Selfies IV
1989
Somewhere around the time when I was about 14, I discovered an old roll-top desk in our family home attic. Being a prying child without constraints on a rainy afternoon, I entertained myself by opening the desk and looking at all sorts of old family documents, many of which were in French. To my surprise, I found a birth certificate for a male child born of my parents on my birthday— but with a different name! When I was born, my father was incommunicado overseas, trying not to be killed by the Japanese in World War II. Consequently, he could not participate in the naming of his son. My mother named the child, hereinafter called “me," using the same formula as did my grandfather for his son: grandfather’s first name, mother’s maiden name and father's last name, which produced Alexander Salaün Labry. When my father returned from the war, however, he changed that formula, dropping Salaün and adding his name, Robert, as my first name, thereby making Alexander my middle name. Henceforth, I became known as Little Bobby.
In 1975, I had started an office supply business, The Office Company Inc., and a few years later, a subsidiary, Labry Commercial Interiors, both of which were successful companies. For my 1983 divorce settlement, I needed cash to buy out my ex-wife of her joint corporate ownership. I borrowed money to do so from a local bank. As collateral for the loan, I used The Office Company’s inventory and accounts receivable. The bank failed in late 1989, because of numerous bad real estate loans. The new bank owners refused to accept my loan, causing it to be sent to the FDIC. Due to the extreme interest-rate fluctuations at that time, loans in those days were renewed annually by “gentlemen's” agreement at the prevailing interest rate. In other words, the new bank was under no legal obligation to renew my loan and refused to do so. That meant my loan immediately became due and payable in full less than a month later in January, 1990, effectively putting me out of business. Ever meet a gentleman banker?
January 1990 — F.D.I.C. to The Office Company, Inc.
“Assemble your collateral and, by the way, add 24 people to the ranks of the unemployed.”