waiting
on a lily pad
for the sun
Three years after concluding a contract for reproducing our connector contacts by a Japanese Electronics manufacturer, the proud President of the company that I worked for (I was treasurer) came to me and related to me that after two years the word was out that they were "jumping the contract. He had already seen that his letters and telegrams have gone unanswered for months. So after all that he did to get this contract, all the lawyers and translators that were hired, all the celebrating parties for this contract, I was now going to be the scapegoat for non-payment. I followed up his footsteps, letters, etc. and finished as he did, no answers at all. Having nothing to lose, I sent a fax with this haiku, and only this haiku with my name and title, etc The secretary in the sales department who typed the fax (at the time the faxes were different then now, sort of a burned in funny smelling document) looked at it and could not stop laughing at the message. But she sent it. The amount of money due overall was for three remaining years of minimum royalties were as follows- $75,000, $100, 000 and $125,000. The fax was answered in three days by their Treasurer, apologizing, making all kinds of excuses; they got the message - and payments for contract for the next three years was received each year. The President of my company only commented that we would have been paid anyway. However, for the next three years, I traded haikus with the management of the Japanese company just in case. Who would ever think that the use of a haiku or a poem would assist in making sure that a legal suit for non-payment would not be needed? My college education in Business never offered poetry in their curriculum, but perhaps a little bit more of English courses would be a good thing to think about.
