People always package whatever shit they want and make it look nice to suck you in and get you to agree. Then they show the fine print and you realize it was all too fucking good to be true.
Peter looks ecstatic. I’ve been working with him for most of the day and he’s been in that grumpy mood because of the devalue in some of his shares. This is the first time I’ve seen him smile and I feel bad to cut into a moment that might genuinely be a good one.
“Xiou,” I say and he looks to me. “I’d like to see a few things.”
“Of course, what would you like to see?”
Peter looks to me with a hopeful stare that silently begs me not to find any shit. The thing about that though is that he needs me to find the shit.
“For a start what’s your fee? What percentage do you guys want?” I ask.
“Well I was getting to that,” Xiou laughs and Hiraki smiles. They both work for Fugato Consultancy and they’ve been good to us with the foreign market. Peter now has business in Europe and Asia because of them and it’s great that he’s looking to expand to Hong Kong. These guys here though are sneaky fuckers and I’ve found that the better the deal they propose the more they want.
They know we can get the job done and it’s a done deal. There’s nothing I can’t sell, I just want to know I’m getting the best possible return on investment.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for a cut of thirty percent,” Xiou answers.
And there it is… the damn fine print.
Out the corner of my eye I see Peter tense and his jaw tighten.
“Thirty percent?” Peter asks. “You think that’s reasonable?”
“Yes… these five companies are all prestigious brands. Cars and luxury holidays. The money you stand to make from them will be vast. We’re just doing an estimate here of what you could make, but I envisage a lot more.”
Everybody says shit like that. Maybe it’s not shit or cock and bull but it’s a line I’ve heard many times. Also… I’m only just getting started.
“Thirty percent is too much,” I cut in. “I propose twenty because you are indeed a big part of this but the work is all on us. We work with you as a means of saving time, not because we have to.” They don’t like me saying that and I can tell Peter thinks I’m a bit abrasive, but I didn’t get to where I am by being nice.
“We’ll have to think about the percentages a little more. Twenty is a deep cut,” Xiou replies.
“That’s fine you take your time to think. We’ll be here. There’s no way we’re accepting a cut of seventy percent on our side. The other thing I wanted to ask is do the companies have any stipulations or restrictions on putting our name on their advertising?” A lot of income is generated by interest. One company uses us and another will see that they do and contact us because we did such a great job. That’s free business leads for us.”
“They do. They don’t want any branding or anything that’s not associated with them in anyway on their campaigns.”
Now that’s also something to think about. I have half a mind to drop the cut to fifteen percent but I won’t be a bastard.
“Thank you, that’s all,” I answer.
“Are there any more questions? I think we’re done with the presentation.”
“No, no more questions. How about you think about what we’ve discussed and get back to us as soon as you can,” Peter answers. “Thanks for your time.”
Both Xiou and Hiraki bow their heads and leave the room.
As soon as the door closes Peter looks to me and sighs.
“Dante… Jesus Christ…. I don’t know if I should hug you or kill you right now.” Peter shakes his head.
“Peter whether you want to kill me or hug me, I’m right,” I answer, feeling guilty because I know this won’t be the thing he’ll kill me for. I can’t believe I was with his daughter all damn night. God knows I tried so hard to say no to her and resist her but fuck I couldn’t.
If I saw her now I’d do the same thing I always wanted to do. If Peter ever knew the dirty thoughts I’d had of his little girl from she was about eighteen he would blow my brains all over this room then kill me some more.
“I know you’re right and once again I nearly got screwed. I swear I’m so stressed out I don’t see shit that matters. If you weren’t here I’d make all kinds of decisions that would take me back to where I was last year.”
I won’t bother to point out that he was
the one who sent me away because of Rachel. Nothing was said at the time and it was all done in such a way that I shouldn’t have been able to guess the main reason was her but I knew that was the reason. I had the sneaking suspicion that I felt completely panned out when he issued his warning.