Its Just Business

Negotiation

    "You know what they call me?"

    "What do they call you?" Scott sighed, humoring his boss

    John beamed, "They call me the Negotiator."

    "That's not going to help," Scott narrowed his eyes at the computer screen. The pair were trying to write an e-mail to a Mr. Caldwell, the producer of the game show. "Maybe we shouldn't be so brash with this..."

    "No Scott, I've got this- we've got this. It'll be easy enough, just a few games, right? Great fun!"

    "He's not even going to let us in. He only takes celebrities, if you didn't notice."

    "We're celebrities!" the cursor hovered over the send button, but John hesitated. "You really think he won't?"

    "I- I don't know- maybe not? I- I just don't think this is a good idea..."

    "Well it's free promotion for the company- right? And what do we lose? Nothing!"

    "There has to be some sort of hidden fee we aren't seeing, you know the bank is gonna have a fit if we spend erroneously like this."

    John seemed to have made up his mind, hitting send resolutely. "Well, what's done is done. SkipByte can come back from anything. And a few games of laser tag is not going to get in the way of us and that $10,000.

    Will forced open the door to his apartment, it had started to stick and he'd talked to the landlord about it, but they wouldn't be able to send somebody out to look at it for at least a week. He set his briefcase and groceries down on the kitchen counter and went to watch TV while the groceries sorted themselves out, flying to the fridge or the cabinets or wherever they belonged. His hat and cape made their way to the closet in his tiny excuse for a bedroom, and the TV switched to a National Geographic documentary on whales.

    It had been a hard day at work for William Taylor. Hell, it had been a hard couple of months. Ever since he'd moved to the states everything seemed to be going wrong for him. He'd rented the cheapest apartment he could get in a mid-sized midwestern town with no opportunities. All he did was card tricks for children's parties and he couldn't shake the feeling that he could be doing more. If America was the land of opportunity then where was his American Dream?

    Will settled onto the couch, shedding his light button up in favour of a sweater and  listening to Morgan Freeman spout off sea life factoids in that smooth, relaxing voice of his. Slowly, he drifted to sleep, the only place where it seemed his financial issues couldn't follow him.

    A few hours later, though it only felt like minutes, William woke up with a start at the ringing of his phone. It took almost a minute for him to answer, falling off the sofa while he tried to get his phone out of his pocket.

    "Hello?" He yawned.

    "Yes, is this Mr. McCallister? This is David Caldwell, calling about your application for next week's Tag! show."

    William froze. Tag?! The game show had taken the world by storm, everyone who was anyone was clambering for a chance at the $10,000. That money could change his whole life, if he just... But it would be so underhanded to... "Yes, this is him. And?"

    "I'm excited to tell you that your application has been accepted!" David sounded more or less bored. Definitely not excited. You and your partner will be expected at the stadium in Nevada in a weeks time. Good day."

    "Yes, thanks, good-" David hung up, "bye..." William finished, pulling the phone from his ear and staring at the number. Who was this McCallister guy? And... No, he thought, that would be absurd. No way he'd be able to pull off trying to impersonate a celebrity on live television. He should just try to contact this "Mr. McCallister" and get it all sorted out. He never should have said yes in the first place.

    Going to his computer, William googled up 'Mr. McCallister', all the while arguing with himself over the situation. 10 grand wouldn't solve all of his problems, but it would be a great start. What did a celebrity like McCallister need that money for anyway? He was probably load-

    Jonathan McCallister was certainly not loaded.

    William stared at the Google results. Articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, all spelling out the story for him. "Crypto-genius files for bankruptcy as SkipByte Inc..\ stock plummets", "Byte falls in value as SkipByte Inc. files for bankruptcy", "Exclusive interview with CEO Jonathan McCallister of SkipByte Inc." William clicked on the last one. Maybe get a feel for how this McCallister guy operated. Simple solution, if this man was a douchebag, he'd keep the information to himself. If he seemed like a genuinely good guy who'd just hit a wall, he'd try to contact him.

WSJ Interview with Jonathan McCallister

WSJ: Hello, Mr. McCallister. Great to see you out and about, even in the wake of your financial disaster.

J. McCallister: Great to see you're still willing to show your face in the economic world after you slammed Byte, what was it, five years ago now?

WSJ: Well you have to admit, sir, things aren't exactly looking good for you right now. How are you and your business partner, Mr. Wells, is it? How are you two faring as of this sudden turn?

J.M.: Scott and I are doing well, talking to banks, investors, trying to get everything sorted out.

WSJ: And for our readers who are out of the loop, could you explain exactly what happened?

J.M.: Let me state that this was at no fault of my own, first. Before anybody gets any ideas. It feels like it happened overnight-

WSJ: That's because it did, Mr. McCallister.

J.M.: Yes, well, anyway, I was doing an interview, not unlike this one, with- who was it, Nat Geo? Yeah, yeah, I think it was Nat Geo. And they asked if I'd be using any of the profits made from Byte to donate to save the earth from climate change or whatever.

WSJ: And how did you respond, Mr. McCallister?

J.M.: No, obviously! I- I've got better things to spend my money on than-

WSJ: So you're a climate change denier?

J.M.: Well- No- but, you know... right? I just think it's not such a pressing issue as everyone is... making it out to be? Besides, I think the more pressing issue is this new suit I got from-

    That was all Will needed to read. No doubt this guy was a dick. He read up a little more on Jonathan. Apparently he created Byte, a cryptocurrency- and a successful one at that- when he was a sophomore in college, and made a business with his roommate out of their dorm following Byte's success. Maybe at one point he was just a kid trying to make the world better, but now? Jonathan McCallister didn't deserve a single cent, let alone $10,000.