MAKING PROGRESS… of sorts (Part 172m)
What are the odds of
something like that happening? We couldn’t decide if she was the
waitress that “Panda” had grabbed or was just so incensed that someone
had done such an act and was letting the perpetrators know about it.
Regardless, we all had had something to eat and another memory to add to
our collection. Back at the hotel, “Panda” made a tour of the place
looking for more wine but all he found was a mound of empty bottles. It
was well after midnight when we all gave up and headed for the stairs.
“Wick” and I let the others know we’d be on our way home right after we
woke up. I don’t remember the others sharing their plans but we all
agreed it had been good to catch up with each other.
I’d
suggested to “Wick” that we take the Southern route home. When Elle and I
were in college and would head home for the holidays I’d drive her and
her roommate back to school. Even though the roads were more congested
than the thruway, it was definitely quicker. “Wick” grew up just outside
the city and the thruway was right there for him. I told him there were
two great places to eat on the way he was all for it. The diner from
the night before was open when we drove past it in the morning and
“Wick” brought up not having paid the night before. I told him we better
not stop and ‘to let sleeping dogs lie…’ Leaving early on a Sunday
morning gave us the benefit of not having to fight the normal truck
traffic on that road which made it even better. We stopped at the first
of the two eateries, a truck stop. It was humongous… it could handle
over 100 trucks in the parking area. My father had once told me that
truck stops had the best food and we agreed that what had for breakfast
was really good. I drove the second part and it was to this other large
truck stop called “The Apple”, so named because it was right outside the
city limits. Even though it had only been a couple of hours since we’d
last eaten I convinced him the food was good enough to eat again. I’ve
written about a couple of stops that Elle and I’d made there at least
ten or more years earlier and it was exactly the same as back then.
Up
to that point we’d spent most of the time talking about the guys from
our class in the fraternity who hadn’t shown up for the reunion. There
had been 30 of us and we only had 13 who put in an appearance at the
hotel and wine tasting party. We tested ourselves trying to name all the
others. Then we went to naming all the brothers who were there when we
were initiated… and some of the ’tales’ their names elicited. Right from
the time “Wick’ had made his first call to me I’d been waiting for him
to ‘pitch’ his newly started business to me. Even when I showed up in
the parking lot where his office was located he’d not said much about
it. But, with a full belly and about three hours more to go he started
in as soon as we pulled out onto the highway. I vowed to be patient and
to listen. Actually, it was very interesting.
At the time we
graduated the process was very different than today. Corporate
recruiters would come on campus and interview those who were interested
in going into the business world. Those who were headed for medical or
law schools didn’t participate but the percentage of us who did was
somewhere around 70%. I didn’t because I was going off to race horses
but “Wick” did. His father had worked for IBM and that’s where he ended
up. After a few years he decided that wasn’t what he wanted so he quit.
But, when he went looking for a job had no idea on how to go about it.
After thinking about that and talking with some others in the same
situation came up with the seed of an idea. Long story short… with some
financial aid from his parents he was able to make contact with
personnel officers of some large corporations to find out just what it
was that they were looking for in not only a resume but in how the
applicant presented himself when an interview was granted. He came up
with any number of concepts. After culling through them decided on a
couple and had materials printed to be used in seminars he would offer
(for a fee) on how to get an interview and, eventually, a job. It took a
while to get ‘traction’ but when it appeared he was on the right path
expanded it and took on a few investors to expand the concept. As we
drove through the city he told me he now had three offices and was
looking to expand even further. When he himself opened the last one it
was so he could find “the right person”… and was hoping that I was the
one.
I will give him credit for this… he made a great
presentation. It was hard to not want to give it a try when he threw out
some of the ’numbers’. It appeared that he’d discovered a niche that no
one else had made a concerted effort to try to fill. His plan was to
have offices not in all the big cities but to place them in their
suburbs where most mid to high level corporate employees lived. The
thinking behind that was by running the classes at night those
interested could do it without jeopardizing their job positions by
taking time off. The target market was the higher paid corporate types
who could afford to pay the fees associated with the program. This was
in early 1969 and “Wick” was talking about me making upwards of $25,000 a
year. Compared to the $10,000 I was making it was an ‘eye opener’. He
was still ‘selling’ when we pulled into the parking lot at the site of
his office.
It’s hard to say exactly what was going through my
mind at that moment. I know I was waiting for “Wick” ‘close’ on the
offer but as to how I felt about it is hard to say. Back when I was
training the race horses, money was not the primary factor and it hadn’t
been when I started my banking career. But a potential increase of
$15,000 had me thinking for a few seconds. I mention it as seconds
because the next words out of his mouth changed everything. It would
only take an investment of $40,000 to get my franchise. I know my lower
jaw dropped when I heard that… and I know he saw it. As I sit here
typing this I can’t believe I didn’t laugh… but I didn’t. Where he got
the idea that I had that kind of money escaped me at the time. I wasn’t
expecting anything like that. I’ll admit to being naive and had thought
he would ask me to make an investment into his business but the term
“franchise” was a relatively new one at that time. As it turned out he
was far ahead of the times, but it wasn’t for me. To get out of the
situation I told him to send me some information and I’d look at it and
get back to him.
Arriving home and walking up the path to the
house I saw the back of two female heads sitting on the couch in the
den. There was no car other than mine in the driveway so I was puzzled. I
made straight for the den and got an answer to the mystery when I saw
Maddie, the daughter of the new owner of the house next door. She
proceeded to introduce me to her sister-in-law, Martha. Seeing the two
of them sitting side by side certainly put Martha in favorable light.
Maddie was short and sort of ‘dumpy’ whereas the other woman was slim,
and compared to Maddie, relatively attractive. My guess was that they
were similar in age but as I was doing my initial assessment of Martha
the two women got up to leave. I protested but it didn’t slow them down.
As they walked past me on the way to the door I made note of Martha’s
very nice, rounded backside and started thinking about what might be on
the horizon with Summer almost there.
To be continued…
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