Yesterday afternoon, the updates of my online social timeline started filling up with chants of “Go, Sue go!” Another friend had updated their facebook status to read, “Things are HAPPENING!”. This could only mean one thing: The Empress.
A few months ago, I wrote about the unseemly things that had taken place at my local pub. Feel free to refresh yourself by reading that post here: http://brianfurman.blogspot.com/2010/09/empress-new-clothes.html
Well, yesterday as I kept checking to see what was going on, I learned that our friend Sue was in court. I didn’t even know that she planned on taking that tact. With the support she’s been getting since everything was going down, I wish we all had a chance to chip in on her lawyer fees for her and take the day off work to attend the court. Anyway, although I have no idea what the actual case was built and centered around (something to the effect of wrongful dismissal, I would think), word came down around 3:30pm from Sue’s own profile page; “We won!! I get possession of my bar on December 20th!”
I am so happy right now I don’t even know what to say! But it comes on so many fronts. First of all let’s just say, I get my pub back! This was my community that was taken away from me. Although my neighborhood presents with a few opportunities to see my friends out and about from time to time, it just hasn’t been the same. I need to sit down with my pals and visit and bullshit and have a couple of beers. Having said that, the absence of being there over the last while has really slimmed down my belly! It’s almost incredible. The timing is terrific, not only because all I wanted for Christmas was The Empress, but because my 40th birthday is coming up next month and we were having a problem deciding where to gather with pals for celebrating.
But most of all, I’m so, so very happy for Sue and those closest to her. Something stinky had come in to ruin what she had going on in life. Her friends all rallied around her and gave her strength. She fought back against what wasn’t right….and she won. She fucking won!
I am so happy that I was able to witness this community based and driven action against Mr. Money. A similar thing actually happened to me back in 2002. I was a partner in a business with friends. The company was called groupsales.com and we were living our dream as self-employed entrepreneurs working in sports marketing. I remember having the faith in our idea and how it felt to actually quit our regular paying jobs in order to walk through the office doors of the space we just banded together to lease. It was incredible. We had been operating for about a year and half when it happened. It wasn’t exactly a huge money maker at the beginning, as few businesses are when first getting them off the ground. But the three of us managed to take salaries a little over $30K each….enough to pay our bills and enjoy working for ourselves. We were featured on a local TV show, highlighting our business venture. Things were okay.
Then an event in my life changed the landscape. I had a great aunt that passed and much to my astonishment, she left me a bit of money. Not millions or anything, but enough to alter my life in a way that offered me a security that perhaps were just weren’t feeling at the time. After a couple of months, by two business partners called a meeting with me and said they had been discussing some ideas about how things were going. They said that my new inheritance changed the landscape a bit, as far as our commitment to making the business an overall success. They presented to me this idea: although we were all three equal partners and all drew the same salary, I was no longer in the need to draw as much out of the company and in the spirit of it’s overall strength, I should cut my salary in half to $15,000 a year, let them increase their a little to $35,000 a year each, with the remaining savings staying within the company coffers. Uhhh…what?
Well, they said, I didn’t need the draw as much as them now and in order to prove my commitment to making the business a long term success, I should sacrifice my salary. Now, it’s not that I don’t believe in sacrifice, but I do believe that three equal partners should make a three-way commitment. I guess the other thing was that they approached me with a bit of aggression. Almost like they were trying to bully me into it a bit. I suppose the long hours and tight salaries had been taking their toll over the past more than dozen months.
In any case, I refused. I explained that the nest egg I was left with was my personal business. I was going to sock it away for buying a house, or for getting married someday….we were supposed to be equal. I certainly wasn't going to be made the bitch. When I came into work the next morning, my key didn’t work.
Those fucking little pricks. Are you kidding me? Both of their cars were out front already. What the hell was going on? I called the office number from my cell and they answered it on speakerphone. “Yeah, we decided last night that the two of us can take on your workload. We can get by without you, so now we’ll just split your salary between the two of us. You didn’t want to take the cut, so we’ll make YOU the cut. That’s 66% against your 33%....you’re outvoted.” And that was it. Constructively dismissed.
Now, because we were new and weren’t exactly the type of business to acquire assets, the buyout process was a short one. Sure, I probably could’ve turned it around and used my money to buy them out, if pushed in the courts. But what the hell for? So I could do this business all by myself? I was pissed off that guys I counted as amongst my closest friends would do something like this to me. We’ve all heard stories about how business can wreck friendships. After a bit of back and forth haggling, I took my paltry buyout cheque and the three of us have never talked again.
That business was replaceable, though. It still operates today, but as a side gig to their full-time jobs. At least, that’s what I’ve come to understand. That’s fine. They can fucking have it. But Sue’s business was a little different than ours. Her stakes were exponentially larger than mine. And she fought for it. I couldn’t be prouder. I am also a little proud of how our community stood up for her. She drew strength from it and in the end, it feels good to have been part of something where we stood up for what we believed in. And it turns out with Sue winning her back yesterday, that we were all right. It feels good to give the middle finger to the people than tried to ransack her.
Sue gets possession on Monday, December 20th. I’ll see everyone there. And I’ll call in sick on Tuesday.
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