Making A Choice, Part Five
I have made a very small addition to the original article for clarification purposes.
About a year after Dan was released as president of O.L.D., a scandalous story broke in the local media about a subsidized apartment complex owned by George, and naturally managed by his affiliate company, O.L.D. The media reported that the building was receiving government rent subsidies for tenants who were dead. (Hey, I wonder if they had been voting, too?) This property had been under Dan’s overall supervision until his departure from the company, at which time, a lady took over as the supervisor. (They were not on-site supervisors, but made periodic visits to the property, or at least were supposed to do so.) As I said earlier, Dan was NOT a “hands on” kind of person (nor was the lady). Whether he was aware of these payments, I seriously doubt it; likewise, I doubt that the lady knew about them either. Neither person could have derived any benefit from these payments. Now, should they have known? Yes, absolutely!
When this whole story broke, George was furious (and rightly so), and this is why the above story is important to this saga: Now everyone found out that N.E.W. Management, already three years old, had truly been set up with Dan as the owner. There was some agreement between George and Dan about this set up, but to this day, I don’t really know for sure what it was;* regardless, the situation for N.E.W. changed dramatically. Remember from an earlier part, all of the support services for N.E.W. were provided by George's O.L.D. Management, and George now pulled those services from Dan's company. N.E.W., which only managed one property, the building I managed, was left with no accounting services, no insurance provider for the employees, no payroll service. Dan was now forced to go to the representative of the owners and tell him that there would be new expenses for an accountant (not cheap) and payroll services (not really a large expense). The property was already paying employee health insurance premiums to O.L.D., so this wasn't necessarily a big change, but then again, I don't know what the difference in the amount was between the O.L.D. plan and the plan that was taken by Dan for N.E.W.** The big difference was, Dan now was on the insurance for the building, with the knowledge of the owners' representative. If you know anything about health insurance costs, it was many thousands of dollars, as Dan got coverage for himself AND his wife. Keep in mind, the building was already under performing in terms of revenue, although it was profitable.
Now this is purely my opinion, but I think George knew exactly what he was doing when he pulled the support services from Dan's company. He knew that the owners wanted more revenue*** and that the added expenses would be a major blow to the property, giving him a chance to oust Dan's company (since Dan had not retired) and get his own management company the account; a coup of sorts, if you will. You'll see how all of this develops in the next part.
* This is PURE speculation, but perhaps, as George had told me several times, when Dan retired, O.L.D. would simply take over the management. Given George’s connections to the building ownership, that would have been relatively easy, in my opinion. Also, by that time, George may have felt that he would have matters cleared up with HUD, and they would not have blocked any such maneuver. (See earlier part in regard HUD)
** Just some explanation: Typically, when a property management company gets an account, the managed property covers all of the expenses for any employees specifically hired to work at that property. In the case of the building I managed, the property paid salary and health insurance costs, plus any employment taxes, for a manager, a secretary, and a maintenance man. The management company charges the property a fee for its services, from which it often pays (but not always) for any support services, like accounting and management oversight. The fee is typically based upon some percentage of rents collected. I'm using the word "typically," because there are variations, as in any contract negotiation. In this case, the property paid for accounting services and for the health insurance for management company's owner.
*** The apartment building was a part of a larger complex (the rest being non residential) owned by the same people, and the rest of that complex was not financially stable, and the owners wanted more income from the apartment section to bolster the rest of the complex.
Word History:
Timber-This noun goes back to Indo European "demrom," which had the notion of "building/structure." This idea continued in the Old Germanic offshoot "temran/timram" (I found two spellings). Old English had the same spelling as we do today, "timber," but it still retained the old meaning of "building." Later in English the meaning broadened to "building material or wood used for building." It wasn't long before the word simply took on the meaning of "wood." The other Germanic dialects from long ago had similar meanings: Old Frisian (a very close Old English relative) also had the meaning of "wood," besides the meaning "building." Old High German, which eventually evolved into modern German, had "zimbar," which had the meanings "wood for building, wooden dwelling, and the added meaning 'room of a dwelling.' " Old Norse had "timbr," which meant "wood." The Old German word "zimbar" gradually evolved into modern German "Zimmer," which means "room," but a German "Zimmermann" is a "carpenter," thus retaining the notion of "building with wood." Long ago in English, the main verb for "to build" was "timbran/timbrian," and German still has a verb, "zimmern," but it is not in every day use, and to my recollection, it has more of the meaning "to build or construct a frame." "Timber!!!!" The warning cry given when a tree is about to fall, supposedly developed in Canada in the early 1900s. "Shiver me timbers," the term used on British ships came about in the mid 1700s from the idea of the "ship's frame" (see German "zimmern" above) being made of wood.
About a year after Dan was released as president of O.L.D., a scandalous story broke in the local media about a subsidized apartment complex owned by George, and naturally managed by his affiliate company, O.L.D. The media reported that the building was receiving government rent subsidies for tenants who were dead. (Hey, I wonder if they had been voting, too?) This property had been under Dan’s overall supervision until his departure from the company, at which time, a lady took over as the supervisor. (They were not on-site supervisors, but made periodic visits to the property, or at least were supposed to do so.) As I said earlier, Dan was NOT a “hands on” kind of person (nor was the lady). Whether he was aware of these payments, I seriously doubt it; likewise, I doubt that the lady knew about them either. Neither person could have derived any benefit from these payments. Now, should they have known? Yes, absolutely!
When this whole story broke, George was furious (and rightly so), and this is why the above story is important to this saga: Now everyone found out that N.E.W. Management, already three years old, had truly been set up with Dan as the owner. There was some agreement between George and Dan about this set up, but to this day, I don’t really know for sure what it was;* regardless, the situation for N.E.W. changed dramatically. Remember from an earlier part, all of the support services for N.E.W. were provided by George's O.L.D. Management, and George now pulled those services from Dan's company. N.E.W., which only managed one property, the building I managed, was left with no accounting services, no insurance provider for the employees, no payroll service. Dan was now forced to go to the representative of the owners and tell him that there would be new expenses for an accountant (not cheap) and payroll services (not really a large expense). The property was already paying employee health insurance premiums to O.L.D., so this wasn't necessarily a big change, but then again, I don't know what the difference in the amount was between the O.L.D. plan and the plan that was taken by Dan for N.E.W.** The big difference was, Dan now was on the insurance for the building, with the knowledge of the owners' representative. If you know anything about health insurance costs, it was many thousands of dollars, as Dan got coverage for himself AND his wife. Keep in mind, the building was already under performing in terms of revenue, although it was profitable.
Now this is purely my opinion, but I think George knew exactly what he was doing when he pulled the support services from Dan's company. He knew that the owners wanted more revenue*** and that the added expenses would be a major blow to the property, giving him a chance to oust Dan's company (since Dan had not retired) and get his own management company the account; a coup of sorts, if you will. You'll see how all of this develops in the next part.
* This is PURE speculation, but perhaps, as George had told me several times, when Dan retired, O.L.D. would simply take over the management. Given George’s connections to the building ownership, that would have been relatively easy, in my opinion. Also, by that time, George may have felt that he would have matters cleared up with HUD, and they would not have blocked any such maneuver. (See earlier part in regard HUD)
** Just some explanation: Typically, when a property management company gets an account, the managed property covers all of the expenses for any employees specifically hired to work at that property. In the case of the building I managed, the property paid salary and health insurance costs, plus any employment taxes, for a manager, a secretary, and a maintenance man. The management company charges the property a fee for its services, from which it often pays (but not always) for any support services, like accounting and management oversight. The fee is typically based upon some percentage of rents collected. I'm using the word "typically," because there are variations, as in any contract negotiation. In this case, the property paid for accounting services and for the health insurance for management company's owner.
*** The apartment building was a part of a larger complex (the rest being non residential) owned by the same people, and the rest of that complex was not financially stable, and the owners wanted more income from the apartment section to bolster the rest of the complex.
Word History:
Timber-This noun goes back to Indo European "demrom," which had the notion of "building/structure." This idea continued in the Old Germanic offshoot "temran/timram" (I found two spellings). Old English had the same spelling as we do today, "timber," but it still retained the old meaning of "building." Later in English the meaning broadened to "building material or wood used for building." It wasn't long before the word simply took on the meaning of "wood." The other Germanic dialects from long ago had similar meanings: Old Frisian (a very close Old English relative) also had the meaning of "wood," besides the meaning "building." Old High German, which eventually evolved into modern German, had "zimbar," which had the meanings "wood for building, wooden dwelling, and the added meaning 'room of a dwelling.' " Old Norse had "timbr," which meant "wood." The Old German word "zimbar" gradually evolved into modern German "Zimmer," which means "room," but a German "Zimmermann" is a "carpenter," thus retaining the notion of "building with wood." Long ago in English, the main verb for "to build" was "timbran/timbrian," and German still has a verb, "zimmern," but it is not in every day use, and to my recollection, it has more of the meaning "to build or construct a frame." "Timber!!!!" The warning cry given when a tree is about to fall, supposedly developed in Canada in the early 1900s. "Shiver me timbers," the term used on British ships came about in the mid 1700s from the idea of the "ship's frame" (see German "zimmern" above) being made of wood.
Labels: employer ruthlessness, English, etymology, Germanic languages, personal story
posted by Randy at 3:14 PM
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