After meeting with Pete, he took me to some new offices on the 10th floor that included the puppet CEO Jay Gaynor and Claude’s cousin Geraldine was now using his office on the 10th floor. I met Jay during the spring and he really seemed not too impressive. He was very reserved and quiet but did smile with those classic British soiled teeth. For the most part he was holed up in a corner office as the CEO but when it came down to decisions I never ever dealt with him it was always Claude. When I would be having a meeting in the VIP room there might be a time when Claude would dismiss Jay for our private marketing/advertising conversations and there were also times when Claude told Jay to wait outside until he was finished with his meetings. As a CEO it had to frustrate Jay to have no real authority but he was a well paid puppet who earned his money. Especially recently he has spent a lot of time under house arrest in Dallas awaiting trial for illegal bookmaking charges. I really never did speak with Jay a whole lot even though we lived in the same condominium building he was rather awkward and never good about responding to a basic hello or good morning outside the office. I assume his desire to get from out of the shadows of Claude probably led to his vociferous ways with US politicians (A BIG NO! NO! Can’t you understand the big red stop sign?) And his eventual doom. Jay was the man that was supposed to get BOS to go public and he didn’t seem to mind misleading others with fudged up numbers in what has been described as a dog and pony show for the people from the European Stock Market.
I cannot emphasize enough how poor it is for any online gaming executive to publically call out a US politician. It’s like a fat woman walking into a men’s locker room telling guys how to shower, shave, fold their towels and clean up after themselves. She contributes nothing to the men’s locker room and it’s not her place to say anything. Likewise, it’s not the right of a non-US citizen to tell politicians who are law making professionals how to do their jobs. It’s probably more annoying when non-citizens try to incite US citizens to take action against lawmakers and BOS would do this with a circulating petition challenging the FCC offices. US citizens can do this on their own as tax payers but non-citizens that do not contribute anything to the society; it’s obnoxious! It’s no wonder the companies that come out in public and tell US lawmakers how to do their job somehow end up in hot water. It’s funny then to hear the online gaming companies talk about how they are being treated unfairly. Contribute first before you talk!
Next to Gaynor’s office was Geraldine. She was a waste of air. As far as I could see she didn’t do anything of any importance although I am sure she played more sports than either of her brothers as she was definitely on the masculine side. I wouldn’t be surprised if she pissed while standing up. She even had the gall to say to me one time, “What you’re doing is nothing special it’s all Claude’s money”. She might have been masculine but the envious streak was without a doubt her feminine side coming out. She would also get herself arrested as part of the online pharmacy scheme where she would have prescriptions forged so product could go out that much quicker. Again greed at work, you can make a lot of money when you can spend money to advertise an online pharmacy. Why screw it up by doing something illegal? Also you could make a lot of money in running an online gaming company. Why screw it up by doing so many illegal things where the list goes on and on of which I am sure the numerous felony accounts that Claude faces in the Texas courts will pose a big challenge for his all-world attorneys to explain them all.
Down in the Board room this time around Claude was all smiles and gave me a big, friendly, warm handshake saying “good to see you Hacksaw!” I was more than surprised. My first thoughts were that he was just stand offish to people that he did not know for less than a year and by now we had frequent meetings. The reality probably was I was delivering a big time ad campaign at a fraction of the cost to him. Little did I know that after a future dictatorial one sided negotiation my fraction would be substantially smaller than the $350,000 I expected to earn for a year’s worth of hard work along with paying my own expenses including air fares, taxis, etc. in travel to and from Costa Rica.
One of the issues I pressed Claude with was re-branding the company to BetOnSports. Why not? He already owned the URL. Claude hated this idea the day I presented it, blasting me that the name of the company was North American Sportsbook Company or NASCO and it was to be used in all radio ad copy just like it was used in print. One day later in the 9th floor board room, Claude announces that all ad copy for creative starting with radio from here on out would be branded as BetOnSports and NASCO would be phased out. I never was one to worry about who gets credit for what but I wanted to ask Claude if he remembered our conversation less than 24 hours ago? His turn around was the single greatest turn around I ever saw in him. This was a small victory for the company that would be overshadowed by a series of ugly events over the next two weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment