She took off the container, held it under a water faucet, filled it half full of water, put it back on the stand and turned on the blender.
Her smile was ecstatic. “We’ve been needing one of these,” she said. “It seems too good to be true, getting one virtually for nothing this way.”
“You’re buying the hundred-thousandth set that has been sold to the public on door-to-door canvassing,” I said. “When did you say you expected your husband back?”
“Not for two weeks. He’s in Minnesota on a business deal.”
“Was he injured very bad?”
“One of those whiplash injuries,” she said, “At first he didn’t think very much of it, but after a while he began to get headaches and dizzy spells and then he went to a doctor, and the doctor diagnosed it as a whiplash injury.”
I made clucking sounds with my tongue. “That’s too bad. And I suppose the other fellow wasn’t insured?”
“No, the other man was insured, but I don’t know what the insurance company is going to do about it. My husband is negotiating with them.”
“No lawyer?” I asked.
Her eyes were shrewd. “A lawyer would want thirty-three and a third per cent of whatever he recovered. I don’t see any reason why a lawyer should cut himself in on something of that sort if we can make our own settlement with an insurance company. There’s no reason to pay a lawyer five thousand bucks just for writing a letter and doing a little talking. Heavens, some of those lawyers get rich on good cases like ours. The insurance company sends a representative to their office; they bargain around for an hour or so and then make a settlement.
“Now, it’s different if a lawyer has to put up money and file suit and all of that. My husband would be willing to deal with a lawyer on that basis, but no lawyer wants to deal that way. They want to have it understood that they get a third right from the start.”
“Well,” I said, “I suppose the lawyers have their problems, too. They have to make money on the easy ones in order to enable them to break even on the hard ones.”
“All right,” she said, “the lawyers can look out for the lawyers, and the Brunos will look out for the Brunos. However, I’m not supposed to discuss the case.”
“Why not?” I asked, my eyes wide.
“Oh, you know how it is with insurance companies.”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “Yes, I can see. Well, perhaps you hadn’t better say anything about it then, and I’ll be on my way. Thank you very much indeed, Mrs. Bruno. It’s a real pleasure to me to be able to deliver the bonus articles. I was afraid for a while there that time was going to run out on us.”
She laughed nervously and said, “So was I. My, that’s a wonderful presentation on atomic energy and orbiting and that stuff in the encyclopedia.”
“You’ll enjoy it,” I told her, and bowed out.
I went to the office of the encyclopedia company. “What do I do with this contract?” I asked, showing the signed contract.
“You turn it in,” the man at the desk said, his voice showing surprise.
I handed in the signed contract. He looked it over carefully.
“That’s fast work, Lam. You haven’t been on the job more than an hour or two.”
“I know,” I told him. “I like to work fast.”
“Well, you’re going to have a real profitable relationship with this company,” the man said.
“No, I’m not,” I told him.
“You’re not?”
“No,” I said, “there’s too much sales resistance to suit me. It took me almost an hour to land this prospect. When I do door-to-door canvassing I like to make at least five sales a day.”
“Five sales a day! Do you realize what your commissions would be if you made five sales a day?”
“Of course, I realize what they’d be. I’m in this business to make money and I like to make real money.”
“You’re making it. How many calls did you make?”
“Just this one.”
“Only one?”
“Of course. I don’t waste time with poor prospects.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said.
He looked at the contract again.
“Look here, Lam,” he said, “you didn’t check on the rating here!”
“Was I supposed to?”
“Well, you guarantee the credit. At least to commissions.”
“How do you mean?”
“We deliver the encyclopedias. We retain title until the last payment is made. Payments are on a weekly basis. If the payments aren’t made, you don’t get your commission.”
“You peddle your paper, don’t you?”
“We peddle the paper, but only after a check has been made on the credit rating and even then we have to stand back of our paper. We have to guarantee it.”
I grinned at him and said, “In other words, you have a subsidiary company which handles the financing and you turn the paper over to it?”
His face flushed, but he didn’t make any answer.
“All right,” I said, “let’s check on the credit rating right now.”
He didn’t like to do it, but he picked up the telephone, called, the credit bureau and asked for a rating on Helmann Bruno at the Meldone Apartments.
I watched his face.
After a few minutes, he frowned and said thoughtfully, “Well, that’s okay, I guess.”
He hung up and said, “They haven’t been there very long, only about three months, but their credit rating is okay. They seem to have cash. They have a bank account, pay by check; have a good: automobile that they bought when they came to town, and they pat cash on the barrelhead. On the other hand, no one knows very much about them. Their only charge was for payments on an automobile contract. They say they don’t want any credit, so they won’t give references.”
“That’s swell,” I said. “I shouldn’t have any trouble over commissions then.”
“You won’t. You won’t, Lam, but you should check the credit rating on these customers... Well, that’s all right. You’ve done a good job, a splendid job. Usually it takes a salesman a week or two to get familiar with the ins and outs. My big job is keeping them from getting discouraged.”
“I’m discouraged,” I told him.
“You — I just can’t understand you, Lam.”
“I’m easy to understand,” I told him. “I’m a guy who likes to make money and I have the line of patter that will make it.”
“Well, you sure made a sale in record time on this one. Why don’t you stay with us?”
“Not for me,” I told him, “I need greener pastures and more lettuce.”
“Don’t be too pessimistic about this, Lam. Some of our salesmen make very good money, very good money indeed.”
“Not my kind of money,” I told him. “I’ll let you know where to send my commissions on this deal later. In the meantime, here’s your advertising matter and samples. I’m picking up something more profitable.”
He was flabbergasted as I tossed the stuff on his desk and walked out.
I called Breckinridge again from a telephone booth. As soon as I had him on the line I said, “I wish you’d call off that settlement Breckinridge.”
“What’s the matter, Lam?”
“They show too much familiarity with attorneys,” I said. “They have had experience with cases of this sort before.”
“What makes you think so?”
“They are willing to go to an attorney if suit has to be filed, but they won’t touch an attorney with a ten-foot pole if suit doesn’t have to be filed. They see no reason for paying some lawyer a third of the settlement just for writing a letter and they figure a third of the settlement will be five thousand bucks.”
Who told you all that?”
“The wife.”
“You called on her?”
“Yes.”
“You got her to talk?”