re: 1981 Flashback: Lafayette has more millionaires per capita than any other place on earth

Just chiming in on the "gifts" one could acquire in late 70's early 80's in Laffy. Was at Lafayette Shooters applying for a PT job somewhere around 79, when a couple of company men or the like were checking out with a O&G fellow, completely outfitting him with duck hunting works. I mean shotgun, waders, jacket, shells, ALL of it. I was blown away. Unbeknownst to me, that kind of behavior would come to a screeching halt in the mid 80's and done by late 80's.

Wife was a controller for a small directional drilling firm in New Iberia and would tell stories about their guys turning in expense reports for high dollar cowboy boots, guns, etc. I however never benefitted the big stuff. Got to go to a number of kicks crawfish boils/fish Frys. Yes, Laffy in the early 80's was pretty cool.

Damn forgot about that. I didn't spend time offshore, but had a buddy that worked for Marathon. They were pretty strict regarding extracurricular activities lol.

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just for the sake of a zip code and private school,

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That is kinda my point. That mis why I brought up Abbeville.

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I’ve flown hookers to a lot the big O&G conventions during that time. Used to be a big one in Mobile. Would fly the hookers there, and there was a hooker reserved at the Hilton. Fly them back to Houston when it was over

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Sounds like the tarpon rodeo 365/24/7.

Very good point, he opened the door for outsourcing US jobs , allowing solvent companies to use bankruptcy as means to abrogate contracts, walk away from debt and start with a clean slate. Then typically frick things up again and end up in the same position.

This thread is a great example of how short sighted it is for people to laugh at oil/related companies when the price is in the tank. When the price is sustainable, that money trickles down a lot further than to just the service companies.

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This thread is a great example of how short sighted it is for people to laugh at oil/related companies when the price is in the tank. When the price is sustainable, that money trickles down a lot further than to just the service companies.

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Yep. One of my Dad's favorite sayings is that everyone in South LA, from the burger flippers at McDonalds to the Surgeons at Lourdes, works for the oil field.

May not be as true today, but it isn't far off.

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Yea, but we were talking about "in Lafayette"


If you live a little out of town, real estate comes down and it might give you some wiggle room.

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Just for the record, when I went through my diatribe about high schoolers going straight to oilfield and making a living to have single income, if you look I was making the statement about the industry and South Louisiana as a whole. Because I was replying regarding the “less educated” who may have blown through the money. Many who fall within that are more outside of City of Lafayette residents, at least these days.

Main point was that the industry is a blessing for the region in that it allows for someone out of high school to make a path for such a living and lifestyle, but a curse if those slumps aren’t planned for.

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With respect to your dad, that kind of over inflated view of self importance (oilfield,) is why people do sort of pile on when the oil patch is hurting.

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Given the context of 1980's - 1990's Lafayette, are you saying he's wrong?

I'd bet 90%+ of the $ circulating in Lafayette in that timeframe originated in a some hole in the Gulf of Mexico.

Could be wrong, I guess, but I'd like to hear where all of the other money is coming from.

offshore did not have party barges coming out...idk maybe in the marsh..did not work there...but we took things pretty serious out in the middle of the ocean....sure stuff happened ...

lots of gifts ...but the majors had a limit on the cost of the gift you could take(250 i think it was??) or times a week you could lunch with the same sales rep...

but yes lots of "stuff" happened ...i was a 21 year old kid signing off on 200k invoices for day work activity and recommending contracts for companies worth millions of dollars...