The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 75: A Safe Space

Episode Date: September 22, 2017

His personal proclivities seemed to trigger women – so he had to keep them a secret.

This is the way I heard it. Roy was not a pervert, nor was he a deviant. He was just a guy in a department store trying to consummate a simple transaction. But the lady behind the cash register was not convinced. Will there be anything else, sir, or will you be loitering for the rest of the evening? Behind the cashier's supercilious smile, a palpable wave of judgment informed her every move, Like the various clerks who had refused to answer his earlier questions, this woman stared down her nose at the man who had no business in this part of the store,

her withering gaze the very definition of disapprobation. Please, ma'am, just put it in the bag and I'll be on my way. Roy slid his credit card furtively across the counter. The cashier lifted his items into the air, inspecting them, displaying them, to the women in line behind him, I'm going to need to see some ID, sir. Two forms, if you please. Roy could feel the disapproval buffeting him from all sides,

as customers and employees collectively wondered how a degenerate had been allowed to creep into a reputable department store. Today, some might say that those women were triggered by Roy's presence, as well as his purchase. Others might say that Roy was in need of a safe space to explore his personal proclivities and peace. Alas, in 1977, there were no safe spaces for men like Roy. Perhaps if there had been a sanctuary of some kind, Roy would not be divorced 13 years later, or bankrupt, or publicly humiliated.

Maybe if Roy had kept his secret just a little longer. He wouldn't have found himself teetering on the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge on a cool August evening in 1993, staring through the fog into the swirling water, 250 feet below him. It's funny how shame sticks with you, even when there's really nothing to be ashamed of. On the ride home from his embarrassing encounter at the Women's Wear Department, back in 1977, Roy's Humpherson, Roy's humiliation had turned to anger, and his anger and to resolve. Surely he was not alone. Surely other men with similar predilections had suffered the same sanctimonious stares from disapproving clerks. That was the moment Roy resolved to push back, to build a safe space for men like him.

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Roy's idea required cash. So he borrowed $80,000, a lot of money back in 1977. Some of it went toward a lease in Palo Alto. Some went toward the hiring of cashiers and clerks with a more tolerant view of men like Roy. The rest went toward merchandise, inventory, insurance, advertising, all the other stuff that a new business needs to deal with. Well, Roy was right. He was not alone. and soon San Francisco gentlemen were flocking to his safe space, spending over $500,000 in the first year.

Year two was even better. Roy rolled out a catalog, leased more space, and hired more understanding clerks, clerks who would never judge a man for asking an indelicate question. But of course, sales and profits are two very different things, and even with revenue on the rise, Roy was bleeding cash. So when a man named Leslie Wexner offered Roy a million dollars to simply walk away from his idea, Roy took it. Back in 1982, a million dollars was a lot of money.

What happened next is the oldest story in the world. Roy used his windfall to start a brand new business, a business that led to a very public failure. A failure that led to a very public divorce, a divorce that led to a very public bankruptcy, a bankruptcy that led to a very long walk on a very foggy San Francisco night, which brings us back to the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, where a lonely and bankrupt entrepreneur named Roy Raymond contemplated the fortune that slipped through his fingers. No, not the million dollars he lost. after selling out. I'm talking about the money he lost because of the secret he failed to keep.

You see, Leslie Wexner, the man who purchased Roy's business in 1982, he didn't see Roy's idea as a safe space for men. He saw it as a place of empowerment for women. So Leslie Wexner made a few tweaks. And by 1993, just 10 years after Roy pocketed a cool million dollars, the safe space in Palo Alto was worth $2 billion. And back in 1993, $2 billion was a lot of money. Too much, perhaps, for Roy to live with losing. We'll never know for sure.

All we can say with certainty is that Roy, entered the ultimate safe space on August 26, 1993, because in the end, Roy Raymond couldn't keep a secret. A secret born from his awkward attempt to buy a sexy birthday present for his wife. A secret he named for a woman who understood that the most enticing fashions were always hidden just beneath the outer garments. a queen named Victoria, whose secret might have made Roy Raymond a multi-billionaire if only it hadn't sent him straight off the Golden Gate Bridge.

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