SW3N

This is a story about a salesman. If you sell, you doubtless will have your own view of hunters, farmers, sales managers and various selling methods. You're entitled to your viewpoint but please don't mark me down for mine. I've years of very successful high-dollar selling, and this is a fictionalized account of what I've found successful. Oh, and remember I can't include every sales method, technique, question, procedure in the story. And if you're a sales manager, remember this is just a story of a bad one, not all sales managers.

If you comment anonymously it would be nice to at least identify yourself in the comment. It's less than courageous to leave a snarky comment anonymously. I'll just delete it. But if its constructive, then why are you afraid to be identified?

To those with great comments and suggestions, you know I email you my thanks and ask questions, so thank you. You help me be a better writer. I'm trying! Also thank you to BentNotBroken for help with editing.

Lastly, there's hardly any sex in this story, and there's a lot of self-burn.

* * * *

"I love it when your cucky husband has to do overnights when he's on the road, because I just love our overnights!" Brad loved the after-sex pillow talk with his underling's wife, Rachel, who happened to also be the President of one of the divisions of Winthrop Industries.

"Much better than those quickies during lunch, right Brad?" Rachel smiled as she leaned over and began fondling Brad's flaccid member. "How about I get you ready for round two?"

* * * *

"My goal is to be as good a salesperson as you are Mr. Simmons," said the fresh out of college young man. "Well young man, get as much facetime in front of clients as you can and never stop prospecting. Learn to love the phone."

Jack Simmons had a flock of salespeople surrounding him at the bar, listening to his stories and selling tips. It was the after-party for the company's annual awards banquet where the three divisions of Winthrop Industries received various recognition and awards. Jack had once again won the Salesperson of the Year Award.

"Mr. Simmons," the young man asked once again, "what do you find most effective in your calls?" Looking at the group, Jack pointed to the young man and said, "guys, if this kid keeps asking probing questions like that he's gonna go far!"

Everyone laughed and the young man blushed at the teasing complement. As the laughter settled down Jack answered, "OK, I'll give you three things: First, ask tough and uncomfortable questions. A sales interview should never be comfortable for your prospect. Second, don't be afraid of the silence. Wait for the answer, don't fill in the space and talk too much. Third, learn to be a hunter. Don't let things come to you. Don't sit on your base salary, live for the kill, for the commissions. Now don't forget that you'll have to learn a lot of detail and nuance to those three items."

Plenty of heads were nodding then cheers went up as Jack said he'd buy everyone another round of drinks. He could certainly afford it, his commissions were higher than some executive salaries.

Jack took a breather from the group and leaned against the bar with a whiskey neat, watching his wife Rachel dance yet another song with his sales manager, Brad. Most salespeople dislike their sales managers, few of whom really know how to manage salespeople. But Brad was terrible to salespeople, looking down on them as if sales was the only job they could get.

Rachel, on the other hand, was an exceptional manager. Of the three divisions in the company, Rachel was President of her division, the same division Jack happened to work in. Graduating at the top of her class from an Ivy League school, she was moving up in the ranks when Jack was hired into her division in the sales department.

Some time ago the CEO, Carl Winthrop, had poached Jack from a competitor. Jack had an excellent reputation and to lure him over Carl gave him a separate commission schedule from the rest of the sales staff. And since the division had cycled through several ineffective sales managers for several years. Carl asked Jack to at least take the lead and help out the other sales people.

Ten years ago Rachel Carter and Jack Simmons didn't know each other and never saw each other in the offices or cafeteria during Jack's first year at the company because Jack was primarily out of the office on the road selling while Rachel inhabited the executive office upstairs. It was pure coincidence they ran into each other in a grocery store, struck up a conversation that led to coffee, then dinner, dating, and marriage a year later.

As all those who fall in love know there are those items of mutual attractiveness that eventually lead to marriage. It starts with physical attraction of course, and both Rachel and Jack are prime human specimens who won the genetic lottery. But the deeper levels of compatibility such as shared values, mutual commitment, similar likes and dislikes, the way they communicate, how they get along with the other's family, and a sense of reciprocity cement the relationship.

They disclosed this relationship to HR in accordance with the strict company policies on personal relationships with coworkers. And because Jack was hired directly by the CEO and owner, Carl Winthrop, it was even more important to have full disclosure.

"Brad, move your hand off my ass. I don't want any of my staff to get any ideas."

"Oh but your ass is so delectable Rachel. You know how I like to kiss it and lick it babe!"

"Stop it now! Brad!" she grunted menacingly and stepped away and walked back to her table. From his perch at the bar Jack noticed the minor dust-up.

As she and Brad sat at their table, Carl Winthrop came up and asked, "Mind if I join you?"

Of course Rachel and Brad were only too happy to be in the presence of the CEO, an opportune time for some ass kissing on the way up the corporate ladder.

"So Rachel, congratulations on your division winning the award for most profitable division this past year. I'm proud of your accomplishments."

"Thank you Carl, it's been a lot of work."

"Of course it has, being President of a division isn't a walk in the park," he said with a smile. "Yet, as much as you manage the operations so well, the division wouldn't be as profitable if it wasn't for your husband's sales record."

"Sir, we have an excellent sales department. It wasn't just Jack's sales that brought us to the top." Rachel shot a glare at Brad for his untimely intrusion into her conversation, not to mention stepping on the CEO's statement.

"And who are you again?" asked Carl, looking over his glasses at Brad.

"Brad Gully sir. I'm the Sales Manager for the Division. I manage Jack and the other salespeople and help them achieve the performance that put us on top again this year."

There was a pause in the conversation as Carl looked at Brad skeptically, then over to Rachel. He cleared his throat and looked back at Brad and asked "Brad is it? Tell me, of the four other salespeople, how did that group perform against Jack's sales this past year?"

"Um, I'd have to get back with you on that sir. I don't have the numbers in front of me."

"That's disappointing Brad. I would expect you to have a detailed knowledge of everyone's sales in your head if you're properly managing your department." Rachel was trying to keep a pleasant face but inside was furious at Brad's stumbles in front of her boss.

"But I'll let that slide Brad, Rachel can speak with you later. I'm sure she knows my feelings about management's awareness of the KPI's in their departments." Rachel looked down as Carl admonished Brad.

"So, Brad, I'll tell you what I know about Jack's performance against the other four you supposedly manage. Jack outsells all four of them eight times. In fact, his annual sales equal the entire sales of the second highest division in my company. I thought you would know that. Tell you what, I'd like a private moment with Rachel so how about you go and get us some drinks?"

"Yes sir." Brad stood up and straightened his tie as he tried to walk away with some amount of dignity. He saw Jack over at the bar. "God damned salespeople, think they run the place. Look at Jack, the life of the party, lucking out on all those sales. What an unknowing and clueless cuck," were Brad's thoughts as he smirked his way over to the bar.

Carl slid his chair over to Rachel. "You've come a long way in this company over the last ten years Rachel. You're a top performer, no question. But this Sales Manager of yours, I can't help but question your judgment in hiring him."

Putting on her corporate smile, Rachel responded, "You know salespeople, Carl. They talk a lot. Brad isn't always the detail person but he's right in that he managed the top performing sales team in my division. He's got an Ivy League education, you know."

Carl looked at Rachel and let the silence sit for a few moments and saw Rachel shift slightly in her seat. "Rachel my dear, you know how I started this company, right? You know I was a one-man show selling my ass off until I could afford a small staff, and over time it grew to what is now three divisions and millions in annual sales."

"Yes, Carl, I know the story."

"And you know I believe in 'management by walking around,' not sitting around in an office like a bird on a nest. That's how I keep my finger on the pulse of my corporation.

"And as you also know that it was me that recognized Jack's talent, and why I hired him. And he's the best I've ever seen and his numbers prove it. And you know how good he is because he's the one responsible for your division's numbers, and you should know all this because he's also your husband."

"I know all that Carl. I believe you're about to make a point?"

"Love that directness in you, Rachel. Yes. Here's my point: Be careful with that Brad guy. Jack is a hunter, and hunters make sales managers nervous. He can manage himself and has proven that over and over again. But this guy you hired? Taking credit for managing a department when it's basically Jack bringing in the business? Be careful."

"Carl, you have nothing to worry about. I can manage my husband and Brad."

"I don't think you're hearing what I'm saying Rachel. Things are good. Real good right now. A guy like Jack, a hunter, only wants to know that if they're effective how much could they earn. That's why year-after-year his sales continually increase. Hunters are driven to win. But sales managers are uncomfortable with that, they're driven to control, and that's a bad combination.

"And this "Brad" guy you hired, I've got a bad feeling about him. Understand what I'm saying? Anyways, you did good last year. Keep it up, I appreciate your work Rachel."

Rachel stood and thanked Carl as he left the table, just as Brad was coming back with a round of drinks.

"What was that all about Rachel?" Brad asked as he sat down the drinks.

"Nothing, just commending me for our results this past year."

"Listen Rachel, I'm sick and tired of hearing about "Jack-this," and "Jack-that" from all of those asshole salespeople at the bar. They don't have the slightest idea what it takes to run a company and probably couldn't get a job at Walmart if we hadn't hired them. I've got some ideas to revise the comp plan."

"Let's not upset the apple cart Brad. Things are going well."

"Look I know you're married to Mr. Wonderful over there, but if he is so wonderful you and I wouldn't be enjoying our time in his bedroom now, would we? And for that reason I'm glad he's on the road a lot. But he's making a lot more money than I am, and more than some other executives."

"So? He's earned it. His base salary is irrelevant to him."

"Yeah, but I want to revise the commission schedule, especially the top end. It's unfair to the rest of us. I've been thinking about this for a while and have a proposal for your approval."

"Well, I'll take a look at it Brad. But the old man has his eyes on us so you better make sure your sales team ups its numbers this year. And I don't mean Jack. I mean those other guys. You put yourself in the crosshairs with Carl with the way you bragged about them."

"Don't you worry, I'll take care of those sales wimps. Let's dance!"

As Brad took Rachel's hand back to the dance floor she saw that Jack had been on his way over to the table. Jack looked at her with the "what the heck" face. Rachel just shook her shoulders and began dancing with Brad.

Jack stopped for a moment looking at his wife dancing once again with his shitty sales manager, then turned to go back to the bar. But as he did, he saw his fellow salespeople suddenly put their heads down and turn themselves toward the bar.

A good salesperson can read the room. Sales hunters are very social, outgoing, interactive, dominant, persuasive. They have a level of both confidence and insecurity that drives their need to win. And Jack could read the room, from the dance floor to the bar.

He put down his drink and texted his wife that he Uber'd home.

Several hours later he heard the door open and Rachel came upstairs to see her husband already in bed. "Jack, why did you leave me at the banquet? Do you know how embarrassing that was?"

Sitting up in bed, he responded, "Maybe as embarrassing as everyone seeing my wife dance with my sales manager all night and not with me? Besides, I texted you."

"That was uncalled for Jack! I have to be cordial to all my staff and you know it" she said angrily.

"And Brad was cordial with you too, his hand on your ass and his holding your attention the entire evening. I didn't see you dance with anyone else, so your cordialness was rather exclusive, wouldn't you agree?"

'Ughh! Don't try and defend yourself Jack. It was rude for you to leave me. Just admit it."

Any good salesperson knows when the conversation is over. It was over, nothing more to be gained. So he just stared at her down with a disapproving look. He knew that she knew she was wrong. He also knew she had a hard time admitting when she was wrong.

He decided to let his facial expression do the talking, then turned over and went to sleep.

Rachel lay in bed upset and angry staring at the moonlight filtering in through the blinds. "What am I doing?" she silently thought to herself. "I'm at the top of my game at work, making fantastic money, the top division, married to the top salesperson, have a great husband, but I'm fucking one of my subordinates right under my husband's nose!"

Her thoughts wandered back to her decision to finally fill the open Sales Manager position. "Why did I feel a need to do that? Was it because Jack had all the salespeople wound around his finger? They're so devoted to him! They all perform well, not to his level but even without Jack their numbers are to quota."

Indeed, over the years without a formal manager Jack was able to coach, support, and encourage the sales staff in a healthy and friendly competition where just the four men without Jack bring in enough new business where the division would be number two.

"Am I jealous of my husband's success? I see his commission statements. Yeah, I'm envious of the money he's making - it's more than my salary as Division President! And I went to Ivy League and he only has a high school diploma! It seems so unfair."

Given the new business volume, a year ago she decided to reorganize several departments and thought it a good time to fill the Sales Manager role. The candidate interviews were some of the most frustrating she'd ever conducted. The ego's, the ass-kissing and brown-nosing, the people-pleasing. Few of these so-called "sales manager" experts really had a successful track record in sales management, much less in direct selling.

When Brad Gully interviewed she was surprised at the well-dressed Ivy League graduate who entered her office. He was handsome, cultured, and had that Ivy League air of superiority but friendliness. She was taken by his charm, plus, in well-chosen words he implied an aggressiveness and high expectations to which would hold the salespeople accountable.

She hired him on the spot, and took him to lunch, one of the many lunches they've shared over the past year where the conversations about work declined in favor of personal thoughts of relationships, frustrations, dissatisfactions. These, of course, included doubts and frustrations and general grousing about marriage.

Back when Rachel and Jack met and fell in love, she even then had reservations about his lack of education and his comfort in just being a salesperson. The word "just" was her word, while his performance had been nothing close to the minimalist word "just."

So she insisted if they marry, they maintain separate banking, investment, and debt accounts and simply contribute a fixed amount monthly to the home expenses, and wrote up an agreement that was just short of a prenup but clearly set out their financial expectations.

"So is it my jealousy of Jack's income? Is it his lack of education? Why am I cheating on him with the manager that's making his life difficult?" She had a troubled night of sleep.

The next week Brad proposed a revision to the commission schedule and showed how it would add to the division's bottom line. "Yeah Brad, it would add another ten percent but it's coming directly out of the salespeople's commissions. And since my husband is the top salesperson it's a pay cut to him. I don't know if that will go over well."

"You're the President of the Division, Rachel. Are you trying to stack your husband's payroll or are you looking out for the good of the division?"

"That's unfair Brad. Especially since we're fuckbuddies."

"Speaking of which, Rachel, how about tomorrow afternoon at the motel?" They agreed on the tryst location.

That night over dinner Rachel brought up the commission revision proposal. Jack put down his fork and looked at Rachel with squinty eyes. "Rachel, you're not going to implement that, are you?"

"It would add to the division's bottom line Jack. I've got to think of that."

Jack paused for a sip of wine to carefully choose his words. "Have you heard of the Law of Unintended Consequences?"

"Of course I have. You know my education level!" Rachel was surprised at the offended tone she just just took with her husband.

"Yes I do Rachel. You know I love you babe but lately you've been frequently reminding me of that for some reason. I'm proud of what you've accomplished, you know that.

"But how is cutting commissions going to motivate your sales staff? How are you going to introduce it? How about 'hey guys, you're doing such a great job down here in the sales pit that we're going to cut your pay as a reward.'"

"You're only saying that Jack because it would cut into your earnings."

"Sure it will Rachel. And I don't like that, besides, did you run this by Carl? I have a separate commission schedule from everyone else. But the point is no one else is going to like it either.

"Look babe, I know you're proud of your education and accomplishments, all well-deserved. But you can't look at the sales staff as lazy greasy hucksters. You've got a great team down there is the cubicle pits. These are hard-working people!

"It takes a lot of work to build relationships, and with prospective customers it's a tough but delicate grind to work through the ranks to get to the ultimate decision maker without offending those you've got to get through. And even then, dealing with the competitive bidding where all they want is the lowest price is challenging, especially when we want to sell value at our list prices. And the daily rejection is enormous to deal with and keep moving forward. Can't you see that?"

Internally Rachel knew her husband had a good point, but it did grate on her the kind of money someone who plays around out of the office can make. It just seems unaccountable.

"Some of that may be true Jack, but these guys have expense accounts and company cars and are out of the office a lot. They've got a lot of freedom and perks, and the company pays for all that."

"Are you saying, Rachel, they don't deserve an expense account or company car? But your executive team does? Who actually brings in the money Rachel? The sales department is the only revenue generating department in the building. Everything else is expense, including the executive team!"

"I run a good team, Jack, don't be insulting about my staff."

"It's only a comparison Rachel. Only a comparison. So you think it's ok for an executive to take a vendor or secretary or themself out to lunch on an expense account, someone who brings in no revenue, but the salesperson who hustles, lives out of a car, hotel room, or small cubicle doesn't deserve one?"

Jack looked at Rachel with kind eyes and a kind smile. He knew where the idea came from.

"Babe, I've been selling for a long time. I know this, can you trust me? You've got a good sales staff you should be proud of. You know, salespeople who are winners keep score, and money is a scorecard. This has got to be Brad's idea. He hates salespeople, and just loves to make our jobs miserable. And now he's going to supposedly motivate those guys with less money?"

"Look, Jack, all of you guys down there are just salespeople. There's plenty of people who can sell, and if those guys leave or don't produce Brad will just hire more."

That statement cut like a knife. Jack was shocked. It was as if Rachel had not even been listening to him. Or was it when he mentioned Brad that her attitude suddenly changed?

"Just? Just salespeople. That's got to be the dumbest statement an Ivy League graduate could make. If it wasn't for us lowly salespeople there would be no production, shipping, jobs, benefits, offices, salaries.

"Have you become so used to my level of sales that you think it is normal, that everyone or anyone can do it? If that's so, why aren't the other divisions producing like ours is? You like it when you go up on stage and get the award for top division, but that all starts with sales."

"Hey Jack, don't you minimize my contribution in running the entire operation. Maybe you're jealous because you've never been promoted, you just want to stay in that pit down there or ride around all day in your car like you have no ambition!"

"Is that all you think I do Rachel? You have no idea the amount of work I do to achieve the level of production I turn in. You think this is easy? You think anyone you pull off the street can do what I do? No 'ambition'???!!! What happened to the respect you had for me?"

He paused to try and calm down. "Rachel, why do you trust a sales manager who makes the entire sales staff's job a living hell, who has never done a ride-along, who bogs us down with irrelevant paperwork? But you don't trust the man who's proven himself year over year and happens to be your loving husband?"

With a heavy sigh, Rachel knew she was not going to give in. She could not give in. After all, she was the executive and was not going to be lectured by a salesman. "Look, I haven't made a decision yet but let's be clear: When I make a decision everyone better get on board with it."

"Yeah, unless some want to get off-board," Jack muttered as he took his dinner plate to the sink.

The next day's morning sales meeting was a disaster. Brad was berating the five salespeople for not inputting their daily calls and conversations into the company's Customer Relationship Manager system, or "CRM."

"You asshats are useless. We spend all this money to support your selling and you can't put in who you're calling, what time, what was the conversation, the percentage probability of a sale, the potential sale amount and any notes? And besides that, you're not making enough phone calls for appointments! I should replace the lot of you!"

One of the salespeople, the best of them (not counting Jack) spoke up. "Look Brad, you want us to spend all this time doing input on meaningless data which takes time away from dialing the phone. Which is more important?"

"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That's all I hear from you guys."

Another sales producer spoke up, "You know, before you got here Jack didn't have us put every nitty gritty item in the CRM and we had great sales. Now I feel like I'm handicapped with all the shit you're making me do and it's taking time away from me making money!"

Yet another suggested "why can't we just input what's relevant to the deals we're working on instead of meaningless data"

"Because, you useless worm, I've got to see your activity to know you're actually working instead of playing put-putt golf out there when you're supposed to be making appointments!"

Brad was furious at the back-talk, and even more so being compared to Jack.

"You all think Jack's so great? Jack? You're the worst of them. You're hardly ever here in the office, and rarely are there any of your deals in the CRM! You should be ashamed of yourself! Aren't you supposed to be an example to the guys?"

Jack was sitting back in his chair planning his driving route for the week's sales calls, but heard the usual complaints of the sales manager. He chuckled to himself, remembering the joke about how sales managers are like dogs chained to their dog houses. All they can do is bark.

"Brad, wanna know how I'm an example to the guys? I'm an example of bringing in contracts at list price. And you also know why we get company cars: Because we don't bring in contracts sitting in the office typing away some note from a conversation that went nowhere. We sign contracts out on the road."

Brad grimaced at the smirks around the table. He hated these guys, these losers who would never be executives. Who knows what they were doing when out of the office? But secretly he wished he had more freedom outside the office to hit up a few more fuckbuddies.

"Anyways, Brad, I've been working a huge account for the last eight months and have a closing appointment coming up."

"Shape up Jack. Learn to be a team player, huh? Anyways, a new commission schedule has been approved. Take a look at it, and get back to work."

"You're cutting our commissions Brad?" The sales guys were upset and there was a lot of arguing with Brad, who ended the arguments with "take it or leave it."

After the sales meeting the guys traditionally would go out for lunch, then come back to the office. Clearly the conversation was about their asshole sales manager and the commission cut. Some talked about looking for another job. Upon returning to the office Brad approached Jack and said, "come with me."

He wasn't forthcoming about why, but Jack rode the elevator up to the tenth floor executive suites and they walked into the President's office. "Take a seat Jack," said Rachel.

"I hear you're working on a big account. How big? Tell us about it."

"Hmm. Brad didn't fill you in?"

"No, you just brought it up today is my understanding."

"That's curious Rachel, since Brad screamed at the sales guys in today's sales meeting about not putting deals into the shitty CRM he makes us use. All of my notes are in there." Turning to Brad, "didn't you read them?"

His face turning red, Rachel knew Brad was about to blow so she interrupted, "Just fill me in now Jack."

Jack took a long look at Brad, just to make him uncomfortable, and said, "It's a huge deal with Apex that's required a lot of interfacing with engineering and production but it's all worked out, they have the contract, and I'm closing it soon. It will double our revenue for this year."

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Brad. "And you didn't tell me about this for over eight months?"

"When do you ever want to know about any details on my deals Brad? And tell me, when have you ever been helpful to me on anything I've brought to you? So fuck you and fuck off."

"You can't talk to me like that, I'm your manager! Rachel?" Brad looked to Rachel for help.

"That's insubordinate, Jack. You could be fired for that remark. Apologize to your manager."

With a glare at his wife for her admonishment, Jack turned to Brad. "Brad, I apologize for saying fuck you and fuck off, it was inappropriate and inaccurate. What I should have said is that you're welcome to obtain sexual gratification with self-stimulation, though I'd prefer you do it in private."

Brad stood up in an angry pose. "Brad, sit down. NOW!" Ordered Rachel. "We're off track here. Jack, are you serious about the size of this order?"

"You don't believe me? When have I lied about any of my work? Yes, it's a huge deal."

"Then both myself and Brad are going to accompany you on the sale. This is huge for our division."

"NO! No fucking way are you coming along. This is MY deal. I don't need new people coming in at the last minute who know nothing about it or any of the relationships or work that's gone into getting to this point over eight fucking months! And neither of you have ever been on a sales call, much less anything of this size. It's my deal, I'm doing it alone."

"Well it's a good thing we topped off the commission schedule just before this deal, otherwise can you imagine the money a salesperson, a non-executive would make on this?" smirked Brad.

"You're capping commissions? What the hell! Why would you do that? I've earned the commission on this deal, I've worked my ass off to get to this point. There's no way you're not going to pay me full commission on this!"

"Jack, I've had enough of your insubordination today. The commission levels are set and I told you everyone better get on board. And we're going with you and that's that. Leave my office. Get out of my face while I meet with your manager."

Jack stood up so suddenly with force that his chair flew back behind him. He glared at his wife then Jack stormed out of the office and slammed the office door. A picture fell off Rachel's office wall, coincidentally, a wedding picture.

For her part, Rachel jumped in her seat at Jack's furious and noisy exit. For the first time she thought she might have gone too far. Brad sensed this.

"It's ok Rachel, these little salespeople with big egos are hard to manage. I should know, I deal with them every day. Trust me, just ignore them and they'll crawl back to their cubicle and fret a little then I'll kick their ass again and get them going."

"Was that the management style necessary to manage a sales staff?" wondered Rachel as she watched Brad leave the office. "Carl knows how good the staff did with Jack unofficially leading them. I just wish Jack would have more goals in life where he'd be a manager or executive instead of riding around in a car all day pretending to work." Maybe Brad's right, Jack needs a kick in his ass."

Word got around the building about the size of this potential deal Jack had put together, even counterparts in the other divisions were excited for Jack's big deal.

The day of the closing sales appointment Jack arrived at the Apex offices early and waited in the conference room for Rachel and Brad to arrive, which they did a few minutes prior to the meeting times.

"Look Rachel, Brad. This is a closing meeting. The only thing to do is have them sign the contract. There's no more selling, no more talking. Just pleasant introductions and that's it. You both: DO NOT TALK. Do not say a word, do you understand?"

"You can't tell us what to do," sneered Brad. "I'm your manager."

"Brad, I'm warning you, shut your mouth. You have no history with these guys, they're tough. I've worked everything out with everyone, and I mean everyone! There's nothing more to say. Anything said will only go south on us. Understand? Rachel, that goes for you too."

Rachel nodded, but Brad protested, "Look hot shot, we're not children. We know what we're doing."

Just then the conference room opened and a number of well-dressed executives walked in. "Jack! How good to see you again. We've all been looking forward to this day!"

That was a good sign in addition to the folder he was carrying. Introductions were made, then Jack said with a smile, "Well, it's been a long eight months and we've resolved everything so, nothing left but the signature!"

Now was the time to shut up. Jack was smiling looking across the table at the Chief Executive of Apex, and the Chief Executive was smiling looking at Jack. It was a duel of the alphas. Jack had been in these situations many times, and knew the drill and knew this was the last test.

He who speaks first, loses.

Silence seems longer than it actually is. Five seconds may seem like five minutes. Twenty seconds seems like an eternity. At one closing appointment in the past Jack remembered the silence going on for a long time, to the point Jack got up and walked to the window and just looked out. After about a half hour of silence the prospect said, "well, looks like we read the same book about who speaks first." And he signed the contract, after all, he spoke first.

Jack could tell from his peripheral vision that Brad was getting shaky, about to break under the pressure of the silence. Jack hoped against hope that Brad would hold it together. But - - -

"Sir, I just thought I'd review the features and benefits our company is offering to you." From across the table the CEO's eyes fell, and shifted to Brad who proceeded to "show up and throw up" as the expression goes.

Jack knew it was over.

When Brad finally finished the CEO said, "Jack, we've worked closely with you for eight months. We've been impressed by your engineering team and appreciated how you negotiated with our engineering team to work out suitable compromises."

Rachel wondered to herself, "I didn't know of any of that."

Continuing while holding the folder, "At the plant tour when meeting your production staff it really helped us see how the retooling would be able to meet our level of production requirements."

Rachel heard that and remembered the production and engineering team making some reasonable financial requests for tooling. She didn't know her husband was involved in that.

"It was a lot of work you put in, and I greatly respect how you resisted my pressure to cut your price and kept things at list price. You know we were also talking with your competitor, but.. "

Upon hearing the words "list price" Brad suddenly blurted out an interruption, "I'm sure we can arrive at a suitable discount to the quote that Jack put together!"

Jack hung his head. Rachel looked at Jack and realized Brad had just made a serious mistake.

The Chief Executive leaned onto the table and looked at Jack. "Jack, my friend. How can you have such competent engineering and production people, and you of all people are the best I've ever seen, and yet you bring your Sales Manager here to help close the deal?

"And all he does is spout off like he's a talking brochure? And when I'm just about to give you this signed contract he blurts out discounts as if that's what made this deal happen?"

He opened the file folder and held up a signed contract, then in front of everyone, tore it in half.

"Meeting is over. We're going with the other company." The executives shook their heads and walked out of the room. The Chief turned and said to Jack, "Jack, this isn't personal to you. I really like you. But this guy? Insulting! Keep him locked in his office."

Jack leaned his head all the way back in the comfy conference room chair. A cardinal rule is never bring non-salespeople to a closing appointment. "All that work," he muttered out loud.

Rachel looked at him with pity, knowing what just happened, while guiltily knowing what she was doing behind his back with his nemesis.

Brad stood up and towered over Jack. "You lost the largest deal in the company's history! Why didn't you offer discounts? We could have had that deal! Rachel? Fire him! When everyone hears we lost this deal they need to know you and I had nothing to do with it!"

Rachel paused and thought, looking at Jack and Brad. The size of this deal would have made her look like a star, her raise and bonus would have been enormous. Her resume would forever show her accomplishment. She slowly stood up and walked toward the door. "Jack, I can't take the hit on this. You're fired." Brad smirked and walked out with Rachel.

Jack just sat back in the conference room for a few minutes for perspective. In sales, there is the expression or SW3N: Some will, some won't, so what? Next! True hunters don't take rejection personally. You can be disappointed, even angry, but you go on to the next deal.

A full sales pipeline is the best way to mitigate any possible rejection. So while upset at what happened to his huge sale, he knew he had to move forward on to the next one.

He sat up and took a deep breath. What really bothered him was trying to think of why his wife would be so quick to fire him. She didn't even know about this possible sale until recently, and it didn't mean the company really lost anything. After all, you can't lose what you never had in the first place.

"Perhaps she'll think about this on the way to the office. She's not faced rejection like that before. I lose deals all the time, I just keep moving forward. Likely she'll change her mind by the time we get home," he was hoping.

If not, he knew he had options.

It was just shortly before lunch when this disaster had occurred. On his way to his car, he decided to stop at a local bar he'd become fond of after all his visits to Apex. He had a lot to think about over a good burger and beer.

The bar happened to be across the street from one of those single level motels made of cinder block with about a dozen rooms stretching away from the office. As Jack was walking to the bar he happened to look across the street and see his wife's car at the far end of the motel. Just then another car pulled in alongside hers - Brad's!

They both got out of their cars and hugged and kissed the kind of kiss that would not pass the husband test, then went into the room.

Now he was pissed off and full of rage, Jack crossed the street in a run but had to stop in the middle of the road to wait for traffic to clear. Fortunately it helped his head clear, at least a little, so by the time he got to the other side he began to get his wits together.

"I'm going to beat the shit out of that guy, and Rachel?! What the fuck is she doing? How long has this been going on? Damn! FUCK!" His thoughts were racing. He knew he had to calm down, that overreacting and being impulsive was not a good strategy.

But he felt an urge to at least do something, so he went over to their cars and let the air out of two tires on each car, just to fuck with them, petty as it was.

Back in the bar he mourned his marriage and his job and began jotting down his thoughts and questions about her affair. As he looked at his list, it hit him, "what difference will her answers make? The contract is broken. She's said "no" to our marriage.

In sales there is pre-call planning, and post-sale review. Jack was trying to figure out where his marriage went wrong. Had he misinterpreted everything since they were married? Had he missed a growing chasm between them?

He was happy to be in sales, yet his wife thought he had no ambition even though his numbers dwarfed everyone in all the divisions. Had she always thought that way?

Why did she hire Brad as Sales Manager? She was super smart, she had to know he didn't have the chops to manage salespeople. Was she having an affair before she even hired him?

Jack was glad that back when they decided to get married she was so caught up in her career that she intended to keep her maiden name, and wanted separate bank accounts, and an agreement that they each would build their own assets separately.

This seemed like a pre-divorce to Jack and he vigorously argued this, but she said that on her career trajectory it was becoming common for career women to keep the same name that was on their degree, and to be financially independent of their spouse. Jack argued how that would work when they had kids, but Rachel thought that was so far down the road that they'd discuss it then.

He had a lot of money. His commissions over the years were huge and he had large savings and investments and a sizable 401k. Because they filed separate tax returns Rachel didn't know the size of Jack's assets but she did know his income, after all, the President knows every employee's income.

The lightbulb was clicking above Jack's head. Rachel and Brad must have been playing their game for so long, the lying, the cheating, the manipulating, the demeaning, that they were convinced they were in control. But now, their house of cards has fallen. They were exposed.

Not only did Jack know of their adultery, but he knew that they blew the biggest sale the entire set of divisions had ever seen. How would they spin this? Would anyone actually believe the top salesperson was responsible?

And so what if he was? He was still bringing in lots of deals. Why would you fire the top salesperson over one lost sale?

Jack knew his wife had made a major mistake politically. This would not go over well with the sales team, much less the CEO who was fond of Jack.

So how would this go down politically, strategically, and maritally?

Would he remain fired? Did he even want to remain at the company? With what he saw across the street would he even want to work under Brad? Ugh! Working "under" Brad just took on a sick meaning!.

And his marriage? Could he remain married to a cheater? To a woman who had lost all respect for her husband?

Jack meditated on those questions. Perhaps Rachel would realize the drop in sales would ultimately reflect on her and want him back. But she had not only taken Brad's side but also played a part in blowing the deal. And they cut his commissions too. He wondered if Carl was aware of that.

"I'm in the driver's seat here. I have the upper hand, I hold all the cards, I have plenty of options at my disposal. Rachel and Brad have boxed themselves in on the commissions and my termination. And of course, their affair! I can hold a shitload of things over their heads.

"But do I even want to? What do I want?"

That was the question to answer.

With his good reputation he fielded plenty of job offers every month. All he had to do was switch his LinkedIn profile and he'd be flooded with interest. His company cell phone and company car would have to be turned in. So job number one was getting a personal cell phone and doing a factory reset on the company phone.

He wasn't going to let anyone have it easy with his contacts and apps. This goes for his customized spreadsheets on his company laptop as well.

He also needed a place to stay, since there was no way he was going to live with his wife and play in her bug infested garden anymore. And he'd need a vehicle but he could pretty much Uber wherever he needed to go for now or rent a vehicle.

So on the way back to the office he arranged a rental to be delivered to the company parking lot. He bought a new cell phone and downloaded everything from his cloud backup, and bought a laptop and downloaded his backups from the company laptop.

He reset the cell phone to factory settings, and reformatted the company laptop's hard drive.

Upon entering the office building he took the elevator up to the HR department and told them he was terminated and wanted to arrange his paperwork. This was surprising to the HR Director, who asked Jack to wait while he investigated but for some reason he couldn't reach Brad or Rachel. So the paperwork was completed.

Back down in the sales pit Jack took a box and was going to clean out his cubicle desk, but basically everything was company property. So he left the company phone, laptop and company car keys on the desk and said goodbye to the other salespeople, who were shocked at his termination.

On the way home in his rental car he stopped at a real estate office and asked if there were any short-term monthly rentals. One happened to be a garage rental that happened to be spacious, furnished, and with internet. He put down a deposit and two month's rent and signed the lease.

At home he boxed up his personal financial records and began to bag up his personal items and some clothing and put it in the car trunk. He didn't want to empty out too much and alert Rachel that he was leaving.

The only thing he didn't have was a divorce attorney, so with a good Google search of "shark divorce attorney near me" the first result was Scarlett Jennings. The reviews all hated her for how she destroyed the cheating spouse. He had an appointment for the next morning.

* * * *

"My tires are flat! How am I supposed to get back to the office?" moaned a shocked Rachel.

"Mine too," said Brad, upset as well. "Maybe we can get a tow truck to fill them with air. Hopefully it was just some kids pulling a prank."

By the time Rachel got back to the office and walked in the lobby it was quitting time. Many of the factory workers were already in the parking lot but the office workers were just starting to come off the elevators into the spacious lobby.

"Why is everyone looking at me," thought Rachel. Some had frowns, others had worried expressions. As she got off the elevator at the executive level she noticed a number of the secretaries looked down as she walked by instead of their usual pleasant greetings.

Upon reaching her office, she asked her Admin "what's going on with everyone?" Her administrative assistant looked at her and shrugged and said "not sure what you're referring to Rachel. I'm late for getting home, see you tomorrow."

"That's odd, Sally usually stays as late as I do. And she always knows what the gossip is around the building." Rachel checked her email, then decided just to go home for the night.

At home though, there was a different car in the driveway. Inside Jack was watching the evening news and eating scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and spinach. "Jack, did you make dinner? Why are you eating breakfast?"

"Because I like breakfast."

"Any for me?"

"No."

She realized Jack was probably upset at losing the Apex deal and the scene in the conference room. "Jack, dear, let's sit down and talk about today. And by the way, who's car is in the driveway?"

"It's my rental car."

"Why do you have a rental?"

"Because I had to turn in my company car."

She hadn't thought of some of the repercussions of her husband's firing, but certainly expected him to be more communicative with her, his wife. "Jack, I'm sure your feelings are hurt but you put me in an awkward situation. We just have to move forward and put this behind us."

Jack turned his head to look at her, then turned back to the television. "You put yourself in the awkward situation by coming to the appointment. That's on you. Even the Apex CEO said so."

"Jack! Quit being a baby and talk to me." she demanded.

"In this home you're not the President. You're my wife, at least I think you are, and you just can't order me to do anything you want. Leave me alone or else I'll leave."

"Jack, this is ridiculous." Upon saying that to Jack, he got up and put his dishes in the sink and headed to the door.

As he reached for the door he chuckled out loud and said, "Ridiculous you say? What's ridiculous is how you got fucked today and fucked yourself."

He had never spoken to her like that, and her face showed her shock at his words, wondering about their implication.

"When did you lose your respect for me Rachel, and why? You've regarded me as less than you for some time. It's like I'm not even heard anymore. We're living in two worlds but living in the same house, at least for now." He was out the door and drove off.

Thinking out loud while watching him drive away, Rachel said "what the fuck does that mean?" She sat down and for the first time she began to worry about the day's events.

Jack spent the night at a hotel and the next morning arranged divorce paperwork with Scarlett Jennings, who only took his case because he was the innocent party. She typically only worked with women, but after hearing the account of his Apex sale blowing up by the very man who was fucking Jack's wife, she actually desired to work on this case.

Rachel, however, had another night of troubled sleep. Her husband did not come to bed with her and she woke up alone. This had never happened in their marriage. In fact, their marriage had been pretty good with frequent enough sex, satisfying sex, nice communication, great family relationships with in-laws, and a very good economic situation.

"Did I act too hastily in firing my own husband?" she wondered. "Why did I immediately agree with Brad instead of thinking this through? What's happening to my executive decision making?"

Then it hit her that after her lover's whacking both her husband's and company's biggest sale ever, that she hopped in bed with the very man that assassinated the contract.

"Yes, I was worked up and needed a fix and I was prime for Brad's invitation to the motel. Oh God, how I needed dick at that time. I should have been there to comfort my husband, but the evilness of being with Jack's persecutor just sent me over the edge."

She thought back to the motel rendezvous, whereupon their familiarity with each other's bodies became evident with the comfort they had in exploring each other's bodies, their kisses becoming more urgent.

Brad undressed Rachel slowly as she smiled, her eyes filled with desire, or was it a need? "Brad, it was awful to fire my own husband. I just need to be held tightly and fucked to clear my head," she pleaded. Rather quickly Brad undressed and pressed his body against Rachel as they rocked together, filling the room with Rachel's moans.

She remembered begging Brad to thrust harder and deeper, to really take her, when he flipped her over, pressing her chest and face into the mattress while he pulled up her hips so he could align himself again. But holding her hips tight, he vigorously gave her the fucking she needed.

When done they lay together with a sheen of sweat on their skin. The pillow talk they both enjoyed began. "Rachel, with the cuck terminated this means we can have an easier time hooking up now." Rachel didn't turn her head to her lover but stared at the ceiling, wondering about her recent decisions.

The next day by the time Rachel arrived at her office her Admin Sally gave her the day's call and meeting schedule and Rachel knuckled down to business.

However, down in the sales pit the natives were restless, as the expression goes. Brad was in his office with his door closed, and the four remaining salespeople decided to skip their calls for the day and remain in the office, hanging around the coffee machine.

"Jack's desk phone keeps lighting up with messages. You know, we could take his messages and use them as leads for ourselves!" noted one.

"Yeah, but I'm loyal to Jack for all he's done for me. I'm a much better salesperson now than when he first got here. And it's all because of him."

"Me too, and he was a fantastic manager, though he didn't have to help us, he did. Nothing like that asshole Brad. I'd just like to kick Brad's ass one day!"

"Have you guys seen Jack's LinkedIn today? He's already getting job offers. I'm thinking of messaging him through LinkedIn and seeing if I can follow him wherever he ends up."

"That's a good idea. He made us into a great team. Maybe we all could leave together at one time and work with him."

"Fuck yeah! I bet he could make a sweetheart deal for us with another company, not like here where they just cut our commissions!"

"Send him a message, tell him what we're thinking."

The office door opened and Brad came out to fill his coffee. "What the fuck are you guys doing here? You're supposed to be on the road! Get the fuck out of here."

The four salespeople just stood and looked at Brad with disdain. They didn't move.

"Did you hear me? You better watch out for your jobs! If Jack can lose his job, you can too!" he threatened.

One of the sales guys walked up to Brad and faced him up, toe to toe. "You're not a sales manager. You're a morale assassin in a blazer, slowly draining ambition from everyone unfortunate enough to report to you. Fuck you."

"You want to fire us Brad?" another one questioned. "You just lost a ton of contracts Jack would have brought in this year. You need us more than ever. If I tell you to suck my dick, you better get on your knees and unzip me because you need me, fuckwad."

Not to be outdone, yet another salesperson shoved Brad against the wall, then tipped the coffee cup up so that it spilled on Brad's shirt.

The fourth salesperson laughed and said, "You think you're so good but you're probably the one that messed up Jack's sale. What really happened over there Brad?"

Brad's face was red with anger and shame, but with that last question he thought he'd regain the upper hand. "Jack didn't include any discounts in the quote. I tried to save the deal at the last minute but we had already lost it."

The sales guys all laughed derisively.

"You're such a fucking asshole Brad! Jack never gave discounts! He always sold at list price! Didn't you know that? He always taught us to never offer discounts. If they want a cheaper price then they've got to give up something for that cheaper price. And when we help them understand that, they usually see the value in what we're selling."

Actually, Brad thought that made sense.

A voice came from around the corner, an unfamiliar voice to most of the guys. "So at Jack's closing appointment you spoke up when I'm sure he told you to be silent, and you offered discounts at a closing appointment. What a fuck-up."

Carl Winthrop walked in and looked at Brad Gully. "You're certainly not a salesperson, but you certainly are a fuck-up."

Brad's face couldn't get any redder from the shame of admonishment from the CEO in front of the sales staff. Carl turned and looked at the salespeople. "Guys, please be patient and let me see what the hell is going on here. Where is Jack's office?"

"Office?" questioned a salesperson. "Jack didn't have an office. His cubicle is over there."

Spinning around quickly and glaring at Jack, Carl screamed, "The top salesman in the entire company is in a cubicle and not an office!" The spit was flying out of Carl's mouth onto Brad's face.

"Sir, did you also know all of our commissions were cut, including Jack's?"

""WHAT!? Who cut the commissions?"

"Well, it's our understanding that Brad put together a reduced commission schedule and Ms. Carter the Division President approved it."

"What in the hell is going on with this Division!" Carl yelled. "Someone get Jack on the phone, now!"

Everyone looked over to Brad, who hung his head, "Um, Sir, Mr. Winthrop, Jack's phone is on his desk. He turned it in when he left. We don't have a way to reach him."

Carl was swearing like a sailor as he stomped towards the elevators. He rode the elevators up to the executive offices, but it stopped on the main level first where a young woman entered holding a manilla envelope.

"What floor young lady," offered Carl.

"Executive level please." Carl looked at her with interest, as it seemed an unlikely place for her to go given how she was dressed in jeans and a sweater.

As the elevator opened up Carl strode over to Rachel's office, right past her Admin, and walked in. Surprised, Rachel stood up and said, "Carl! What a nice surprise. It's nice to see you."

But as she saw that his face was not pleasant at all she sat down behind her desk. But just then Sally, her Admin, opened the door and said, "Rachel, there's a young lady that needs to see you for a moment."

"I'm in a meeting Sally. Whoever it is will have to - - - " she didn't finish her sentence as a young woman pushed Sally aside and walked up to Rachel.

"Are you Rachel Carter?" she asked firmly.

Irritated at the rude interruption, Rachel said with ire, "Yes I am, now leave my off - - - "

"You've been served Ma'am. Divorce due to adultery. Read it and weep." the process server said with a chuckle.

Rachel was stunned at the sudden realization of being served, and further stunned by the flash of a camera memorializing the divorce petition in her hands.

She slowly sat in her executive chair trying to pull together her emotions with the stunning turn of events. She looked up and saw Sally still in the doorway with a shocked expression on her face, then she panned over to Carl who was sitting in front of her with a hard expression of disgust.

He spoke first: "Rachel, did you approve a reduced commission schedule Brad put together?"

"Oh shit," thought Rachel. "This is bad, real bad. I've got to get myself together and sell Carl on everything that's happened!" Clearing her throat she responded, "Yes I did and for very good reason Carl."

"Such as?"

"We thought it would add an additional 10 percent to the Division's profits this year while motivating the staff to increase their efforts under Brad's guidance."

"And you truly believe that is a good reason Rachel?" he asked skeptically.

She sighed deeply. "By asking that I take it you disagree?"

"Don't play games with me Rachel." Carl sat and looked at her with that 'don't fuck with me look.'

"And what about Jack's commission schedule? Does it apply to him as well?"

"Perhaps Carl doesn't know I fired Jack? Maybe I can dance around this and buy some time." thought Rachel. "Yes, it applies to the entire sales staff."

"Weren't you aware that I personally negotiated that schedule with Jack? Did you feel you had a right to overrule what I myself put in writing with the top salesperson?"

Rachel swallowed hard.

"What did I tell you about salespeople at our annual party? Do you remember Rachel? Or are you too busy fucking someone to remember or even care?"

Rachel gasped at that remark. "Carl! I, you're, um,... "

"Don't say a fucking thing Rachel. What happened at the Apex deal closing?"

She knew she was in deep shit now. "Jack blew the deal at the last moment. He lost the biggest contract this division or company ever had."

"And where is he now? How about we get him up here and get his side of it?"

"I think he's on the road, I don't think he's in the building Carl."

"Rachel, I told you just a moment ago to not play games with me. I know he's been terminated. The sales staff knows it. It's all over the buildings of the three divisions. HR even notified me he filled out all his termination paperwork. He turned in his phone, laptop, and company car."

Rachel sat and looked at Carl. This was not the time to say anything.

"Why did you and that fuckwad Sales Manager I warned you about, why did you even go on his closing appointment? Didn't you trust him? Did you think you or fuckwad could do any better than that guy that got everyone to that table?"

Again, she sat silent. These were all rhetorical questions with obvious answers.

"Didn't you know that one reason his sales were so high was because he always sold list prices? Do you know how many discounts the salespeople in the other divisions seem to offer? It drives me crazy! So why would you even begin to offer a discount when all the deal needed was a signature?

"What the hell has happened with your decision making? I told you I was suspicious of you hiring that sales manager, yet you agree with his asinine commission cut for everyone including Jack! Then you make the decision for not only you to go to the close, but to bring fuckwad with you?!

"What the fuck Rachel?" Carl was now yelling.

"And did you even know that the man who makes more money for this company than anyone else, including you, doesn't even have an office but was assigned a lowly cubicle like some kind of dweeb? Have you even bothered to grace the sales pit with your presence?"

Rachel was feeling the heat, realizing the serious mistakes she made, wondering how this was going to play out for her.

Carl sat silent, letting the impact of his words sink into the Division President.

"You know, I would have thought that divorce petition would be because you fired your own husband for no acceptable reason. But it sounds like its for adultery. So who are you fucking Rachel?"

In a small voice she uttered, "I don't think that's any of your business Carl."

"It is if it's an employee at my company. Is it?

She sat silent.

"Thank you for your answer. Obviously there will be an investigation." He turned to leave and stopped at the door. Looking back he asked, "Is it with Brad Gully?"

Again, no answer. But Rachel hung her head and began sobbing.

* * * *

Down in the sales pit the four remaining salespeople crouched together in a cubicle watching the LinkedIn Messaging conversation with Jack. Suddenly in a hushed voice they all said "Yeah!" and rushed out of the office.

Brad heard the commotion and looked out his office door and saw them running to their cars. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * * *

She got home early, earlier than she had in the past several years. But opening the door was difficult knowing what might lie on the other side of the door. Rachel took a deep breath and turned the door handle and walked in.

The home seemed inordinately quiet. She dropped her briefcase and kicked off her shoes and poured herself a glass of wine and slumped into the sofa. "What a day. What a fucked up day. I might as well get this over with." She picked up her cell phone and dialed Jack.

"This number is no longer in service. Please check the number and dial again." "Shit, it was a company phone." She typed an email to him, but immediately got a bounce message that the "email address was not found in the database." Of course not, when you're terminated your email is cancelled as well.

She had no way to reach her husband. Just then, her phone rang. It was Brad.

"So what happened up there today Rachel? Tell me what Carl wanted."

"Brad, everythings gone to shit. I shouldn't have listened to you about the commissions or firing Jack. And Jack must know about us because he's divorcing me for adultery. So how do you think it went?"

"Gosh, that's pretty rough, babe. Why don't we meet up and let me soothe your feelings?"

"Is that all you can think about Brad? I'm surprised I wasn't told to fire you too."

"What? You need me Rachel! Those sales guys need structure, discipline, and high expectations. You just can't leave them to themselves. Who knows what they're doing out there on the road?"

"Yeah Brad? What are you and I doing out there on the road? At least those guys bring in business. You just get your rocks off on the wife of the guy you hate-on. And now he knows, so I don't think your job should be uppermost on your mind. Do you?"

"I'm not afraid of the little cuck. And if he's divorcing you, then you and I can be together a lot more. In fact, if he's not home with you, how about we do it in your marital bed?"

The tension and stress from the day's events still weighed on Rachel, and the wine was doing little to relieve it. She actually considered having Brad over to her home, but thought better of it. After all, there was a long way to go until a final decree and she might have time to reconcile with her husband.

But, he wasn't home, and he didn't know if she was home, so, what if she went over to Brad's and got her stress relief?

She didn't really like Brad's condo. He wasn't very neat and she usually was picking up clothes and empty pizza boxes. And he didn't change his sheets that often. But it would have to do for the night. It had been a difficult day.

The next day Rachel met with Carl, HR and the company's attorney to review her options since her so-called "fraternization" with Brad was against company policy. "At the moment you're still in charge of this division according to Carl," the attorney said, "but we're trying to figure out how to respond to the policy violation. If you get off easily it could set a precedent for future claims."

"Shit," thought Rachel. "What does that mean? It's not good, that's for sure. Maybe I can convince Carl to let me switch places with another division's counterpart."

"Carl, I want to apologize for the spot I've put you and the company in. It was a poor choice on my part and I regret it. Please remember what I've done for this Division over the past number of years in bringing it back to profitability."

"Yes, you have done that Rachel, your reorganizations and efficiencies have been remarkable. But cost-cutting doesn't bring in profits. It only reduces expenses. The other half is making money, and I fear that your Division will likely be at the bottom this year. That's quite a drop from the heights you've been at for several years in a row."

She knew the numbers wouldn't lie, and there was little she could do to affect sales at this point in the year other than getting her husband back. She proposed, "Do you think you could help me in getting Jack back?"

"You actually think a hunter like Jack is going to come back to work under that fuckwad you hired? Jack and the team worked so well together without a sales manager, with him training and motivating and supporting the team. I still can't fathom why you would fuck that up by hiring any sales manager given how that department was so highly functioning!

"And why would he come back under such a shitty commission schedule that actually disincentivizes our sales people? People who up until now were doing well for you? I don't know what happened to you, Rachel. You've got some serious explaining to do."

Rachel saw the disappointed look on Carl's face and the stern look of the attorney and HR Manager. This was now her moment of truth, her moment to save her job and reputation.

"I've worked here a long time and I appreciate the recognition I've received from you Carl. Thank you for your comments on what I've accomplished. Accountability is important in any organization if it's to improve, and at this moment I need to admit my lack of accountability in these matters. I admit, I screwed up.

"And I've made wrong decisions here before, any executive has. We go with what we think is right and sometimes it's not right. This is one of those times. But in every case I've worked through it, corrected it, adjusted it, and things have turned out well. I hope you'll have the confidence that I'll come through again in this situation."

Carl took a sip of coffee and thought for a moment. The HR Manager filled the silence. "How do you, as Division President, think we can arrange things so that your violation of the fraternization policy doesn't become precedent for future issues? I mean, you can't just turn around and claim your affair with Mr. Gully didn't happen. Even if you decide to end it, it still happened."

The attorney chimed in, "And if you terminate him he'll then have a cause of action against you and the company, probably claiming you abused your position for sexual gain."

That smarted. Rachel winced and tried to hold her temper. She was used to being in control, and there were no good answers to any of those questions. There was an idea she had, she didn't like it, but it might be a 'hail Mary' type of solution.

"What if, as just an idea and only an idea for now, what if I trade places with the President of another division. Maybe with even a minor pay cut, as penance for what I've done. I believe one of the other divisions has an older policy handbook that doesn't include the fraternization rule."

The attorney said to Carl, "Technically that could work. She could be terminated here, and rehired there." Rachel's eyes lit up at the possibility, her eyebrows raised as she expectantly looked at Carl.

But Carl steepled his hands and rested his chin on the tips of his fingers, thinking. "I'll take this under advisement for now. I'll get back with all of you. Meanwhile Rachel, don't do anything stupid to fuck this up any more than you already have."

He got up to leave, walking right past a humiliated Rachel without even a handshake, pat on the back of reassurance, or a word.

* * * *

Jack walked into Zeke's Tavern and saw his former sales team already at a table with a pitcher of beer and a plate of wings. They jumped up and all high-fived him and back-slapped him, excited and hopeful at seeing their mentor.

"Hey guys, why aren't you on the road selling at your reduced commission for your shitface manager? Huh? What a bunch of slackers! Who would even hire you?" he said laughingly as he hurled the friendly insults at them.

"Hopefully you, "boss-man,"" chanted the guys. "Grab a beer and tell us what the hell happened!"

Jack sat down and over a few beers filled them in on the Apex closing appointment, how Brad couldn't stay quiet, how he blurted out features and benefits at the most inappropriate time much less offered discounts. The guys all laughed and swore about how stupid Brad was.

But when Jack related how Rachel turned it all on him, the guy's mood became somber, turning to pissed. They told him of how they faced up to Brad and how Carl heard their comments and brought Brad down a few notches.

"Well guys, the word got around quickly and of all places, Apex made me a huge offer to run my own team for the entire east coast territory, full benefits, expense accounts, cars, and a commission schedule even better than what I had with Carl - and the best part? I can give that schedule to you guys as well, provided you all come as a team."

Immediately the four guys stuck out their arms to shake Jack's hand, all talking at once, excited for a fresh opportunity and even more money. "Jack, what about the CRM entries, accountability, sales management?"

"OK guys, remember what counts? Its contracts. Bring in the contracts, and little else matters. Of course, I wouldn't offer this to you if I didn't have confidence in your personal accountability, but realize this is a huge opportunity. The money you can make is unlimited, and if we all do it right, we'll each be in a position to tell anyone to fuck off. But only as long as we produce."

"Jack, can I ask a question about Apex? You had told us how aggressive they were yet they still wanted to give you the business as much as you fought back." Jack nodded at the question.

"So, you've taught us to not worry about being liked, to ask tough questions, to confront buyers who want to 'think it over,' and to ask for the business. Will we fit in with Apex, or are they going to change up the rules later like Rachel did to us? I mean, this is a big move for us."

It was a valid concern. "Guys, here's the deal. We're hunters. We need to be in charge, need to win, we're not averse to risk. We don't care what the guaranteed money is or the quota or minimum standards of performance is. We do not feel entitled to anything in true sales. We earn every dime we make. We outperform.

"So I ask you, if you become such a high producer, what do you care if the company fucks with you? You have walk-away power. You build a good bank account, you get your financial reserves in order, you keep good contacts and relationships, and when a company's beancounter messes with you what do you do? You either confront them fearlessly and dare them to mess with you, or leave and find another opportunity.

"Look at me. Top salesperson for years now and in a matter of days I'm in a better position than even before. We can do this together guys, maybe we build such a team that we go independent, form our sales rep company in time. But it starts with this opportunity at Apex."

* * * *

The next morning Brad ambled into his office, shagged out from a night with Rachel at his home. When he awoke her side of the bed was empty but he smiled at the empty spot. After all, he knew she couldn't fire him given the claim he'd have against her for retaliation. Plus, sex with her was always satisfying, having taken the woman of the man he detested.

He laughed at himself: "Who thought a handsome guy with a liberal arts degree from an Ivy League school would get me all this!"

Yet his mood shifted as he walked by the cubicles in the sales pit on the way to his office. Something wasn't right. He stopped and looked at each of the desks. Pictures of girlfriends, family, vacations - weren't on the desks. Neither were any sticky notes or wall calendars. The desks were bare except for the desk phone, laptop, keys, and - - - cell phones?

His eyes opened wide and he rushed into his office to check his email. As his monitor flickered to life the top four messages in his inbox were from each of the four remaining sales people, with a CC to HR and Rachel, and of all people, Carl Winthrop!

"Fuck me," he uttered to himself.

"Rachel Carter's office," answered Sally.

"Put Rachel on, this is Brad," he huffed.

"She's been awaiting your call and wants you to come up to the office immediately."

The elevator ride seemed awfully quick for Brad, as was the walk into her office. Rachel's head was slumped on her arms on the desk. She knew he had walked in and she said through her arms, "What did you do so that you lost the entire sales staff? How are you going to fix this nightmare Brad?"

"I'm as surprised as you are Rachel. We're just going to have to put an ad out on the various employment sites and interview for replacements."

"What good will that do? How long does it take to get a new person up to speed on our products and customers so that they can even sell? Brad, you've got to hit the road right now and stay on the road and bring in the contracts. We need new accounts desperately. I'll interview whoever responds to the ad."

"I'm not going on the road! That's not my job, you know that!" As soon as he said that he knew he messed up. Rachel's head sprang up with a flush face full of rage. She stood up and leaned over the desk.

In a controlled, slow, measured voice she said"If it's not your job to sell then why the fuck did you open your fat fucking mouth at the Apex close and blow the sale, you stupid imbecile! You salary-sucking loser! You worthless limp-dicked ego-maniacal pussy?!"

She walked around her desk and stood over him, "You're the sorriest person I ever hired. You're no leader, you're a little baby who gets his feelings hurt when men better than you can perform at things you're scared to do. You think you're a manager? But all you do is make your staff feel worthless, giving them tasks that have little to do with bringing in business, berating them like they're children, whenthey're the ones that make us money! I ought to slap the shit out of you, but all I can do is fire you. You're terminated immediately. Get the fuck out of my sight."

Taken aback at Rachel's vitriolic words, he sat for a moment to gather himself. "You can't fire me and you know it. You'll lose your job. I'll sue you for retaliation and take you and the company to the cleaners financially."

A voice from the doorway spoke, "Take your best shot Mr. Gully." Carl slowly walked over and sat behind Rachel's desk, then leaned forward.

"The legal costs to prove your incompetence will certainly be less than the salary we're saving by terminating you." Turning his head to the doorway framed by two large men, "Security? Escort this piece of shit out of my building." Turning back to Brad, "HR's already processed your termination paperwork."

"Sally, can you bring us in a fresh cup of coffee please?" He sat quietly behind Rachel's desk while Rachel took the guest chair, facing the desk she usually proudly sits behind.

He enjoyed his coffee in silence, letting Rachel squirm. Her division had gone to shit in the matter of a few days, and only a few months after once again being awarded the top division. Legal issues, sales staffing issues, reputational issues, and overall morale issues were serious and were all self-inflicted wounds.

Rachel knew all of this, and knew politically this was not the time to speak. How she wished she had not insisted on taking Brad along to Jack's historic sale. If she hadn't, imagine how different the circumstances would be at this moment!

During the silence, ruminating on how she blew it with the Apex decision, much less hiring Brad in the first place, she realized how she had come to minimize her husband's contributions. That he wasn't "just" a salesperson but that he was as important as any other position in the company. In fact, he was one of the most important people in the company.

She had let her pride in her Ivy League education get in the way. In her aggressive ride to the top she minimized people with other goals. She minimized her husband's humble education while elevating his boss's Ivy League education and credentials as "management," a position that Jack had never aspired to officially but yet handled more effectively than anyone had in the past.

And that minimization led to her betraying her vows, ruining the life she had been building with her partner, and potentially ruining her career.

She turned when she heard a firm knock on her office door, and heard Carl say "Come in everyone and take a seat." Sally scurried in with several extra chairs as the division president of the lowest division entered with his engineering, production, and sales staffs along with their counterparts in Rachel's own division.

Seeing all these top people arrive made her heart beat hard and fast. "Hold it together Rachel" she said in her head.

"Some of you know the outline of my plan to solve this mess in Rachel's division, so let me bring everyone up to speed and then you all work out the details. And I expect full cooperation among all of you. I'm not in the mood for any more fuck-ups from egos getting hurt. Understand?"

Heads were nodding.

"I'm merging the weakest division with what is, at least for now, the strongest division. That means my corporation is going from three to two divisions. Oscar will head up the merger. Engineering and Production will each merge their people together. We'll sort out responsibilities later based on your mutual discussions. Oscar's sales team will take the lead in selling, especially since Rachel's division now has absolutely no sales staff.

"This will eventually mean some staff reductions or reassignments. Rachel's division is in deep shit, so her staff is probably expecting bad news anyways. Oscar, just remember there are good people here too, so be wise in your decisions, understand?"

"Yessir, understood." replied Oscar.

"You all have been at this a long time and you have my trust. But at this moment, I admit my confidence in just about everyone is shaken. I know you may feel that is unfair, but I know you'll get timelines and details together quickly for my review. That is all."

"Wait, wait, wait a minute. This doesn't make sense Carl, merging two divisions together basically saves a little money from eliminating duplicate positions, and costs money because merging is an inefficient process. Yeah, the overall corporation may save money but it's not making money!

"The only issue in my division is replacing a sales staff for now, which will take a few weeks or months to get up to speed, and is certainly a lot less expensive than a merging of two divisions!"

Carl had respect for Rachel's fight, she had certainly proved herself over the years, however this time was different. "Rachel, you've always made a compelling case for your viewpoints."

Rachel's heart leapt, feeling she may still save her job.

"Let's assume this is just about money. Your division needs a steady stream of contracts coming in, and do you really think dropping to zero new business over perhaps three-to-six months is a lot or a little money?"

Thinking this would be a tricky answer, she replied, "Our divisions have been up and down over the years from changes in the economy, regulations, competition, technology that have led to similar low points. So the amount of money is situation-dependent."

Smiling, Carl responded, "True, true, that's a good answer that actually is the proper response to your objection of merging divisions."

Along with her colleagues Rachel was looking at Carl, expecting him to continue. Yet he sat and looked at her. "Was he hoping I'd respond to that? I'm confused," she thought and remained silent.

Having years of selling experience himself, Carl enjoyed letting the silence sit not only because he was pissed at the entire situation, but as an object lesson to Rachel.

Who spoke first?

"I'm confused, Carl. A proper response to my objection?"

"You lose Rachel." Carl kindly smiled. "I would have thought you would have learned from your husband that the first person who speaks, loses. Anyways, the amount of money is situation dependent. Here's three situation-dependent items:

"First, the fact that Jack couldn't close the Apex account did not change your division's current situation. You never had that business in the first place, so you didn't lose it. So, why did you fire him? That comes down to situational decision making."

"Second, you talk like replacing a sales staff is the only thing missing from your division, a situation-dependent thing. You were the one who hired one of the worst sales managers who alienated the sales guys who in time probably would have left on their own. In any case, his management style did nothing to improve sales. You played a part in creating that situation,

"Third, you decided to listen to that same sales manager who took credit due others, who was envious rather than encouraging of his staff, who stifled rather than supported his staff, and who fucked this company just like he fucked you."

It was as if the air was sucked out of the room. Everyone saw the scorching burn with which Carl just immolated Rachel. The heat of his comments spread around the room as a warning to everyone present not to fuck up.

"I guess I deserve that Carl. And again, I apologize. Do you want me to work directly with Oscar on this? If Oscar's taking the lead I'm happy to work with him."

"No, Rachel. Whatever would make you think you're any part of a huge restructuring of my company when you're the one that created the "situation-dependent" problem in the first place?"

"Carl!" she said with a quivering lip, "what does that mean?"

"Read the room Rachel, then pack up your desk and leave."

Looking around the room with tears forming in her eyes, the humiliation was hot, she felt the air in the room heavy, difficult to breathe. Her skin pricked all over from the embarrassment. The looks of superiority of all her colleagues looking down on her was almost too much. She couldn't wait for them to leave her office, that is, her former office.

As everyone was leaving, the HR Manager entered with a folder of paperwork. "Rachel, sign these documents before leaving." It wasn't a request, it was an order. Rachel quickly signed the paperwork while Sally brought in a box and started gathering Rachel's personal effects.

When done, Sally turned to Rachel and gave her a hug. "It was great working for you Rachel. I hope things work out for you." Then she quickly left the awkward situation.

Rachel held her box of personal items and mementos, her awards and certifications, and looked around her executive office for the last time. She dreaded leaving the office for her walk of shame to the elevators, just another humiliation for the day.

She could feel the eyes of everyone looking at her as she stood waiting for the elevator, which seemed to take forever. It was quite a relief to get in for the brief ride down. But then at the main floor she was greeted by security who wanted her company car keys and company phone. They suggested she get a taxi home. All of this was in full view of everyone in the lobby.

As she stood on the curb awaiting her taxi, people would come and go from the building witnessing the obvious ex-employee holding her cardboard box of ten years accomplishments.

* * * *

Jack and his new sales team, actually the old sales team, were celebrating over at the Ruth Chris Steakhouse from having signed all their new employee paperwork, picking up their company cars, phones, laptops, credit card, and the best part, picking up their signing bonus checks!

"Enjoy the weekend guys, because on Monday we're going to hit it hard. We'll map our territories, pound the database and find the dead leads from the sales wimps that came before us and go resurrect them first while we hit the phone and start building new relationships!"

"Sounds like a plan boss! I can't wait to hit the road in a new territory."

"Did you see how aggressive the CEO is? Goddamn he's gonna love us!"

"That's for sure. The Apex culture is all about accountability. That's right in our wheelhouse."

"Good observations guys," said Jack, "what I appreciate is that they don't look at sales hunters as risks to the organization. They see us really as peers, as equals, as an important part of the organization. Remember to self-manage and don't take any of this for granted. We need to come out of the gate charging hard and keep up that pace. Work hard. Play hard."

"I'm all for playing hard, especially when they told us of the trips they'd send us on if we meet quota."

"And the quota is high but reasonable, right? I mean, for me, I plan on beating quota within a few months," said one of the guys.

The meal was raucous and happy, as a motivated team would typically behave.

* * * *

Back at home, Rachel kicked off her shoes and squished her toes into the carpet and looked around. Something seemed different. After pouring a glass of wine she sat on the sofa and pulled her bare feet up under her.

The hollowness of the home hung over her like a silent weight. The silence surrounded her while her mind imagined the faces of her colleagues looking at her with derision and disgust at her failure as Carl had dressed her down in her very office.

"Where did I go wrong?" she muttered to herself in a quavering voice verging on a cry. The tension throughout the day had been immense, it had been all she could do to hold her composure in the face of her humiliation, so much of it self-imposed, while she fought valiantly to retain the position she had so ambitiously striven for.

She lay her head back on the back of the sofa, remembering how Jack had laid his head back after losing the Apex sale. "How does he do it? How does he take a loss like that and keep moving forward?"

The front door lock turned, and in walked Jack holding a garment bag and two suitcases. "Jack! Oh Jack, Jack, I'm so glad you're home! I just need to talk with you!," she cried as she ran over to him.

Jack backed up and blocked her with the luggage, then walked over to the bedroom and began packing up his remaining clothes. Rachel came in and fell on her knees, crying, and saying "Jack, I messed up really bad. I messed up everything. Please, you've got to forgive me! We can make it through this, please?!"

As he kept packing, Rachel looked at the man she had fallen in love with years ago. She saw flashbacks of their dating, laughter, tender moments, excitement at their mutual successes in their careers. She realized his strength had kept her grounded and safe, his encouragement helped her strive for untold career success, and his love had given her a firm foundation of respect and self-esteem.

As Jack zipped up the luggage, he turned to Rachel and said "I didn't deserve any of this Rachel. There are no superlatives to express how unfair you've been to me in our marriage and at work. Perhaps your relationship with Brad will be more successful."

He picked up the luggage to walk out but Rachel blocked the doorway. "Jack, please just sit down and let me explain. We've had a pretty good marriage, it's the least you can do."

"For an Ivy League graduate you really suck at your word choice. "Least I can do?" What does that even mean. I've done everything I was supposed to do in our marriage. How's this for "at least?" "At least I was faithful to my wife." How does that sound?"

"You're right Jack. I've forfeited the high ground here. Please, though, just as a courtesy to us can we talk for a minute?" she pleaded.

Jack went to the fridge and grabbed a beer and sat down. "You're on Rachel. Let's hear your pitch."

"Well, I recognize this is likely the only moment I'll have with you to save my marriage, but all of a sudden I'm having a hard time expressing myself. You're so successful and you've treated me well and things have been great. But somehow my ego couldn't take the recognition you received so deservedly. I felt I had worked so hard but you got the credit!"

"That is a 'you' problem Rachel. We had always shared each other's successes, at least to a point. And you make it seem like I didn't work hard. In fact, you kept "just'ng" me and minimized me compared to the guy with the fancy education. It never made sense why you even hired him. I thought you had lost your mind but you fell for his preppy attire and smooth talk."

"I know. I've been questioning myself the last several weeks. I was envious, and he only fed me the lines that supported my ego. I'm so sorry I fired you, I don't know how I could have even done that. Its cost me my fidelity, my job, maybe my career, and maybe my marriage."

"Let's clarify that Rachel. No maybe's. It has definitely cost the marriage."

"No Jack, we can work past this. We can. We can do counseling."

"Not going to happen Rach.'"

"Why? Why can't we try?" she managed to say through her sobs.

"Because another man's dick was in your pussy. That's why. And not just another man, it was someone you personally decided to hire to be over me, to make my life miserable as well as the other guys too. And because I'm sure he got off inside you because by fucking you he was fucking me over too. That's why!"

Jack was getting worked up. "And how many times did you have my cock inside that same cunt the same day you let him into your pussy? Huh? Do you know how humiliating it is to even wonder about that? And you think I'll be able to get that out of my mind if we got back together?

"Go fuck yourself Rachel. We're done. Get used to it."

Rachel sat hunched over, somber tears streaking her face. "How do you do it Jack. How?"

"How do I do what? What are you referring to?"

"Today I lost my job. All my colleagues look down on me. Carl humiliated me in front of all of them. He hates me for hiring Brad, firing you, losing the entire sales staff. He's killed my division and is merging it with Oscar's. I have no phone, no car. My reputation will follow-me on any job hunt. And now I'm losing my husband. The rejection is overwhelming.

"So how do you do it? How do you get past all the rejection?"

He actually felt sympathy for his soon to be ex-wife as she sat mired in grief. Jack was well aware of what rejection has felt like, after all, in sales one has to learn to deal with it on a daily basis.

"Jack, when Brad blew up your big sale you just leaned back in your chair. You didn't seem crushed, your spirit didn't seem broken. And only a few minutes later Brad falsely accused you, and then your own wife, I, I, oh I can't even say it. I'm so sorry!"

"Rachel, in sales we say SW3N. Some will, some won't so what. Next! The point is we can't get attached to loss. Just like a golfer can't fret about the last shot, we have to move on to the next shot, the next call, the next appointment, the next question, the next presentation. Always move forward."

"How did you move forward after that sale?"

"I've made a habit of keeping in touch with plenty of contacts over the years, remaining cordial. You can't only call on people for help when you happen to need it. You have to nurture relationships and keep in touch so that when you call you're not a stranger.

"So, in no time at all I got a new job and they wanted my entire sales team as well. More money, higher commissions, fresh territory, no sales manager. You see? "Next!""

"What's my "next" Jack? What should I do now?"

"You learn resilience. You learn how to regroup and restart. You learn from the past, make your plan, and execute. Come on Rachel! You know all this!"

"I'm not remembering much at the moment. I feel lost."

"Rachel, I don't have your Ivy League education. And you've discounted me for that for years, even been embarrassed having me around at some of your corporate functions. But you never gave me credit for all the books I've read, the sales leaders I've read and studied. Believe it or not, I've read some of the ancient Greek philosophers like Epictetus. Remember him from your college studies?"

"No, not really."

"Shit, Rachel. Now that should be embarrassing for you, Miss Ivy League Education Princess! Nonetheless, there's a famous quote from him. "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." Do you see the point?

"You've got money in the bank so you have options. All money does is basically give you choices. You can take a year and travel. Move elsewhere. Change careers. Meet new people. You're a capable woman and beautiful, so you have a lot going for you. Don't get stuck on what you lost Rachel."

"I'm not sure I can do that, I'm not sure I'm strong enough for that, especially if I lose you! But I guess I'm happy for you Jack. You're being pretty nice to me overall with some good advice. Aren't you upset with me? Aren't you mad?"

"Of course I am. I'll probably get some of my own counseling to get through the emotional trauma of a cheating wife. Maybe I'll hit a few strip clubs or pick someone up at a bar. Probably not. And you've got to know I never did any of that while on the road away from home. Never."

"You're a good man and a great husband. I really wish we could do something to stay together. Can you hold off on the divorce a little while maybe? Maybe we'll each take a little space for a while then get back together and see how to work things out?"

"No. I no longer trust you. Look Rachel, I really am upset, but I'm trying to help you and I don't want to hurt you. You've hurt yourself pretty bad already and you're reaping the results. I'm moving on. You're now in my past.

"Remember, SW3N. At one time you said you 'will' marry me. Then you acted like you didn't want me and 'won't' respect me. Now I've got to say, "So what?" And what's left?

Next."

* * * *

Six months later Jack and the guys met up in a bar at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The travel schedule of all five serendipitously meshed in the area and they celebrated the fast start of contracts they brought in to Apex. The momentum was strong and they were all booked with appointments.

Only two beers in, Jack's face dropped. The other four looked at him, then turned to see what he was looking at: Brad Gully had walked into the bar. The five looked at each other and smiled, grabbed their beers and went to the back of the bar.

Two hours later, an inebriated ex-sales manager stumbled towards the bathroom at the rear of the bar near the exit door. Five kind patrons helped him through the exit door into the alley.

In the moonlight Brad recognized the helpful patrons, and began pissing his pants to the sound of hateful laughter. As the bar closed at 2am and the night's garbage was thrown in the dumpster, the busboy saw a well-dressed piss-stinking drunk with a bruised face, busted nose and jaw and torn clothing, likely from a mugging.

Not wanting to get involved, the busboy threw in the garbage and closed the lid. It was a successful closing.

* * * *

I usually keep names to a minimum so readers don't have to remember too many relationships so I hope that's ok with commenters. Also, KPIs are Key Performance Indicators.