If there was one place in the world in which Dan thought a young man his age did not belong, then that place had to be the waiting room of a gynecologist. Just the thought of why the women were there was enough to cause him to turn red with embarrassment. There were little brochures describing medical problems scattered around the tables. Every time he looked at one, he was reminded once again that he didn't belong there. He shifted around in his seat, fidgeted, and tried not to look at any of the women in there.
A middle aged woman was seated next to him. Seeing his nervousness, she asked, "Is your wife expecting a baby?"
Dan squeaked, "I'm not married."
"Oh," the woman said.
He looked at the door leading to the doctor's offices thinking that he'd rather wait for his sister outside. The front door opened and, much to his horror, one of the women from the restaurant walked into the office. It was Kim; the biggest gossip in the restaurant. His hope that mutual embarrassment would have them staring at the floor and ignoring each other was immediately dashed. Upon spotting him, Kim said, "Hi, Dan! What are you doing here?"
Not wanting to get into a big discussion there, Dan answered, "I brought my sister in for her appointment."
Kim sat down next to Dan and smiled at him. She said, "That's so nice of you."
"It is my sister," Dan said hoping to end the conversation.
Kim looked at the woman on the other side of Dan. The woman had watched the conversation. Going into full gossip mode, Kim said, "Dan is one of the better catches out there. When his old girlfriend came into where we worked to see if any of us would like to take care of him when she went off to school, I considered doing it. Of course, I knew that this young stud wouldn't want anything to do with a woman fifteen years older than him."
Doing his best to sink into his seat, Dan covered his eyes. He kept thinking, 'I want to turn invisible now. Please God. Turn me invisible.' Either God wasn't listening to his pleas or God was having too much fun at Dan's expense. Dan suspected that it was the latter.
The woman on the other side of Dan asked, "Do you mean to tell me that his girlfriend tried to set him up with another woman?"
"Oh, yes. She was a cute little thing, too. It was really sweet the way that she was so serious about making sure that someone would take care of him," Kim answered. She punctuated each phrase with the appropriate hand gestures.
"It sounds to me like she was trying to get rid of him."
Kim waved a hand dismissively and said, "No. Dan is a real sweetheart. He's so polite and well mannered. He's always doing nice things for us at the restaurant where we work. A woman would have to be crazy to want to get rid of him. I mean, he drove his sister here and is waiting to drive her home. How many brothers would do that for their sister?"
"Not many," the woman answered, "It's hard enough getting a husband to do it. I'm supposed to call my husband to come pick me up."
"I know what you mean," Kim said. She leaned across Dan and said, "They told me that I wouldn't be able to drive after my procedure today. So I'm stuck taking a taxi home. That just isn't right."
"You don't have anyone to take you home?" the woman asked with a frown.
"I work nights and all my friends work days. Most of them can't rub two nickels together. They just can't afford to take some time off to carry me around," Kim said shaking her head sadly.
It wasn't that Dan didn't like Kim, but she wasn't one of his favorite people. He kept the relationship at the acquaintance level rather than trying to develop a friendship with her. Usually when she went into gossip mode at work, he would tell her that he had work to do and leave. It was impossible for Dan to ignore the conversation taking place. He was seated right between the two women.
No matter his feelings for her, there was no way he would allow Kim to take a taxi home after a medical procedure. Fully convinced that he would regret it, he said, "I'll take you home."
"Why thank you, Dan. You are such a sweetheart," Kim said. She looked at the woman on the other side of Dan and said, "Do you see what I mean?"
"That's real nice of him," the woman said.
"I tell you, his current girlfriend is such a lucky woman. If I didn't like Sue so much and if I was ten years younger, I'd really try to take him away from her," Kim said.
"Sue and I are just friends," Dan said.
"Where there's smoke there's fire. I see the way that Sue Adams looks at you. Don't deny it. Everyone knows that she wants to become Sue Parker," Kim said as if it was a well established and widely known fact.
Another woman in the waiting room looked up and asked, "Are you talking about Sue Adams, the painter?"
"From what I heard, she's some sort of really famous painter. I don't believe it though. I mean, why would a famous painter work in a restaurant during the graveyard shift?" Kim answered. It didn't matter to her that Sue had quit to return to her career as an artist. As far as she was concerned, Sue was a waitress and had probably quit to work someplace else.
The woman stared at Dan for a minute feeling sorry for him. She could see that he was really uncomfortable being there. There was nothing worse than being the subject of gossip and listening to people talk about you as if you weren't even there. She watched Dan try to sink into his seat and disappear.
It seemed like hours, but it was actually only ten minutes before the woman seated next to Dan was called into the examination area. Kim prattled on for another five minutes and then it was her turn to leave. Dan sank back in his chair and said, "Thank God."
Several of the women laughed at the expression of obvious relief on his face. One woman asked, "Are you really going to take her home?"
"Yes," Dan answered.
"You are a Saint," the woman said shaking her head. She had felt sorry for him.
"Not really," Dan said.
Diana came out and waved a prescription at Dan. Smiling, she said, "I got it. Can we stop by the pharmacy on the way home?"
"We have to wait a bit. I promised a woman that I work with that I'd take her home after she's done with the doctor," Dan said with a sigh.
"Oh," Diana said taking a seat next to him. She said, "You don't look very happy about it."
"I'm just tired and cranky," Dan said shrugging his shoulders. He looked down at his watch and thought that he would normally be in bed still.
"Sorry," she said.
"It is not your fault. This is the middle of the night for me and I'm missing my sleep," Dan said. He covered his mouth and yawned. Just the reminder that he should be in bed was enough to trigger a yawn.
"Why don't you take a little nap? I'll wake you when your friend comes out," Diana suggested.
Dan tilted his head back and closed his eyes. He mumbled, "That's not a bad idea."
Staring out the window of the car as Dan drove through the dark streets towards home, Diana said, "It is really sad."
"I know," Dan said. The sun had set an hour earlier and they were just returning home from Kim's apartment.
"She has nothing," Diana said dismayed by what they had discovered when they had taken Kim home. Kim's apartment had been totally bare. In the bedroom, she had a mattress on the floor. The living room contained a single chair and a TV tray. There wasn't a television or a radio in the room. It was as if no one was actually living there.
"I noticed that," Dan said.
"Did you know that before today?" Diana asked.
"No. She never talks about herself. All she ever does is gossip. She's always talking about other people," Dan answered. He stopped the car at the curb in front of their home.
Diana said, "I don't think she has a life of her own. She's living through other people."
"I suspect that you're right," Dan said turning off the engine. He turned off the headlights and the car was immediately darker.
"Can you help her?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he answered, "I don't know. She makes enough money to live a lot better than that. I don't know why she lives that way. The fact is that I don't know anything about her."
Diana was quiet for a moment and then said, "I'm glad that we stayed to make sure that she was okay. I'd hate to think of her sitting there alone after her procedure."
The nurse had told them that someone should watch Kim for the first couple of hours in case there was any bleeding. Dan said, "I am not looking forward to explaining to Mom and Dad why you missed the rest of the day at school."
"Don't worry about that," Diana said dismissively.
"I could have taken you back to school and then gone back to her place," Dan said. He knew that it would have been a rather lame idea even as he said it. He had fallen asleep on the floor after he and Diana had helped Kim into her apartment.
Diana looked at him as if he was an idiot. With sarcasm evident in her voice, she said, "Right."
"I know. That was dumb."
"Don't worry about Mom. She'll understand why we did it. Dad will cover his ears when he hears the word gynecologist and run the other way."
"You think she'll understand?" Dan asked.
"She would have done exactly the same thing we did. We wouldn't have been able to live with ourselves if we had just dropped her off and she had bled to death because no one was there to look after her," Diana said opening the car door. The overhead light came on illuminating the paper bag with Diana's prescription in it.
"You're right."
As they walked up to the front door, Diana asked, "What are you thinking?"
Shaking his head, Dan said, "I wonder which facts of life Kim ignored to end up in this situation."
"I don't know and she probably couldn't tell you," Diana answered. She looked at him and said, "You might give her a copy of those articles."
"You can't change the character of another person," Dan said making reference to the last fact of life on the list.
"That doesn't mean that you can't give them advice," Diana countered.
"I'll think about it," Dan said. For all he knew, she could end up getting mad at him for meddling in her life.
The little adventure at the gynecologist appeared to catapult Dan's reputation at work from being a nice guy into a shining knight on a white horse. It took a little time for that to occur. On the night of the adventure Dan hadn't mentioned anything about the visit to the doctor's office. All he wanted was to put it behind him. Kim was at home recovering from her procedure.
Dan didn't work the next night, so he was completely unaware of the stories being told about him. Kim had described how he had talked to her before the procedure to keep her mind off her fears of what was going to happen to her. In a true heroic fashion, he had single-handedly carried her poor pain-filled body to his car and then into her apartment. She told how he had brought his sister along to watch over her and protect her modesty. She described how he had made some soup and spoon fed her as she lay weak upon the bed.
His protests that Kim's version of events was highly exaggerated and that he had done what anyone would do in similar circumstances fell upon deaf ears. Fortunately for Dan, he spent most of the evening in the kitchen. Jimmy watched the waitresses fuss over Dan for about three hours before he said, "Boy, I don't know what you did, but if you could bottle it I'd buy a dozen. Those waitresses are all over you like vultures on road kill."
"It is going to be a long night," Dan said. He looked over at the three glasses of iced tea lined up on the counter. The waitresses had brought them to him just in case he was thirsty from working in the hot kitchen.
"With just a few words it could be a long morning too," Jimmy said with a laugh.
"Don't start on me," Dan said shaking his head. Mary had been flirting with him all evening and it was about to drive him crazy. Jimmy laughed at the expression on his face. Dan picked up the order on the counter and read it. It was one of Cathy's orders and he always had problems reading it. He handed it over to Jimmy and asked, "What does that say?"
"Open faced roast beef, spaghetti, eggs Benedict, and eggs over hard with bacon," Jimmy said hanging the order. Shaking his head, he said, "That woman ought to learn to write."
"Okay," Dan said thinking that it would help if he could read a little better. Dismissing the thought, he focused on organizing the steps involved in preparing the four dishes. Once he had worked out how to do it, he got to work.
Jimmy watched Dan start cooking the meal and turned back to his orders. He was satisfied with the progress Dan was making as a short order cook. Another couple of months and he'd be able to handle the whole menu at the height of an evening rush.
Richard Harrison listened to Dan's ideas for the pizzeria. He was very impressed with the concept of providing an environment in which the rules could be bent a little. When Dan had mentioned the teenagers at the park sitting on the picnic table, the whole concept resonated with him. Despite his age, there were still times when he sat on picnic tables rather than at them.
Once Dan had finished describing how he was going to promote bending the rules, Richard said, "I think it is time for your pizzeria to become a legal entity. You'll want to decide how your business will be structured. You'll also need to get an Employer Identification Number. Those are both important steps in setting up a business."
Dan said, "That first thing is a no-brainer. My business structure is going to be pretty simple. I'll be the boss and everyone else will work for me."
Richard laughed at Dan's naïve interpretation of what he had said. It was a common mistake. He said, "That's not what we mean by how your business is structured. Basically, you have to decide under which legal authority you will establish your business. Will it be a sole proprietorship, a corporation, or a limited liability company? The choice you make will have significant legal and financial implications."
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to explain that to me," Dan said. For the next half an hour he listened as Richard described the various business structures and the laws that applied to them. By the time Richard finished, Dan swore his brain had turned into oatmeal.
Richard could see that he had lost Dan in the process of describing the corporate structures. There were times when he forgot that Dan was basically just out of high school and still learning about how the world worked. The expression on Dan's face was not happy. He asked, "What's the matter?"
"I'm really getting pretty angry," Dan said with a frown. It seemed to him like every time he thought he had a handle on the business there was some other surprise.
Surprised, Richard asked, "Why?"
"I spent twelve years going through school. I graduated without anyone ever telling me about income tax, insurance, bookkeeping, or business structures. It seems to me like this is pretty important stuff and I'm sitting here trying to figure it out on my own. My education didn't prepare me for this. That's not right," Dan said shaking his head. The emphasis in public school had been on getting the students prepared for college. It hadn't prepared them for living their lives.
Richard said, "That's why we have business degrees."
Shaking his head, Dan said, "I shouldn't have to have a business degree to understand what you just tried to explain to me. I didn't recognize half of the words you were using. It should not have been necessary for me to take a college bookkeeping course to learn the difference between a debit and credit.
"The fact is that I'm ignorant about how the world really works. The sad thing is that the majority of people are ignorant. It is not that we are stupid; it is just that no one has taken the time to spell out some very basic facts about life or society. How can people learn to succeed if they don't understand themselves and the world in which they live? They can't. It is not right."
"You're probably right," Richard said. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "What can you do? You just have to suck it up and learn what you need when you need it. Life is not fair."
"That's a fact," Dan said. He shook his head in disgust and said, "I'm going to have to study this for a bit before I'm ready to make any decisions."
"What are you going to do?" Richard asked.
"I'm going to see what I can do about taking some courses this summer," Dan answered rising from his chair. He was working full time for the restaurant, part time for the construction company, and now he was planning on returning to college for a business course. He had planned on taking a course over the summer, but this discussion convinced him that he was going to have to take as many as he could possibly fit into his schedule. He didn't think that he was going to have much of a summer.
Richard held up a hand to stop Dan from leaving. He said, "That's a good idea on general principles, but you probably want to make your decisions before then."
"Why?" Dan asked.
Richard said, "You're spending money right now trying to get your business started. All of that money is your personal money and is post-tax. That may not seem important to you, but for the first six months that you are running your business you are going to be poor. Every dime that you have will probably go into the business and odds are good that the only person who works there that won't be on the payroll is you. You want to start the legal business so that you can earn a few benefits for what you are spending."
Returning to his seat, Dan recognized that Richard was right. He wasn't sure what benefits he would get, but it was time to start thinking like a businessman. Sighing, he said, "I hope that you don't have an appointment after me because I think I'm going to be here a long time."
"I thought that would be the case," Richard said with a smile. He leaned across his desk and said, "Let's go through the basic advantages and disadvantages of each type of business entity."
Dan listened carefully as Richard talked. He took notes. His spelling was just as atrocious as always, but that didn't matter. There was enough of a hint in what had been captured for him to remember the subject and dictate more complete notes into his computer. The voice to text program often messed up what he said, but it was usually good enough for the speech to text program to sound almost right. This wasn't an essay that he was going to turn in for a grade.
Richard understood why his wife had enjoyed having Dan as a student. The young man gave him his full attention. He listened carefully and asked good probing questions. The fact was that he enjoyed having Dan as a client. Dan was the perfect person to help start a business. He actually listened to advice and followed it. He had others who came in with million dollar funding in place who didn't want to be bothered with all of the intermediate steps that were necessary to start a successful business.
After explaining all of the legal ramifications of the various business structures, Richard asked, "Do you have any questions?"
"Just two," Dan said.
"What are they?"
"There are thousands of pizzerias around the country. What business structure do most of them use?" Dan asked. He decided that what was good enough for the other pizzerias was probably good enough for him.
The question was the kind of question that a successful businessman would ask. Pleased that Dan was using the experience of others to guide his decision making, Richard answered, "I imagine that a lot of the Mom and Pop places are sole proprietorships. The majority are corporations."
"Okay," Dan said thoughtfully. He asked his second question, "What do you recommend?"
"That's a tough one. I'd recommend a corporation despite the increased cost and overhead," Richard said.
"Why?" Dan asked.
"Because you could sell shares in your company when you are ready to go nationwide," Richard answered.
Dan laughed at the suggestion that he would go nationwide and said, "You sure are optimistic."
"No. I just know that with the kind of planning and attention to detail that I've observed in you, that you stand a very good chance of success. I really like your concept of a fun place to eat. It is a novel concept and one that I think could really catch on with the public. You could go nationwide once you get all of the kinks worked out of your first place," Richard answered.
Dan sat back in the chair and thought about that. Although it would come as a surprise to most people, that kind of success didn't fit into his personal definition of happiness. He said, "Oh."
Surprised by the underwhelming reaction, Richard said, "You don't seem too happy to hear that."
"I'm just not sure that I want to end up running a nationwide chain," Dan answered. His definition of personal happiness did not include a mansion. He wasn't sure what he thought of being a corporate executive type.
Thinking that he knew better, Richard smiled and said, "Don't worry about that right now. Just get your business started. Once you get successful, there will be lots of options in the future for you."
"I can live with that," Dan said with a smile. He was pleased that Richard had reminded him that there was always a choice.
Richard leaned forward and, in a very serious voice, said, "Most people spend the majority of their time and effort planning against failure. That's what you've been doing. You've been looking for potential problems and trying to identify ways to keep them from happening. That's good, but you need to do more than that."
"What do you mean?" Dan asked.
Richard answered, "Suppose that you are successful. Suppose that within the first year, you've met your three year growth projections. You have people lining up to come into your pizzeria and they are getting frustrated that they can't get in. What will you do then?"
"I doubt that's going to happen," Dan replied thinking that his goals were rather moderate in scope. Wanting to put everything into perspective, he said, "I'm just trying to open a pizzeria."
"No, you are satisfying a customer need. You might be surprised by how many customers share that same need. You have a potential market of three hundred million people," Richard said.
"That's a lot of pizza," Dan said.
Nodding his head in agreement, Richard said, "Very few people plan for success. Success has its own set of problems. I've watched some very good companies start out strong and then fail after they've achieved initial success. They grew faster than the upper management was capable of handling. They fell apart from the inside out despite the demand for their product."
Dan knew that there would be some people who would be overjoyed to hear that someone had that much faith in their ability to start a successful business. He also knew that most people did not spend the time to figure out what they meant by happiness. After reading the paper on the pursuit of happiness, he knew that a lot of people got too caught up in the pursuit of it and never recognized when they had achieved it. Too many people destroyed their happiness by continuing to pursue it. They ran it into the ground.
"You're right. I do need to plan for success," Dan said. He meant something completely different than Richard.
Lazlo Zalezac