It's now time for "Story of the Day"......
Ms B was a hardworking and ambitious woman, but quite forthright and outspoken at times, and known for speaking her mind, please or offend.
These qualities were recognised by the board of the large company she worked for, and as the year 1984 approached, she was beginning to demonstrate that she was just the type of person that they were looking for, to drive the company forward and upward out of their current woeful financial situation, and so they made the decision to appoint her as the new CEO.
Part of the promotion deal required her to live in their rented house, as per the requirements of the tenancy lease that the company had been signed up to for several years.
Located near the business and situated in a very desirable residential "executive" estate, these houses were beautiful, but pretty much identical, the only real difference being in the size of the gardens.
Ms B celebrated her promotion with a new shiny car, moved in to her nice executive house and immediately set about learning all she could about her company before getting stuck in and (hopefully) making some improvements in its performance. Cutting wastage was high on the agenda, as the board had warned her that things were not too good at that moment and that, in actual fact, the truth of the matter was that the Company seemed to be spending money hand over fist and getting very little in return.
Sitting there with a stack of Company accounts, she flicked over the sheets until she reached one document that made her raise an eyebrow. Reading through, she realised that it was a list, showing the amount of rent that her and her estate neighbours pay to the Landlord, who happened to be a large asset management company that was situated nearby.
Running her eye down the list, she found that she seemed to be paying more than her next door neighbour, even though his garden was substantially bigger than hers. She made a point of talking to the landlord about this, and put the list to one side.
A week or so later, list in hand, she made an appointment and went round to the Landlord's premises in order to speak with their Chief Accountant (CA).
"I've come to talk about the rents on the estate, and in particular the apparent discrepancy between my house, and that of my immediate neighbour"
"What seems to be the problem?", the CA enquired, only seeming to give her half his attention. He was obviously a very busy man.
"Well, I see that I am paying more rent than him, despite his plot of land being much larger than mine. The houses are identical....so why.."
"That is because of the Estate policy that they all agreed on when they first moved in."
"Estate policy? Please explain as I'm confused. I've seen a document relating to such, but have not had time to read it in detail."
The CA put down his papers and was clearly irritated by this interruption to his working day. "The Estate policy is where you all pay your rent, which is collected by me and put into a large central fund. We then allocate a payment from this fund to be given out to all of those with the largest plots of land, as long as they grow crops or raise livestock."
"What?.....er..... Why?"
"I thought it was obvious", raising his eyebrows at her apparent stupidity. " It is to ensure that there is never a shortage of food, and that those who produce the food can be sure that the whole exercise is very worthwhile as we guarantee that we will give them the top market price for it."
"Hold on a minute.....let's get this right. You're telling me that you give money to my next door neighbour for growing vegetables in his garden?"
"Of course, otherwise there would be a shortage."
"Well, my garden is too small to grow anything in any great number, but my Company makes many things.....handbags for instance. Will you guarantee to buy those from me to prevent a shortage of handbags?"
"Don't be silly.....it's obvious to me that you don't know the ways of business"
She flushed. "Just how much do you pay him?"
He snorted. Reaching across the desk, he retrieved another list. "It's no secret....here."
She read down through the names of her neighbours, making a mental note of how much payment they received. Finally, she found the one she was looking for.
"It says here that my next door neighbour receives much, much more than any of the others, even those with similar gardens".
"Well, that was all agreed when the estate was built, before your house was added onto the estate. You only receive a small figure because you only have enough space to grow 50 cabbages."
"So it works out that he pays the same rent, but then almost has that entire payment wiped out when you give him this extraordinary allowance. He virtually lives rent free, one could say"
"Only if he produces the type of food that we require. I don't know why you are making a fuss, because if you look you will see that there is actually another neighbour or two who end up paying MORE than you."
"That's their problem" Ms B blurted, straightening her hair and taking out a notepad."If they are stupid enough not to question it, then more fool them!" She found her pen and started making notes....."What happens to all this food?"
"A fair bit of it goes into our communal supermarket that you are strongly advised to use."
"And the rest?"
"It goes into storage....we own several large storage facilities in the area and they are usually full. If it is stored for too long it either goes bad and is disposed of, or we sell it at a knock down price to the poorer estates in the area."
"Is this the ONLY means of income for my neighbour?"
"Oh no," he said, a patronising smile spreading across his face..... "He's actually a very shrewd businessman and owns a company, dare I say it, more succesful than yours." He leant back in his chair. " In actual fact I was just doing the balance sheets of all of your companies the other day, and it turns out that you are the third poorest tenant on the estate, but we won't hold that against you".
"OK.....to sum up....." She looked down at the figures on the pad, trying not to let her anger rule her thought process. "Me.....the third poorest on the estate, pays an exorbitant rent so that a large sum of that can be paid to my neighbour so that he can live virtually rent free while running a separate and succesful business whilst growing thousands of cabbages for you that then get stored, until a substantial proportion of them may be then thrown away?"
"You are nearly correct" he said, the grin returning. "Except that it was corn that he produced last year. Next year we have advised him to rear dairy cattle, as we will be paying out a pretty penny for butter, before we throw most of it away. You understand now?, how these things work in the business world?"
"I'm not happy at all, it's totally unfair and I want something done about it."
"What do you suggest?" His expression changing to one of mock interest.
"That we ALL pay our fair share as regards to rent, and that if anyone wants to grow food for the communal supermarket, then they do this as a separate business and then go and do what all other businesses do, including mine, and that is sell it at the best price they can negotiate with the buyer. Allowances should be scrapped, certainly the allowance system that you have at the moment, as it is immensely slanted in favour of my neighbour and leads to terrible inefficiency and the unforgivable waste of large amounts of food."
"He won't like this at all.....and he is a VERY proud and vindictive man with a long memory for such things. Don't tell him I told you that"
"Well put it to your board, otherwise I will withold that part of my exorbitant rent that goes straight into his pocket. I have been wondering why he grins and rubs his hands every time he sees me. Well....no more. Sort it out NOW."
Time went by, with the news of this rebellion spreading round the estate like wildfire. Her neighbour barely spoke to her during this time, and made a point of letting his large dog crap in her driveway whenever the opportunity arose. Finally, a tenants meeting was held where fierce arguments took place, but in the end, after the figures were studied in minute detail, it was grudgingly agreed that Ms B was paying far and above what was considered to be a reasonable and fair rent, and that her neighbour was directly benefitting from this, to what some considered an obscene degree. They didn't like her at all because she was rude and had an arrogant manner about her, but grudgingly they had to admit that she had a point
A decision was made in her favour. The tenants then left her while they convened to a separate room, along with the Landlords Chief Accountant, before returning with their decision. Her neighbour was red in the face and looking daggers at her.
CA. "What will happen now is that you will carry on paying your unfair rent, and we will collect it as normal."
Ms B stood up "But..."
CA. "Please let me finish" He paused, waiting for her to sit down. She sat. He shuffled his paper in annoyance and continued. "Where was I?....oh yes, we will collect the rent as normal. We will then put it into the central fund as normal, and give out the allowances as before.
Ms B sat, scratching her head, wondering what the hell was going on.
"We will then go to your neighbour, and take the amount of allowance back that is deemed unfair."
Neighbour snorted, and nearly stormed out of the room but thought better of it.
"We will then place that money into another fund, and call it a rebate, before paying that rebate into your bank."
"But that sounds like I'm getting some sort of gift....rather than just simply getting my own overpayment adjusted down to a fair and equal amount".
"Dear Lady....when you get accustomed to such business matters you will realise that this is the way that things are done at such high level. We can't just simply lower your rent to be the same as your neighbour and then adjust his allowance downwards."
"Why not? It's quite simple. Why do you have to make it so that it looks like I'm getting charity? All I want is to pay the same as him at the end of the day."
Her neighbour snorted loudly again, and made it clear that he thought the lady rude and ungrateful.
"You either take it or leave it, madam. Will you accept the rebate?"
"I still regard it as my own money in the first place, which it is, but if I have to do it this way, then so be it. One question though.....after all the to-ing and fro-ing of my money, whatever name you want to give it....will I end up, when all is said and done, will I end up paying the same amount as my neighbour?"
"Well, it will still remain very slightly higher than your neighbour, but such a small amount as to not warrant you worrying your little head over.
Was this a ploy to ensure that her neighbour "saved face" to a certain extent, she wondered? What the hell, as long as it turns out fairly equitable in the end, she may as well agree.
"Fine, I agree. I still have no idea why it has to be so complicated a process, but I'll accept your proposal and look forward to my so called "rebate" each year.
Gasps of relief as the meeting came to an end and everyone shuffled for the door, looking the other way as they passed the still seated neighbour. None of them liked confrontation, and this stroppy newcomer had certainly rocked the boat.
Ms B was almost the last to leave, nodding at her neighbour (maybe a little too trimphantly) as she passed.
He stood up and placed a hand on her arm....."You have cost me a great deal today, Madam, and I will never forget this", he said, coldly. "If you EVER step out of line in future, I will be there waiting."
She pulled her coat tight and carried on towards the door, determined not to respond.
"I will win in the end" he shouted after her. "I always do."
The title of this story is "When is a rebate not a rebate?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_rebate
