JACKSONVILLE — I once did a job for Donald Trump. That is, my tiny little company once did a job for his giant casino business.
It was not a positive experience.
It was 1991, and I was working in a two-person ad agency outside Philadelphia. One day my partner and I had a call from a former colleague who'd taken a job with Trump Plaza Boardwalk. Dave told us the casino was planning a big advertising campaign and asked if we could create some radio commercials.
It was an amazing opportunity.
We began by studying the demographics of Trump Plaza customers. Like most casinos, the place catered to day trippers and weekenders from New York, Philly, and Baltimore - a mostly white, mostly middle-age, and mostly middle-class clientele.
Because so many of these folks grew up vacationing at the Jersey shore, we decided the Drifters' iconic song “Under the Boardwalk” would be the signature tune for our campaign.
Dave loved the idea, and within days we had a signed estimate in our hands: $3,000 to produce a demo tape.
Thus was born “Trump Plaza Boardwalk.” I wrote new lyrics while my partner worked with a jingle company to cut a demo. And it was awesome. Our version even had that little “switchy” sound at the opening (produced by a Latino instrument called the güiro), just like the original song.
Demo in hand, we drove down to Atlantic City to play it for the Trump team - and they also loved it. The next step was to negotiate for the rights to “Under The Boardwalk,” plan the final production, and bill Trump Plaza for the demo.
We sent our estimate and demo invoice to Trump Plaza, and we waited.
And waited.
* * *
Weeks passed. No payment. When we finally called Dave, he spoke about a temporary cash-flow problem. Nothing to worry about.
But we did worry - about losing the project, of course, but also about the $3,000 we paid out of pocket for the demo tape.
Finally, there was a call from Dave. He'd been let go. A lot of people had been let go.
Dave didn't know what was happening with Trump Plaza's marketing plans. He didn't know what was happening with our invoice.
When we phoned Trump Plaza about payment, a machine answered. And no one returned our calls.
Suddenly, the media was full of troubling stories. Reports of Trump Plaza contractors - builders, electricians, plumbers - not being paid for their work. There was talk of bankruptcy.
This was bad news for us. Three thousand dollars was a month's payroll. It was grocery money. Mortgage money. It was money we needed, so I kept sending invoices.
Sixty days.
Ninety days.
Nothing. Eventually, it became clear that our company was being sucked into the vortex of Trump's failure.
It was Chapter 11 time.
* * *
As Donald Trump has correctly noted, bankruptcy is an effective business tool. It lets corporations reorganize and stay afloat during tough financial times while protecting company owners from losing their personal assets.
Chapter 11 also helps companies refinance so they can renegotiate and pay off debts. These payments must follow a certain structure, with secured lenders at the top of the list and unsecured vendors and contractors near the bottom.
Which means that small vendors usually wind up getting pennies on the dollar - or, frequently, nothing at all.
In 1991, The New York Times estimated Trump Plaza's debt at close to $900 million. This was bad news. With debt like that, who was going to give our $3,000 invoice a second glance?
I knew we were just one of many businesses being stiffed, but that didn't make me less angry.
Especially because anyone could see that money was still rolling into Trump Plaza. Dealers were dealing, cocktails were flowing, slot machines were spinning, comedians were killing. And there was new financing, too.
Obviously, the Trump organization could have paid us. They just chose not to.
And why should they? Just because they'd promised to? Just because they signed an estimate?
I began to see that we could send bills to Trump Plaza forever, but no one was ever going to respond.
And what leverage did we have, after all? You can't dun someone with ethical arguments.
* **
When you declare bankruptcy and walk away from your debts, someone pays. But it's never been Donald Trump. After each of his many bankruptcies, Trump's lifestyle was barely affected. (I think he once had to sell a yacht.)
A lot of Trump's small creditors finally gave up on collecting payments. But I couldn't. It was a matter of principle - and survival.
So one morning, my partner and I got in the car and drove 75 miles to Atlantic City. We rode the elevator to the casino's accounting office and presented our invoice. I said we would not be leaving until we had a check in hand. And then we sat down and waited.
The accounting staff didn't know what to do. There was a closed-door conference. We waited.
Eventually, a man emerged and handed me a slip of paper. He explained that it might take some time to find our invoice, and in the meantime, how about if we enjoyed a complimentary meal downstairs at the Broadway Deli?
It was a long afternoon with a lot of corned beef, cole slaw, and fries. But to our relief, late in the afternoon, a clerk in the accounting office handed us a check. And the squeaky wheel got greased.
* * *
I think about this episode a lot these days, especially when I hear someone talk about what a great businessman Donald Trump is. “He really knows how to make money!” people gush.
And yeah, Trump does know how to make money, with his glitzy hotels and silly, narcissistic TV shows.
But he also knows how to lose money - big time, and repeatedly. You don't go into Chapter 11 four times unless you've made some terrible business decisions. And you don't hire people to do jobs for you and then cheat them unless you're a lousy businessman, or a jerk, or both.
I don't know why Trump's loutish behavior and low moral character seem admirable to so many Americans. But it's bad news for our nation. Because in any bankruptcy, financial or moral, someone eventually loses.
And if you think Donald Trump is a good guy and will be good for America, take it from me: He's not.
He's a venal, crude egomaniac with no moral compass. He'll swindle anyone to get what he wants. Trump's unique genius is that he's figured out how to screw people and then taunt them as “losers.”
We will soon find out who's a loser: Trump - or America.