David Riordan, Post-Recession Renaissance Man
He once conquered the commodities market and got rich in real estate. Now he’s a cab driver, coffee salesman and ghost tour guide—and mastering every role.
On a warm Thursday evening, an upturned, black top hat rests on the bar where David Riordan is perched on a stool, watching the door for customers. He’s expecting twenty people, give or take, a small crowd compared to his forty-person-plus Saturday night sessions.
“I’m getting a little sick of it,” he whispers. “It’s the end of the season.”
Spotting the Riordan Tours logo embroidered on his black polo, a woman approaches. “Your group here for the tour?” Riordan asks. She’s alone, she answers, visiting from Colorado.
“Where?” he asks, and she demurs, explaining it’s a small town. “I am intimately familiar with Colorado,” Riordan insists. “I sell coffee to people in Colorado.”
He used to sell real estate to millionaires in Spain. Before that, wheat futures to buyers on the commodities market. But the recession was not kind to Riordan. Now, at fifty-three, he works in customer service in his family’s native St. Louis, driving a cab on the side for extra cash. And at n…
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