Saturday, April 30, 2005
a series of FORTUNATE events
Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays were interesting days. I call them "fortunate days" or a series of FORTUNATE events. Where do I start?
Its summer and the days are hot. I mean steam bath hot! You can just stand there out of the sun and sweat. The little wind that blows your way is hot too. Whats a gurl to do? Wednesday was like any other Wednesday except that i was getting slowly pissed off. Let me explain.
About 4 weeks ago, an American guy named Gary approached me and my team at Powernet to propose something. He's the same Gary who offered to take PowerNet off my hands when Dad died 3 years ago. I told him very politely to go stick his finger up his ass and jump into the polluted Pasig river. In fact, I did it so politely, he kept in touch. This 57 year old American guy is shacking up or banging his underling by the name of Len who happens to be separated from her husband. Gary used to be President for Asia Pacific of a company called E. E does everything Cisco does but as E claims more securely and better.
You see Dad left us PowerNet when he died 3 years ago. We never knew about the company. He organized it because he was bored. Funny thing though, the company is into providing network solutions but Dad didn't have any inkling how to operate a computer. He already has trouble operating his mobile phone!
We didn't know what to do with this company. It was in pretty bad shape and we (siblings) didn't know a thing about this business. Anyway, Dad threw like P20M into that company and it was still bleeding. Thats when Gary proposed to take it off our hands for nothing and we gotta pay him something for taking the company out of our hands. Well, Daddy didn't raise us to be fools. So politely and ever so diplomatically, told him to jump into the PaSIg river.
Three years later and he comes around again. This time he's a bit more aggressive, arrogant, obnoxious and sleazy. He went through my Head of Sales, Mary to arrange this meeting. You see Mary used to work for him. Mary is a good good friend of his concubine Len. Mary gave me an idea of what the meeting was all about. So we met. Mary, Carl (Head of my Technical Support) and I with Gary and Len.
Gary starts off by telling us that they'll become our competitors since E will appoint them as a distributor/reseller/agent of E. But he does not want to compete with us. He wants to be part of our company by merging his new company with us. So we listen to his proposal. I could not help but raise my eyebrows a few notches because all that they (GAry and Len)talked about was how good they are. I think Len noticed my eyebrow emitting some sort of signal and made a comment to Mary. My ever loyal Mary (and she is loyal and a jewel to boot) defended my eyebrow raise. I could also tell that Carl (my ever loyal, brilliant tech head) was kinda uncomfortable listening to hot air. The day was hot and the air emanating from their mouths was hotter.
Gary tells us that Andres of E (his former underling) was coming to Manila to meet clients and the Philippines is his territory. GAry also says that Andres will appoint them as our competitor. I asked for a meeting with Andres. Len pushes for a meeting and GAry hems and haws and finally agrees to having Andres meet little moi. Alarm bells though were ringing through my head.
The following week, we (Carl, Mary and I) met up with Andres and Gary. Len, the concubine, joined us later. Andres just confirmed what Gary told us and gave his hot air a semblance of credibility. I needed time though to think this through. I agreed to a meet though with GAry the following Monday, at the Pen, where we could talk more about this merger. In the meantime, I asked Mary to set up a meet with the other reseller, Jon and his wife Susan.
I met GAry at the Pen the following Monday. He proceeds to propose an Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and talks more about how great they are and that their greatness will be transferred to our company and together, we will be great. Then he did something I didn't like. He said bad things about PowerNet and disparages my Mary and my Carl. Now that got my bood boiling. But I am also a gifted actor. Oscar quality actor. I played it cool and my used the best poker face I could muster. I was surprisingly friendly and pleasant. Charming to say the least. But inside, I wanted to wring that old man's neck and send him to paradise.
I called a meeting with my Carl and my Mary. In that meeting, Mary and Carl didn't want to merge with GAry. So I again asked Mary to arrange a meet with Jon and Susan on Friday. Meantime, Carl was surfing Google.
That day as I was sweating out my hatred in the gym, Carl rang me up. Told me to go to Google and he was so excited. He found the leverage we needed to put that asshole out of business. When I got home, I surfed Google. GARY PLEAD GUILTY TO 1 COUNT OF FRAUD AND HE WAS FIRED BY E! I now had the leverage I needed. I slept so well that night.
I met up with Jon and Susan that Friday. Jon and I get along pretty well and we talked about E, GAry and Andres. He was also approached by Gary and he turned him down. He was surprise about the info on Gary. We both concluded that we had to take Gary and Len, the concubine out of business. So we made a plan of action.
The following week, I fired off an email to Andres expressing my concern about E appointing someone with a criminal conviction and a former executive who was fired. It was a hot email and I expected an answer. But no answer came. I fired off a SMS message and Andres told me that he can't access his email since he's in Vietnam and there is something wrong with the system.
So I waited the following week. When Tuesday came around and still no answer from Andres, I fired off 2 emails. 1st email was sent to Gary the criminal and Len the concubine declining to do any business with them. The 2nd email requesting Andres to answer my email.
That brings me to Wednesday. Apparently, Andres calls Len up to inform her about my email to him. Len reacts by calling on Jon to find an ally against little moi. Jon answer her frankly and tells her that he's on my side and wants both of them out of business in this country. He then proceeds to put the fear of God into her by telling her that I am a very bad enemy. I am so powerful and influencial (charing! LOL) that I can have her man of her dreams and love of her life deported and banned from the Philippines. He then tells her that he'd rather have her and Gary as his enemy than moi. He so throughly terrorizes her that Mary calls me that GAry wants to speak to me. Mary tells me that GAry sounds terrified.
So I tell Mary to have Gary call me. Gary the low life goes even lower. He tries to appease me by changing the story of what he wants. He tries to convince me that I misunderstood everything he said and that he's not involve anymore and its Len's company. So I told him in a very undiplomatic tone to shove a sausage up his ass.
That evening, I tell Andres to answer my email or else I send an email to his boss exposing his shenannigans.
Thursday comes around and as I was getting ready to leave for that ebiz conference in Punta Fuego, I fired off an email to Carl to send my email to Andres boss if I dont hear from him.
Off I go to Punta Fuego. I was looking forward to this conference since I've never been in one and that I really wanted to do the outdoor activity. Of course, when the conference I started I made my mark questioning the sensibility of an exclusive outlet scheme. Then the outdoor activity started. Surprise surprise, I was made a tribal chief. My group made me the leader. We went through the activities. We placed 3rd in the 1st game (out of 4 tribes), last in the 2nd game, 3rd again in the 4th game and won the last game which was the biggest game of them all!
As we went back to the casitas to get ready for the gala night, I retrieved my phone and saw 23 missed calls from Mary. Mary tells me that Andres has been frantically been looking for me. He wants to talk to me. I smell blood and victory!
Andres calls me and starts to mouth Gary's line about Len really is the company etc. I cut him off and told him to go jump into the Pasig river because his story is so pathetic and I'm not buying it. I told him that E will withdraw the appointment of Gary and Len and that they will deal with moi and Jon or else it reaches his boss. I've never seen a grown man capitulate so fast. Andres ended the call by promising to support moi.
I had a pretty nice time at the gala night. My worries were over. I got what I wanted and crushed an insect. God that feels good!
The next day, I didn't expect the unexpected. Our tribe was voted the best tribe of the activities!
Off I go to Tagaytay to join Mom, Sis and bro in law at Tito Willy's place for lunch. Tito Willy, a 1st cousin of Mom is my favorite uncle. He's gay and he's a widow. His long time lover, Jean Louie was killed by a holdup man in 1987. They've been together for more than 20 years. He's fun, witty and intelligent. And he has good food.
Those past 3 days were good days. But not all my days will be good days. At least, or now, I am on a natural high.
(For A: Concubine can be used endearingly or derogatory. For Len, its derogatory, for A its endearing).
Its summer and the days are hot. I mean steam bath hot! You can just stand there out of the sun and sweat. The little wind that blows your way is hot too. Whats a gurl to do? Wednesday was like any other Wednesday except that i was getting slowly pissed off. Let me explain.
About 4 weeks ago, an American guy named Gary approached me and my team at Powernet to propose something. He's the same Gary who offered to take PowerNet off my hands when Dad died 3 years ago. I told him very politely to go stick his finger up his ass and jump into the polluted Pasig river. In fact, I did it so politely, he kept in touch. This 57 year old American guy is shacking up or banging his underling by the name of Len who happens to be separated from her husband. Gary used to be President for Asia Pacific of a company called E. E does everything Cisco does but as E claims more securely and better.
You see Dad left us PowerNet when he died 3 years ago. We never knew about the company. He organized it because he was bored. Funny thing though, the company is into providing network solutions but Dad didn't have any inkling how to operate a computer. He already has trouble operating his mobile phone!
We didn't know what to do with this company. It was in pretty bad shape and we (siblings) didn't know a thing about this business. Anyway, Dad threw like P20M into that company and it was still bleeding. Thats when Gary proposed to take it off our hands for nothing and we gotta pay him something for taking the company out of our hands. Well, Daddy didn't raise us to be fools. So politely and ever so diplomatically, told him to jump into the PaSIg river.
Three years later and he comes around again. This time he's a bit more aggressive, arrogant, obnoxious and sleazy. He went through my Head of Sales, Mary to arrange this meeting. You see Mary used to work for him. Mary is a good good friend of his concubine Len. Mary gave me an idea of what the meeting was all about. So we met. Mary, Carl (Head of my Technical Support) and I with Gary and Len.
Gary starts off by telling us that they'll become our competitors since E will appoint them as a distributor/reseller/agent of E. But he does not want to compete with us. He wants to be part of our company by merging his new company with us. So we listen to his proposal. I could not help but raise my eyebrows a few notches because all that they (GAry and Len)talked about was how good they are. I think Len noticed my eyebrow emitting some sort of signal and made a comment to Mary. My ever loyal Mary (and she is loyal and a jewel to boot) defended my eyebrow raise. I could also tell that Carl (my ever loyal, brilliant tech head) was kinda uncomfortable listening to hot air. The day was hot and the air emanating from their mouths was hotter.
Gary tells us that Andres of E (his former underling) was coming to Manila to meet clients and the Philippines is his territory. GAry also says that Andres will appoint them as our competitor. I asked for a meeting with Andres. Len pushes for a meeting and GAry hems and haws and finally agrees to having Andres meet little moi. Alarm bells though were ringing through my head.
The following week, we (Carl, Mary and I) met up with Andres and Gary. Len, the concubine, joined us later. Andres just confirmed what Gary told us and gave his hot air a semblance of credibility. I needed time though to think this through. I agreed to a meet though with GAry the following Monday, at the Pen, where we could talk more about this merger. In the meantime, I asked Mary to set up a meet with the other reseller, Jon and his wife Susan.
I met GAry at the Pen the following Monday. He proceeds to propose an Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and talks more about how great they are and that their greatness will be transferred to our company and together, we will be great. Then he did something I didn't like. He said bad things about PowerNet and disparages my Mary and my Carl. Now that got my bood boiling. But I am also a gifted actor. Oscar quality actor. I played it cool and my used the best poker face I could muster. I was surprisingly friendly and pleasant. Charming to say the least. But inside, I wanted to wring that old man's neck and send him to paradise.
I called a meeting with my Carl and my Mary. In that meeting, Mary and Carl didn't want to merge with GAry. So I again asked Mary to arrange a meet with Jon and Susan on Friday. Meantime, Carl was surfing Google.
That day as I was sweating out my hatred in the gym, Carl rang me up. Told me to go to Google and he was so excited. He found the leverage we needed to put that asshole out of business. When I got home, I surfed Google. GARY PLEAD GUILTY TO 1 COUNT OF FRAUD AND HE WAS FIRED BY E! I now had the leverage I needed. I slept so well that night.
I met up with Jon and Susan that Friday. Jon and I get along pretty well and we talked about E, GAry and Andres. He was also approached by Gary and he turned him down. He was surprise about the info on Gary. We both concluded that we had to take Gary and Len, the concubine out of business. So we made a plan of action.
The following week, I fired off an email to Andres expressing my concern about E appointing someone with a criminal conviction and a former executive who was fired. It was a hot email and I expected an answer. But no answer came. I fired off a SMS message and Andres told me that he can't access his email since he's in Vietnam and there is something wrong with the system.
So I waited the following week. When Tuesday came around and still no answer from Andres, I fired off 2 emails. 1st email was sent to Gary the criminal and Len the concubine declining to do any business with them. The 2nd email requesting Andres to answer my email.
That brings me to Wednesday. Apparently, Andres calls Len up to inform her about my email to him. Len reacts by calling on Jon to find an ally against little moi. Jon answer her frankly and tells her that he's on my side and wants both of them out of business in this country. He then proceeds to put the fear of God into her by telling her that I am a very bad enemy. I am so powerful and influencial (charing! LOL) that I can have her man of her dreams and love of her life deported and banned from the Philippines. He then tells her that he'd rather have her and Gary as his enemy than moi. He so throughly terrorizes her that Mary calls me that GAry wants to speak to me. Mary tells me that GAry sounds terrified.
So I tell Mary to have Gary call me. Gary the low life goes even lower. He tries to appease me by changing the story of what he wants. He tries to convince me that I misunderstood everything he said and that he's not involve anymore and its Len's company. So I told him in a very undiplomatic tone to shove a sausage up his ass.
That evening, I tell Andres to answer my email or else I send an email to his boss exposing his shenannigans.
Thursday comes around and as I was getting ready to leave for that ebiz conference in Punta Fuego, I fired off an email to Carl to send my email to Andres boss if I dont hear from him.
Off I go to Punta Fuego. I was looking forward to this conference since I've never been in one and that I really wanted to do the outdoor activity. Of course, when the conference I started I made my mark questioning the sensibility of an exclusive outlet scheme. Then the outdoor activity started. Surprise surprise, I was made a tribal chief. My group made me the leader. We went through the activities. We placed 3rd in the 1st game (out of 4 tribes), last in the 2nd game, 3rd again in the 4th game and won the last game which was the biggest game of them all!
As we went back to the casitas to get ready for the gala night, I retrieved my phone and saw 23 missed calls from Mary. Mary tells me that Andres has been frantically been looking for me. He wants to talk to me. I smell blood and victory!
Andres calls me and starts to mouth Gary's line about Len really is the company etc. I cut him off and told him to go jump into the Pasig river because his story is so pathetic and I'm not buying it. I told him that E will withdraw the appointment of Gary and Len and that they will deal with moi and Jon or else it reaches his boss. I've never seen a grown man capitulate so fast. Andres ended the call by promising to support moi.
I had a pretty nice time at the gala night. My worries were over. I got what I wanted and crushed an insect. God that feels good!
The next day, I didn't expect the unexpected. Our tribe was voted the best tribe of the activities!
Off I go to Tagaytay to join Mom, Sis and bro in law at Tito Willy's place for lunch. Tito Willy, a 1st cousin of Mom is my favorite uncle. He's gay and he's a widow. His long time lover, Jean Louie was killed by a holdup man in 1987. They've been together for more than 20 years. He's fun, witty and intelligent. And he has good food.
Those past 3 days were good days. But not all my days will be good days. At least, or now, I am on a natural high.
(For A: Concubine can be used endearingly or derogatory. For Len, its derogatory, for A its endearing).
