UniJewel
(Place, tavern, firm, USA)
The Jewish diamond company in Manhattan where I worked 2004-2006. Their offices are at the edge of the diamond district, not exactly inside. Most of the employees were Jews, with top positions reserved for the family or close friends. The manager at the time I got there was Jüzek's son-in-law Nathan. Mildly described as utterly clueless, just like the ex-major of Israeli vojska he was soon replaced with. I've heard that the hall floor will heve to be paved with steel boards, as the concrete ain't resilient enough, he's already carved a rut in it, pacing up and down. From his example I concluded I'd have no visa problems there, if they could just put him in there overnight... except they never moved much of a finger for my green card process. They didn't even fire me; officially, I'm still employed, just taken off the payroll.
Allegedly, their budget would suffice to run a department of the federal government, except that it would be impossible to raise that much money. The wealth is in stones, and if you try to sell too many to fast, they'd become worthless. Their value (or extra value they have above industrial diamonds) is purely psychological, and this psychosis is carefully maintained for more than a century. The scam runs long and deep. It's been debunked a dozen times, books explaining it are still sold, but it doesn't matter. It just goes on. No debunking can fight a billion dollar annual campaign budget, which already has a century of a headstart.
An interesting list of characters there... Sima, Valerie see there.
Geneva, slim blonde at the reception desk, a Roman (i.e. an American of latin persuasion). Her mom worked as a cleaner in the office, and not alike at all - as much as this one was skinny, this one was lower and wider.
Izeck, the accountant and aitchar manager, speaks bostonian, which means that any longer o is pronounced as wo, Bwostun, almost banatian speak. Fully jewish, yarmulka always on. I once asked David what's holding it, said there's a small clip underneath. Ummm... Izeck is bald, so there must be that theatrical mustache glue at work.
Len Go, sweet little Laotian (I guess, from Indochina for sure), didn't manage to see her for more than ten minutes altogether, got kicked out really fast, don't know why, but Nathan specifically enjoyed describing how she got evaporated.
Rashmeeka, a plumper black, with a solo office between the kitchenette and the terrace door, some sort of fashion advisor, I guess she picked the findings (funny name for the metal into which the stone is set; the rest of their trade dictionary makes even less sense) for the finer pieces of stone. Didn't exchange more than two-three sentences.
Moyra, no clue what she was doing nor where, but I do remember I rolled a cigarette for her a couple of times, because she forgot to buy them in the morning on her side of the river, where they cost 2,80$ a pack, and 7,50$ on this, which is a bit steep even for her.
Akiv, something like the main trader, mostly sharing the vault office with Valerie. Once brought his kid to work, and of course the boy had to wear long curls dangling in front of his ears.
Mentions: A word from the author, 06-II-2004., 11-II-2004., 27-III-2004., 02-IV-2004., 08-IV-2004., 16-V-2004., 07-VI-2004., 16-VI-2004., 13-VII-2004., 24-VIII-2004., 27-VIII-2004., 12-IX-2004., 08-XI-2004., 23-XI-2004., 05-XII-2004., 01-I-2005., 09-I-2005., 22-I-2005., 05-II-2005., 07-VII-2005., 21-VII-2005., 22-VII-2005., 27-VII-2005., 30-IV-2006., 10-V-2006., 09-II-2007., 17-II-2007., 10-V-2007., Freedom!, 02-VIII-2007., 27-VI-2009., 20-I-2014., David Krakovski, DSS, sGradlj, Simon Buchs (Sima), Valerie Marceau, vojska, Yisaac Kwiatnik (Jüzek), zmajček, in serbian