Some people can be very unkind

Some people can be very unkind and uncaring. I remember when, quite a few years ago now, I was accountant for a small franchise pharmaceutical company. A new shopping centre had been opened and one of the shops was taken up by this franchisor.

After some searching a ‘suitable’ pharmacist was found who offered to buy into the franchise and to take up the lease for the vacant shop. The contract was duly prepared and all the necessary financial arrangements were in place – all that was required was for the gentleman to turn up on a particular day and sign up.

A few days earlier this pharmacist had phoned me to ask how thing were progressing and I gave him the latest info. He told me that his elderly mother was very sick and on their farm in a district some considerable distance from Perth. He said that she was gravely ill and not expected to last out the week and that this put him on a spot and he doubted whether he would be present on the day required to sign the franchise documents.

I told the business owner, my boss, the news from this rather distressed man and was rather shaken by his demeanour and his reply. His words were (and I clearly remember them after all these years), “Tough. Tell him to be there or the whole deal falls through and he loses his deposit.”

The new pharmacist was not a wealthy man and losing a $10 000 deposit was something he could ill afford. When I phoned him and gave the news his anguish was palpable. His mother was dying, he had to travel hundreds of kilometres to and from the farm, and now he had this added problem because of the intransigence of my boss.

This put me in a very difficult position as it was my job to liaise between the pharmacists and my boss, the franchisor. I thought he was being overly harsh and I told him so and that under the circumstances I was sure the bank would allow a few days grace. I also indicated that his approach was not the ideal way to start a business relationship. He fired me on the spot.

The gentleman’s mother did die and her funeral had been arranged for the ‘signing day’ so he had to drive in, on the day of the funeral, sign the documents and return to the farm to sort out his mother’s affairs. He was not very happy and I discovered later that he transferred the franchise to someone else as soon as he could.

As I have said before, treating money as more important than people is a recipe for trouble and causes a great deal of unnecessary hardship, as in this case. It is also unethical.