I Know Where You Live!

I watched Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testify at the Impeachment Hearing last week and noted her response after being told about President Trump's TWEET about her. She responded "It's very intimidating."

Her response of feeling intimidated reminded me of an episode in my life about thirty-seven years ago. I worked in the commercial loan workout department of the biggest bank in Denver. Our customer was a Denver Police Detective and his wife. The couple borrowed money to purchase a business and later defaulted in payment. We seized and liquidated their business and later pressed to collect the balance of the loan. We had several meetings with the customer none of which produced any positive results. This time we were meeting with the borrowers and their attorney.

Just before we entered the conference room the detective approached me - he got inches away from me and said "I know where you live!". My phone number was unlisted. If he really knew where I lived, he would have had to do one of  those searches cops do using department equipment to find out something that had nothing to do with police business. Or he could have just made it up to get a rise of me. A few beats later he said something like "Gary, you look like you are about to have a heart attack." I remember exactly what I said:  "I don't get heart attacks. I give them!" I did not respond in a joking manner. This confrontation was real.

I was in my early 30s and stood 5'8" tall and weighed about 155 pounds. He was in his mid fifties, stood 6'2"  or so and probably weighed 250 pounds. This physically imposing man with a badge had attempted to intimidate me. It worked to some extent because I remember it and the words spoke so well. I assume he was accustomed to pushing people's buttons as a part of his job as a cop.

I did the same thing as he, except I was smaller in stature and intimidated everyone from the behind a desk in the biggest bank in town.

Size, power, position, and money can be very intimidating.