Chapter 24: Decisions

November 5, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"Steve, Dante is on line two," Kimmy announced from my door on Thursday morning.

I figured at some point he'd call, but whether it would be a good call or a bad call remained to be seen. We'd had a busy week with closing on the building and trying to get it ready for us to move in. This could either be a capstone on a good week, or a down point. I pressed the button on the phone and lifted the handset.

"Hi, Dante," I said. "What can I do for you?"

"Can we talk?" he said. "Face to face?"

That meant it was good. Otherwise, he'd be yelling, threatening, or telling me his lawyer was going to call.

"Of course. I can meet you anywhere you like."

"Shaw's Crab House for dinner. 6:00pm tonight. I have reservations."

"I'll be there," I said.

I got up and went to Julia's office, waving Dave and Elyse over.

"Dante just called. I'm having dinner with him tonight at Shaw's."

"Five bucks!" Dave said, holding out his hand to Elyse.

"Huh?" I said.

"I bet her he'd call before the end of the week. She said he wouldn't."

"I'll get it from my purse," Elyse said. "But I'm more than happy to pay up if Dante comes back. As much of a jackass as he is, we make good money from him."

"And we get some great experience solving his problems," Dave said. "Win him back, Steve."

"That's my goal, but it's up to him. There's a limit to what we can do."

"Be flexible," Elyse counseled, "But don't do anything silly."

"I'll do what I can. First, I'm going to listen. Then I'll decide how to proceed."

I went back to my desk and got back to work. At lunchtime, Elyse and I went home to eat and to take Jesse and Matthew on our usual walk. We met Carol, Francesca, and Frankie, and as they often did, Jesse and Francesca toddled off together. They liked to be away from us, and as long as we could see them, I was OK with it. Carol was nervous when they were more than about ten feet away, but Elyse had convinced her that it was OK.

"Dada?" Jesse called.

I got up and walked over to him.

"Yes, Jesse?"

"Jesse stay with Francesca?"

I thought about it and decided I could miss some work without risking any schedules.

"Sure, Jesse. We can stay for a bit."

"Thank you!"

I went back to where Carol and Elyse were sitting.

"Jesse wants to stay here," I said. "I told him that was OK. How long do you usually stay, Carol?"

"Until 1:30pm."

"OK. We'll stay until then. Elyse, it's up to you what you want to do."

"I can play hooky for a bit. Matthew's sound asleep, so he won't mind."

"He's making up for all the naps Jesse doesn't take."

We stayed until Carol left with her kids and then went home to drop off ours. Elyse stayed home to nurse Matthew, and I went back to the office. I had just settled in at my desk when Penny and Tasha came into the office. Penny came in and sat down at her computer, and Tasha came to the door.

"Steve, can we meet on Saturday about Professor Bannerman's class?"

"Sure, come for lunch," I said.

She smiled and went to her workstation.

"Lunch? Who's going to be eating whom?" Penny said in a quiet voice, and with a silly grin.

"Careful, Penelope, or I'll have to turn you over my knee!" I teased.

"Would you? Please?" she giggled.

"No! Now get to work!"

"No fun. Just no fun at all!" she muttered, turning to her keyboard.

I could only work for a couple of hours before I had to head home to dress and get ready for my dinner with Dante. I took a quick shower, put on a sport coat and tie, then, after kissing Kara goodbye, got in my car to head to the restaurant. After turning the Daytona over to the valet, I went inside to find Dante waiting at the bar. He offered me a drink, and I quickly weighed my drinking and driving rule against offending him, and decided that in the end, my rule was more important.

"I'll just have a Coke, please," I said. "I prefer not to drink at all when I'm driving."

"One drink is not going to put you over the limit!" he objected.

"Not the legal limit, it won't, but I'll draw the comparison to my wife, a doctor, who doesn't drink at all because she can't risk even being slightly impaired. And given the horrible accidents she's seen that were caused by alcohol, I think my personal rule is a good one. For me."

He frowned and shook his head, but ordered the Coke for me. We sipped our drinks in silence until our table was ready and we were seated. We perused the menus, and I ordered lobster bisque and surf-and-turf, while Dante ordered a salad and crab legs. He also ordered a glass of wine, and I simply asked for sparkling water, which caused him to shake his head again.

"Don't like teetotalers," he said.

"Oh, I'm not. I enjoy iced vodka with my Russian friends and bourbon with my American friends, but at home, when I don't have to drive. I smoke a pipe and cigars. I have my vices; I just limit them to the proper time and place, and stay within the limits to which my wife and I have agreed."

"Whipped," he sighed. "You let her tell you how to live your life?"

"Not at all. I know that smoking is bad for me. She just reminds me of what I already know."

"What do you drive?" he asked.

"A black Dodge Daytona Turbo Z. I've had it for about four years, since my black Trans Am was rear-ended and totaled."

"Shitty cars, both of those."

"They've been just fine, though I'll trade the Daytona on something more practical next Summer, especially with the growing family."

"One of those Chrysler shit-box mini-vans? A family car?" he asked with disdain.

"I don't know yet, but yes, a practical family car."

"What do you do with all your money? NIKA has to be making you a ton of it."

"Pay my staff very well and reinvest it in the business."

He shook his head, "Dumb. It's your company and your money. Never give it away!"

Mr. Dante Puccini and I were getting off on the wrong foot, but it was hard for me to avoid disagreeing with him and still talk to him. We had very, very different viewpoints, and I feared what he'd say if he found out about my very unconventional lifestyle. It dawned on me that he might actually give me credit for that, because he very much struck me as the unfaithful type, especially after his offer of a 'test drive' to Barbara.

The soup and salad arrived, and we began eating.

"So, what can I do for you?" I asked.

"I might have been a bit hasty last week," he said. "I want you to complete the project."

"As originally estimated, or with the changes that we proposed?"

"With the changes."

"We can do that, but you will have to sign the contract addendum with the limitations and exclusions."

"You're a real ass, you know that?"

I took a deep breath and let it out. It struck me that I could only make this work by pushing back on him and pointing out that we weren't doing anything that he wasn't.

"Maybe, but I suspect that you ask all your customers to sign contracts that limit your liability when they ask you to do something that's unique or special. And that you charge them appropriately for it."

After all, I didn't add, he had to pay for that ostentatious Ferrari. Personally, I'd have given my staff raises or put the money into profit sharing, or reinvested it, but as he said, it was his company and his money to do with as he pleased.

"So that's how this is going to be?"

"Dante, how can you, with a straight face, complain to me about how I run my company when you do the exact same thing?"

"Because I'm the customer!"

"And when YOUR customers say that to you, do you bend over for them?"

He actually laughed, which I took as a good sign.

"Hell no!"

"Then why should I? Have we not delivered on every commitment? In fact, we've offered to deliver things we didn't commit to because we've figured out how to do them. We're not even charging you for the research time, which, I'll point out, we probably should, all things being equal. I'm sure you do that. Right?"

"Yes," he answered grudgingly.

"And do you think that you are worth every single penny you charge your customers?"

"Of course!"

"Then why ask me to sell myself cheaply?"

We'd finished our salad and soup, and the waiter brought our main course. We ate with only a bit of small talk about the food, and when we finished, we ordered coffee.

"Do you want us to start working for you again? The terms and conditions will be exactly as we offered."

"Now who's bending whom over? Hmm?"

"We provide you with itemized invoices. Yes, there's some profit there, because I'm not running a charity. But you know what? Neither are you! If you can find someone who can do what we do at a lower price, with the same quality of work, and the same dogged determination to find solutions, I suggest you sign with them."

"You know damned well that I spent the last week trying. Don't play dumb with me."

I smiled, "I actually had no idea what you were doing because I didn't give it a second thought when you fired us. What you did at that point didn't matter one whit to me."

"Bullshit. I bet you threw a complete fit."

"Nope. Our team talked about it for five minutes, consulted with our attorney, and then moved on to other stuff. It's just business."

What I was implying was that he wasn't that important. He got the point, and I could tell that he was fuming. I didn't care, really. I was tired of Dante, and even though I was sure he was going to re-hire us, I wanted to put NIKA on the best possible footing, because I was sure he'd fire us again over some disagreement, real or imagined.

"You give up that easily?" he asked.

"Arguing with you wouldn't have changed your mind, and we have plenty of other work to do."

I was twisting the knife, and both Dante and I knew it.

"I'll sign the fucking paper and fax it to you tomorrow. I expect you to start working on the project immediately."

"I'll let Dave and Julia know," I said calmly. "We reassigned the resources, so Dave will have to let you know when we can start again."

"Immediately," he insisted.

"Dave will call you tomorrow. That's all I can promise right now."

"Motherfucker," he muttered.

I just let that go, because there wasn't any reasonable way to respond. We finished our coffee and Dante paid the check. We walked out of the restaurant and shook hands, and the valets brought our cars. I noticed that he'd driven a very high-end Mercedes and wondered just how many cars he had. But that was his business, not mine. I got into my Daytona and headed home.

November 6, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"Did you make ANY concessions?" Elyse asked during our business development meeting.

"No," I said. "I basically stood my ground, fought fire with fire, and he folded. Dave needs to call him this morning to arrange to start work again. We should have a fax from Dante saying that he wants us to complete the work sometime this morning."

"I already have it," Julia said. "It was on the machine when I came in at 8:00am. What concessions did you have to make?"

"None. Seriously. He was being a dick, and I called him on his bullshit. I think every time we were weak and accommodating, we made him think he can push us around. I told him flat out that if he could find someone else to do the work we do, he should sign with them. He spent the week trying to do that, to no avail. I'm surprised he hasn't called already."

"He did. Kimmy took three messages for me," Dave laughed.

"Are we SURE we want to do this?" Cindi asked.

"Why not?" Julia asked. "He signed the document we asked him to with no modifications, and the fax included a letter that reinstated us."

"It seems like he's more trouble than he's worth," she said.

"No way," Elyse said. "It's profitable work that keeps a programmer employed almost full-time. And Dave says that there's a lot more work that we can get from him."

"What about the resources?" I asked.

"I had Charlie working on something for Chris Gibson at Belarus, but she'll be done today," Dave said. "She can start working on Dante's stuff on Monday. That will delay a few other things, but we'll make do. I need another programmer, but my budget doesn't allow it."

Elyse had, during the Summer, implemented a budgeting system, which would be adjusted as revenues changed. She was a complete stickler for staying within budgets. We were no longer flying by the seat of our pants as we had been for the first couple of years.

"Any update on the construction in the new building?" I asked.

"We're still on target for moving the week of the 16th," Julia said. "We have a meeting on Monday with the contractor. Kimmy should have put it on your calendar. The best part is that our next Board meeting will be in the new building."

"Excellent!" I said. "Is my dad coming up?"

"He mentioned that he was bringing your mom so they could see Matthew and Jesse."

I sighed, "As long as they leave my brother at home, that's OK with me. I hope he's still at BGSU. Cindi, before I forget, you haven't told us how the presentations went at the East Coast Bar meetings."

"Just like they did here. I have a bunch of good leads for Mario and me. I'm going to hire another sales person; my budget will allow it."

"What about Cynthia?" I asked.

"She's still in school, so we can't hire her full time, unfortunately. I'll bring you my final candidate when I'm ready."

I nodded, "But Cynthia is working out OK?"

"She's made quite a few sales of the estimation and logistics software just by making phone calls. Zeke or Mario are doing the demos for her, because she has limited time. We're constrained in just about every position right now. Have you thought about loosening up on the reins a bit?"

"You mean using the middle forecast instead of the low one? No, especially with the mortgage on the new building and what we had to put down to get a better interest rate. We're just going to have to make it work within a budget based on those numbers."

"We are building quite a reserve," Elyse said. "Even with the outlay for the down payment."

"I know. But no. Cindi, if you want to bring it up to the Board, you're free to do that."

"And you'll follow their recommendation?"

"I have so far, but I'll oppose the proposal."

She smiled, "I'd expect nothing less! Too bad we can't place a good bet on it."

"And that's my signal to go back to my desk!" Dave laughed. "I know all about her bets from when we dated!"

Julia laughed just as hard, "Don't let him kid you. He makes those bets with ME now!"

Dave actually turned red! He shook his head and left the room without another word.

"You two ride him pretty hard," I chuckled.

"Well, SHE does!" Cindi laughed, nodding towards Julia.