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Comment by darreninthenet | Hacker News Reader

My (wealthy) father in law does this, he has a handful of people he can call upon day or night to do whatever he needs, anything from pick something up two hours away to put some additional overnight security on one of his sites/properties... most of them are ex-military Eastern European. I've no idea how he compensates them but they seem happy with him and stick around, and the couple I've spoken to over the years seem nice enough.

To be honest I wouldn't want to know more details, he's a dodgy fuck

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I think those kind of assistants are called henchmen ;-)

My father in law (not so wealthy), has a few people near his beach rental that will do various different things. Including one handyman who will help with whatever.

There are whole management companies who do this type of stuff for vacation rentals. I’d bet there are similar ones for rich people’s primary and secondary homes.

Estate/house managers are a very real thing, especially at the high end.

It can vary from basically part time concierge work (get the beds made, and make sure that the fridge is full when I arrive), all the way to full-time management of a property including managing additional full-time staff (maids, chefs, gardeners, etc).

I only brushed against it in being part of the yachting world, but it is fascinating how much money people like this absolutely blow away on making their lives slightly more convenient.

Don't even think about cheating on your wife

Startup idea: TaskRabbit but for ex-military Eastern Europeans who will do whatever a dodgy fuck wants.

HenchRabbit?

Executive Outcomes?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Outcomes

That's such a better movie title than name of a company

"Execute like a billionaire"

> My (wealthy) father in law

> I've no idea how he compensates them

I'm going to guess with a lot of money. That likely doesn't get reported to relevant tax authorities.

this sounds like the kind of thing you shouldn't post on the internet :)

Some years ago, I met a guy at a bar in New York who said that he was Donald Trump's personal courier. He rode a bike around the city, and he'd deliver things to Trump in person, who would always give him at least $100 cash on the spot. I didn't believe the guy's story, and it offended him. Maybe he was telling the truth.

This is not unbelievable. I don't even live in a coastal city and I still know a handful of active couriers. They're faster than drivers in congested areas and pretty much get a pass on all traffic control/regulation if they don't truly endanger pedestrians. Not to mention that they don't need parking, can carry their vehicles up stairs and into buildings etc.

Plenty of people know these guys exist and having someone known to you and reliable on speed dial is worthwhile. The $100 also makes sense because it isn't just a tip, it is the 'retainer' to make sure the calls get maximum priority.

Trump paying the courier is what makes the story unbelievable, tbh.

Further, if we take this story at face value, a "personal" courier, by definition, has no other clients to prioritize.

IIRC the climax of the merger deal described in /Barbarians at the Gate/ essentially comes down to a bike courier race between various offices in Manhattan as last-minute bid adjustments got ferried about. Makes me wonder what the value of the truly fastest bike courier in New York would be to some large investment bank/PE firm/whatever. I imagine they are massively underpaid compared to the value they provide.

SpiderMan should have got in to this business.

My father in law worked as a project manager for a locally big construction firm. Back in the 90s/00s they were basically sitting in a room with as many phones and fax machines as they could handle, with binders and Rolodexes of subcontractors spread around the tables.

Bid adjustments were a huge thing they had to optimize for and it created Seinfeld worthy situations.

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