Getting Workaholics to Stop and Recharge

They say you reap what you sow, but here at the Hate Read, we just reap and reap and reap. We leave the sowing to New York's one-percenters who busily sow the soil around us with bad taste, astonishing levels of self-regard, and obliviousness to others' pain and suffering. And apropos of pain and suffering, this week brings another chapter in the high-level collusion between so-called "doctors" (i.e., dermatologists) and model-actresses and financiers to ease their pain.

First, we have seen the work of aspiring journalist Paul Sullivan before on snagging high-end restaurant reservations, so it is good to see we're in the hands of someone who cares about the interior spaces of his subjects. To wit, he begins with short profiles of different real estate/medical potentates' self-care routines. First, Anthony Hitt, a "luxury property company" executive:

Anthony Hitt, chief executive of Engel & Völkers North America, a luxury property company, spends at least one week each quarter at his home in Maui, Hawaii. At this point, three years into the top job, he said he talks to his top lieutenants only 15 minutes a day when he’s there. The rest of the time he reads, practices yoga, rides his bicycle or otherwise tries to disconnect from the responsibilities of his job 

“My vacations are so low-key,” he said. “I try not to think, ‘What about this or what is the solution to that?’”

We salute Mr. Hitt for not thinking too hard--we're afraid of what would happen if he did. While the Times helpfully links to "yoga" in the above and a litany of stories on downward dog poses, it fails to link to Mr. Hitt's personal blog, whose last entry, dated December 31, 2014, listed his resolutions for 2015, including the all-important: "I will NOT forget that this real estate market will pass - and so will the next good or bad one." Good advice for us all. From your lips to Goldman Sachs' ears.

Next, Mr. Sullivan profiles Dr. Judith Hellman who bravely sticks to the surface of things:

Judith Hellman, a dermatologist in private practice and an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, has a mix of strategies to disconnect from the demands of her patients. Trained as a classical pianist, Dr. Hellman likes to play jazz on the piano in her apartment. She swims (in the shade, of course). She writes poetry, though she has no illusions about its quality.

And she takes off at least four weeks a year — next month it is scuba diving in Israel — and asks her patients to contact her only if it’s a true emergency.

What would be a true emergency for Dr. Hellman or her patients? This is a tough nut to crack as we're clearly in the hands of a narcissist writ large and as she'll have you know on her website, the mother of a musical prodigy. But finally, Mr. Sullivan hits us with the real story. People are overworked! Who knew?

People in the United States are taking less time off than at any point in the last 40 years, according to data cited this year in The New York Times. Responses to one online questionnaire indicated that a majority of Americans do not use all of their paid vacation.

It's hard to Hate Read the fact that Americans have the least paid vacation in the world. It's okay, the Times won't lead us astray yet, or it will lead us astray. Not sure exactly what the point is now. Back to previously overworked Mr. Hitt:

Mr. Hitt said that when he first became chief executive, he used to get up at 4 a.m. while on vacation to call people in Germany and New York, logging in hours before anyone else in Maui was awake. Now, he said, he has a great team and is comfortable relaxing. 

“It’s something that’s taken me a long time to get to,” said Mr. Hitt, just back from Maui. “I’m someone who likes to be in charge.”

Poor baby. He was made to work! From Maui! Now he's only in charge 48 weeks a year. Must be rough. But the beauty of Mr. Sullivan's articles is that he captures human frailty, not just human frivolity. In fact, frivolity and frailty are really two sides of the same coin, n'est pa?

Mr. Hitt said he was hesitant to admit it but his business runs fine when he’s not there. “There is no negative cost associated with me being gone, which is not what most C.E.O.s want to say,” he said, adding: “When I come back I have that 30,000-, 50,000-foot view that goes away in the few months between those visits.”

The gigantic phallus of Mr. Hitt's ego stands unassailed and we can all breathe a sigh of relieve. However, the real coup de grace is Mr. Sullivan's discovery of cryotherapy (apparently *not* weeping therapy) and Anastasia Garvey, runner up to Miss UK 2012 and, we project, a future Real Housewife. 

While Anastasia Garvey, an actress and model, doesn’t have office pressure, she says she is constantly on edge wondering if she’ll get a certain job. She has developed a regimen of ways to disconnect: meditation, acupuncture, cupping therapy, monthly trips to a reservation-only spa and most recently cryotherapy — as in spending some time being blasted by air cooled to minus 260 degrees. 

It only lasts three minutes, plus time to warm up again on a stationary bike, but it costs $90 a session, she said. She goes three times a week.

“The first time I did it I couldn’t remember my name,” she said. “You’re in a freezer. You’re so cold you can’t think of anything.”

We imagine this is a skill that comes in handy in her trade--forgetting her own name, that is. And while cryotherapy will set you and Ms. Garvey back $14,000 a year, now that SoulCycle is going public, spending $5,000 on a thrice-weekly regimen a year on a company whose stock any chicken plucker can soon buy, is hardly exclusive anymore. Pity the rich, but pity us more.

This is someone who can't remember her name