To cut his housing cost, he moved from his trendy $2,300-month Chelsea apartment to a sublet in Hell’s Kitchen for $1,100 a month before moving to his current apartment in Jersey City, reducing his rent to $800 a month. A breakdown of his remaining monthly expenses includes $130 for his cell phone plan, $100 for public transportation, $200 for two gym memberships, $40 for his cable bill, $90 for his utilities and $500 for food, while his $800 medical premiums are paid by his dad. Whenever his finances come up short, he relies on his parents or his boyfriend to help make up the difference.
Munk’s downturn was not triggered by the current financial turmoil, but it does add to his anxiety, affecting his ability to take a risk.
“Everybody talks about how we’re entering a recession now,” Munk said. “But I have personally been in a recession for the past three years. To me, it’s been a really hard climb back, and I don’t know where it’s going.”
The old charisma lingers
In some ways, David Munk, our profile subject, is a shadow of his former music- executive self. But when he needed to make a sale in his new job as a clerk in a Chelsea boutique, his personality immediately changed, offering a glimpse of the charisma he used to manage high-profile clientele. He fluidly transitioned from dejected comments on the death of the music industry to smooth-talking a female Italian tourist. He launched a flurry of reasons for purchasing a new handbag, from the strength of the Euro to the quality of the design, and before I could digest his first argument, he had the woman out the door with a $700 leather bag.
Name your stereotype
I had a humorous exchange with David during our initial phone interview. He went on an hour-long rant about how, at 43, he was obsolete in the music industry and had been replaced by technologically savvy “Chinese 20-somethings.” Sensing irony, I told David that I fit that stereotype perfectly. In perhaps self-flagellation, he jokingly said that he knew all about stereotypes because he was a “gay Jewish guy.” Although not politically correct, the chat lightened the mood and made him more comfortable with our class project.
—Joseph Lin
Recently, Munk considered leaving his retail job to sell subscriptions for a new upscale gym on Astor Place in Manhattan. The job required him to canvas streets for prospective clients and, because his salary would have been commission-based, he had a chance to make much more than he did at his boutique. However, he ultimately turned down that job to keep his current one, citing fears that demand for gym memberships would be low because of the economic crisis.
“It’s stressful to walk into a situation like that where I know I’ll be pressured hugely to produce things that might not be feasible,” Munk said.
Despite his uncertain future and finances, he still feels blessed that he has left the music industry and its culture, which, he believes, promoted addiction and excessive consumption.
“I feel a little disillusioned right now, but not in a way that’s bitter,” Munk said.
Today, Munk prefers to keep things simple, often quoting his 12-step program’s mantra “life on life’s terms.”
“Maybe,” Munk said, “I’ll become a professor and teach students coping skills.”
