Imagine, someone's giving private equity a bad name. (Tsk, tsk.)

Who among us hasn't done something petty and ridiculous, only to regret it a nanosecond (or two) later? A fit of pique. Or maybe just a fiteen of pique. 

It's been known to happen.

But most of our temporary sprees of insanity don't do all that much damage. 

Slamming the phone down on the customer service rep bot; kicking the whatever out of our way; realizing, while self-checking out, that you forgot to get what you came for, and tossing the can of soup you didn't come for onto the carton of eggs you didn't come for either, and tossing it so violently that you crack three of the eggs you didn't come for.

Mostly, no harm, no foul.

Mostly we feel a teensy tiny bit embarrassed that we lost it. If another person was on the receiving end, we may need to sheepishly apologize.

But most of these little episodes really aren't all that harmful, other than to the pride we hold that we're not the type of person who throws little shit fits.

Then there's Marc Wolpow.

I don't know Marc Wolpow, but he's a Boston big deal. He's a Wharton, Harvard B School, and Harvard Law alum. He worked for Bain Capital. He co-founded and heads a deep pocket private equity firm.  He's on the board of Children's Hospital, one of the most prestigious non-profit board seats in our little burg.

So, a fancy, credentialed, big buck kind of guy, Marc Wolpow.

And also, apparently, something of a jerk. At least on occasion.

Marc Wolpow's occasion occurred in October on Nantucket. That's when he:

...allegedly found an unknown boat in the slip he uses on Old North Wharf on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 16. Believing it should not have been tied up there, Walpow taped signs to the boat’s interior GPS screens that read “Parking By Permit Only. Violators Will Be Towed" and then untied the vessel, allowing it to float

free into the Easy Street Basin.

The 32-foot Hunt center-console boat - ironically named "Fair Play" - is worth approximately $500,000. After Wolpow untied it, the boat drifted dangerously past Steamboat Wharf, got pushed northward in the wash of the car ferry the M/V Woods Hole, then collided with the $5 million, 70-foot Viking sportfishing boat "El Jefe" causing damage to that vessel. It eventually ran aground near 22 Easton Street. (Source: Nantucket Current)

God knows, it's annoying when someone borrows or outright takes something that's yours, something that you were counting on. So, go forth and be annoyed.

But it's not as if Wolpow was trying to nose his own boat into a slip. His boat was already out of the water for the season.

He just saw someone had taken up occupancy in his unneeded space and went to town.

If Wolpow had taken a deep breath and asked someone, he would have found out that the person who'd temporarily tied the Fair Play up in Wolpow's slip had gotten permission to do so from the wharf co-op representative. Which is, according to everyone who is not Marc Wolpow, the chummy, clubby custom of those who slip their tubs in and out of Old North Wharf.

But Wolpow just saw that boat there, and he started seeing red. Presumably, Nantucket Red. 

Sure, Nantuckers do get riled up. But not riled up enough to actually do anything that could hurt someone else's pricey boat. 

“I’ve heard people threaten to untie someone’s boat a thousand times over the years, but this is the first time that I know of where somebody actually did so,” [Harbormaster Sheila] Lucey said. She declined to comment further on the incident.

Damage estimates are pretty high, as one might expect given that Fair Play is worth half-a-mil, and El Jefe is a $5 mil boat. Initial thoughts are a few thousand bucks worth of damage to Fair Play, maybe upwards of $100K to El Jefe.  

Which Wolpow can, of course, easily pay.

And it could have been a lot worse, of course. Someone and not just something could have gotten hurt. 

George Regan, a spokesman for Wolpow, said Tuesday that his client is sorry.

”Marc has apologized to everyone involved,” Regan said. “It’s no big deal. Everyone will be whole. He’s sorry and life moves on . . . it will never happen again.” (Source: Boston Globe)

I'm sure Marc Wolpow is sorry. And life, as it pretty much always does, moves on. But I'm not sure I completely agree with George Regan that "it's no big deal."

Wolpow has embarrassed himself in front of family, friends, colleagues, and fellow Nantucket boat types. Maybe the ones who really know him are saying "typical Marc." But maybe there are others who are wondering if this is a one-shot hiccup in an otherwise exemplary, buttoned down life, or whether a impetuous, snotty a-hole is who he truly is. If nothing else, while life will move on, Marc Wolpow will no doubt be the butt of plenty of jokes moving forward, which may be a bit uncomfortable making. 

On reflection, I do guess that Regan's right about it not being a big deal. I mean, it's not as if Marc Wolpow is giving private equity a bad name or anything...