Don Quixote

“Here, you take this, it’s Joe,” she said. “Yeah Joe,” I said as I picked up the phone. Joe said, “Listen, I got a call from XYZ Construction, they want us to do a job on Saturday.” I listened incredulously. “Joe, you told me that if you ever wanted to do business with XYZ that I should shoot you,” I said. A snicker went up from an anonymous person. “Yeah I know, but the guy called and he had nobody to do it for him,” came the reply. “Well, did they pay for the job we did in July?” “No, but the guy said they were going to.” “Screw them,” I said. “Pete, he has nobody else to do it, he doesn’t know what happened, he has only worked there for a little while.” “ Joe! You told me that we will do no business with XYZ period!” “ I know, I know, but the guy needs help, can you do it Saturday?” “No I can not. I am unavailable on Saturday.” Well, ask Mark, of he can’t do it then I’ll do it.” “Ok, but I would suggest to you that before you commence work on this job that you demand payment for the previous job and current job, up front.” “Yeah, yeah….”

I hung up and held my head. “ You know, he is like a guy in a phone booth chasing dollars that are swirling around him,” I said. “No he’s not,” came the reply, “he’s like the donkey that didn’t want to walk up the hill. So what did they do, they hung a carrot on a stick and put it in front of the donkey and he walked up the hill.”

I think that sums it up exactly.