Andy’s older brother, Bob, was all right. He only visited the studio once in a while, and he was more of a fine artist than commercial. I don’t recall what he did when he was there, other than barrel down memory lane with Andy. He set a classroom on fire once, which seems like a positive thing to have on your resume.
Neither Glenn nor I were ever part of the conversation, other than to overhear them put people down while we continued to work.
I commissioned Bob a couple of times to paint cat portraits as birthday and anniversary presents for Penny. I don’t think the paintings cost more than $100 each. That’s a bargain for commissioned work. The third time I tried to hire him, he declined. Maybe he figured out Andy didn’t like me, or maybe he just didn't want to.
He and Andy talked about people in a way that made the others look small and stupid. I don’t typically enjoy that kind of talk, but when Bob did it, it was funny. I liked Bob and cut him slack. Had I liked Andy even a little bit, I might have cut him slack, too. Glenn was the same as Bob and Andy. I was the only one at the studio who liked people.
Most people. Not Andy. I generally don’t like people who don’t like me. You would think he wouldn’t have hired me three times if he didn’t like me, but you’d be wrong. I don’t even think I was all that good at what I was doing, and I certainly wasn’t motivated to put in extra effort or learn from him. Why did he hire and re-hire me? Was it sadism? Lack of better alternatives? I have no idea, but he kept bringing me back for more. I would have left if I had somewhere else to go.
I especially despised when he would mutter under his breath about whatever he didn’t like about what I was doing. I’d say, “what was that, Andy?” To which he’d respond with silence. That part was at least a little bit satisfying.
There was a time I liked Andy. After Suzi was born, we had a nice phone conversation about kids. That was the only time.
Soon after Suzi showed up, my hours for Andy dropped to almost zero. By then, he had moved his design studio into his home in Ojai, over an hour away. He didn’t want to be in LA for 9/11, Part Two, which he was sure was bound to happen. It didn’t, but I was glad to be rid of him. Losing those hours got me to commit to not working for Andy. I freelanced for one more prima donna art director before waving goodbye to graphics for good.
Everybody’s got at least one Andy in their life, somebody they’ve got nothing good to say about. But hopefully, whoever your Andy is, he’s got an older brother like Bob, because Bob’s all right by me.
Are you following me on Instagram? I’m not saying you should, but if you want to see what I’m like on camera, that’s usually where I hide the stuff I’m too embarrassed to put on here. It’s over at: @louisbkatz on Instagram.