Southern Justice 07-01-2013

It was an early July morning and the weather outside seemed just perfect. The mix between the breeze and sun worked together to make a beautiful looking day. Around six a.m. Gunners’ alarm clock began to ring and woke him from his deep sleep. With a stretch of his arms and a yawn, he sat up in his bed. The bright rays from the sunshine were shining in letting him know that the weather outside was just beautiful. It only took a few minutes before he got out of his bed and took a shower. Gunner got dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a Ralph Lauren polo shirt for his meeting at the Gun Rack gun store main office in about an hour. After packing a change of clothes for later on in the evening, he headed out the door where his Dodge Ram was waiting at the door. Gunner entered the truck and began the short drive to his office. He had two meetings to attend this morning, one with the company to find out the quarterly figures and the second a meeting with his financial advisors to discuss what to do with his savings. It didn’t take long before the he reached the large building and came to a stop at the door. Gunner stepped out the door and entered the store greeting customers and employees as he headed back to his office. As he entered the office, everyone began to notice him walking in and whispers went around. Gunner made his way to the front desk to check in with the women at the desk. “Excuse me, have all the members of the board arrived at the office?” The young woman looked up only then to notice who was speaking to her and answered quickly, “Allow me to check for you sir, it’ll be just one moment.” The young lady pushed a button on the phone and asked a question then hung the phone back up as she looked up to him, “It seems they are here sir and were just awaiting your arrival, I took the liberty of sending them a message to meet you in the board room if that is fine with you.” Gunner had a smile on his face knowing that he didn’t have to wait for anyone this time. “Yes, thank you, and if my financial advisors come in before the meeting is over will you please tell them I’ll just be a few more minutes before I meet with them, and please make sure they get anything they want or need, food or drink wise.” The young woman nodded her acknowledgement and he proceeded to walk to the nearby elevator and made his way up to the top floor where the boardroom was located. The elevator pinged and the door opened up to a busy hallway with people walking back and forth from offices. Gunner stepped out cautious not to get trampled over by the crowd in the hallway and made his way to the left where the board office could be seen through the glass windows. There were four board members sitting in chairs sipping water from glasses and chatting as he walked up to the door. As he entered the room it got quite. James walked around the long wooden table where his chair was placed at the end so that he could see the workers passing by in the hallway. He took a seat in his chair and looked around at everyone who was waiting to see what he had to say first before they spoke up. Gunner: Good morning to you all. Thank you for coming in on a Saturday morning even though it was your day off. As you all know I have been busy as of late with picking back up with the wrestling business this week for the WWE and today was the only day that I could manage to make to the office. I don’t plan to keep any of you any longer than needed. I know that you all wish to go home to your families who are waiting for you so why don’t we get down to business so that we can all move on. Now I understand that for this quarter that we didn’t go above our goal, but at the same time we didn’t go below either, is this correct? Bruce: You are correct Mr. Lail. Our figures this quarter didn’t increase or decrease. That is not a bad thing but I suppose it’s not the best meaning that more people are not purchasing our product. We have been working very closely with our marketing division on new ways to market the product to our consumers. We believe that within the next month will have a new marketing campaign that will increases sales and get customers excited about coming into our stores all over the South East. Gunner: I’m glad you mentioned the marketing division because I do have a few ideas that I would like to give a shot in the upcoming months. With all the recent uproar about guns in the media and surrounding politics, gun sales have gone up. We want to appeal to the American individuals reminding them that owning a gun is something that mean a lot of different things besides killing a person. We need to get commercials with dads and sons going to a shooting range together, commercials about hunting, commercials telling our customers how we support family, and that we are a family business. Bruce: Yes sir, I hear what you are saying. I will get right on that on Monday when we come back in. I already have a few ideas running in my mind of what we can do as far as commercials go. Now as far as pay roll went this quarter we were right on budget. There were few who were fired, those that did were discovered by stealing products and were terminated on the spot. Though, we haven’t been able to hire many new employees this quarter we also haven’t had to have any layoffs due to the economy either. Gunner: That sounds good. You all know how I don’t like having to let anyone go if I don’t have to. I wish we could provide new jobs but as long as we are just on our budget there is no way we can afford to hire anyone unless our productivity goes up. Now as all of you know we are planning to make a few new stores so that it isn’t as long as a travel to certain areas. It seems that we have many new items going on but everything is going smoothly. I guess that will end our meeting today, again, I want to thank you all for coming in on a Saturday. I will let you all go so that you all can return to your families. I hope you all have a great weekend and please do keep me informed on the impending ideas for the new commercials and sponsorship. Everyone stood up and shook hands with themselves and Gunner before departing out of the boardroom. He watched as they all departed one by one and when the last person was out the door he sat down in his chair once again. After a deep breath, he pressed a button on the intercom device just to the right of where he was sitting and asked for a fresh set of glasses filled with water to be brought in along with a tray of doughnuts. It only took a few moments before everything was brought in, and placed on the table. James took a sip from his glass of water and sat it back on the table. Just a few moments later a man, middle aged, wearing what appeared to be a grey Armani suit walked through the glass door and sat down in a seat nearest to him. He and Steve shook hands as Steve laid his briefcase on the table for a moment opening it up and bringing out papers from the inside. After all the papers were accumulated, he sat the briefcase on the floor next to his chair. Gunner: Steve, it’s nice to see you again. I notice though that you have come alone this time. I do hope that isn’t a problem with anyone and that everyone is fine. I know it must’ve been hard for you to meet me on a Saturday but I’m glad that you could make the time so that we could meet and talk. I have a few ideas on some of my savings that I would like to run over with you. I think that it will be a good investment and that it will raise my revenue. When you are on the road so many days out of the year, you have plenty of time to think about how you want to use your money, good or bad. Steve: Yes, I completely understand what you mean Mr. Lail. It is so easy to get caught up in purchasing such useless merchandise when you have the money to purchase it. The reason I’m alone though is simply due to it being a Saturday though, no one is injured, thank goodness. I also have a few ideas I would like run by you for your money and I can’t wait to hear what you have come up with to present to me. So why don’t we get right down to business and let’s hear what you have to say first. Gunner: Yes, sure, the first item I want to talk with you about is actually something we discussed when I first hired you and at the time it wasn’t the best option. But after thinking it through now and having more money to work with I would like to review it once more and see just how well it could work. Both items I have questions over deal with reality, but the first item is the idea of purchasing houses that are on the market, flipping them, and renting them out. For the moment being I see it as I could make money coming in from the rentals properties until the market rises then sell the houses when it rises once more and increase what I paid for the houses. Steve: You know James, I was looking at what you have in your savings right now and what you have in stock and I honestly think that you could do this if you wanted, though the time that must be put into that sort of business is demanding. With you being on the road like you are, I don’t believe that it would be the best option for you at the moment. I think the business you have going here with the gun stores was smart. You don’t have to be here every day to run it since you have people who can do that for you. Expanding the business would be a better use of your money if you want my honest opinion. That was going to be my suggestion to you actually. I believe at this point you are good to expand with the money you have. The business does seem to be doing very well and of course if you add more stores and they do as well, it will only increase your earning capacity. What do you think about this idea? Gunner: Thank you for your honesty, Steve. I know I can always count on you to tell me the truth even if you don’t think I will like the outcome. As far as the idea of expanding the business, we are already doing some of this as it is. I’m not sure how much more I would want to expand than what we are at the moment. Maybe there is something different I could put my hands into later on though. Steve: That sounds like a smart plan if I have ever heard one. Out of all my clients, you are one of the easiest to work with. When some get an idea in their head they don’t want to hear what I have to say no matter what it will do to the savings. I’m glad you are reasonable and willing to listen. I do wish you the best of luck with being back ok road with the WWE again. Anytime you need any advice money wise please feel free to call me as per usual. Both Gunner and Steve stood up from their seats and shook hands after the conversation. Steve grabbed his briefcase and placed the papers back inside before departing from the office. Gunner took one more deep breath thankful that the meetings for the day were over. He left his office and returned to the elevator once again making his way back to the bottom floor. The elevator pinged once more as the door opened up and James stepped outside and made his way to the doors that lead outside. The truck looked as though it was waiting for Gunner as he opened the door to the outside of the office. He slid into his limousine and reached for his cell phone in his pocket and began to dial a number as he drove off.