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https://cser5.blogspot.com/2022/02/more-pieces.html
and a message from X ile ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4DqjczO9sg
.ChRiS> .....and just as I was going to start this part // and its often an effort to refresh my memory of that time, as this afternoon I was watching the classic "Casablanca" (and Michal, my slovakian "football colleague" dont know the name of the legendary "Czechoslovakian resistance leader ; Victor " ) ... 3 music videos came on my random play list (computer) ; a recent favourite of mine; " Crazy " (Gnarls Barkley) "Every Picture" an OLD favourite of mine (Stewart/faces) as the lyrics & sounds are great..then to fit this part of my past " Baker Street" (Gerry Raferty) ...
Baker Street was the address of the Marks & Spencer wine dept (buyers etc) and I was often there to negotiate with their Stuart (Ninian) ... they became our biggest client company (in the 2nd year we moved about a million bottles of Italian vino for them!)
but back to the previous sequence ;
Before we properly moved into our little office in Stratford (east London; E15 , "cockney land") we decided to make a quasi business trip to visit the wine agents in Bordeaux, I think we took a long weekend... and my Jacqui, abd Mike's wife Pat ...
Pat was someone I instantly distrusted, I suppose, instinct
In a way I had taken a big jump because of Mike , i had been "safe" witha great career offer "in my pocket" which i rejected to start "Seabrook & SMITH limited" with him, I agreed that probably the name of the company sounded better this way round.. i wasnt that bothered , I was a very confident in my youth of my abilities and was hungry to prove it...
So Roy Clarke (our silent minority shareholder) lent me his big granada Coupe (with sun roof) for the trip, I think we took a long weekend. ... and i drove most of the way ...
and did most of the talking over a dinner with the boss of (SCAC?) the bordeaux agency... Mike struggled to speak english ;) never mind another language ha ha ha...
anyway, it went well, and I knew France very well, suggested ,as a treat for the girls to stop in the afternoon for a bit of beach at La Rochelle.. (resort on the west coast more or less on our way back to the channel ferry) ///..
Mike was a white skinned carrot topped englishman , and couldn't stand the sun, so Jacqui went with him to get ice creams leaving me on the beach with Pat, and when we were alone she asked me " you dont like me, do you"?
I replied directly " No, ever since we left you have been talking about what YOU are going to buy with all the money Mike is going to have!!!! well we haven't made a penny yet, for me , thats just unneccesary pressure on Mike , whose ego must have been hurt, having been dumped by people he worked with since he was a kid! " (she shut up, but I could feel the animosity in her against nme) but i had too many other things to do to worry about Pat... (i felt at the time)
in the 2nd year we were heading (and eventually made) a clear million GBP profit... amazing from a zero start the year before... and as Jacqui and I had not had a honeymoon, (we had married the year before) decided to have my first summer holiday too, and together with my ex GF (Gaye) her BF, my football mate Trevor, Julie (Gayes sister) husband Ronnie & their daughter (my "god child") ///dont forget how Jacqui and I had got together!
It was great, on the northern basque coast near San Sebastian (and close to San Vicene de la Baquera) I was sleeping up to 10 hours a night in the first week , we had a villa (belonging to the bank Trevor worked for, that slept 12 ) and half a kilometre of private beach...
(and apart from a little "drama" ...the "Rumoroso" story it had been a dream holiday, no traffic, just a bread van and hoorse & carts & a local restaurant that served great menu at little cost, we struggled to spend money , (if I recall rightly a bottle of their Rioja rserva was only about a quid!)
But , we had newly hired Steve (also from Essel) ..to help as he could do a little bit of either Mike or my own role... and i couldnt resist half way through the fortnight holiday to call the office, Steve said, "ChRiS. mike has been really weird during your absence, like "power mad" and I dont think its good but thats between you 2!" /// it affected the 2nd part of the holiday, but i had promise Jacqui a full rest & did my best to enjoy the rest of the time...
but on the monday morning, I returned to the office, there was a list of calls to make to clients... so unusual.. some were even asking "who is this Mike?" (as he wanted to meet them & "re- negociate"........!!!!!!!!!!!!
I WENT MAD.. I had every client in a perfect CONTENT state , even regularly increasing orders & profit with most of them... it was my strength... knowing the client...
When mike came in , I waited until we were alone & almost pinned him up against the wall!! ... I told him " Mike, we worked as a TEam/partnership, you are good at what you do & so am I, I do all the strategic development & negotiation , I am the ideas man, but i didn't expect any greater reward than you, we have the same salary, investment fund & cars , sure I do more travel & entertaining, but that only fun at the beginning it can also be a chore... spending time with people I wouldnt want to socialise with if it wasnt for the company profit.. so WHY?"
Mike replied " Pat said that I should get more imvolved with the customers & why should ChRiS have all the perks!" !!!!! .... I replied " Pat said" ????
"I am not in partnership with your wife" ..."well NOW I CANT TRUST YOU! ...If you do such things when I am away... I need an extra share to have a controlling status in the Company, i dont want more money but i dont feel I can allow you to be an equal partner, I must be able to make the final decision/// ... !!!"
Mike was lost ... he was never the sort of "manager type" who understood corporate duties etc, naive , but good at his job... I should have realised that he would go to a lawyer
(BTW My international success was becoming noticed by Media. (Wine & Spirit mag etc) I was already an honorary FELLOW of the international Institute of Directors & soon to be an important member of "international Rounds table" , the wine & spirit association & various social clubs... I suspect that this was also when xxx first noticed me.... a young "wizz kid enterpreeur" from a socialist family making such a lot of international negociations...?)
Lawyers; the professional liars who see any dispute as a potential "cash machine" . and Mike's "legal advisor" was neither interested in settlement of a dispute or cared for the public reputation or damage caused by "airing dirty washing" ///... told mike NOT to give ONE share away...
Plus mike.like a little girl went to the minority shareholder (roy Clarke) to cry all over him... and refused to negociate with me.. so my reply was relvant to my character/// " ok Mike then //this ("marriage") is over..it was great.it was fun, for a while.. but I dont want to stay in this "relationship" with a) someone I dont trust or b) someone too stupid to see that ONE share is a cheap deal to keep ME !!!
Roys accountants were also ours... so I knew once Mike had got Roy on "his side" I wouldnt get a true settlement of my half.. and I wasnt going to be like mike and make some lawyer rich by going to court over it. ... as soon as I had made the decision I just wanted OUT! /// ... i said " give me my half of the investmet fund - which was invested for the future, so i couldnt spend it - and 25 thousand quid cash , and I am gone///.. so I went , and literally BURNT up the cash within 6 months , taking Jacqui & "our friends" out to dinner (her friends as I was always aweay too much to make true friendships after i stopped playing football regularly or outside business/club contacts) ..
There was a funny moment during this time, (as I think about the "restaurant circuit" i knew the best retaurants, clubs & bars of west end London... and one time.. I decided to take "our group" spontaneously (about half a dozen of us) to the famous and exclusive "Langans Brasserie" which i used to take Stuart (M & S) and other major clents or suppliers for a treat, (many celebs went there) but you normally had to be known & book well in advance...
well, we just turned up at the door.. the girl there obviously remembered my face if not my name... I "asked" (looking at the list she was looking at) "cant you find my reservation??" she kept looking through, as I was so confident and she knew i was a clent... she got the DOWNstairs restaurant re-arranged and a new table for us (I think Jagger & motor bike racer Barry Sheen were in that night...) I got drunk, and Jacqui kept asking me "did you really reserve?" //... I just laughed .. I knew this wasnt going to always be like this...
and another night I took Jacqui to a night club , dancing almost directly after dinner from her London office, and then decided we would stay at an expensive hotel in the west end, but had no luggage, so as we approached the stuffy/posh receptionist late at night , I kept asking Jacqui "you want paying HOW MUCH for this night?" then checked in, with NO luggage , as "Mr & Mrs SMITH (it was so funny, with the looks we got from the recptionist etc..and leaving in the morning i the same clothes ha ha ha)
p.s Mike hired SIX people to “replace me” ..that company lasted 25 years BUT NEVER got close to the high profit percentage made when I was managing it..... ;)
what a coincidence..just as I finished writing this "I'm not in Love" (10 cc) music video started playing... (jacqui's favourite when we started "courting" (thats an old-fashioned word!)
(almost told the "pretty woman" buying suits story)
(next ;
after "Seabrook &" ... the S & S empire ..managing 8 companies was easy.. until...another betrayal )
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W & S pic ? https://cser5.blogspot.com/2022/02/more-pieces.html
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