Maybe I don't feel so bad about missing 4/20.

Last night, Mr. Rilch and Boss had a meeting at a client’s house to discuss a video project they’re working on. This client is a fairly well-known actor; you’d probably recognize the name, not that I’m going to mention it. He’s also very soft-spoken, but with a core of toughness that sometimes shows through the veneer.

Anyway, Mr. Rilch and Boss left yesterday evening to get there at 9, and came back at 1am or so, with “Zack” in tow. (Zack lives in our building, and sometimes assists them on projects.) Mr. Rilch seemed a bit grim, and told me sotto voce that this was because of Boss’s Tipsy McStagger condition, which I could clearly see. We all hung out for about an hour, talking about the meeting and watching the AI results show, which I had recorded. Then Zack left, Mr. Rilch and I went into the bedroom, and Boss flopped down on the couch.

So Mr. Rilch began telling me more details about the meeting. Specifically, that the client had let people (there were others besides Mr. Rilch, Zack and Boss) help themselves at the bar, but Boss was the only one who went over the line. Apparently, he didn’t do anything besides get loud, but when the client looked from Boss to Mr. Rilch and said, “Dude…?” Mr. Rilch knew it was time to leave.

And about five minutes into this, Mr. Rilch heard the door to the outside open and close. He went out onto the landing, saw the empty couch, cursed, then snagged his keys and told me “Go to Zack’s place for a minute.” On my way there, I heard Boss’s car purring through the carport, then a sort of banging sound. I tapped on Zack’s door, and his roommate didn’t know what I meant when I said, “I have to seek asylum for a few minutes,” but Zack, who was playing GTA, sensed it had something to do with Boss.

So I stood around for about three minutes before Mr. Rilch came to collect me. We went back up to the bedroom, where he dropped Boss’s keys into the sock drawer and told me that Boss, in the absence of a remote for the gate, had been banging his car into it. Mr. Rilch opened the driver’s side door and stated, “Put, Your car. Back. And get. The :mad: Upstairs.” Boss complied without a word, and that was that until around noon today.

Now it turns out that Boss doesn’t remember a thing after 11 pm. (Just to test him, I asked, “So you don’t remember that [wrong name] got voted off on AI?” – “[wrong name]?! What? How could he get voted off?!” – “Oh, no, wait; it was [right name].” – “You sure?”) I wasn’t there, but Mr. Rilch says he was devastated to see the dent in his car’s fender.

So I dunno. Mr. Rilch made some follow-up calls today, and their contract with this client is still safe. Still, this. Is. Not. Good. What really makes me shudder is that last week, the gate was malfunctioning, so it was open all the time. If this had happened then, he could have zoomed right out, and…who knows?

As far as 4/20, the reason I mention it is that whenever the bud is being passed around, he always sprouts a halo and says, “Oh, I don’t do THAT!” I’m fairly certain, though, that if he’d been smoking last night instead of drinking, he wouldn’t have been ramming any gates with his car.

True but, if he’d been smoking then you would have had to restock your fridge.

Okay, now I’m upset.

The client, who I’ll call X, has a personal assistant who’s been over here many times. It’s at the point where we have a social relationship with him, not just a business one. He was here today to give Mr. Rilch a belated birthday present, and also to relate some news we found upsetting.

Mr. Rilch and Boss were this. close. to having a social relationship with X as well. That evening, had it gone smoothly, would have gotten them into the inner circle. Golf, poker, maybe even ski weekends. Which could have led to further connections, not to mention just X’s company, which is enticing in itself. Now they’re stuck in business mode only.

All because Boss had a few too many and got shouty.

Mr. Rilch did not go off on him about this, and I said nothing at all, but he did get…stern, I guess you’d say, with Boss. They were this. close. This. Close. And Boss blew it because he couldn’t rein himself in.

And what does Boss say to this?

“Easy come, easy go.”

Except it wasn’t “easy come.” So many hours they logged with X. Not kissing his ass, mind you; he’s an easy person to like, and was always cool with us. (I did my part, too, playing the good hostess when he was here a few times, always having something fresh-baked and being the designated person-who-can-talk-about-politics-without-getting-loud.) All that time and effort, and just when it was about to pay off, Boss had to pull that stunt.

And he still thinks it’s okay because hey, they didn’t lose X as a client, right? He just refuses to acknowledge how much else has slipped away. Mr. Rilch says it’s ego. Must be. And the hell of it is, Boss is the one who had first contact with X. He made the overtures because he knew how valuable this connection was.

I dunno; I’m just rambling. Thanks for listening, if you are.

You might suggest - strongly - that Mr. Rilch polish up his resume and cast it out into the world.

This was Not A Good Thing.

You have to wonder how many things have easily come and just as easily been let go when Boss was in his cups. Has he a history for this sort of thing?

Daithi Lacha (cool name!): Actually, he does not have a history of this sort of thing. Mr. Rilch confined himself to one whiskey, just on the principle that you don’t get loaded around VIPs, and it never occurred to him that he’d have to rein in Boss, because he’s never had to before. All I’ve ever seen him drink was rum, and never to excess.

Or, to clarify, Boss does not have a history of f’ing up with alcohol. But on closer examination, what he does have a history of is f’ing up just when things are about to get good. With women, for instance. Over the years, I’ve been introduced to one SO after another, all of whom were intelligent, beautiful, successful in their field, yadda yadda yadda…and then just when it started to look like it would be permanent, goodbye Jane, hello Sally. So this must be the same thing in a different context: they were about to go to the next level, so he subconsciously decided to sabotage himself.

Clothahump: Don’t think he hasn’t thought about that. Thing is, though, this is a partnership, and somebody has to be the other guy. It’s too early to say where it will go from here, but suffice to say, Mr. Rilch is not shrugging it off.