Subject: Re: Business Meetings
How about others here? If you were in big business, I'll bet this was a common occurrence in your company meetings too.

Let's describe a different business model. Let's say I'm a local union boss and I want to throw my weight around my town. So I get some local businesses who might want to build things or expand their businesses in my town on the phone. After I lay out my pitch on how I can help them Do Bidness within the city I need a kicker to help me close the deal. Something to justify the exorbitant fees they're going to pay me.

So in the middle of the phone call I dial my cell and get the Mayor, the city planner and the permit dude on a multi-party line and put them on speaker.

I ask them "Say! You guys ready for our weekly golf foursome on Saturday? Got lots of stuff to talk about!" I follow that with some gentle trash talking about how much they play out of the sand. Since I'm a cheesy union boss closing a sale, I retell the David Hasselhoff joke from Happy Gilmore. They laugh.

I hang up the cell call.

I go back to the main call. I say, "See? I'm a guy who knows other guys and I can make things happen for you. If you don't want to work with me, lotsa luck..." letting my voice trail off. That way they can draw the conclusion that I want them to draw: that hiring me is like having...protection...if you will.

The media and the NPC's here are going to claim iT'S aLL a nOtHiNgBuRgEr but what I've described is how every big city in America has been run since the early 1800's. The amount of rank dishonesty that's about to go on display will be epic.