There is no 'Team' in "I"

The Contract

"If Banning finds out about this, we are all toast!"

Walter Moscott was in Jerry's office. He had stormed in, Dan Morrow in tow, without even a "Good Morning" to Linda.

The door was closed but Linda could clearly hear everything the VP was saying. Probably because he was saying it at triple volume. And he kept repeating himself.

"Fees will be waived ?? Fees will be WAIVED? WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING?"

Dan started to say something but he stopped abruptly at a look from Moscott. The older man was not actually asking a question. Jerry just sat in his chair and squirmed.

Linda hid a smile behind her hand. She wished she could somehow tape this for Marcia. It had been just three short months since Banning and Associates had been chosen by Reardon International as their world-wide accounting firm. No one had caught the little bomb the ladies had planted until now.

Dan,  his voice low and placating said something that Linda could not catch. Moscott's response was enough:

"I KNOW the word was supposed to be 'Doubled'. I wrote that original paragraph. It was supposed to protect us from the extra costs involved with representing our clients in international courts. Now, if Reardon gets hauled into tax court in Brussels or Geneva, or who knows where we have to represent them FOR FREE!".   Moscott was waving his arms as he said this.

Linda, afraid the older man might give himself a heart attack, tried to defuse the situation. She opened the door and said sweetly, "Can I get anyone anything? Water? Coffee? Ice Tea?" Three voices growled, no.

As she withdrew her head and started to close the door, she heard Moscott say "YOU and YOU are going to fix this."  She stepped aside just in time to avoid being run down by the vice-president.

Over the next week, cracks began to develop in the Jer-Dan team. Dan pulled his people together and pored over every word of the contract, creating flowcharts of the various scenarios that might create jeopardy for the company. Jerry looked for someone else to blame.

He started early. Right after Moscott had stormed out of the room, he said,  "Section Eight was legal. Ball's in your court, bud."

But Dan was an experienced corporate warrior. "The wording came in the template you sent us. Not our fault if sales want to give away some free services."

Jerry spent the week scouring templates and earlier contracts, trying to pinpoint when the phrase had been changed from  "...fees will be doubled." to "...fees will be waived." He desperately wanted to blame it on Walter Moscott himself. That could have created a career opportunity.   Unfortunately for Jerry, the only place where the wording could have been changed was on his computer. It never occurred to him that Linda might know his passwords. Linda and Marcia had done their work well.

One week later they were all in the conference room. Dan had brought in two of his staff and had prepared a slideshow of areas where the client could run afoul of international regulations and how they, Banning and Associates, could limit their own liability. Jerry reported that the word change "must have been a glitch."

Moscott wasted no more time. "Here is what we are going to do. We are going to monitor everything our client does over the next year. Every misstep they make, we will intervene. If we can prove they acted against our advice, the clause will not apply. Good work, Dan." He also acknowledged the two staffers Dan had brought in with him.

"Jerry, pack your bags. You are going to be on the client like fleas on a hound. Audit every international location they have. Every Location! Stay on 'em. Follow Dan's plan. Keep them honest for the next year. You leave tomorrow."

"But boss," Jerry stammered. "My wife's birthday is this weekend."

"Good. Tell her to start a postcard collection. Reardon is in several third world countries and you can send her a card from every one of them."