. I will never win an acting award because Marcelo afterwards asked Frankie why Gerry didn´t like him. There were other delays, that I don´t remember, except that they were probably unnecessary.
Together we agreed on a few specifics. Frankie would not have a confrontation with Marcelo unless I, or at least someone, was with him. I would have preferred the someone else option, but that wasn´t likely. The confrontation would be in a public place, not the apartment. Under no circumstances would Frankie allow Marcelo or his ex-lover/roommate, José Luiz, into his apartment if either of them were to ring the buzzer. If that happened, Frankie was just to say that he had company or was going to bed early etc. Finally, Frankie would inform the doorman, who was accustomed to seeing Marcelo come and go, that he was no longer, under any circumstances, to admit Marcelo.
In the meanwhile, Marcelo was calling Frank only rarely, and someone at the bank told Frankie that Marcelo had been in and wanted to do something or other related to Frankie´s account and they, the bank people, had all but thrown him out. So Marcelo had to know something was up.
Finally, after several days of delay, we were ready but, for all we knew, Marcelo was already to wary to cooperate. Nevertheless, we had to try. Frankie and I wrote up a receipt for the DVD player. The original price had been R$100, but we wrote it to say the price was R$150. It didn´t matter because, as you have already guessed, Marcelo wasn´t going to get any money for it, and we wanted to take advantage of his greed for an extra R$50. We also got the support of João, of the restaurant "João e Maria´s," where Frankie ate every day. Not so much his support, as his permission to confront Marcelo in the restaurant after the customers were gone. The restaurant is open only for lunches and generally closes about 3:30. Frankie always ate late, after the crowds, and was routinely the last to leave.
So on confrontation day, after eating, Frankie used his cell phone to call Marcelo and tell him to come down to the restaurant so that he, Frankie, could pay for the DVD player. Marcelo arrived, clearly tentative. He was aware that something wasn´t the same as in the past. Frankie got him to sit down in a chair next to him, and I was across the table with "the money" in my hands. Frankie slid the receipt we had written in front of Marcelo and said he wanted it signed, just so everything could be above board and legit. Marcleo hesitated a long time, and I wasn´t sure he was going to sign, but he looked at the money in my hand that was going to be his as soon as he put his name to the receipt, and it was R$50 more than he had originally asked. Finally he said, "ok" and signed the paper.
As soon as he signed, Frankie pocketed the receipt and I put the money back in my pocket. Then Frankie pulled out the bank statements and confronted Marcelo with the evidence of his theft. Frankie told him, I´ve already paid you for the DVD player and more. Marcelo was clearly shocked. Frankie, one by one, accused Marcelo of withdrawing R$200 and pretending he had only withdrawn R$150. Marcelo said "no I didn´t." Then Frankie showed him the other bank statement and accused him of spending x amount in store y. Marcelo said "no I didn´t." And so on down the list of expenditures in the various stores. "No I didn´t." Well how do you explain these charges, all within minutes of each other? Frankie asked. "I can´t explain them," Marcelo responded. Frankie was getting angrier and angrier, and it was clear that Marcelo was not going to admit anything. Finally I said, "Marcelo, you have stolen from Frankie. We have proof and we don´t care if you admit it or not. And what is more, the whole street is going to know that you are a thief. Now go." Mind you my Português is not good in the calmest of situations, so I should say that is what I think I said. Frankie did confirm later that I had indeed told him the whole street would soon know he was a thief. At this point, João, who was standing by, mostly concerned with Frankie´s agitation, and I walked Marcelo to the door and it was over.
Over the next few days, Frankie did make a point of telling a few key people on the street: the owner of the ice cream store, who was a friend of José Luiz, Maria, the woman at the hair salon where Fabio used to work, Annette, the owner of the little store that sold snacks and cold drinks, the owner of the bar next to Marcelo´s apartment. We knew these people were talking and spreading the word because one of the taxi drivers at the stand across the street one day asked Frankie if it was true. "I´ll kill the filho da puta," he said.
Jeez, this is getting too long. One more installment to come. We´ll call it the epilog.
Frankie was positive this was nonsense, and he confirmed that with the attorney he had used to set everything up in the first place. Nevermind the fact that there was no reason for the subject to have even come up between Marcelo and any of the bank personnel. Frankie told me about this and we agreed that Marcelo appeared to be up to something. This was the first time that I had any inkling that Frankie used Marcelo for any activity relating to his bank accounts. Frankie would then occasionally tell me that Marcelo had once again brought up the matter of power of attorney, never directly saying that he wanted to have that power, but always hinting that Frankie needed to make a change. I was never a party to these conversations, by the way, because I avoided Marcelo as best I could. This all happened before we checked the bank balances and found proof that Marcelo was stealing.
Instead of just confronting Marcelo immediately, Frankie had a clever little plan. The first thing he needed to do was get his keys back, so he called Marcelo and told him that he had left his own set of keys in a taxi and that he needed Marcelo´s set. Then he brought up an old subject that had been tabled for several weeks. Marcelo had a DVD player that he had once told Frankie he would sell him for R$100. Frankie verified that Marcelo still had the DVD player, so he asked Marcelo to bring it over, set it up, and let him use it for a few days to see if he liked it. Done.
I don´t recall the exact sequence of things, but Frankie also went to the bank, explained what had happened, cancelled the card and requested a new one. He also verified that the card had never been used as a credit card, that Marcelo hadn´t made any internet purchases.
Frankie wasn´t interested in pressing charges, because he knew that his own laxity was a large part of the problem and that it would come down to his word against Marcelo´s. But, before confronting Marcelo, he wanted to go back to March and see if he could identify other doubtful bank transactions. That proved to be very difficult. A lot of transactions were questionable but, on the other hand, might have been valid. It was just too long ago to remember. Frankie did, however, find one incident that he was sure was more evidence of Marcelo stealing from him. Frankie had received a small settlement from Aida´s estate and Marcelo had deposited it for him, but not quite all of it. The deposit was a few hundred reiais short.
I said that Frankie was indecisive. He wanted to have a confrontation with Marcelo, but he kept putting if off. For one thing, Marcelo had some of his DVDs and CDs that Frankie wanted returned. We finally managed to do that exchange on the street one day. I will never win an acting award because Marcelo afterwards asked Frankie why Gerry didn´t like him. There were other delays, that I don´t remember, except that they were probably unnecessary.
Together we agreed on a few specifics. Frankie would not have a confrontation with Marcelo unless I, or at least someone, was with him. I would have preferred the someone else option, but that wasn´t likely. The confrontation would be in a public place, not the apartment. Under no circumstances would Frankie allow Marcelo or his ex-lover/roommate, José Luiz, into his apartment if either of them were to ring the buzzer. If that happened, Frankie was just to say that he had company or was going to bed early etc. Finally, Frankie would inform the doorman, who was accustomed to seeing Marcelo come and go, that he was no longer, under any circumstances, to admit Marcelo.
In the meanwhile, Marcelo was calling Frank only rarely, and someone at the bank told Frankie that Marcelo had been in and wanted to do something or other related to Frankie´s account and they, the bank people, had all but thrown him out. So Marcelo had to know something was up.
Finally, after several days of delay, we were ready but, for all we knew, Marcelo was already to wary to cooperate. Nevertheless, we had to try. Frankie and I wrote up a receipt for the DVD player. The original price had been R$100, but we wrote it to say the price was R$150. It didn´t matter because, as you have already guessed, Marcelo wasn´t going to get any money for it, and we wanted to take advantage of his greed for an extra R$50. We also got the support of João, of the restaurant "João e Maria´s," where Frankie ate every day. Not so much his support, as his permission to confront Marcelo in the restaurant after the customers were gone. The restaurant is open only for lunches and generally closes about 3:30. Frankie always ate late, after the crowds, and was routinely the last to leave.
So on confrontation day, after eating, Frankie used his cell phone to call Marcelo and tell him to come down to the restaurant so that he, Frankie, could pay for the DVD player. Marcelo arrived, clearly tentative. He was aware that something wasn´t the same as in the past. Frankie got him to sit down in a chair next to him, and I was across the table with "the money" in my hands. Frankie slid the receipt we had written in front of Marcelo and said he wanted it signed, just so everything could be above board and legit. Marcleo hesitated a long time, and I wasn´t sure he was going to sign, but he looked at the money in my hand that was going to be his as soon as he put his name to the receipt, and it was R$50 more than he had originally asked. Finally he said, "ok" and signed the paper.
As soon as he signed, Frankie pocketed the receipt and I put the money back in my pocket. Then Frankie pulled out the bank statements and confronted Marcelo with the evidence of his theft. Frankie told him, I´ve already paid you for the DVD player and more. Marcelo was clearly shocked. Frankie, one by one, accused Marcelo of withdrawing R$200 and pretending he had only withdrawn R$150. Marcelo said "no I didn´t." Then Frankie showed him the other bank statement and accused him of spending x amount in store y. Marcelo said "no I didn´t." And so on down the list of expenditures in the various stores. "No I didn´t." Well how do you explain these charges, all within minutes of each other? Frankie asked. "I can´t explain them," Marcelo responded. Frankie was getting angrier and angrier, and it was clear that Marcelo was not going to admit anything. Finally I said, "Marcelo, you have stolen from Frankie. We have proof and we don´t care if you admit it or not. And what is more, the whole street is going to know that you are a thief. Now go." Mind you my Português is not good in the calmest of situations, so I should say that is what I think I said. Frankie did confirm later that I had indeed told him the whole street would soon know he was a thief. At this point, João, who was standing by, mostly concerned with Frankie´s agitation, and I walked Marcelo to the door and it was over.
Over the next few days, Frankie did make a point of telling a few key people on the street: the owner of the ice cream store, who was a friend of José Luiz, Maria, the woman at the hair salon where Fabio used to work, Annette, the owner of the little store that sold snacks and cold drinks, the owner of the bar next to Marcelo´s apartment. We knew these people were talking and spreading the word because one of the taxi drivers at the stand across the street one day asked Frankie if it was true. "I´ll kill the filho da puta," he said.
Jeez, this is getting too long. One more installment to come. We´ll call it the epilog.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Frankie Part Two: The Marcelo Problem
I shouldn´t have said that this installment would be called the Frankie and Marcelo incident. It is more like a saga.
It begins 5 or 6 years ago when Frankie and Aida were still living in LA, but were in Brasil on a visit. Somehow they encountered Marcelo, a man in his middle twenties at the time, who was friendly and helpful to them. They remained in contact and looked him up again on subsequent visits. I don´t know this, but I rather suspect that the reason Frankie lives where he does is because it is on the same street where Marcelo lives. After Aida died and he decided to move into the heart of São Paulo, Marcelo was probably even helpful in finding an apartment for him. The three of us live in separate buildings, all within a block of each other.
I first met Marcelo the same day I met Frankie at Fabio´s hair salon. Fabio ran down to the store to get a six pack of beer for Frankie, and I carried it home for him. He could have carried it, but only awkwardly with his walker. While we were having a beer in his apartment, Marcelo popped in, sort of like Kramer into Jerry´s place. He is probably about 30 years old now, more than pudgy, soft, and incredibly unctous, unlike Kramer. He also had a fanny pack around his waist, which probably contributed to my almost immediate dislike of him. Yes, I can be that superficial. But he seemed very solicitous of Frankie´s welfare and it appeared obvious that he ran a lot of errands for Frankie. I learned later that he was out of a job, which explained his having so much time available during the day. He lost his job from a local bank because he tried to get his boss´s job while said boss was on vacation, or in some way used his boss´s absence from the office to circumvent the process for promotion.
Heitor and I had a few tiles that needed to be replaced in our kitchen at that time, and we had a repairman scheduled to do the work, but he needed us to purchase the tile, the cement and the grout. I guess the repairman was also doing some work for Frankie, and because of that Marcelo found out about the work at our place. Marcelo insisted on going with me to the store to buy the materials. He wanted to do everything. I asked for them to deliver the stuff sometime after 3:30 pm, when I would be home from my class. (Yes, stores routinely make deliveries. Even grocery stores deliver.) At one point I realized Marcelo had given his telephone number for them to call when they were ready, later that afternoon, to deliver the materials. I let it go, because I hate talking on the telephone in Português, unless it is with someone I know. When I came home later that day from my class, I found Marcelo in the lobby of my apartment buidling waiting for the delivery. The store had called, and the delivery should arrive any minute. I thanked him and expected him to leave but, no, he kept hanging around. I finally told him that he could go now, because I could handle it from there on. But he insisted on waiting for the delivery. When the delivery finally arrived, I thanked Marcelo again and said I could handle it now. But, again, no, he insisted on following the delivery all the way up to our door on the 9th floor, where he then inventoried item by item the delivery to make sure everything was included, as if I couldn´t do that. Finally, when the stuff was inside the apartment, he left. I think he just wanted to get a look inside our apartment.
When I was describing this scenario to Heitor later that day, he summarized Marcelo up instantly as a "mala." A mala is, literally, a suitcase, but it is also Brasilean slang for a person you can´t get rid of, someone who wants to stick by your side at all times. The next time I saw Fabio, he also referred to Marcelo as a "mala sem asas," a suitcase without handles.
I soon came to know that Frankie, too, found Marcelo a bit too cloying at times. Marcelo did many little odd things for Frankie, and Frankie always paid him for his time and work. But Marcelo was always hanging around, wanting to do more things, even suggesting things he could do that Frankie didn´t want. He was a mala for Frankie too. Frankie had found it helpful early on to give Marcelo the key to his apartment building and to his apartment. Sometimes it was awkward for Frankie to get to the buzzer to let visitors into the building, and that system is turned off at 6 pm every day. After 6 o´clock the tenants have to go down to the lobby to let visitors into or out of the building. This was all so inconvenient that Frankie gave Marcelo the keys. But Marcelo misused them. He would come over unannounced whenever he felt like it. Frankie had to tell him more than once that it was rude, and that he wanted Marcelo to call before coming over. Things would get better for a while, but then Marcelo would start abusing the system again, and Frankie would have to admonish him again.
One day about six weeks ago Frankie told me that he thought Marcelo was stealing from him. Frankie had a huge, Costco-sized, container of Tums that I had brought back for him in May. He hadn´t consumed very many of them, but he would think now and again that the bottle was getting emptier. One day the contents dropped dramatically, and he knew Marcelo was taking them. On that particular day, Frankie had had a doggie bag from his favorite lunch spot, and he didn´t want to return home right away. Usually in those situations he drops the doggie bag off with the doorman and picks it up later when he gets home. But this time Marcelo happened by and asked if Frankie would like him to take the bag up and put it in the refrigerator, which Frankie agreed to. He put two and two together when he got home and saw the dramatically lowered Tums contents and knew that the only person who had been in the apartment was Marcelo.
It was then that Frankie asked me if I could help him view his two bank accounts on line. He doesn´t have a computer in his apartment so we went to the nearby lanhouse and took care of it. A quick look at the transactions of the few previous days quickly showed that Marcelo was stealing more than Tums. It also showed me that Frankie was more naive than I had realized. Many of the errands that he paid Marcelo to do for him involved trusting Marcelo with his ATM/Debit cards from two different banks, and not even requiring receipts. Frankie also didn´t even bother to verify his monthly bank statements.
In this case we were able to spot transactions that were only two days old, and which were related to incidents still fresh in Frankie´s memory. In the first instance, he had given one of his ATM cards to Marcelo to withdraw R$150 in cash. The on-line record showed that Marcelo had actually withdrawn R$200. The second instance involved the other card. Frankie had given it to Marcelo to get a 12 pack of beer at the local market. We found that, within 30 minutes, the card had been used at 5 or 6 area stores for a total of more than R$175. For all of that Frankie had received 12 beers. We were looking at these records on Friday, and the activity all occurred on the previous Wednesday. There was no mistaking the fact that Marcelo was dishonest.
Next time: The Solution
It begins 5 or 6 years ago when Frankie and Aida were still living in LA, but were in Brasil on a visit. Somehow they encountered Marcelo, a man in his middle twenties at the time, who was friendly and helpful to them. They remained in contact and looked him up again on subsequent visits. I don´t know this, but I rather suspect that the reason Frankie lives where he does is because it is on the same street where Marcelo lives. After Aida died and he decided to move into the heart of São Paulo, Marcelo was probably even helpful in finding an apartment for him. The three of us live in separate buildings, all within a block of each other.
I first met Marcelo the same day I met Frankie at Fabio´s hair salon. Fabio ran down to the store to get a six pack of beer for Frankie, and I carried it home for him. He could have carried it, but only awkwardly with his walker. While we were having a beer in his apartment, Marcelo popped in, sort of like Kramer into Jerry´s place. He is probably about 30 years old now, more than pudgy, soft, and incredibly unctous, unlike Kramer. He also had a fanny pack around his waist, which probably contributed to my almost immediate dislike of him. Yes, I can be that superficial. But he seemed very solicitous of Frankie´s welfare and it appeared obvious that he ran a lot of errands for Frankie. I learned later that he was out of a job, which explained his having so much time available during the day. He lost his job from a local bank because he tried to get his boss´s job while said boss was on vacation, or in some way used his boss´s absence from the office to circumvent the process for promotion.
Heitor and I had a few tiles that needed to be replaced in our kitchen at that time, and we had a repairman scheduled to do the work, but he needed us to purchase the tile, the cement and the grout. I guess the repairman was also doing some work for Frankie, and because of that Marcelo found out about the work at our place. Marcelo insisted on going with me to the store to buy the materials. He wanted to do everything. I asked for them to deliver the stuff sometime after 3:30 pm, when I would be home from my class. (Yes, stores routinely make deliveries. Even grocery stores deliver.) At one point I realized Marcelo had given his telephone number for them to call when they were ready, later that afternoon, to deliver the materials. I let it go, because I hate talking on the telephone in Português, unless it is with someone I know. When I came home later that day from my class, I found Marcelo in the lobby of my apartment buidling waiting for the delivery. The store had called, and the delivery should arrive any minute. I thanked him and expected him to leave but, no, he kept hanging around. I finally told him that he could go now, because I could handle it from there on. But he insisted on waiting for the delivery. When the delivery finally arrived, I thanked Marcelo again and said I could handle it now. But, again, no, he insisted on following the delivery all the way up to our door on the 9th floor, where he then inventoried item by item the delivery to make sure everything was included, as if I couldn´t do that. Finally, when the stuff was inside the apartment, he left. I think he just wanted to get a look inside our apartment.
When I was describing this scenario to Heitor later that day, he summarized Marcelo up instantly as a "mala." A mala is, literally, a suitcase, but it is also Brasilean slang for a person you can´t get rid of, someone who wants to stick by your side at all times. The next time I saw Fabio, he also referred to Marcelo as a "mala sem asas," a suitcase without handles.
I soon came to know that Frankie, too, found Marcelo a bit too cloying at times. Marcelo did many little odd things for Frankie, and Frankie always paid him for his time and work. But Marcelo was always hanging around, wanting to do more things, even suggesting things he could do that Frankie didn´t want. He was a mala for Frankie too. Frankie had found it helpful early on to give Marcelo the key to his apartment building and to his apartment. Sometimes it was awkward for Frankie to get to the buzzer to let visitors into the building, and that system is turned off at 6 pm every day. After 6 o´clock the tenants have to go down to the lobby to let visitors into or out of the building. This was all so inconvenient that Frankie gave Marcelo the keys. But Marcelo misused them. He would come over unannounced whenever he felt like it. Frankie had to tell him more than once that it was rude, and that he wanted Marcelo to call before coming over. Things would get better for a while, but then Marcelo would start abusing the system again, and Frankie would have to admonish him again.
One day about six weeks ago Frankie told me that he thought Marcelo was stealing from him. Frankie had a huge, Costco-sized, container of Tums that I had brought back for him in May. He hadn´t consumed very many of them, but he would think now and again that the bottle was getting emptier. One day the contents dropped dramatically, and he knew Marcelo was taking them. On that particular day, Frankie had had a doggie bag from his favorite lunch spot, and he didn´t want to return home right away. Usually in those situations he drops the doggie bag off with the doorman and picks it up later when he gets home. But this time Marcelo happened by and asked if Frankie would like him to take the bag up and put it in the refrigerator, which Frankie agreed to. He put two and two together when he got home and saw the dramatically lowered Tums contents and knew that the only person who had been in the apartment was Marcelo.
It was then that Frankie asked me if I could help him view his two bank accounts on line. He doesn´t have a computer in his apartment so we went to the nearby lanhouse and took care of it. A quick look at the transactions of the few previous days quickly showed that Marcelo was stealing more than Tums. It also showed me that Frankie was more naive than I had realized. Many of the errands that he paid Marcelo to do for him involved trusting Marcelo with his ATM/Debit cards from two different banks, and not even requiring receipts. Frankie also didn´t even bother to verify his monthly bank statements.
In this case we were able to spot transactions that were only two days old, and which were related to incidents still fresh in Frankie´s memory. In the first instance, he had given one of his ATM cards to Marcelo to withdraw R$150 in cash. The on-line record showed that Marcelo had actually withdrawn R$200. The second instance involved the other card. Frankie had given it to Marcelo to get a 12 pack of beer at the local market. We found that, within 30 minutes, the card had been used at 5 or 6 area stores for a total of more than R$175. For all of that Frankie had received 12 beers. We were looking at these records on Friday, and the activity all occurred on the previous Wednesday. There was no mistaking the fact that Marcelo was dishonest.
Next time: The Solution
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Frankie, Part One
Let me tell you about my friend, Frankie, who I met a few months ago because of the efforts of Fabio, the man who cut my hair at the time, but who has since moved to another city almost two hours away. Fabio had always been telling me that he had this other client who speaks English and one day he arranged it so that Frankie and I would both be at his shop at the same time.
Frankie was born in Brasil of Italian parents, and emigrated to the US when he was eighteen. Exactly when he was born I am not sure. More about that later. It was a very cosmopolitan family that, at various times, lived in Italy, France and Brasil. His father was an engineer who was involved in the building of railroads. He returned to work in Italy sometime in the 1920s. I was going to write that he left Italy after the rise of the fascists, but since Mussolini took power in 1922, that wouldn´t be accurate. The family also lived in France at one time, probably after they left Italy and before they returned to Brasil. Frankie is a little vague about this because it all happened before he was born. He remembers a trip to the Northeast part of Brasil, as a teenager, in company with one of his sisters, to receive an award and attend the unveiling of a plaque commemorating some achievement of his father. His father was alive at the time, but didn´t want to attend.
Frankie had three older sisters. One was Aida, named for the Verdi heroine, and another was called Nice, for the city on the Riviera. I don´t know the name of the third, only that she was an opera singer who died relatively young of a heart attack. Aida died this past March and Frankie is the only surviving member of the family.
In the US, Frankie lived first in San Francisco, where he worked at various part-time jobs and went to school at S.F. City College, and eventually he moved to Los Angeles. At some point his sister Aida also moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as some variety of nurse. It is possible she emigrated to the US before Frankie. I don´t know. Since Frankie and Aida eventually ended up living together in Section 8 housing, and because I know how small his monthly Social Security payment is, it is pretty certain that neither of them ever made very much money. For many years Frankie taught ESL at LA City College, or maybe it was LA Community College (they both exist).
Sometime in the 1990s, Frankie was involved in a bad car accident on one of the LA freeways, and never worked again. He now gets around very slowly using a walker. Again, I´m a little short on details but he has given me the idea that his frailty was aggravated because of his having, foolishly he now believes, refused some surgery that was recommended back at the time of the accident.
I don´t know if he and Aida lived together before his accident, but they did after it, when he became rather an invalid, a depressed invalid at that, which isn´t too surprising. Frankie has a good, but not a strong, singing voice. At some point, Aida talked him into taking voice lessons at one of the community colleges as a way to get him back into the world and out of the house after the accident. He is very proud of the DVD of him performing before a small audience at the time his graduation, and of the CDs that were burned of him singing.
I believe that Frankie would still be living in the US, but for the fact that Aida became ill a few years ago and wanted to return to Brasil. They lived together in a small town on the outskirts of São Paulo, about an hour away from the city center, where he lives now, and where I live. There was some family connection with that little town. In fact, I think now it was the town where he grew up. After Aida died this past spring, he moved to where he lives now. He may have returned to Brasil because of Aida, but I believe he is glad to be here rather than in LA. He feels closer to all sorts of activities, and less restricted in his ability to get around. In LA there is some sort of public transportation for the physically impaired, but one has to call and wait. It is hard to make plans to do anything at a specific time. Here he can walk fifteen yards from his apartment building to his favorite restaurant for lunch, and just a little further to a market for food, which they will deliver. He has friends up and down the street that he visits with daily. If he needs to go a little further, which is rare, there is a cab stand across the street from his apartment and all the cabbies know him. He can go anywhere he needs to for R$15 or less.
I will learn shortly if he really prefers life in São Paulo, or if he has just been trying to convince himself that he does. He is currently in LA, visiting a couple of old Brasilean friends, both of whom have lived in the US forever. Both of them are trying to convince him to stay there instead of returning to Brasil. He has the minimum of possessions here and could easily stay there if he decided to do so. We´ll see.
When I helped Frankie set up an on line profile to manage his Brasilean bank account, he chose the username of Frankie1930, which he said was the year of his birth. Since his birthday was a few weeks ago, that would make him 79 years old. But he has at other times said he was 72 or, since his birthday, 73. He also told me once that his father falsified his birthdate at some point to keep him out of the army. So I don´t know his age, but I would guess him to be 73 rather than 79. I have had both his Brasilean and US passports (dual citizenship) in my hands and, like everyone would do, I opened them to look at the photos, but I never thought about checking the birthdates.
Frankie is one of the most indecisive people I have ever known, which is one reason I am willing to believe that Marta and/or Lucia will convince him to stay in LA. Before finally booking his flight, he waffled back and forth from day to day whether he really wanted to make the trip or not. Then, when he decided to go through with it, he took several days to decide how long he wanted to be gone...15 days? 30? 45? He finally booked a trip from mid-august to early october. I believe that he was dependent on Aida to make his decisions for him and he is somewhat at sea without her. Whether that was always the case or just became so after his becoming an invalid, I don´t know.
Enough for now. The next installment, which will demonstrate his impracticality, I will call "The Frankie and Marcelo Incident."
Frankie was born in Brasil of Italian parents, and emigrated to the US when he was eighteen. Exactly when he was born I am not sure. More about that later. It was a very cosmopolitan family that, at various times, lived in Italy, France and Brasil. His father was an engineer who was involved in the building of railroads. He returned to work in Italy sometime in the 1920s. I was going to write that he left Italy after the rise of the fascists, but since Mussolini took power in 1922, that wouldn´t be accurate. The family also lived in France at one time, probably after they left Italy and before they returned to Brasil. Frankie is a little vague about this because it all happened before he was born. He remembers a trip to the Northeast part of Brasil, as a teenager, in company with one of his sisters, to receive an award and attend the unveiling of a plaque commemorating some achievement of his father. His father was alive at the time, but didn´t want to attend.
Frankie had three older sisters. One was Aida, named for the Verdi heroine, and another was called Nice, for the city on the Riviera. I don´t know the name of the third, only that she was an opera singer who died relatively young of a heart attack. Aida died this past March and Frankie is the only surviving member of the family.
In the US, Frankie lived first in San Francisco, where he worked at various part-time jobs and went to school at S.F. City College, and eventually he moved to Los Angeles. At some point his sister Aida also moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as some variety of nurse. It is possible she emigrated to the US before Frankie. I don´t know. Since Frankie and Aida eventually ended up living together in Section 8 housing, and because I know how small his monthly Social Security payment is, it is pretty certain that neither of them ever made very much money. For many years Frankie taught ESL at LA City College, or maybe it was LA Community College (they both exist).
Sometime in the 1990s, Frankie was involved in a bad car accident on one of the LA freeways, and never worked again. He now gets around very slowly using a walker. Again, I´m a little short on details but he has given me the idea that his frailty was aggravated because of his having, foolishly he now believes, refused some surgery that was recommended back at the time of the accident.
I don´t know if he and Aida lived together before his accident, but they did after it, when he became rather an invalid, a depressed invalid at that, which isn´t too surprising. Frankie has a good, but not a strong, singing voice. At some point, Aida talked him into taking voice lessons at one of the community colleges as a way to get him back into the world and out of the house after the accident. He is very proud of the DVD of him performing before a small audience at the time his graduation, and of the CDs that were burned of him singing.
I believe that Frankie would still be living in the US, but for the fact that Aida became ill a few years ago and wanted to return to Brasil. They lived together in a small town on the outskirts of São Paulo, about an hour away from the city center, where he lives now, and where I live. There was some family connection with that little town. In fact, I think now it was the town where he grew up. After Aida died this past spring, he moved to where he lives now. He may have returned to Brasil because of Aida, but I believe he is glad to be here rather than in LA. He feels closer to all sorts of activities, and less restricted in his ability to get around. In LA there is some sort of public transportation for the physically impaired, but one has to call and wait. It is hard to make plans to do anything at a specific time. Here he can walk fifteen yards from his apartment building to his favorite restaurant for lunch, and just a little further to a market for food, which they will deliver. He has friends up and down the street that he visits with daily. If he needs to go a little further, which is rare, there is a cab stand across the street from his apartment and all the cabbies know him. He can go anywhere he needs to for R$15 or less.
I will learn shortly if he really prefers life in São Paulo, or if he has just been trying to convince himself that he does. He is currently in LA, visiting a couple of old Brasilean friends, both of whom have lived in the US forever. Both of them are trying to convince him to stay there instead of returning to Brasil. He has the minimum of possessions here and could easily stay there if he decided to do so. We´ll see.
When I helped Frankie set up an on line profile to manage his Brasilean bank account, he chose the username of Frankie1930, which he said was the year of his birth. Since his birthday was a few weeks ago, that would make him 79 years old. But he has at other times said he was 72 or, since his birthday, 73. He also told me once that his father falsified his birthdate at some point to keep him out of the army. So I don´t know his age, but I would guess him to be 73 rather than 79. I have had both his Brasilean and US passports (dual citizenship) in my hands and, like everyone would do, I opened them to look at the photos, but I never thought about checking the birthdates.
Frankie is one of the most indecisive people I have ever known, which is one reason I am willing to believe that Marta and/or Lucia will convince him to stay in LA. Before finally booking his flight, he waffled back and forth from day to day whether he really wanted to make the trip or not. Then, when he decided to go through with it, he took several days to decide how long he wanted to be gone...15 days? 30? 45? He finally booked a trip from mid-august to early october. I believe that he was dependent on Aida to make his decisions for him and he is somewhat at sea without her. Whether that was always the case or just became so after his becoming an invalid, I don´t know.
Enough for now. The next installment, which will demonstrate his impracticality, I will call "The Frankie and Marcelo Incident."
Thursday, September 3, 2009
You can always rely on the right.
I am massively frustrated by the supposed debate about health care reform that is going on. Mostly I am frustrated by Obama and the Democrats. The Republicans could always be counted on to be Republicans (Just say no.) and the scare tactics of the insurance industry and the right wing government-can´t-do-anything-right idiots were completely predictable. Obama should have known better than to just give a broad outline of his vision of reform and then turn it over to Congress to fill in the details.
I recommend Nicholas Kristof´s piece in the NY Times today. Here is an exercpt, which is probably a copyright infringement, but I don´t think he would mind.
Throughout the industrialized world, there are a handful of these areas where governments fill needs better than free markets: fire protection, police work, education, postal service, libraries, health care. The United States goes along with this international trend in every area but one: health care.
Remember, we have "socialized fire fighting" and a "socialized postal service" etc. Which reminds me. Did anyone see the show on Fox (I think it was on Steve Ducey´s show....I´m embarrassed that I know his name, but I´m happy to say I don´t know his program´s name) where a panel of people were trashing the efficiency of the postal service? They displayed a graph to show that the price of a stamp had "doubled" from 1991 to the present. Doubled from 29 cents to 44 cents. No, I didn´t see it either, but thank goodness for Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
Always remember...the US has the best health care system in the world. A while back I said that at least nobody could still be saying that in the midst of the current "debate," but I was wrong. Apparently the Hannitys, Limbaughs and Becks are still pushing that line.
I was listening recently to the audiobook, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer," and it struck me that the right has always used lies and scare tactics to defeat its opponents. Why expect them to abandon a tactic that has worked so well for so long?
Tchau from Brasil, where all politicians take the high road, I am sure.
I recommend Nicholas Kristof´s piece in the NY Times today. Here is an exercpt, which is probably a copyright infringement, but I don´t think he would mind.
Throughout the industrialized world, there are a handful of these areas where governments fill needs better than free markets: fire protection, police work, education, postal service, libraries, health care. The United States goes along with this international trend in every area but one: health care.
Remember, we have "socialized fire fighting" and a "socialized postal service" etc. Which reminds me. Did anyone see the show on Fox (I think it was on Steve Ducey´s show....I´m embarrassed that I know his name, but I´m happy to say I don´t know his program´s name) where a panel of people were trashing the efficiency of the postal service? They displayed a graph to show that the price of a stamp had "doubled" from 1991 to the present. Doubled from 29 cents to 44 cents. No, I didn´t see it either, but thank goodness for Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
Always remember...the US has the best health care system in the world. A while back I said that at least nobody could still be saying that in the midst of the current "debate," but I was wrong. Apparently the Hannitys, Limbaughs and Becks are still pushing that line.
I was listening recently to the audiobook, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer," and it struck me that the right has always used lies and scare tactics to defeat its opponents. Why expect them to abandon a tactic that has worked so well for so long?
Tchau from Brasil, where all politicians take the high road, I am sure.
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