TOUGH INTERVIEW, NICE OUTCOME

About a minute passed with a complete silence in the room, finally that mass of fat human flesh opened his mouth and asked without mentioning my name “what is, young man, your experience in the milling industry?”, “none” I said, and he immediately retorted “then, what does it make you think that you qualify for the position you are applying for?". The man had touched a very sensitive nerve, and I answered “who had told you I´m applying for this position?”, he remained silent for a moment and said “well, the fact you are seating here means to me that you are looking for the job, am I right”, “no” I said,”the fact that I’m seating right here only means I have been invited by your company to come for a series of interviews related to an open position in your Ecuadorian operation" and added "I haven’t been and I am not looking for this job”, “but”, I added, rising my voice to show my disgust with the guy’s attitude “if you are trying to fill the position of Comptroller in your Ecuadorian Operation, regardless of the fact I don’t have any experience in the milling industry, and because of my professional background and years of experience, I know I’m very qualified for that position”, and added even in a higher voice, “perhaps even over qualified”. The man was seating there, pale, it was evident he did not like either the tone nor the content of my answer, he looked at me like a poisonous snake ready to jump on its prey, then, he kind of realized I was not an easy prey and began to look like he was going to back down, he looked nervous and said nothing for several seconds, finally he said “good for you, I wish you luck”. I was ready to tell the guy that, if I was chosen for the position I and was going to have to report to him, I had no interest whatsoever in the job, but, before I opened my mouth to say it, Dick Myers came to my rescue, he opened the door, without knocking on it, and said, “Rafael, I had to take you to the airport, we are getting late”, I stood up, looked at Robhom’s eyes and purposely lied by saying to him “nice meeting you”, then, I said good bye to that voluminous mass of ugly human fat, without shaking hands and shut his office door behind me. Two minutes later Dick and I took the elevator down to the garage, and while going down, Dick said “how was your interview with Robhom?” and after looking at my face and my eyes, he smiled like saying “I know what happened”. Which he did indeed...or suspected what happened any way.
As we started walking toward the garage, Dick said to me in a soft voice; “Rafael, what happened in that interview is not important whatsoever, don’t worry about it”, which was more than enough for me.
In our way to the airport the airport, Dick didn’t want to expand on what he had just said, and I didn’t either, so, our conversation centered basically in my family, my children, my past experience with de Ecuadorian Government Tax Department, with Arthur Andersen, with Northwest Pipeline, in the banking industry with COFIEC, and finally with APCO Argentina. About thirty minutes later we arrived to the KC airport and Dick and I said good bye to each other, while looking at our eyes. I knew we had made a real good connection.
In my flight back to SLC, I was wondering what laid ahead in my life. It was highly likely that I found the Seaboard’s proposal very attractive, and, as a result I would take my family back with me to Ecuador, in a matter of weeks. I started to wonder whether I was doing the right thing for my family. It is true, our life in the US had been good in general terms, my children were growing in a very nice and quiet city environment, their school was one of the best in the area, they had learned English, in a very short period of time, they have gotten used to their surroundings, to the neighbors, to the geography, to the weather, to the skiing, etc., and I was going to uproot them from all of that and transplant them to a whole new life, a life I grew up at, but that was totally allien to my children. Am I doing the right thing? I questioned myself. Evidently, all this was going to be material to be discussed with Fanny, again and again.
Three days after I arrived in SLC, Bill Messett (the headhunter) called me; he wanted to get some feed back about the interviews in KC. I told him that “almost” everything went fine. He said why do you say “almost” and not just “everything went fine”. I told him about my interview with the big fat guy, he laughed wholeheartedly for about a full minute, then he said “what an asshole that moron is” and added “I know what happened in your interviews in KC. I talked to Dick Myers and the man was so happy with you, he seemed to have known you for a life time”. Then he added, “Dick believes you will be happy when you see Molidor and you meet the people you might have to work with”, and continued; “Regarding Robhom, Dick said he was so f...disgusted with his whole attitude and behavior that he didn’t think the guy will last more than three months”, to which I added “I don’t know much about it, but Dick Myers didn’t seem to have a bit of respect for this SOB”. Three month later, when I was already in Guayaquil doing my job as Molidor’s comptroller, I received a circular letter from KC indicating that “Don Robhom had been dismissed as the company’s VP-Finance, effective July 1, 1984, and that he had filed a suit against the company for $800,000 for “moral damages”. A few months later I received another letter indicating that the guy had lost the legal battle. Thereafter, for all practical purposes the man disappeared from the scene. From the distance I'm glad I didn't have to wish him luck!
Back from KC, and energized by the possibilities being opened in the horizon, and after fully discussing everything with my “head counselor” Fanny, I went back to my job as a Comptroller of APCO Argentina. I had to fly again to Buenos Aires, the Cayman Islands and Bonaire, so as to leave everything in order(without telling anybody about my possible departure from APCO), so for anyone coming to replace me, it would be just a matter of hitting and running; I discussed my horizon in a confidential way with my friends and Northwest officers, Curt Kennedy (Comptroller); Piero Ruffinengo (a lawyer and counselor to the president); Steve Dougherty (a lawyer and a member of the legal Counseling group), and they all coincided that what was ahead for me was very good; that at this point in my life I should not be shy to take a chance like the one that was being offered to me. They all reassured me that I should take the opportunity. “Opportunities come and go”, Steve said to me, “they just come and go, they don’t wait for you”. I felt encouraged, really encouraged and started to feel more and more enthusiastic about what was coming.
Through the third week of April, I worked tirelessly with the APCO filings, I had a great deal of help from Steve Daugherty, therefore, I was able to have our corporate and tax filings done by then, so I called Dick Myers in KC, and told him I should be ready to go visit Molidor by the end of April. Tickets were placed immediately for me, and on April 28, 1984, I was flying to Guayaquil.

In my next posting: GUAYAQUIL AND MOLIDOR