Monday, April 28, 2008

The Beginning of induced stress.

We were given plush accommodations at the Hilton where both my wife and I were
hoping we would have dinner. However, when Ravi dropped us off at the hotel that
afternoon, he told us Darth would pick us up for dinner and that we would be going to a
wedding dinner party! I was surprised and somewhat disappointed, but I said nothing.
That evening, Darth accompanied by his wife and some relatives picked us up at the hotel.
He proceeded to tell me and my wife that we were going to a testimonial dinner for a
retired labor leader and that he was going to be the keynote speaker at the function. He
made no mention of a wedding party.

At the banquet hall my wife and I were introduced to Arnold Cline, his wife Sharon and
to George T. Cline and his wife. G. T. Cline, as he was called, was an elderly man
with sharp features and was obviously the builder of the family fortune. His wife seemed
like the stereotype of a business tycoon's wife. She was quiet, stayed in the background
and probably spent her time as president of the Beautify Milwaukee Campaign or some
other such worthy civic function. One thing was certain; G. T. was the power and
controller behind the Cline enterprises. As the dinner commenced, the Cline family sat
at one table and Darth, his wife and relatives and Anita and I were at another table.
Ravi and his wife had not been invited.

By the time Darth was to give his speech, the crowd was throughly polluted with
alcohol that had been flowing freely, and the people were loud and becoming obnoxious
No one seemed to care what Darth had to say, but he went on and read a speech called
“Who Shot Santa Claus?”. I immediately recognized the speech as a recent editorial from
Chemical and Engineering News. I sat there amazed and somewhat amused by the
whole circus like atmosphere of the moment. Darth was so nervous he could hardly read
the speech and he almost had to shout to be heard over all of the noise. He could have
recited “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and no one would have known the difference. Yet,
Darth was visibly nervous. I thought it was strange that an executive vice president would
be so nervous reading a prepared text in front of such an uninterested audience. It seemed
so amateurish.

After Darth concluded his speech, he sat back down next to me. I complimented him
on his presentation, and then the conversation digressed to frivolous subjects. At one
point Darth pulled out of his pocket a “for sale” advertisement for an elephant and
explained how he was planning to buy one for his farm in Franklin, WI.
When the dinner concluded, the Clines congratulated Darth on his fine speech and
then Arnold came over to me and proudly proclaimed , “ I wrote that speech, you know”. I
was momentarily stunned because I had recognized the text as someone else's writing. I
just mumbled something about how significant the message was and left it at that. Anita
and I were driven back to the Hilton . We both felt relieved that the whole circus
atmosphere of the evening was over.

The next day the fog had lifted somewhat and we could now see some of the area and
houses available in our price range. As we were driving around, Ravi asked me how was
the weeding reception. I told him we went to a testimonial dinner instead and he reacted
surprised. He then asked who else was there, and I proceeded somewhat reluctantly to tell
him I had met the entire Cline family. Ravi asked a couple of more questions which I
avoided and then the subject was dropped. This was the second time Ravi appeared to be
in the dark about actions Darth had taken. The reason this struck me as being peculiar is
that Darth had told me Ravi had a medical problem and that one on the reasons for hiring
me was to be a back-up if anything should happen to him. Surely, if were being hired for
potentially filling such an important position in the company, I would be expected to meet
and talk with the owners. Also, Darth had said he had discussed the situation with Ravi and that Ravi was aware of the need for hiring me. But Ravi's apparent uneasiness with
the situation puzzled me. I was not certain what was going on.

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