Morning all. Somedays coffee is a tasty treat, other times thoughts of taking it intravenously circle around. Today is the latter. Yup, this is going to be a full pot morning. Still, it is time to get started on the morning, so buckle up, it may be a bumpy ride. Let’s start with the writing prompt. Set those timers to fifteen minutes and lets get going.
That wasn’t as bad as I feared. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what he manufactured, but I think it is going to be vital to the story. I like the concept though. One business fighting off the corporations dominant in his business landscape. Could be fun to play with. But more details need to be figured out before I head in that direction. I figured that out with James actually.
Tuesday, November 2nd: The vultures were circling.
The vultures were circling. He could practically see them in the sky, dancing on the thermals and begging for his decayed flesh. “I’m not dead yet,” he growled.
He built this company from the ground up. In the beginning he did every job, worked every shift. Even when they hired actual staff, he filled in where needed. Taking the places of those who called in sick, had a family emergency, or just plain didn’t show up. He worked as one of the trainers making sure that he knew the person he left in the position could do the job he was leaving them with. He was proud to say that he could still do any job in the business.
He had one of the lowest turnover rates as well. His employees stayed long term. They weren’t fly by night, here for a season and moving on to better pastures people. They were those who stood with him for the long haul.
Over the years they grew prosperous and while they weren’t a massive corporation, they were large enough to suit his ambition. He was satisfied and concentrated on slow and steady progress. Making everything they produced better and with less waste, before thoughts of any expansion game into the mix. They billed their less waste approach as eco-friendly. The truth was, Jerry hated waste. Cutting it, streamlining their profits always reduced their long term costs in the end.
‘And these days eco-friendly products found a much higher value in the market,’ He reminded himself. That too helped increase his profit margins. Still, he knew he always thought of himself as a small fish in a very large pond.
Only now, he was large enough that the bigger fish were starting to notice him. He felt the weight of their interest. Offers were made. He refused them. He had no desire to sell his business. Perhaps later, when he decided it was time to retire, but not now. Now he was fine as he was.
They offered more money. Jerry liked money and the perks it brought, but he long ago realized his tastes were simple. He now had more than enough to satisfy them, and if he was honest, satisfy them until more or less the end of his life. It made refusal rather easy.
Unfortunately the others saw it as a challenge. They began circling, eager to take a bite out of his flesh. Wanting to punish him for his flat out refusal if nothing else. The escalation came quickly. They started dropping their prices, so his looked artificially high. As he was known to produce solid products in an environmentally friendly way, while they were often problematic, the impact wasn’t as great as he feared. They lost some business, but not enough to do major damage.
He suspected they were planning something else. He suspected it would be soon. He did the mental calculations. Even with the cheaper materials, their goods had to be selling close to cost. They couldn’t keep up the artificially low costs for long. He knew something would have to give if they were to keep to their bottom line.
He knew they were waiting for him to cave. He started out refusing simply because he didn’t want to sell. Now it felt like a personal attack. He had options, one he hadn’t yet used. He wondered if now was the time. To strike before their next attack.
Ten til Midnight 