Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Seeking Debrouillard


*update, I found a guy to do what I needed*

I'm riding out the great Chicago blizzard in Paris and as usual everytime I'm here my thoughts turn to one of my favorite books, George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and LondonIn Orwell's book, I first came across the term "debrouillard" and it made such an impression that I named my one man company after it years ago. 

"And yet the PLONGEURS, low as they are, also have a kind of pride. It
is the pride of the drudge--the man who is equal to no matter what
quantity of work. At that level, the mere power to go on working like an ox
is about the only virtue attainable. DEBROUILLARD is what every PLONGEUR
wants to be called. A DEBROUILLARD is a man who, even when he is told to do
the impossible, will SE DEBROUILLER--get it done somehow. One of the
kitchen PLONGEURS at the Hotel X, a German, was well known as a
DEBROUILLARD. One night an English lord came to the hotel, and the waiters
were in despair, for the lord had asked for peaches, and there were none in
stock; it was late at night, and the shops would be shut. 'Leave it to me,'
said the German. He went out, and in ten minutes he was back with four
peaches. He had gone into a neighbouring restaurant and stolen them. That
is what is meant by a DEBROUILLARD. The English lord paid for the peaches
at twenty francs each. "



That said, I've got a surplus of work that I don't seem to get around to doing after each trading day and would like to hire someone for things.  Duties would be to help organize some tradingpithistory stuff, assist getting a book going and then do a couple end of trading day things.  The job is more of a journey on the way up than a destination and right for the ideal person and wrong for everyone else since it's mostly grunt work w/an intellectual pursuit.  Pay wouldn't be much and there aren't benefits as it'd be hiring an independent contractor that'd get a 1099 form.  Requirements are simple: enthusiasm and interest in the project/markets, be based in the US and a "debrouillard."  Anyone interested can email me: tradingpithistory (at) gmail.com  I'm not desperate for someone but just that it could be mutually rewarding for the right person and because it'd initially be a 6-12 month duty working remotely from a computer, it's probably best for a college student or someone just out of school (although I didn't go to college in all honesty).