Chapter 26

Tuesday, November 9, 1976

The building we went to see on Tuesday morning was nice. I mean it was really nice. There was a large entry area with several chairs and a receptionist's desk. Behind the desk was the entry into the main set of offices. Off of one end of the reception area was a door leading to a conference room that would seat at least twenty people, and off the other end was a smaller conference room.

When you went through the door behind the receptionist's desk, there was a hallway that stretched along the whole back side of the reception area and the conference rooms. On the far side of the hallway were four executive offices. The two end ones were the largest.

Between the two middle offices was another hall that led on back to the bullpen.

This room had to be at least forty feet by sixty feet. There were two offices with floor to ceiling walls in the two back corners of the room. Men's and women's restrooms were in one of the front corners of the room.

We looked the place over carefully. I got into the maintenance closet and looked over the telephone and electrical distribution systems. Both seemed adequate. The plumbing was modern and all of the faucets and drains seemed to work fine.

We went into the larger conference room and took seats along the large conference table. We brought Cindi and John with us. John, because he appeared to be older than the rest of us, and Cindi because we thought we might need her for reading the people we were to be negotiating with.

Three men from the company we were going to buy the building from came in and introduced themselves. Only one of them, a Mr. Masters, did any talking. After they were seated, Masters looked at John and said, "It is a nice day outside. It might be better if the children played outside while we talk business."

Bonnie cracked up, and Thelma was almost as bad. Cindi and I sat there stoically. When Bonnie could quit laughing, she said, "Excuse me Mr. Masters. This is a family business, and we are a young looking family. I'm Bonnie Green. I'm the CEO of MBBS Enterprises. The young looking man over there is Michael Green. He's my son. He's also the President and Chairman of the Board of MBBS. The young lady beside me here is my sister, Thelma Richards. She's the COO of MBBS. You've met Mr. Salyers. The only child here is Cindi. She has an IQ that's off the charts, and could probably teach you a few things about business."

<Way to go Bonnie. Get them flustered to start with. It can only help when we get down to business.>

<My thoughts exactly.>

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Green. I had no idea. You all look so young. I'd have thought you were seventeen or eighteen at the most."

"We'll take it as a compliment, Mr. Masters. Now can we talk business?"

"Certainly. Do you have any questions about the place to start with?"

Bonnie looked at me and I nodded. "Yes Mr. Masters. We'd like to see your gas, electric, water and sewage bills for the last year if we may. We'd also like to know how many phone lines there are coming in, and what amperage the electrical service is rated at," I said.

While I was talking one of the side boys was digging in a folder, pulling out the utility bills. "We had three lines installed Mr. Green, but there are provisions for six more if you need them. The electrical hookup is rated at 200 amps."

I handed the utility bills to Thelma and she wrote down the amounts.

"How much are you asking for the place?" Bonnie asked him.

"We'll need $250,000 for it."

"Are the furnishings included?"

"No, I'm afraid not. We'll be moving them out within the week."

<They'll take $125,000, Bonnie, > Cindi informed us.

"I'm afraid we don't have much to talk about them, Mr. Masters. We're looking at another building as well. I don't like the layout of it as well as I like this one, but we can get it for a hundred thousand."

"Oh, we couldn't possibly go that low, Mrs. Green. We might be able to make a few concessions, but it wouldn't be anything like that."

"Okay, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll give you $125,000 cash in hand, today, but we'll require you to leave the furnishings."

"No can do, Mrs. Green. The best we could do is $175,000 if you want the furniture."

Bonnie smiled. She knew she had him now. "I'll meet you in the middle. $150,000. We keep the furniture, and we close next Monday with immediate occupancy."

Masters looked at the other two men on his side of the table then said, "Could you folks excuse us for a moment?"

We agreed we could, so the three of them left the room. <You could have gotten it for less, > Cindi told us.

<Cindi, you should always leave the other person feeling like they got the better of the deal. That way there's no hard feelings.>

They were only gone a few minutes, and when they came back in they were smiling. "Mrs. Green, we have a deal," Masters said.

"Okay, we'll have our attorney do a title search. It shouldn't take over a couple of days. We will be ready to close on Monday. You will need to have all of your files, and anything personal removed at that time."

"That isn't a problem. Everything has been removed already. If you'd like to get in to take measurements, or anything like that we can give you a key now."

"I'd like that very much, Mr. Masters. I would like to bring in the rest of the family to look it over, and maybe bring in a painter to get names put on the offices."

Masters handed over a set of keys and told Bonnie where each of them were used. "Would you like a deposit, Mr. Masters? I'll gladly get a certified check for say 20% right now, if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary, Mrs. Green. I know your company is good for it. What do you say to closing right here at 10:00 AM on Monday?"

"That will be fine, Mr. Masters. I think we're going to look around a little before we take off. We'll see you on Monday."

We shook hands all around, and the three men left the building. We did a little more exploring and found a unisex bathroom off the reception area, which greatly relieved Bonnie.

We took a closer look in the executive offices and were duly impressed. The furniture was excellent, and the offices were large. The end offices were especially nice, as they took in the width of the hall as well.

We had a discussion about who got what office. I said I didn't need one, but Bonnie and Thelma were adamant. I ended up with one of the end offices and Bonnie got the other one. Thelma was to be beside Bonnie, and John was to be beside me, since there was a safe in the office that was to be his.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "Here's what I want on the frosted glass doors. On my office it will say, 'B. S. Green, CEO'. On Thelma's office it will say, 'T. A. Richards, COO'. On your office it will say, 'J. E. Salyers, CFO'. On Mike's office it will say, 'M. A. Green, HMFIC'."

"Bonnie... , Mrs. Green, you said I was going to be the comptroller, not the Chief Financial Officer."

"Bonnie is what I answer to, John. I changed my mind. Different title, same pay, same duties. When the duties become more than you want to handle, we'll hire a comptroller. Until then, you're both."

"Okay Bonnie. If that's what you want. What about Mike's title. What does 'HMFIC' stand for?"

"That's something I'm not going to give out John. If anyone asks, just tell them you don't know. It's kind of a family joke."

"Okay, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get."

"John, we are also going to want you to contact a builder. We are going to need an office for the Personnel Manager, and I think we'll probably want one for a spare as well. If you could talk to someone and get an estimate for putting one office on either side of that hallway that runs between the offices, that would be perfect. Make them extend out into the big room and make them about twelve by twelve. Does that sound about right?"

"I was wondering about that. Yes that makes sense. I know a builder who can probably handle it with no problem. He's just getting started again after being off for a while due to a serious accident."

I knew what 'HMFIC' stood for and I was very pleased. Thelma and Cindi were in the dark though, so when we were in the car headed home Thelma asked, "So Bonnie, do I get let in on the family joke? What does 'HMFIC' stand for?"

Bonnie and I cracked up. "It stands for 'Head Mother Fucker In Charge'," She told her. "Kind of appropriate, don't you think?"

Now Thelma and Cindi broke up. They giggled on and off all the way home. They even had to tell the rest of the family before we got there.

When we got in the house, Sharon walked up to me and said, "Well if it isn't the HMFIC."

That started everyone off again.

Missy was going to spend the afternoon studying. Sharon, Bonnie, Thelma, and Beth decided they'd like to go in to the new building and do some snooping.

<Bonnie, I think Cindi and I are going to school. Just to let you know what we're up to. Would you like to do that Cindi?>

<What are we going to do at school, Mike?> Cindi asked.

<I'd like to know that myself, > Bonnie told me.

<We're going to go in, invisible, and see if we can get away with it. I'd like to do a little exploring and see what kind of obstacles we're going to run into.>

<Okay Mike. I know it has to be done, so be careful. Do you need anyone else to come with you?>

<No, but I would like to borrow Missy's car if I could Missy. No one knows it there at school.>

<Not a problem Mike, > Missy said, handing me the keys. <Just don't get caught.>

<I don't plan to Honey, and I will have our secret weapon with me.>

<Our secret weapon?> Bonnie asked.

<Cindi, > I said.

No one even laughed.

As we were driving to school, Cindi asked, <Mike, are we going in the boys shower room?>

<Yes, I think we need to.>

<Are there going to be boys in there taking a shower?>

<Yes, we need to go in just like we're going to do it when we take the pictures.>

<Oh goody! I get to see a lot of naked boys! Bonnie, I'm going to see a lot of naked boys!>

<I know Cindi, > Bonnie answered, <But after seeing Mike naked, you're going to be disappointed with the equipment the boys have.>