1/9/2005

“He's a Christian.”

A lessee had taken delivery of the equipment, but it had not been “installed” or even put together. The was not the fault of the vendor, but the lessee, who was traveling and would not be back to this office to “supervise” the installation for at least a week, maybe more.

The vendor wanted to be paid. He had ordered the equipment before the first of the year, and the price had increased to him, he said, by 10%, and if he did not pay the supplier, he would eat the difference. It was not his fault, he said, the equipment was “not working.”

In this case, we had the option to pay the vendor in advance, working or not, installed or not, but had told the lessee we preferred everything be in working order before paying. It was our standard operating procedure, as our experience was that when paid, the service was not as fast as when payment was held, or what if the equipment did not perform as he had ordered it to.

“He's a Christian, “ our lessee said. “ I trust him. Please pay him now.”

I explained that even Hewlett-Packard will work faster at fixingsomething or taking care of it, if they are not paid until the work is complete. It was not a good idea, and I personally did not recommend it.

“He's a Christian, “our lessee said again. “Doesn't that mean something to you?” He took me by surprise. I thought about the Yellow Page ads with the “Jesus Christ” fish on them, plus cars who have “Support the Highway Patrol” and also a “Jesus Christ” fish decal on the bumper strip. “Don't give me a ticket, I am one of you, “I thought.

My Robin Williams mind then switched to something that I remember very well, don't know why, but when the car I bought for $500 failed, and was pretty well shot, my father followed me to the junkyard in Santa Monica, California. The owner came out, he not only had a Jewish name, but he looked really Jewish. My father said, “ Let me take care of this.”

So he went up to him, and the guy offered fifty bucks to take it off our hands. My father who was a Hebrew ( his father was an Orthodox Jew---my mother, a Lutheran who could quote the bible like a scholar,) said to him, “ Hey, I'm a Landsman.”

My father, who was a big man, six foot four tall, not fat, but big, had a thick dark mustache, and then tight curly black hair, he kept cut close to his head, and a big Roman nose, moved closer to him, smiled, and said, not in his usual excellent deep voice diction from his early days as a stage actor, but a little higher, almost with his New York dialect, and with a wider smile, “Come on, I'm a Landsman.”

The fellow looked more scared, than impressed, and quickly said, “ Okay, $75.”

For those of you who do not know the expression, it means: A fellow Jew who comes from the same district or town, especially in Eastern Europe. It has grown to a more fuller meaning, something like: I am a Christian just like you. In this instance, I am a Jew just like you. I am one of your people.

The fellow gave the cash to my father, who turned around, handed it tome, and started to quickly walk out. I caught up with him.

“Come on Kit, let's take the money and run.”

Then I thought about the time Harold McAfee and I traveled to Fresno, California, a three hour drive, as he was teaching me about sales, wanted the company, and had a lead. We were in his Chevrolet El Camino he had kept from the sign business. When we arrived, the three principals did not want to personally guarantee the lease, telling us “We are Mormons.”

As we drove back, Mac said, angry about the long drive, and I remember it very well, as he was a very religious person, went to church often, and for him to say, “ I don't care if they were Jesus Christ himself, if they don't want to personally guarantee the lease, Mormon or not, no deal.”

And my mind last switched last to Dividend Leasing that I started with Walt Muir, a Mormon bishop, who also owned the largest mortgage company in Santa Clara Valley in the 1970's and '80, and his partners from his home building company (Walt and I had a partnership for over five years and that is basically how I became a lessor.) We had brought in to run the company the vice-president or Crocker Leasing, another Later-Day Saint, who was getting a lot of business out of Salt Lake, Utah. While Crocker bank was approving the deals, I was afraid because I wanted to look more into the history of these fellows, as it was too much business, too quick. We had a director's meetings and being the only gentile, I was told, “They are Mormons.” My response was the bank had us on the hook and that's why they were approving the deals, and if they didn't believe me, then buy me out of the partnership, which they did. About a year and a half later, maybe two years, Dividend Leasing went out of business due to the fraudulent leases the Utah brokers had sent in.

Red lights went off in my head. Warning! Warning!

“So because he is a Christian, you want me to pay him?” I asked our lessee.

“Well, you know what I mean, “he responded. “Anyway, I have done business with him for twenty years, he knows we are going to be getting more equipment from him, and it is my fault he can't put the unit together to make sure it works, so I would like you to pay him.”

One of the advantages of having your own control over a transaction is you can break the rules and take a chance. My motivation was to keep my customer, have him return for business, so I said to him:

“You know it shouldn't matter if the guy is a Buddhist or a Christian or whatever, “ and then I paused, realizing I was lecturing him. “But the point is I do trust you.(with a big emphasis on the last word.) He does know you will be doing more business with him. You say you know him. And more importantly, I trust you , as we have done a lot of business, I have gotten to know you, and I know you will reimburse us if this falls apart---so we pay him right away, as long as we both understand you will take care of this, if it falls apart.”

“Trust me, Kit, “he responded. “He's a Christian.”