"Hello Ms. Upjohn. Are you here with your senior partner?'
The face of Fran Upjohn which boasted a pert nose and pixie countenance said it all. The words that came eloquently from her mouth reinforced the aura of this power woman when she said,
"No thank goodness. He is a lovely man but a bit of a 'wet blanket'. I am here all alone! There is a conference on in this hotel that I am involved with as a presenter. But I thought you were a penniless clerk. This hotel charges a fortune just for coffee."
Elmo wanted suddenly to appear important for the first time in ten years, so he said in a proud tone of voice
"I am also here on a business matter. Having lunch with one of our firm's best clients. They promoted me to sales negotiator. That comes with a corporate credit card."
Obviously, he left out the prefix 'temporary' before sales negotiator and the short possession he had of that corporate credit card. Not lies exactly. Well more like the 'white lies' that Elmo was so good at deploying.
Still they had the desired effect. Fran Upjohn now looked at Elmo with something approaching real interest. Unattached men of Elmo's age were scarce in this city. She knew Elmo was not married. So the 'game' began. She said,
"We should have coffee one morning."
Not wishing to appear rude Elmo said in a friendly tone of voice,
"Maybe, but tell me about your presentation."
By cleverly changing the subject, Elmo avoided any more awkward intimacies. Fran Upjohn had a powerful ego so she said in an excited voice,
"It's my first solo presentation. My expertise at law is with contracts. More especially hidden clauses in contracts. If I had my notes I could show you what I mean. All contracts you see have them...hidden clauses I mean. Sometimes they can cause real commercial embarrassment to firms in the longer time frame."
Elmo was somehow fascinated with what this woman was saying. He could not work out if it was because of her eyes or her voice. As those dark almost black eyes lit up with strange bursts of light Elmo was drawn in irresistibly. The voice had a 'trust me' sublime tone that got past all of Elmo's well planned intimacy defenses. He did not want her to stop, so Elmo looked for a way to keep her talking. As he moved his hand it brushed against the printed copy of his sales contract. A sudden inspiration made him grab it up to show this woman. He said,
"Strange you should say that but I am getting a commercial contract signed today. My legal advice is that it is a standard contract."
Fran Upjohn let out a derisive laugh before saying,
"Ha! the number of times I have heard that would make your head spin. I get people coming to see me about contract clauses they did not even read. Of course by then its too late. If only people would read all the clauses of a contract. Take your one today. Did you read every clause of that contract?"
Elmo had to admit that he hadn't read even one clause. Expecting scorn from his bar partner Elmo got a pleasant surprise,
"See that is what everyone says after the contracts are signed. Let me see this contract, if its not too confidential"
Elmo knew that it was a standard sales contract that his firm used for all their clients, so he handed over his copy.
Fran Upjohn read only the last two pages. She ignored the first ten clauses. Soon she was showing great animation as she plowed through the legalese of the contact. Then she gave it back shaking her head in sad disbelief. She said in frank language,
"I did not think they still put in those clauses. The term 'sale or return' can be used so maliciously. More modern contracts avoid that term completely."
Elmo was lost and confused. So he asked in all ignorance,
"Is that bad for us? I mean it is important I don't make a mistake this afternoon."
Fran Upjohn said in a precise tone of voice,
"Look I don't know what you are selling. I purposely avoided reading the details pages. My expertise is back of contract hidden clauses. You contract has a couple of blinders. But that term 'sale or return' has done more damage than anything else in contract dispute resolution situations."
Seeing Elmo was still confused, she went on to explain that this one term allowed a client to decide if what they had purchased was sale-able. They could return the whole order if they decided none of it could be sold at a profitable price. Fran knew of many cases where goods purchased were returned under these circumstances.
Now Elmo was sweating badly. He was about to get his first contract signed and that contract could end up costing his firm big money. In desperation he said,
"What advice do you give to clients who want to avoid such a result?"
Fran said in a frank tone of voice,
"My advice is either, don't sign such a contract at all, or, if you must sign a contract delete that clause."
Elmo now grasped at this straw by saying in a pleading tone of voice,
"Is that possible...not the not signing part but the deleting the clause?"
The lawyer now took over as Fran intoned this advice,
"Either party can delete any clause they wish deleted. It is then up to the other party to accept the deletion or refuse to sign the changed contract. Deleted clauses need only be initialed by both parties but it is better to redraw the contract without the deleted clause."
Elmo now saw a way to save face with the 'dragon lady'. So he thanked Fran then promised to take her out for coffee the next time she had a gap in her appointment schedule. He did not have a card so he exchanged smartphone numbers via an app put on his phone just that morning. They parted with a friendly handshake as Fran glided away to lead her seminar.
Chapter 3
Arriving at the hotel well ahead of the scheduled meeting time meant that Elmo had plenty of time to reread the sales contract stored on his smartphone. He worked out how to delete the offending clause after noting that it was designated as Clause 36. As he tried to work out how he was going to get the client to agree to its deletion, a mature aged woman approached him. She said in a polished tone of voice,
"The concierge pointed you out as the sales rep I have come to meet. Lucky that because I was expecting someone much older. What happened to Barney? He usually handles my account. Poor man, he often crosses the city street when he sees me out and about. I am afraid I hound him relentlessly. But why is he not here today?"
Realizing that this overpowering woman had paused for a breath, Elmo got in before she got a second wind. He said in an apologetic tone of voice,
"Barney...I