Absolution

It’s been over ten years but I recognized the name engendered in the email address. I hadn’t communicated with Ed since we did the deal with Bill at that time, and it’s no coincidence.

The email linked to Bill’s obituary. Ed added that he was happy to see that it was the result of a lengthy illness and that the dogt**d hadn’t gone peacefully in his sleep. I felt neither joy nor regret. The past is the past.

I first did business with Bill when I was a young employee of another company. He sold me something and sent the purchase agreement. I perused it and signed it. Later, the hidden costs emerged. Our verbal agreement wasn’t accurately reflected in his written contract but the differences were cleverly hidden. Or, at least cleverly enough to get by someone still a bit damp behind the ears. I would learn that this was SOP for Bill, but had paid the tuition of looking bad in front of my boss.

Bill was notorious for his sleazy tactics but still managed to build up a business through fanatic effort and taking advantage of the unwary. He consistently increased revenue, but not profits.

Ed’s reference to him wasn’t without meaning. Bill had been asked to speak at a chamber of commerce luncheon about his selling techniques. During the ensuing Q&A, someone asked why Bill hadn’t mentioned that his primary tactic was fabricating and spreading malicious stories about his competitors so everyone here would know what a dogt**d he really was. I recall expecting an embarrassed murmur as this seemed out of place in such a venue. But, one person started clapping slowly and emphatically, and that grew into an ovation. I guess when you’re a dogt**d, you’re a dogt**d.

Bill’s response was also interesting. He just grinned in delight. He had no shame about being a sleaze and, in fact, took pride at being good at it.

I went on to have businesses and Bill would sometimes call on me. I was certain he didn’t remember our previous encounter because I had just been one of thousands of marks for him. I hadn’t forgotten, but just declined his offers.

Years later, Ed approached me with a deal. Bill’s business had grown to be quite large due to an economic trend and he decided to cash in while he was riding the wave. It still wasn’t making much money though and he needed us to fatten it up for the kill. I took that as he needed someone with my skills and was using Ed to get to me. A lot of people knew that Ed and I went way back to college and were good friends.

I told Ed that, given the reputation Bill had earned, it would be crazy to have anything to do with him. Ed agreed that it would appear that way. But, we would get a substantial cut of the amount that the sale price exceeded current value and he had one of the silk stocking law firms comb through the agreement he and Bill had hammered out, eliminating any loopholes. What he didn’t add was that his own recent business failure had put him into a hole and that he really needed this.

The money didn’t matter that much in my decision. I let Ed’s predicament cloud my judgment.

I could’ve written the script. We fattened the calf, Bill sold it and screwed us out of our money. Somewhat oversimplifying it, Bill sold the company to someone for the original value, so we weren’t due anything. Then, in behalf of the buyer, he resold it to someone else for a much higher price, with his commission being the difference, less whatever he kicked back to his conspirator.

We went through the dance. I had a lawyer threaten a suit we all knew would just drag on for years with the lawyers bleeding us white if carried through. Bill’s lawyer countersued and then offered us the go-away money to settle, which we did.

Bill got away with it because Ed hadn’t had the deal scrutinized by a high power corporate lawyer as he had told me. In his insolvency, he didn’t have the money to do that and just looked it over as best he could, thinking he had caught all the pitfalls. Ed told me he knew it was wrong to deceive me but he didn’t anticipate any harm would come of it.

After the deal, I never had anything to do with Ed again. With the current email exchange, I could tell he was using the death to seek some kind of absolution and asked for forgiveness and a cessation of ill will. I told him I bore him no ill will but didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

When you’re a dogt**d, you’re a dogt**d.