Cincinnati 1 1,427 words 6-minute read
Author's Note: If, for some reason, you feel offended by sexual stories, then I don't know why you have opened this one. Maybe to be offended, so you can complain about how awful it is that somebody writes stuff like this. If that's the case, my advice is to seek professional help. You need it. The following story is posted for the entertainment of adults. The above is a stollen paragraph.
He flew into Cincinnati on the midnight (red-eye) connection from home. It was three flights, and both connections went smoothly. The date wasn't significant except that this is an old memory, so I will place him at about forty, and the year about 1982. The reason for the trip was to receive an achievement award from an international business-to-business sales company.
The headquarters in Cincinnati was great since he had once been east of the Mississippi to St Paul, Minnesota, on a similar occasion a couple of years earlier. The principal difference was the trip to Cincinnati was alone, and the trip to St. Paul was also his wife's visit to friends in the twin cities while he was at the annual sales meeting.
When he was advised of the affair in Cincinnati, it was salmon season where he lived, so he offered to provide fresh-caught salmon for the awards banquet. When he deplaned in Cincinnati, the company van immediately hauled the iced fish boxes to the hotel and the kitchen's cold box. He was escorted to the hotel manager's office and handed the keys to a top-floor suite for the week.
The special treatment by the hotel was fun. As soon as he could get the door closed, He flopped and didn't wake up for seven hours. It was almost ten thirty after he showered and dressed. He arrived downstairs, registered for the meeting, and drew a ticket from a raffle jar at the registration desk. The ticket had the number 10,000 and the words ten thousand on the ticket.
The woman registering said nothing, called someone on the telephone, and started to fill out another form. The company president walked up to me and said, "Congratulations, Dale, you are the winner of the ten thousand dollars this year." He handed Dale an envelope that held a certified check for ten thousand dollars. He had no idea what he was talking about, but it turns out the door prize was twenty thousand dollars in cards, divided widely, and I drew the largest one.
A picture was taken of him and the President as they had their meal. He learned that the award I was to receive had only been awarded twice in the one-hundred-eight years of the award being considered. He didn't know what to say, except, "Thank You. Can you tell me what the two circumstances were that the award was approved?"
"At the banquet tomorrow night, we will all be told when the presentation is made. I have watched the sales team struggle for at least twenty years. Under your selling example, the entire sales team, with a few exceptions, has increased their business, margin of profit, and customer satisfaction. That is the underlying reason, Dale. Our company has endured much, but nothing similar to the attitude of the government today. We were crippled to near failure until you agreed to share your successes in the company newsletters."
The President introduced Harmony, not by name, but as the hostess for the weekend. He excused himself, leaving them.
"Those shared stories have shown others that the philosophy in your motto is the way you live and sell," Harmony offered.
"You say early in each column, 'Four things lost in your life you will never get back. Your word, time, trust, and opportunity.'" And you close with, "Only when I am willing to go too far will I know how far I can go."
