Chapter 22

I could bore you with hundreds of details about all the wonderful things we ended up doing, but I won’t.

There was a simple reason our change from the old to the new was terrible. The new auto shows ended up better than anyone expected. My girls were burned out and we all had taken on more than we should have. All of them would have been awarded medals and commendations for heroic performance under fire.

In January of that next year, we started buying or contracting for the services of eleven other Ad agencies. We needed the people and coverage. Had we not booked at that preliminary meeting in Hong Kong, with the very large media concerns, it would have been a lot worse for us.

The war was on, and we were all in this for the duration. These were the ‘big leagues’, and we had partners, not clients. What we did was for the common good, not just to make a buck. Them were now us, family and friends as Orville used to say, (Or something like that. Love those pens buddy, every time you saw him in D.C. he handed out his special big pen to ‘Wright with’ he would say.)

Now things were almost stable. My old firm was being reviewed to acquire. They had submitted their CV of a sort, and had been informed they would stand for review by the selection committee before a decision was made.

I hated the ‘Snake’. I would have even overpaid to buy out my old employer, in order to make him suffer. Before that came to be I got invited to a lunch. MB, Honda and Toyota had a request. It was one of the only times I know of that they, together, had ever requested something from me.

The ‘baggage’ that McKenzie, Gordon and Wells would bring with it was not wanted. The decision, not to acquire them was made. It was a personal disappointment for me but a very small concession to make for the team.

Was I sad? Yep. My girls now seemed to be running everything without me. I guessed or assumed that now that we had consolidated so much, that advertising, promotion and transportation cost were stabilized. The projected cost savings were going more as predicted, but still were 5 to 6 months behind that first forecast.

My girls were going to leave me or get so wrapped up in running things that I would be forgotten, I just knew it. Maybe even Diane. After-all I did not bring much to the table compared to her now.

Kristi, now finished with high school, asked me one day, “Now?”

“Now what?”

“Now do we trash that bastard?”

I was becoming surrounded now, Diane led the charge and my girls, all of them asked that now burning question, “Can we go to Disney World after?”

“After what?”

“After we destroy McKenzie, Gordon and Wells.”

Remember when I commented that I would not ever make Diane upset with me? Kristi knew that long ago. She first spoke with Ginny, and then Erica, before they all both trapped Diane on the couch. The look on their faces said it all. They were both worthy of an award or two.

Diane asked, “What’s wrong my little peas in a pod, the ‘Green Giant’ turn you down?”

First Ginny, “Master is really sad, I think!”

Little (not), lovable Kristi just gave a smirk then said, “Yeah, but there is nothing we can do about it.”