not have been an impressive building, but his was an impressive record. He saw no reason to spend lots of money on fancy buildings and furnishings. Basically, he didn’t see how it helped him close business, execute contracts or pay his guys for their hard work in far-away places for extended periods, and he liked to pay his guys well. Consequently he had some of the top men and women in his industry working for him, and his record of successful projects far outweighed the occasional inevitable failure along the way.
“You want to hire my company, all of it, for an extended period of time. Years. You want me to bring my guys – and their families – to this location. You want us to develop prospective oil fields where initial research has shown them to be, but which have not yet been proved-up. And you want us not only to develop these fields, but teach your folks how to do our jobs, thereby working ourselves out of a job.” He paused, studying the man across from him. “Have I got that right?
The man nodded. “Working yourselves out of a job only in that particular location. We are quite sure to continue developing new fields. You and your men have perfected new drilling and extraction techniques, techniques far more productive than your competitors, and resulting in much less environmental degradation. With your teams teaching us, the cost of extracting oil will decrease, the price of energy will decrease, and tens of millions of people can advance more quickly. This is a very good thing, yes? That is why we want you.” The man took a sip from his coffee. “And, of course, for reasons that baffle the rest of the world, you are not allowed to use your techniques or men on oil resources here in America. This is unfortunate for America, but certainly fortunate for us, and it also can be for you.”
Tom considered this only briefly, knowing it to be true. Though the new president had talked about opening oil deposits in America, the usual environmental suspects made more noise every day about stopping any new oil extraction in America, a nation with, it was turning out, as much oil in the ground as Saudi Arabia. Why these “environmentalists” refused to see that not drilling under the extremely strict environmental and ecological regulations of America just meant that drilling instead was done where no thought at all was given to the environment – resulting in a totally trashed landscape where oil was drilled in the third world – only to be used in America anyway, with additional ecological damage in the inevitable occasional tanker wreck – continued to baffle him. But these policies were not something he could control, so he did not spend too much time worrying about their idiocy.
Tom drained his coffee cup, then turned and caught Lila’s eye, raising the cup for a refill. She came over right away, it being a not-busy time in a not-busy diner in a not-busy town, and poured. She looked an offer of more coffee at the Chinese man who shook his head politely. Lila turned away and walked back to her stool behind the lunch counter.
“And for this you will pay my employees a start-up bonus of $100,000 each, and pay my company the going rate – at any given time – plus 1% of the gross revenue as calculated by the number of barrels extracted times the then-current market price, re-calculated bi-monthly.”
The man nodded.
“And you want us to begin as soon as we can; be ready to pack-up and leave within two months.”
Again the man nodded.
Tom asked, “All relocation costs provided at whatever rate I say, including buying my guys’ houses?”
The man nodded.
Tom thought about this as he sipped his coffee. “Well, I guess once you’ve made the decision, the rest is just wasting time, right?”
Again a nod.
“Annual four-week vacations to wherever the workers want to take their families – anywhere in the world – paid for by you?”
Nod.
“Housing will be Western-style?”
Nod.
“Education? Local K-12, in English, and paid tuition at any college in the world the kids can get into?”
“English and Mandarin, Mr. Palmer,” the Chinese man spoke finally. “We want them to be ready for the future, do we not?”
“English and Mandarin.” He thought about that. He nodded. “Classes for the parents and other adults, too?”
Nod.
“And we go on the payroll……”
“As soon as you and I agree on the deal.” He sipped from his cup. “Today, if you like.”
“What if some of the men don’t want to go, or some of the families decide they can’t move, or some of them get there and change their minds?”
“From the point you and I make the deal, everyone will be paid. If anyone decides it is not a good move for them, there will be no questions asked, no return of money; everyone keeps what they have been paid. For those who arrive and decide against staying, they will be paid until they return to America, and we will purchase a home for them wherever in America they decide to live.” He stopped and drank some coffee.
“Mr. Palmer, we want your people to be happy and contented. Happy workers are more productive workers and worth the cost in the long run. Besides,” he finished, “the costs that may be incurred for someone who ultimately changes their mind are so small as to make no sense to quarrel over.”
Tom thought about that for a long sip of coffee and then nodded his head. “Nope, you’re right. They don’t.”
Tom had never been to China. He’d traveled to many places to drill and pump oil, but never China. “What about freedom?” he asked.
The man nodded his head; an expected question.
“I mean, America is pretty free - will we be able to, well, to move about, go where we want if we live there? Buy what we’d like?”
The man nodded again, responding, “You will not find, we do not think, a material difference in your freedoms as workers in remote Chinese territories from your freedoms here or in other locations in which you have worked. We are a very hardworking, people, intent on the freedom to get to our work, to buy what we need. Our Middle Class - the reason we need this additional energy and modernization - is pushing forward to gain access to what they want to buy, what they see in Hollywood movies, or what the young have experienced in schools in America. Our people are becoming more free.”
Tom nodded, thinking as he looked out the window of the diner at the mid-day sky. A cold west-Texas wind gusted across the parking lot. “It gonna be hot there?” he asked, not looking away from the window.
“Hot in the summer. Cold in the winter.”
“When would you like my answer?”
“I think you know your men very well, Mr. Palmer. I would like the answer now. I will accept it as late as noon, tomorrow, and then I must approach my second choice. One who, from all I have heard, is not as good as you and your team.”
Tom nodded again. He put down his coffee cup and looked at the man across the table.
“I normally do my work based on a handshake,” he said. “But I’m asking quite a bit of my people this time. Leaving family, friends, schools.” He looked through the window and down the street again, studying the distance and said, almost in melancholy, “Home.”
