A coffee for $3.50: Argentina is the most expensive country in Latin America

[Finance Prof]

@import export , but will his base stay loyal to him?

That is the million $ question. Argentines are a fickle bunch.

 

[earlyretirement]

@import export , but will his base stay loyal to him?

Things can change suddenly in Argentina. I have been through 6 Presidents in Argentina now. And one thing I learned is that Argentines can turn on you and very fast. I'm not even counting the time in 12 DAYS when Argentina had 5 Presidents. FIVE.

I had a big company in Buenos Aires many years ago. I formally owned the largest property management company in South America. We had a big operation. My offices occupied two entire floors of a building in Recoleta. Between my floors was ex President De la Rua. We had coffee often in my office as we struck up a friendship. A very nice guy. One of the biggest lessons he pushed on me was "They love you until they hate you".

It seems like that has been true for every single President since he gave me that advice. I'm not sure that Milei will be all that different. Time will tell.

 

[ben]

Things can change suddenly in Argentina. I have been through 6 Presidents in Argentina now. And one thing I learned is that Argentines can turn on you and very fast. I'm not even counting the time in 12 DAYS when Argentina had 5 Presidents. FIVE.

I had a big company in Buenos Aires many years ago. I formally owned the largest property management company in South America. We had a big operation. My offices occupied two entire floors of a building in Recoleta. Between my floors was ex President De la Rua. We had coffee often in my office as we struck up a friendship. A very nice guy. One of the biggest lessons he pushed on me was "They love you until they hate you".

It seems like that has been true for every single President since he gave me that advice. I'm not sure that Milei will be all that different. Time will tell.

You have been around a long time in BA. I remember staying in a few of your places when I first came to Buenos Aires. You always had the cutest check in staff! Then once I came to your office in Recoleta on Callao to pay the rest of my rental and everyone in your office was beautiful too! Did you only hire young gorgeous females? That is all I saw every time I came to your office or did a check-in. I thought smart business model.

 

[Johnny]

You have been around a long time in BA. I remember staying in a few of your places when I first came to Buenos Aires. You always had the cutest check in staff! Then once I came to your office in Recoleta on Callao to pay the rest of my rental and everyone in your office was beautiful too! Did you only hire young gorgeous females? That is all I saw every time I came to your office or did a check-in. I thought smart business model.

That is funny! Smart business model indeed. No wonder when I went to Guadalajara, his staff there is also cute. His staff in Puebla and also Cabo, Mexico. 🤣

 

[earlyretirement]

You have been around a long time in BA. I remember staying in a few of your places when I first came to Buenos Aires. You always had the cutest check in staff! Then once I came to your office in Recoleta on Callao to pay the rest of my rental and everyone in your office was beautiful too! Did you only hire young gorgeous females? That is all I saw every time I came to your office or did a check-in. I thought smart business model.

Hey @ben,

Wow I didn't know you were a former client. We were the only game in town for many years as I was the first that started doing short-term rentals in Buenos Aires in 2002. That's great that you used to stay with us. Funny about the young gorgeous girls. Honestly it wasn't on purpose. What happened is that part of my business model in the early days to combat corruption was only hiring people that someone on my staff knew personally. I figured that would cut down on fraud and also the terrible labor laws. I was warned about how terrible the labor laws were.

We had tremendous growth. One of my employees that I later made a Partner in my firm, Luciano was still finishing his last year at University when I started. So he was in school with tons of other University students. So the first few dozen employees were all friends and classmates of his. (And Argentine girls are very beautiful). So that is why we always had so many young and beautiful University aged girls. Most of my employees were females.

People always would joke with me that I only hired hot young beautiful girls. But now you know the story and I'm sticking to it. My then girlfriend (now wife) was also working for the company and she is beautiful too. But I had her on another floor of the building.

That is funny! Smart business model indeed. No wonder when I went to Guadalajara, his staff there is also cute. His staff in Puebla and also Cabo, Mexico. 🤣

Well Johnny, Lupita in GDL isn't young or cute. 😆 But all the other people it's just a coincidence I swear. In Puebla and Cabo too. Mexicans are also beautiful.

 

[Nasdaq]

Hey @ben,

Wow I didn't know you were a former client. We were the only game in town for many years as I was the first that started doing short-term rentals in Buenos Aires in 2002. That's great that you used to stay with us. Funny about the young gorgeous girls. Honestly it wasn't on purpose. What happened is that part of my business model in the early days to combat corruption was only hiring people that someone on my staff knew personally. I figured that would cut down on fraud and also the terrible labor laws. I was warned about how terrible the labor laws were.

We had tremendous growth. One of my employees that I later made a Partner in my firm, Luciano was still finishing his last year at University when I started. So he was in school with tons of other University students. So the first few dozen employees were all friends and classmates of his. (And Argentine girls are very beautiful). So that is why we always had so many young and beautiful University aged girls. Most of my employees were females.

People always would joke with me that I only hired hot young beautiful girls. But now you know the story and I'm sticking to it. My then girlfriend (now wife) was also working for the company and she is beautiful too. But I had her on another floor of the building.


Well Johnny, Lupita in GDL isn't young or cute. 😆 But all the other people it's just a coincidence I swear. In Puebla and Cabo too. Mexicans are also beautiful.

Great story. Thanks for sharing. As someone that has had a company with young beautiful females that can be a tough situation. Too much temptation. Did you have any policy against employees dating? In one of the companies I had it was young staff and lots of drama from interoffice dating and subsequent break ups.

 

[earlyretirement]

Great story. Thanks for sharing. As someone that has had a company with young beautiful females that can be a tough situation. Too much temptation. Did you have any policy against employees dating? In one of the companies I had it was young staff and lots of drama from interoffice dating and subsequent break ups.

Yes had its benefits but also the downside. No policy on dating employees/co-workers. Keep in mind that when I started the company I was still in my late 20's. So I did end up dating a few employees but very quickly decided that wasn't a good idea. Really we had a great culture. I had almost zero turnover the entire time I owned the company until it was acquired by a multi-national company 8 years later (which Airbnb would go on to acquire).

 

[MikeYoung]

Yes had its benefits but also the downside. No policy on dating employees/co-workers. Keep in mind that when I started the company I was still in my late 20's. So I did end up dating a few employees but very quickly decided that wasn't a good idea. Really we had a great culture. I had almost zero turnover the entire time I owned the company until it was acquired by a multi-national company 8 years later (which Airbnb would go on to acquire).

That would be too temping for me to be around college aged gorgeous girls all the time! I think it would be safer to have a policy in place! It sounds like a fun place to work.