The description in the second linked post stopped too soon. To continue:
van Rijn keeps Torres standing and waiting while he fills and lights his pipe;
he addresses him fairly aggressively;
he has waxed mustaches and a long, waggling goatee;
he wears a gorgeous embroidered waistcoat and a sarong with bare feet;
eventually, he says, "'Sit.'" (p. 140)
Torres checks his temper. Van Rijn would not want to deal with any trade union representative who was easily intimidated by such treatment. Torres, a responsible employee of SSL, should be able to cope, respond and state his case. We are told that this meeting with "his ultimate boss" is "a new experience." (p. 139) However, his career to date should have prepared him for it.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I suspect Old Nick's rather rough treatment of Torres was to TEST him, of both Torres' intelligence and spirit.
And considering how large and far ranging Solar Spice & Liquors was, it would take TIME for even senior employees like ship captains to eventually meet Old Nick in person. So I don't think it was that odd Torres was apparently meeting van Rijn for the first time.
Sean
To mangle Clausewitz:
"Business is war by other means".
-kh
Kaor, Keith!
I disagree, and I think Clausewitz would as well. Commerce, trade, manufacturing, the buying and selling of goods and services is not war by other means. I buy something because I expect to gain something that way. The seller also gain something, the price I paid for whatever I purchased. That is not war.
Sean
Sean,
There are conflicts of material interests inherent in our economic system. Competition for profit causes crises and periodic disinvestment which is against the interests of employees whose pay rises fall below the rate of inflation or who are laid off from work. Some people regard this as a "war," often covert but always present.
Paul.
Sean: ISTM you believe that economic transactions are decided primarily on the rational basis of an exchange of goods and services with need-satisfaction being provided to one party and financial gain to the other. I believe that most people involved consciously think so, but that cognitive biases on the one hand and other motives complicate matters considerably., e.g. "It is not enough that I must win, you must also lose."...
I am a recruiter for >25 years. I have worked for scores of different companies (because I work on contract)- as small as 7 employees and as large as the 15th largest company in the world. It has been my experience that while companies say they are logical, rational, profit-maximizers, most of them are actually run according to the "GAFIS Principle": the Greed, Arrogance, Fear, Ignorance/Incompetence, and Stupidity of the people in charge determines thing, aka, "I'd rather be in control than rich".
-kh
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