'Oh dear', Ed confides to his diary, 'a major problem has come up just when we don't need it - our foundry says we have to pay more for our wafers or wait longer for them.'
'I've put legal onto it', adds Ed, 'the b. foundry can't just change its terms with us - they're under contract.'
A few days later, Ed has to re-think.
'At the general managers' meeting this morning I'm met by a furore', writes Ed, 'it seems the foundry has taken umbrage with letters from our lawyers.'
'"The foundry is cutting us off", says the vp of manufacturing, "they say we either agree to pay more or go elsewhere".'
'"We'll go elsewhere", I tell them.
"Have you any idea how long it takes to qualify a foundry - even if we can find one who'll take our business?" asks the manufacturing vp.'
'I stumble a bit on this one.'
'"Months", says the manufacturing vp, "so for months we'll have no wafers, and that means we'll have no products to sell, so we'll have no revenues. How many months can we go for without revenues, Ed?"'
'There's a bit of a silence.'
'OK", I tell them, "I'll get legal off the case, and tell the foundry we'll pay the increased cost of the wafers."'
'Good", says the manufacturing vp, "and, Ed, don't fuck with the foundry again without asking me."'
'Soddit', Ed confides to his diary, 'still it's only 123 days to go till the IPO and I'm out of here with more cash than Croesus.
David,
Love this series. I would have thought that such an accomplished wordsmith as youself could've found a slightly snappier title for this one though. I don't know, maybe something alliterative, now what starts with f and has the proper meaning...
...no i can't think of one either!
thanks for entertaining me at work!
c
Thanks, chic, appreciated. Trouble is if I took the alliterative option I would fall foul of an entity known as the 'Obscenity Checker' - who resides somewhere in our building - I expect the basement