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    The Disruption of Thomas
    The Disruption of Thomas
    The Disruption of Thomas
    Ebook77 pages1 hour

    The Disruption of Thomas

    By Jos Henry

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Half a world away the agent of a small manufacturer hinted at the loss of business unless the owner came to visit. Like a bowling ball scattering ten pins the invitation threw the owner's well-ordered life into disarray. Set in a comfortable rut he never traveled unless forced. Leaving his office would be a great sacrifice. Losing the business would be a greater sacrifice.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJos Henry
    Release dateApr 23, 2015
    ISBN9780994786708
    The Disruption of Thomas
    Author

    Jos Henry

    Jos Henry is a retired businessman. He writes short, light and humorous stories of about 2,000 to 20,000 words. Until he retired he wrote non-fiction work in which artistic license and witticism are not well accepted and are even frowned on by the stiffer, antacid tablet chewing reader. He travelled to many parts of the world during his long technical and business career . He enjoys contact with different cultures and uses every opportunity to learn about people and their situations. Jos Henry lives in rural Quebec somewhere between Montreal and Ottawa. email: joshenry4511@gmail.com

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      Book preview

      The Disruption of Thomas - Jos Henry

      THE DISRUPTION OF THOMAS

      By Jos Henry

      Second Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2015, 2017 Jos Henry

      All rights reserved

      Expanded and re-edited 2016

      ISBN 978-0-9947867-6-0 (epub)

      ISBN 978-0-9947867-7-7 (mobi)

      ISBN 978-0-9947867-8-4 ( pdf )

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this story. It remains the property of the author and may not be redistributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoy the story please encourage others to download copies from their favourite authorized book store. Thank you for your support.

      This story is a work of fiction. Incidents, names, characters and places are products of the author's imagination and/or used fictitiously. Resemblance to actual locales or events or to persons living or dead is coincidental.

      Other light or humour short stories by Jos Henry:

      Mr. Flanagan

      The Dimmer from Hell

      Contractor Nonsense and Do It Yourself Madness

      <1>

      'I'm very sorry Thomas. Stable Power from England was awarded the order for U$247,526. Plus to three years for free they extended their warrantee.

      'But don’t worry; we are well connected at the highest levels in Riyadh. Contracts soon again will come.'

      Herr Gunther Hass was long on reasons short on results lately. When Areltrade lost its European supplier some years before and desperately searched the world for a new reputable DC power equipment manufacturer he sang a different tune,

      'Alone in the last couple of years almost one million dollars power equipment we sold. With the right partner we will reach easily in two or three years between 4 to 5 million dollars US.'

      'A million dollars is an interesting starting volume. Do you have enough open quotes that you feel you can easily convert to a new manufacturer? What makes you think enough of your customers will follow you to maintain your volume?'

      Herr Gunther went into a sales pitch that only a mother protective of her only boy would pretend to believe. But with not much to lose Thomas decided to buy-in for a while anyway.

      Montech Inc. soon began to receive business at irregular intervals from the Arabian Peninsula and then more regularly. The minor risk had paid off; Areltrade became Montech's legal agent.

      Regrettably the vigorous sales growth achieved within a reasonable time began to cool and eventually drooped to near extinction. The precariously stable business volume refused to grow—not exactly the hoped-for evolution.

      Many at Montech thought with some justification that regular visits to the area would help increase sales. The obstacle was Thomas Maloin the 100% shareholder and President hated travel—with passion.

      In a weekly meeting he said,

      'Sales to the region are melting. We've missed out on big jobs in the past couple of years. If nothing changes we'll have no sales to speak of in Arabia. ... I can't understand why we're doing so poorly over there.'

      Everyone agreed with Thomas's assessment of the Arabian sales situation with appropriately timed and distributed nods groans and grunts but prudently ignored opportunities to mention travel. They were aware of Thomas's aversion to travel as if memory chips were implanted in their brains. Mention of travel at meetings usually had to await the arrival of new unsuspecting participants who would inevitably stumble into their rite of initiation.

      In private conversation with Thomas the Vice-President of sales once dared insist visits to the Arabian Peninsula were a must; preferably by Thomas himself.

      'People feel appreciated when the president calls on them Thomas; especially on the international scene. It means he feels their business and connection are important enough for the head man to come and see them. And I'm sure they'd tell you things in person they wouldn't on the phone or to a salesman.'

      He should have known better.

      'There's no reason in the world for me to make sales calls or travel anywhere. I'm done with that. We have good foreign representation doing a fine job of developing business.

      'The presidents of other companies our size don't go out on calls (Actually they all did but let’s not quibble). I'm more useful right here in town where I'm accessible when situations come-up (etc. etc. etc. for the next seven minutes and twenty-nine seconds).

      'By-the-way, how are your negotiations coming along with the boys in the oil-patch? Are they showing any signs of releasing a contract to us? It seems you've been at them for ages. Is a V-P not a high enough level for them? I'm not going there either.'

      And the V-P said,

      'Well, uh … we're making progress ---'

      'Wonderful; so's Gunther.'

      End of conversation.

      Thomas didn't always feel this way about travel. During Montech's beginning years he found frequent travel agreeable even stimulating. He was younger then. In time though, he came to prefer the pleasant surroundings of his well-appointed climate controlled office to the heat and humidity of the South American Tropics or the intense cold of the Canadian North. He now bestowed on others the gratifying experience of jet lag strange food and uncertain laundry service. Nothing

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