Several contributors to this thread have genuine intentions of being helpful and I will try to respond & attempt to explain my intent.
I think it may be helpful to include some context,
I am not active in any other social media, and my attempts to comprehend how to operate electronic equipment, even my mobile phone - is tragic.
I check my mobile phone message perhaps twice a year. obviously I do not text.
I am the person least capable of navigating technology , equipment and functions.
I do not find that my life is lacking by my choice to limit my reliance on this technology.
The entire reason I initially joined this group was to warn wine lovers & collectors about Premier Cru & John Fox.
Wow, was a surprised by the level and nature of vicious attacks that generated.
The acquisitions were shocking - "William should make it clear he is stating these comments because he is a competitor of Fox." "William should show proof of his claims."
Oh my, and all of the people who vouched for there successful purchases with Fox.
Well everything is still available on this site and anyone interested in the level of exchange can go back and read how angry and incorrect the accusations directed at me - .
Of course later when it all came out, how the tone changed that people āall knewā¦ā
I was pleased how many nice emails (sent directly to me) I recād from members who explained that the conversation is dominated by the group of people who will aggressively attack - and are mean.
I had heard of the meanness the social sites on the internet were attracting and now I experienced it personally and was now forewarned.
So I learned I needed to be far more protective of what I share.
Iāve met many really decent, bright, thoughtful, genuine people and felt so pleased that such a community exists.
Iāve met people who genuinely want to share and want to help and that this is a good forum for that kind of exchange - particularly when it comes to wine.
Iāve recād an enormous amount of help that was tangible and was put to use.
After 30 years in a house we moved to a condo and I needed to purchase something to store wine in the apartment.
The experience, recommendations & information offered to me from strangers who genuinely only wanted to help - led to my purchase of a wonderful EURO CAVE unit for my apartment.
Just recently a client of mine made a last moment request, he wanted to have a wine tasting in his Maryland Estate, and could I supply a Sommelier in 2 days! To show up prepared to discuss 14 different wines from COLGIN to 2005 Ch. Latour.
Some Berserker member told someone who told someone and I recād an email from Tim OāHare - who has a school in the area, conducts classes and was willing to drive out to the home and conduct a lovely evening - the next day which my client said was perfect.
Another client of mine is looking to build a wine cellar suited for a very high end person, I recād several referral names. One of the names was someone who happens to be building the custom cellar of another client of mine and it fell into place and I was comfortable to put the parties together.
- Once I reached out to a medical specialist whose specialty is a part of my body that Iāve issues with and this Doctor could not be more welcoming, extending and gracious.
Iām certain the list goes on and on, and similarly Iāve offered help to other when I would see an oppty to extend help.
And Iāve learned to make use of the COMMERCE CORNER section for requests from our clients of wines that we do not import or represent - that are sold āwinery-directā.
Iāve never felt that I should go into a lengthy introduction about our business, what we do, how we do it, why we do some of the things we do. This is not the place for that. Yet, it is common that members frequently make assumptions about our business.
And frequently the assumptions are mistaken. The most common mistake is that - we are a store. And then I am given advice, directions or incriminations about what we should be doing because we are a store - retailer.
It is a pet peeve of mine to receive more than advice, declarations with certainty of what our business should be doing, without the party being aware of our staff, licenses, limitations, agreements, goals, plans, covenants, and the dozens of other issues that would affect our thinking.
I expect this post will incur lots of replies that would be far better to save for a conversation.
It is frustrating for me to receive replies from obviously bright people, and people who care, who assume they have enough information to reply with certainty.
However, these replies are without the facts that I see no reason to supply - I thought it was interesting that after a shipment has been received and weāve moved the wine on to our client in No. California - months have gone by and the shipper thought to himself, 'hey, 4 pallets of wine from Bordeaux to No. Cal. is now going for XXX, and we only charged Gladstone 2 X, letās go get some more money for that shipment. " And he applied the same logic to another shipment coming to Hawaii of many more pallets. Pallets that had been delivered and invoiced. Wines we had already invoiced our clients for.
Given the current supply chain issues I thought it was interesting, just like some of the other folks who mentioned what happened to their shipping charges.
The person with the 5X upcharge on Sake, and the other stories.
I was not seeking advice. I was sharing.
I do really appreciate all of the good intention people who want to help. And so many people have been a great help.
and I really feel blessed to have the oppty to have the W.B. group to turn to.
There are an awful lot of really good folks on W.B. who would like to help.
And I am mindful of the people who are hiding, and some are mean, i am aware that some of my competitors are members here and have taken the oppty to do harm if they can.
And just nasty people whose emotions in this era are turned up so high.
During the entire PREMIER CRU/ John Fox fiasco , there were members of this board, who contacted the authorities in Hawaii to see if they could file formal complaints about me with the Liquor commission.
There is an entire other path to this, which was ALMOST ENTIRELY MISSED - and I only saw one response on that level, it seems like one or 2 people, like Mark Golodetz, picked up on the Jewish humor to what I was putting out. Iāve 30 some years as a New York Jew, and comedy was an important aspect of my life.
I was very involved in the Humor clubs and conferences when I lived in NYC. I had a something of a friendship with Jackie Mason,
over the years my dear friend owned 2 tiny little hole in the wall comedy clubs - and Joy Behar and Susie Essman and others would come up to my apartment after the club closed at 2 AM.
It was my friends club that Larry walked up on stage one night and looking at the audience, he studied the audience and said āYea, nah, I donāt think soā and he walked offā¦
I apologize, Iām not going back to check and fix all of my grammatical errors.