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"What do you mean the account fell through?" David asked calmly.

"Just what I said. The account is gone and it's your fault. I should fire you for this. It's not the first time you've lost us an account after meeting the client for lunch."

With that, the phone clicked and David sighed inwardly, trying to figure out what he had done wrong this time. He was not the best at face to face meetings, especially when it comes to meeting foreign clients and taking them for dinner or lunch.

He leaned back in his chair and tried to think back to the lunch meeting the week before. He had Korean clients, he took them to the best Korean restaurant in town, wined and dined them, but didn't over indulge. He did everything that he was told he should do.

David frowned, trying hard to think of anything that he could have said wrong. Then he realized what it was. He realized that he had done nothing wrong, other than not letting his clients get as drunk as they wanted to. That's what it had to be, that's all it could be.

They had all had a few drinks, enough to take the edge off but the one client wanted to continue to drink and David had to stop him. The man had drank double what David had and was more than a little tipsy. In fact he was so tipsy that he was hitting on any female in the restaurant. This was unacceptable behavior in David's eyes and he had to ask the waitress to stop refilling the man's drink.

The man had gotten angry and threatened to take his money elsewhere, but David didn't take him seriously. He figured that once the man sobered up, he would forget all about the threat. Yet, he hadn't forgotten.

Perhaps, David thought, he wasn't as drunk as David thought he was. No matter, really, since David lost another account and was on the verge of being fired for it. All he could do now was chalk it up to another business lunch gone wrong and try to rectify it next time. If there was a next time.

Learn more about this author, Margaret Kerr.
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