How Slavery works in America

I turned toward Arnold Cline who sat there expressionless and waited for him to
say something. He finally sensed the uneasiness and said there was no further
business and dismissed the meeting.

What bothered me most was Bill James' comment which had been directed
towards me. His comment plus my knowledge about Ravi's unemployed status(a year later) made me feel very uneasy even though I had another job. Both my career and my life had been threatened and I was becoming more and more anxious about my future.

My trip that Saturday to Tenneland in Plains, TX did not go well. I met with Tony Jolson,the sales manger for the region along with the research manager from Texarkana, Arkansas laboratory, and the Plains plant manager. The day was full of coincidences which I tried to ignore. At one point as we were getting into the car to drive to the plant, Gordon Simms mentioned what a bright sunny day it was and how he couldn't stand cloudy weather. I took the remark to be directed to me because I had frequently made my views known on how I felt about cloudy, Seattle type weather. When I chose to ignore his remark, Gordon grabbed me by the sleeve, jerked my arm and then repeated the remark with a smile. Finally, I nodded and said I agreed.

At noon we stopped to have lunch at a small restaurant. During lunch we were
discussing company policy when I thought it would be a good time to show that I was willing to cooperate. In a friendly tone of voice I said, “I suppose if I had to give testimony in the litigation I'm involved in with Gamma Supplies, I would be given time off.” The response from the research manager was totally unexpected. He took the comment as a threat and immediately he retaliated. He started telling me about how they had hired someone just like me and then three months later, they fired him. He left no doubt that I should not feel secure just because I was going to get an offer. He was so angry that I didn't even try to explain my comment. If everyone was that touchy about my testifying in the future, things could never work out. After that incident, the interview went down hill.

By the end of the day, the research manager would not even shake my hand
good-bye. I left Plains wondering if the research manager even knew in depth
what was going on. I felt I was being forced on him and he greatly resented it. It
was a bad situation for everyone involved.

That Sunday evening, I got a call from Gordon Simms who told me everyone was
impressed with me and that they wanted to make me an offer! He then told me the
salary, the other conditions of employment and closed by saying that he wouldn't
bother to send me the offer in writing unless I accepted the offer. I told him I would like a few days to think about it before I made a final decision.

The strange thing about the Tenneland deal was that everyone else acted
ignorant about what was happening. Arnold Cline and Darth had to be well aware
of my dealings with Tenneland, and although none of us ever said so directly, we would talk about the situation indirectly. It was as if none of these negotiations were going on, but at the same time everyone concerned knew they were taking place. It was a very tense, strange and stressful situation.

The next couple of days I spent evaluating the situation and analyzing the
possibilities. I had forced Tenneland to give me an offer, but the situation had not turned out well. The man who would be my immediate supervisor was hostile towards me,and if I went there, there were no guarantees that things would be any different from the happenings at Gammma Supplies. And, I still would not have any job security. The Costeal offer was not very attractive and I couldn't really be sure what the situation would be like there. I finally decided I was under a lot of stress and that the best situation for me would be to take six months, get my sanity back and take some time to look for a job I really wanted. I needed some income to take six months to look for a new job.

After some consideration, I decided to offer Gamma Supplies a consulting contract for only one thousand dollars a month which was less than half of my normal salary. My consulting efforts would be direct them in how to develop a “Ice Box” system. In my free time, I would relax and look for another position. This situation would have allowed me to have minimum contact with the people at Gamma Supplies which would negate the incessant mind games they were playing.

Since I wanted to make sure there was nothing illegal about my offer, I discussed the terms with my neighbor who I retained as my attorney. He gave his OK and the next day I presented my offer to Darth. Darth replied that he would consider my offer and discuss it with “them” and get back to me. I left his office
feeling I had found a suitable solution for all. In hindsight, Gamma Supplies could have just offered me six thousand dollars severance pay and my departure could have gone smoothly. However, "they" did not want anything to go well or smoothly for me since I was just a lowly slave to them.

That night I called Gordon Simms at Tenneland and told him I could not accept his offer. He said he was disappointed and repeatedly asked why I was rejecting the offer. I told him I had decided to accept another offer.