4 comments/ 6534 views/ 0 favorites Benedict's House of Valentine By: SuperHeroRalph This is a Valentine's Day contest story. Please vote. * Employer faced with laying people off in economic tough times, hires more people instead. "What am I going to do? I just don't know what I should do. What am I going to do?" After spending many sleepless nights troubled by his floundering business, ironically, it was Valentine's Day, 2010, when Edward Benedict had an inspired idea. From that one idea, he developed his financial strategy and future business plan to have ready and in place one year from today, Valentine's Day, 2011. Even though his official first day to open for business was January 2nd, 2011, it was important that he'd have the grand opening on Valentine's day. He'd use the preceding six weeks to advertise and market his grand opening. This story is about the period of time that preceded the grand opening. After tossing and turning day after day and week after week, Edward had an epiphany. As a tsunami would withdraw the waters from shore, Edward's epiphany erased all his indecision. The lull before the storm, once he had his idea and knew what he needed to do, the voices of his accountants and bankers were all quieted by his determination. Then, as if in a tidal wave of activity, he was a driven and motivated man to do all that he needed to do within a year. "Yes, of course, that's it. That's what I'll do." Edward Benedict was a small man, but for a man with a diminutive presence, he had big ideas, bigger dreams, and larger aspirations. For such a small man, barely 5'5" tall and weighing 130 pounds, except for his size, everything else about him was big. With millions of square feet in area, he owned the biggest building in the city and one of the biggest buildings in the state. Even his car, the only luxury he afforded himself, other than the splendor of his house, was a new 2 door, Rolls Royce Phantom coupe. He bought the car for the craftsmanship and the handmade workmanship, something that is dear to him. From a family of automotive aficionados, his Dad loved his 1963 Chrysler Imperial Crown coupe and his grandfather drove a 1929 Duesenberg. A giant in his community, he was not only well respected but also beloved. A man with a caring heart bigger than Santa Claus' generosity, he helped those in need, whenever he could. Anyone who entered Edward's office with hat in hand left with a smile, a job, and/or money in their pocket. The richest man in the community and one of the richest men in the state, his pockets were as deep as his compassion was limitless for those less fortunate than him. For such a small man, his empathy for others was huge. With him being so big inside, anyone who knew him, never thought of him as small. When asked to describe him, after they met him for the first time and listened to him talk about people in his community in need, about those who worked for him, and about his plans for his building, it's funny how everyone described him as being bigger in size than he was in stature. With his reputation preceding him, after reading countless articles about him and his company, those who never met him imagined he was bigger. Someone you'd listen to, when he talked, he lit up the room with his presence. For the sake of the promise he made to his father, he decided against taking the advice of his lawyer, accountant, banker, and other financial advisers. They didn't understand the personal burden he shouldered. Just as they thought him a poor businessman for the indecisions he struggled with and for the financial decisions he made that were contrary to their advice, he more considered the human elements. His employees and the people who lived in the community equally were as important, if not more important, when making his business decisions, than the numbers his accountants crunched. When his financial people only considered balance sheets, cash flows, income statements, and budgets, Edward knew they couldn't possibly understand his emotional motivation that tempered his values, when making his business decisions. "Numbers, all they see are numbers, but I see the faces behind the numbers. I know what numbers can do for happiness or for ruination. If I just considered the numbers, I'd devastate the lives of so many people and change the landscape of this community for the worse for years. For what? For more money? I have enough money, more money than I need." Valentine's day, a day of love not only meant the love that he had for his wife and for his children but also the love that he had for others, especially for his employees and those ties that his family business has had in the community for decades. Weighted down with obligation, feeling financially, morally, emotionally, and spiritually responsible for all those who worked for him, highly skilled craftspeople, who plied their laborious lost art, while unfairly competing in a world of high volume, computerized production, third world labor rates, and mass marketing, his workers were more family than employees. In the way that he financially supported his workforce, with his yearly business losses escalating, even the IRS deemed his venture more of a hobby than a business. Edward keenly understood that the money his employees earned from the jobs he gave them, for the skills that no one else wanted, was the only money they had. Many of his employees were second and third generation family members, with many having worked for his father and grandfather, before him. How could he abandon them in bad times, when they worked so hard to give him and his family so many good times? A community decimated by high unemployment, home foreclosures, and crime, a downward spiral of urban devastation, too many residents had already fled their city for the peace and safety of the suburbs. Yet, tied to their jobs, most of his workers lived where they worked. After many of them had worked loyally for him for so many years, he'd be humanitarianly irresponsible to just let them go to fend for themselves, especially at a time when there were no jobs. For sure, it would be different and his decision easier, if there was another job they could get, but there wasn't. In their one community alone, the unemployment rate pushed 20% and that's what the state finally admitted that it was. Yet, when counting those residents who stopped collecting unemployment and who gave up looking for work, the real unemployment number approached 30%. Where would they go and what would they do without the job he gave them? Working for him and for his father before him is the only job that many of them have had. Continuing his father's legacy, his products had more become labors of love than competitive products in the world free trade marketplace. Committed to making the best product that he could, he was true to his art. Albeit, a lost art, mass production had ruined the appreciation to have something beautifully handmade and that was made in America, instead of cheaply manufactured overseas in China. Finding himself in a similar but not as a life and death situation, as Steven Spielberg's main character, Oskar Schindler, in the movie Schindler's List, for the sake of his employees, he found himself writing a similar list. Spending day after day of worried indecision, he debated which of his employees to keep and which of his employees to let go, while stubbornly continuing to produce a product that so few wanted for the sake of giving his employees jobs and healthcare benefits. Grateful to his employees for providing his family with a good life, he was lucky in the regard that he was a wealthy man, but now it was his turn to return the favor. The son of Benjamin Benedict, who owned the business before him, a legacy left it in his hands to safeguard, his father's dying wish was that he continue the business and not sell it. "You take care of it and it will take care of you," his father enjoyed telling him, when referring to the success of their family business, after so many years of economic recessions and wars. Only, too ingrained in making his handmade products and too engrossed in helping his employees live better lives, his father's vision was narrowed by his community spirit and neighborhood involvement. Times were different today. Instead of a statewide and national market, it was a global market and his father never planned for the future technology that he'd need to compete in the global market of today. Edward had the vision and could clearly see that his company was sixty years out of step with progress, technology, and the rest of the world. A dying dinosaur that bled red ink daily, now too late to reinvent his wheel, it would cost him a fortune to reinvest in the technology that he needed to remain competitive by making a product that the rest of the world wanted but that he'd abhor. High volume with a product line that consisted of more cheaply made items over lower volume and higher quality was the present and what he needed to have to compete in a global market in the future. Only, a real business dilemma, Edward would never forsake quality for volume. A time when a handshake was your word and was as good as a binding contract, with his father truly believing in good Karma and bad Karma, that high moral philosophy that worked so well in the past was lost on too many of today's businessmen, and now was the undoing of the son. Reaping what he sowed, truly a good hearted man, his father lived by the simple fundamental golden rule principle of do unto others and you would have others do unto you. He also truly believed in what goes around comes around and Edward believed in that, too. "We don't just make toys here, Edward," said his father. "We make friends. We make families. We make people happy by giving them a job they are proud to have. We make productive workers by giving them the opportunity to ply the skills that few possess and so many appreciate. Don't forget that," he told his son. "What we do is not about money and the bottom line. It's about people and giving back what we've been so fortunate to have." Only, with third world labor rates, the skills that few possessed were lost in progress and automation. The quality that so many appreciated gave way to mass production. Further, without money and without paying attention to the bottom line, he'd exhaust his personal resources just paying for wages and for the materials to make merchandise that didn't sell. After indirectly taking care of all those who lived in the community and directly taking care of all those who worked for him, Benjamin didn't want his son abandoning his employees and the community where this factory stood for more than one hundred years. With the death of his father, Benjamin's lifelong endeavor of helping those who were less fortunate had now become Edward's reality. Now it was Edward's responsibility that weighed so heavily upon his shoulders because of the dire economic circumstances of the economy that hit his community much worse than others. Before mass production and production lines had become the way to mass produce everything, Edward's grandfather, Horace, started the company, The House of Benedict, in the late 1800's. The House of Benedict manufactured custom, handmade, wooden toys, cars, trucks, trains, planes, ships, even doll houses and doll house furniture. As Rolls Royce is to automobiles, the products of House of Benedict are those to the few who appreciated them and who could afford to buy them. Made laboriously one at a time, they accepted custom orders for those willing to pay the time and material price for pieces that had become works of art. One of a kind, no two pieces were exactly the same. Decades later, going against technology, instead of embracing it, when all modern factories were automated and computerized and their inventory was scrutinized, counted, and cost accounted for, Benedict's factory had a human production line of highly skilled workers. Finally taking the plunge and buying computers, now with 3D animated CAD CAM software, they could make anything that the customer wanted, so long as it was made of wood and not plastic. Trying to walk the fine line of production versus quality, even though the handmade quality was still there, it paled in comparison to how his grandfather and father made their products with love in mind, instead of profit. Their specialty, of course, was still custom wooden toys, costly, but still well worth the money. Sadly, their business declined when plastic was cheaper to use than wood. Rather than buying his toys, people bought Legos or cheap imitations of his toys from China that sold for much less. The foreign mass produced toys that were licensed to large American toy companies and sold under their brand had routinely been recalled because of lead paint and other manufacturing defects that made their toys unsafe for children. Moreover, the inferior products that China made didn't last much longer than the Christmas that they were given. At the height of his father's success, once the favorite and preferred toy, right up there with Lionel trains, Teddy Bears, Pogo sticks, and Duncan Yo-yos, and later Barbie dolls, no one wanted custom, handmade wooden toys anymore, when they could buy similar plastic toys for a fraction of the cost, first from Mexico, then from Taiwan, Japan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and now from China. Now, the big seller was video games and competing against that was akin to bringing a straw to a gunfight. Yet, compared to Benedict's toys, most of the plastic toys made today were junk. Benedict's toys were treasures that would last a lifetime. Benedict's toys, especially the older ones, had become valuable collectors' items traded and even sold at auction the world over. When the toy line fell short of production goals, beginning in the 1980's, Edward started making furniture, chairs, tables, and hope chests mostly, copies of those toys, that decorated his doll houses, but made to full scale with the use of his CAD CAM software program. Over the decades, the factory had become more than a business. With its huge tower with a clock face on all four sides that stopped working with the great New England Hurricane of 1938, the building was an icon in the community and everyone gave directions to and from places based on the central location of the House of Benedict. The building had slowly fallen into disrepair over the years. The property was so big, an eight story, brick building the size of an entire city block, it would take a huge amount of money to bring it back to the way it once was, the gem of Lowell Massachusetts but, hoping to do just that was Edward's secret plan. Edward couldn't count the times he and his dad were offered money for his building and land, enough money so that he, his children, and their grandchildren would never have to work. Only, he couldn't sell the property to someone who didn't give a care about the workers, about the community and its residents, and about the long standing history behind the building. It was a factory that stopped toy production to assist in two World War efforts by making military barracks, housing materials, and furniture. If he sold his prime, centrally located land to real estate developers that were eager to build luxury condos, he'd decimate an already impoverished community by putting so many people out of work for the sake of making more money, when he had more than enough money to last him ten lifetimes already. Even though the potential buyers promised they wouldn't, they'd tear down his building. Once he sold them his building, they were free to do whatever they wanted. For sure, they'd level the lot and sell off all the building materials they could. The slate roof, the copper flashing, the interior woodwork, the antique doors, fixtures, hinges, doorknobs, lighting, and windows, even the old bricks and cobblestone that paved the courtyard and driveways, when all tallied the building materials were worth a small fortune and worth much more sold piecemeal than they were when selling the building as a whole and in as is rundown condition. Every year, the offers increased and every year he'd turn them down. Often tempted, he patiently waited for the right offer and the right economic time to cash in and retire. Finally, it came, when an investor, along with his realty agent, tax accountant, and architect, asked Edward for a tour of his factory. They wanted to make an offer on his property. Instead of tearing down the building, they wanted to refurbish it and hire many of his employees and others from the people in the community to work for them. They, no doubt, believed that once he saw their plans, he'd sell. "I wouldn't even consider your offer, had you told me that you wanted to tear down the building," said Edward happy they realized the true value, charm, and characters of his building. "The fact that you not only want to refurbish the structure but also rehire many of my employees and others who live here would be a boon to the community." Yet, because of the recession, because real estate prices had fallen dramatically, their offer was not even half of what his highest offer had been in previous years. Moreover, the people they'd hire were only for temporary, low paying jobs, jobs that more favored the younger, unskilled workers than the older, well paid craftspeople that he had in his employ. "So, what do you think?" They showed him their business plan. Edward read their prospectus and reviewed all their drawings. Excited at first about their offer to buy his land and his building, it was then that he realized that they didn't share his vision. "No thank you," he said. "No thank you? You're crazy not to take my offer," said the investor, suddenly losing his temper, along with his business decorum, to his frustration in not getting Edward to agree to sell. "No one else in their right mind would offer you what I'm offering to buy this dilapidated building and this useless parcel of land." In the look that Edward gave the man for insulting his building, as if he had insulted his grandfather for building his precious building, even if they doubled their offer, he wouldn't sell. "We can go two million dollars higher," said the real estate broker, "but that's our final offer." "In this economy and your accountant would assuredly agree," said their tax accountant, "you must consider the positive tax benefits of taking a loss on a property, such as this, one that is in such disrepair. We wouldn't be tearing it down to sell of the bits and pieces but, instead, we'd make the property better, mixing old with new, wood and brick with glass and steel." "I already have enough carryover losses," said Edward with a laugh. "I don't need anymore." "These are the plans," said the architect rolling out rolls of paper that filled Edward's huge conference room table. Edward looked over the plans with a jaundiced eye. "I don't like your plans for my building," said Edward, as if rejecting a college, while considering at a life plan for his son. "This is what people want," said the architect. "They love living in old factory buildings, once refurbished and made modern. We can even make a place for you and your wife, a penthouse suite." "I already have a home not far from here, thank you very much." "Here's the prospectus, the brochure, and our card. Talk it over with your financial people and please reconsider our offer," said the broker. Before the meeting, Edward had carefully reviewed several exterior plans and several interior plans they had sent him by courier. Yet, all the plans were as devoid of character and imagination as the men were filled with greed. No doubt, they were hoping to but his building at a reduce rate to fatten their profit. The dollar signs they saw had nothing to do with his employees, the community, and/or with the people who lived here. After losing their jobs with Edward, many of his employees, the present residents who lived here, would assuredly be displaced for those who could afford to live here and buy the luxury apartments that would fill his building. Benedict's House of Valentine "Thank you, but no," said Edward. "I just now decided that I have other plans for this building," he said and he did have other plans. Encouraged by the alternatives that confronted him, to sell his building, to continue his business, or to begin his new plan for the building. The first of a kind, he opted for the new plan. "Other plans? May I ask what your plans are?" The realtor looked at him with a skeptical eye. "Certainly, of course you may ask my plans for my building, so long as you don't mind me not telling you my plans for my building," he said with a smug laugh and showing them all to the door. Tough times were coming for everyone and Edward Benedict could see the economy was going down the drain. Taken out of his hands, it would soon no longer be his decision, once the bank called his loans and rescinded his line of credit. If he was going to do anything other than retire, now was the time to do it. He was good at seeing things, before they happened and before anyone else. That was his special talent. Just as he did with this stock market investments that fattened his portfolio, he had always been quicker than most to realize a financial opportunity. When economists were toting blue skies and brokers were declaring a bull market, moving his money from stocks to bonds, he foresaw the recession that put so many people out of their homes and out of a job. Selling high and buying low, he made a fortune, when the market bottomed and he bought back the stocks he sold at a hugely discounted price. Now faced with a real dilemma, not wanting and willing to continue to be part of a money losing business venture, with his nervous bankers pressuring him to make a decision, sell the business or continue and eventually declare bankruptcy, he took another strategy. Instead of laying off people, he asked his staff to take a pay cut. Those who agreed to the pay cut kept their jobs and their benefits, stayed and worked, and those that didn't accept the pay cut left and collected unemployment. Taking the decision out of his hands and putting it their hands, he felt better that he wasn't upsetting the Karma that his grandfather and father had worked so hard to build and maintain. His staff fell from more than one hundred employees to less than fifty. In the meantime, even though his toy and furniture production levels were the lowest they've been, since his grandfather started the business more than a century ago, even though he was still losing money daily by keeping his doors open, he decided to go against convention and against the advice of all his financial advisors and hire more employees. People thought he was crazy to hire more people, when he couldn't afford the meager staff that he had now. It took a personal guarantee and a new business plan for him to get the bank to loan him the money that he needed to do what he wanted and needed to do. Always one to take the opposite side of the road and the one less traveled, usually making the tough climb up the mountain, instead of coasting downhill, he enjoyed walking against the flow. Hoping to find a missed opportunity, he could see better when going where everyone had already been. When others looked to the ground, he looked to the sky and vice versa and, when others looked behind them, he looked straight ahead. Unable to see the clearing with so many people doing the same things at the same time, he couldn't see as well, when the mad mob panicked, as if cattle and headed off in the same direction. Holding his ground and standing still, it paid sometimes to wait for the confused crowd to pass. Then, once they were all gone and scattered out behind him, once he was standing there alone, and once he was able to think without all the clamor of others giving him their uninformed opinions, is when he knew what to do. Benedict always had a devil of a time finding quality help, skilled help, and good help, people who wanted to work a full day for an honest pay. His grandfather built this huge factory, when land and materials were cheap and construction costs were cheaper. He could never afford to build such a magnificent building now. For sure, except for moving his factory to China, as everyone else did and was still doing, it would cost him more than one hundred million dollars to duplicate the splendor of this factory elsewhere. Unless he was willing to abandon his beloved building and much-loved community and setup shop overseas, he'd never make his money back, if he had to build a new factory here. Yet, by using the bad economy to work with him instead of against him, using a bit of creativity, he thought of an alternative. When everyone else was selling big, old factories, hoping that someone would want to buy them at a reduced rate, remodel them, and turn them into high priced condos that average people, people who lived here all their lives, couldn't afford, Edward didn't want to dishonor his family by selling his legacy. In spite of the banks being so stingy with loans and greedy with their money, Edward wanted to remodel his factory. With the new loans he received from the bank the money that he had available to him, mostly his own personal assets, money wasn't his problem, but time was. In his sixties, when others retire, Edward was starting a new business. He had invested wisely over the years and this was his time to give back, so that he could reap later what he sowed now. He put a big sign out front. HIRING, BUT AT HALF WAGES The sign stayed there for several months, as there were no takers. No one wanted to work for half wages, especially when he struggled to find good help, who would work hard for full wages. Yet, after their unemployment exhausted, after they became frustrated looking for jobs that weren't there and were desperate for work, Edward's half wages looked better. Now with the biggest staff he's ever had, more than 300 employees, it was time to put everyone back to work but, first, he called a meeting. "I know nearly every person in this room. Just as you do, I live her, too. I can't count the times I was offered huge amounts of money to sell this beautiful building," he said and stopped when he heard more than a few chuckles. "You don't see my building as beautiful, but I do. For sure, they don't make buildings like this anymore. It's just too expensive. This building was built to last longer than the one hundred and twenty-five years that it's already lasted. It just needs a little help and a facelift to hit the next milestone of two hundred years." "With all due respect, Mr. Benedict," said one of his workers. "Speaking for the others, as well as for myself, we find it difficult to share in your joy for your building and enthusiasm for your business, when we are all working for half wages." "Ah, I was about to get to that," he said putting his thumbs in his vest pockets and looking out over the crowd, as if he was looking at the new Rolls Royce he had just purchased. "I'm offering you all shares in my company. You don't have to buy the shares. Along with your pay, I'm giving them to you, in exchange for the work you do for me. The harder, longer, and more you work, the more shares you earn. Honestly, you may not see the return for years, but without doubt, those who of you who worked for me before know to trust me at my word now. Those who believe in me today, will we wealthy people tomorrow." "And," said a man in back, raising his hand as high as his voice to be acknowledged and heard, "how do you propose to make money in an economy that is flat by selling wooden toys, a product that no one wants?" "Well, I've given it much thought and we're still going to make our toys and furniture. We're still going to maintain our quality standards. None of that will change. What will change is the name of the company." He looked over the crowd of faces. Changing his company name was akin to asking them to change their own names. Everyone knew the House of Benedict. It was a landmark. "The House of Benedict is now the House of Valentine?" "The House of Valentine? You mean, the holiday?" A woman standing in front looked at him, as if he had lost his mind. "That's precisely what I mean." "Why that name?" A person standing asked the question. "I don't understand," said someone else. Suddenly, trusting the man with a plan, knowing his reputation by all the good deeds his family had done for others over the years, there was an excitement in the crowd. "Love is priceless. Love conquers all. The only thing that can fight hate is love," he said watching how his audience reacted to his words. "Love lasts forever. People smile when you say, Happy Valentine's Day because they realize the connation of that one phrase means love, romance, flowers, and candy." "What does love have to do with it," said a comedian in the audience and saying it in the way that Tina Turner would. "I'm glad you asked that," he said. "There is one holiday, even when times are tough, especially when times are tough, that husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, and all those in love do not skimp and that's Valentine's Day. Love is priceless. Think about how many songs, poems, books, and movies there are about being in love, falling in love, and falling out of love. Life is all about love. No matter what terrible things happen in people's lives, it's the one holiday, other than Christmas and birthdays, that everyone celebrates." "I still don't understand," said someone else. "I propose we turn this business and this building into everything Valentine's Day. Just as I'm doing this from my heart for you, dear friends and valued employees, it's time we shared our good will with others throughout the world. Just as there is a Disney World, just as there is a Santa's Workshop and Village, this will be our claim to fame on the holiday of love and romance, Valentine's Day. The House of Valentine," he said pulling a sheet from an architect's drawing of what his House of Valentine would look like. "The House of Valentine will put this city back on the map." "Wow! Is that this building? It's beautiful," said someone. "The inside still looks like a workshop, but better and more modern," said another. "Nah, it's more an indoor amusement park," said another. "Look there's rides." "No, it's a shopping mall," said someone else. "Don't you see all the shops?" "It's all of those things and more," said Edward. "It's our workshop, an amusement park, a shopping mall, and so much more than that." The excitement in the crowd was as electric as it was when the University of Massachusetts opened a campus in their city. It was more than a ground floor opportunity. With the shares that they earned, every employee here would own a piece of the business. Do unto others...and what goes around...Edward stayed true to the good karma that his grandfather and father had worked so hard to develop and maintain. Construction of the House of Valentine started immediately and everyone had a job. Those that didn't work on the outside of the building worked on the inside of the building. Only, nothing was new, but everything was refurbished. Edward maintained the charm and the character of the building to museum like status by using what he had and making it all in new like condition, instead of replacing materials that were not only more cheaply made but more costly, he'd rather pay the labor to fix something than to buy a replacement. His House of Valentine was completed a week before Christmas and his employees and their families were the first to experience it all for free. He charged five dollars admission for adults and one dollar for children. His admission price did little to reimburse him for his huge expenditure, but in time, now that he built it, once the word got out that there was a House of Valentine, more people will come. Besides, he didn't just make money on the admission that he charged, he made money at every venue. Between admission, playing arcade and video games, shopping in his shops, buying souvenirs, buying his products, and dining in his restaurants, the average family spent $150. Multiply that by the 30,000 families that visited him the first year, the majority visiting him from January to March, he grossed $4.5 million in revenue from his House of Valentine the first year, much more money than he made selling wooden toys. Based on his projections, foot traffic was projected to increase by 15% every year. With little to celebrate from January to the summer vacation time, perfect for February school vacation, it was somewhere to go, someplace to bring the kids, or someplace to celebrate Valentine's Day. In the first year that it was open, he had more than fifty weddings in his function room. When people first walked in, there was a tour of his workshop that visitors watched workers, many who had worked there for 30 and 40 years make custom, handmade toys and furniture. He had guided tours with tour guides that explained what workers did at each work station. For the first time, customers could see the craftsmanship that went into every product he made. Walking through his House of Valentine, there was a full sized doll house that was recreated inside his building for the children to experience. Then, there was an interactive and animated arcade with everything Valentine from Saint Valentine to Cupid to hearts and flowers, along with pinball and video games and rides for the kids. Instead of a mere gift shop, Edward had a mall where visitors could buy all the products he made from furniture to toys. He owned all the shops and the shops were manned by his employees. He had a Valentine fine dining restaurant for lovers and another fast food restaurant for families. Refusing to give up on his community, refusing to sell his beloved building, the lives of his employees and all who lived there was transformed by Edward Benedict's House of Valentine. * Please don't forget to vote, make a comment, and/or add me and this story to your favorite lists. Thank you for reading my story.