Mothers and Daughters Ch. 13

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Walter Snyder.
10.5k words
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Part 13 of the 33 part series

Updated 10/23/2022
Created 08/21/2011
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Note to Reader:

The most famous building in Chicago is currently officially named the "Willis Tower". However this building is stilled referred to by many by its original name "Sears Tower". To avoid confusion in my novel, I have referred the building by its original name. In any case the action as depicted would be taking place during the time the building was still officially known as the "Sears Tower".

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Walter Snyder was not a happy camper at work. The senior partners were continuously dangling the prospect of partnership to him without any follow-through. They intimated that partnership for him was a certain event only that the time was uncertain; but it would be soon they constantly assured him. Despite completing one successful assignment after another, the time never seemed to be just yet right for his promised partnership.

In addition, another unsettling matter was that the firm treated Vera Starikovich even shabbier. He was of the opinion that she was an outstanding accountant, but despite her unbelievably excellent performance at work the firm management seemed to discount her abilities.

After about seven years of employment, Walter had had enough. Because of an overload of work he was given the assignment to audit a prominent client. He had just completed the audit, and had uncovered various serious mistakes made by the client's bookkeepers. Walter was able to correct them and as a result, the client saved a substantial amount of originally perceived tax liability which they would have otherwise paid.

He was angry at the lack of appreciation by the senior partners considering that this work was not amongst his normal duties and workload. All he got by way of acknowledgment was a token 'Thank you' from one of the senior partners who remarked that with continued performance like that he would soon be a partner. Walter could not help but think that it was just the same line of bull he had been getting all along and that the offer of partnership was just a sham to keep him with the firm and work for peanuts.

As irritated as he was by the firm's lack of appreciation of his work, he was outraged by the way the firm had handled Vera's latest success. She had just finished a special assignment from a potentially new and important client, Baxter & Sons. The assignment also necessitated Vera to work in conjunction with the FBI Office. After a meticulous examination of all of the financial records of Baxter & Sons, Vera was able to identify the existence of an embezzlement of a substantial amount of the company's funds.

Vera's subsequent detective work was so skilful that she was able to trace the location of where most of the stolen funds were hidden. With the co-operation of the Federal Prosecutors' office she was able to have the FBI freeze them and thus enabling the company to recapture a significant part of the total monies embezzled.

The embezzlement scheme was so sophisticated and so cleverly disguised that it had eluded detection by the company's auditors (Price Waterhouse) for the past several years. This particular year, CEO Jed Baxter, was suspicious and not satisfied with the auditor's clean bill of health. Upon advisement of his accountant at Price Waterhouse of Vera's excellent reputation as a forensic accountant, Jed Baxter contacted Watson and Woodhouse to hire Vera. He also alerted the FBI of Vera's assignment and paved the way for criminal prosecution.

Vera's success exceeded Baxter's expectations. Not only did she expose the fraudulent scheme but she was able to gather and accumulate sufficient evidence to allow the Federal Government Attorneys to successfully prosecute the guilty party, a highly regarded and respected financial officer of the business empire of Baxter and Sons.

Walter had heard through the office grapevine that Jed Baxter was so delighted with Vera's work that he paid in addition to the contracted fee, a $10K bonus to the firm. Walter was certain that the firm did not share the bonus with Vera. But beyond that, what really infuriated Walter was that the firm did not deem it important enough to have even an impromptu office celebration to acknowledge Vera's remarkable achievement.

As it was becoming evident to Walter that the offer of partnership was elusive and not to be relied on, he had been considering alternative employment. In particular he was considering opening an office on his own. He believed that seeking employment with another firm would just be exchanging headaches so that was not an appealing option.

With his uncanny knack of investing wisely and efficiently, he had accumulated some excess personal wealth. In addition, he could no doubt borrow if need be from both his sister and sister-in-law. He had enriched them both by his handling of their inheritances from the deaths of their respective fiancées. And of course his father was wealthy enough to touch as well. As far as Walter was concerned, gathering sufficient capital to start a business should not be a problem.

He was confident of his own abilities and business acumen, that he did not even consider failure. He was certain that some of the clients he was working with would follow him, so that he would have some business from the get go. He would not starve. He could not help but be gleeful of the arrogance of Watson and Woodhouse not to have demanded a non competition clause when he was hired.

The con against all the pros for starting a firm on his own was the loss of the professional camaraderie he enjoyed at Watson and Woodhouse. If he were on his own he would not have peers around him to share and swap stories of the events of the day. Now his wife Linda was somewhat knowledgeable of the nature of accounting and with whom he did recount his work experiences. However she was not the same kind of listener as a fellow accountant would be and he knew he wanted such outlet to share stories of work experiences.

Walter could envision starting a firm with other accountants, or at the very least with one fellow accountant. He would leave this firm in a heartbeat without regret should such a possibility exist. As his dissatisfaction was becoming more acute he was entertaining the possibility of starting solo but if he could attract at least one comrade he would have no qualms of making the change immediately.

In considering another accountant to team up with, he ruled out the other accounting firms. Aside from the fact that he did not know other accountants as well as he knew the ones he worked with, he felt it was disloyal to be partners with someone who had been working for another firm. Not that he really owed any loyalty to Watson and Woodhouse; but it still felt morally wrong to him. Unfortunately the pool of accountants at his current firm was small given its size.

He had to rule out the partners since there was nothing to entice them to leave. For a partner to leave and strike out on his own would be a step down. Hard work would be necessary to achieve the ultimate reward of hopefully attaining exactly the same professional level the partner currently held within Watson and Woodhouse. So for a partner there was no upside to joining with Walter to form an independent firm, but there were plenty of downsides.

Amongst the associates there were only two, Walter could consider teaming up with; he knew he could not get along with the others in a professional partnership setting. One of the two was Oliver Mooney, who was Walter's best friend at the firm. Oliver had also been his best man at his wedding, so obviously there were no compatibility issues. The knock against Oliver was that he was a mediocre if not actually an incompetent accountant. Watson and Woodhouse was a big enough firm that it could carry a deadweight like Oliver, but Walter could not if he had any hope to make his business a success.

The second associate he could get along with was Vera. In contrast to Oliver, Vera was a super competent accountant in spades. The Baxter case revealed her abilities to be extraordinary. He could not understand how the senior partners apparently did not see that. But what was more amazing was that she, herself did not seem to resent the treatment accorded to her.

Granted she could not go about the office ranting and raving about her mistreatment without losing her position in doing so. Still if she were annoyed by her status at the firm, surely her body language and demeanor would betray such sentiments; yet she was truly cheerful at all times at the office. Walter could not believe Vera was such a milquetoast to be content with the inadequate salary she no doubt was receiving. Surely she must have higher ambitions for herself.

If she truly was not resentful and was submissive to her lot in life at Watson and Woodhouse, he knew he would not want her as a partner, no matter the excellence of her technical skills. He believed that he would want and need an aggressive partner to enable them to successfully strike out on their own. Walter though sensed that there was something about Vera that belied such a negative assumption of her apparent passivity. There was obviously more to Vera than meets the eye. So he asked her out for a lunch date with the intention of assessing the possibility of enlisting her as a business partner and determine if his potential misgivings about her could be negated.

Vera not suspecting anything readily accepted the date for lunch at a nearby café. They had occasionally indulged in such lunch dates in the past to innocuously chatter about office gossip.

In this vein after they were served, Walter observed casually that the frostiness between she and Oliver Mooney had become legendary in the office. Walter pointed out that everyone had noticed that the two of them did not speak to each other.

Vera protested:

"Not true. We do speak to each other. Why this very morning we had a conversation."

"Indeed?"

"Why yes! He said, 'Excuse me.', when he almost bumped into me as he was attempting to cross my path. I replied, 'Drop dead.' At this point, though, our conversation ended as he apparently had nothing further to add."

Walter laughed and replied:

"Oh come on, Vera that was no conversation."

"Oh I don't know. I believe the dictionary defines conversation something like 'speaking together between two or more persons.' So yes I do believe we at least conversed."

"Why don't you get along with him?"

"Let's just say I went out on a date with him once and it did not work out. I might ask why you're friends with him."

"He's OK. We've had some good times when I was single. Now that I am married we don't see each other so much. Perhaps when he gets married we will go on double dates."

"Does Linda like him?"

"Not so much. But then apparently at our wedding he wasn't a good date for Brenda, Linda's sister. Of course my wife would side with her sister in such matters. Perhaps when Oliver has a wife of his own, Linda would warm up to him."

"I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Oliver's wedding. I suspect most decent eligible females wouldn't consider Oliver to be a desirable catch."

Walter decided to change the subject and steer the conversation towards ascertaining Vera's true feelings about working at their firm.

So he said:

"Enough about Oliver Mooney. I want to congratulate you on your spectacular success with the Baxter assignment. I hear a rumor that as a result of your evident skills, Baxter is considering switching to our firm."

"Thanks Walter. It certainly was the most exciting assignment I've had to date. I enjoyed every minute that I was working on it and I actually regretted when it was over."

Vera went on in some detail describing what she had done to achieve her triumph. Walter was totally impressed especially as she described two unique procedural measures she took which admittedly he would not have thought of taking. Those measures were the key to unraveling the complicated embezzlement scheme and led to the location of where the stolen funds had been hidden. Those measures were instrumental to Vera's total success.

Consequently when she finished, he said:

"My God Vera you're brilliant! I'm sure I wouldn't have thought of those special procedures and so I couldn't have succeeded as well as you did. Watson and Woodhouse sure were fortunate to have hired you."

"Why thank you Walter. Receiving praise from you means a lot to me."

Walter at this point earnestly replied:

"Yeah well you deserve more than just receiving praise from me. The very least the firm should've done was share 50-50 with you the bonus Baxter paid."

"The bonus was actually a reward paid by the insurers of Baxter & Sons for the partial recovery of the sums embezzled. Without that recovery the liability for the insurance company would have been much more substantial. Naturally the reward was paid to Watson and Woodhouse, as our firm was the party responsible in actually recovering those monies."

"But it was you, Vera and only you, who really saved the insurance company from paying out a larger claim. You should have been paid the reward, or at least shared in it."

Vera casually responded:

"No. I'm not legally entitled to the reward. Baxter & Sons could not hire me, they hired Watson and Woodhouse. Thus Watson and Woodhouse received the reward and I can't possibly have any claim to it."

Walter now responded with passion:

"True enough Vera from a strictly legal point of view. I'm certain that I wouldn't have succeeded like you did, had I had this assignment. I might have uncovered the embezzlement, but I sure as hell would not have located the missing funds like you did. And I'm the only other person with training in forensics accounting in the firm capable of taking on this assignment. So the firm knows without you this bonus would not have been forthcoming. It's morally unconscionable for them not to pay you at least half of the reward."

Vera replied somewhat defensively:

"I am an employee of Watson and Woodhouse and all that is owed to me is my salary. If the firm chooses not to pay a bonus as a result of my production, it is their prerogative and I have no cause to complain."

Walter was now fully animated in his continued conversation:

"But Vera, aren't you pissed off? Those bastards would not have this money if it wasn't for you. They are just trampling all over you and they are getting away with it because you're letting them. Don't you have any sense of pride?"

Vera turned and stared deeply at Walter for awhile. Walter could see that she was contemplating a reply and instinctively realized that it would be an important response well worth his patience.

Finally she spoke:

"I believe I can trust you Walter to hold what I say in confidence, as I'm going to be perfectly candid. When I finished my education, I had offers from many firms so I had the luxury of choosing where I was to be employed. I chose Watson and Woodhouse for various reasons but there were really two main factors. First, at my interview I formed the impression, and was assured that this firm allowed for advancement strictly on merit basis with no regard to office politics. I was and am confident of my abilities so I was excited. To become a senior partner at Watson and Woodhouse would be to my mind the culmination of a successful career.

I am not one to put all my eggs in one basket, however. The second factor for my choice was that Watson and Woodhouse did not require a non competition clause like the other firms did. If I leave I am free to take any clients I can entice to follow me. I knew this would be a useful advantage should things not work out here.

It did not take me long to realize that my impression at my interview concerning promotion possibilities was not reality. Advancement at Watson and Woodhouse is actually chiefly dependent on office politics with merit being merely a secondary requirement. Mind you some merit is necessary such as taking Oliver for example. He is by far a most excellent participant in office politics; the best ass-kisser and brown-noser that one can imagine. But he is a dreadfully incompetent accountant so he will never get to be a partner no matter how hard he tries."

Walter coughed at that observation and interrupted:

"I think you are spot on about Oliver's accounting skills. I've always wondered how he was able to acquire the credentials to earn his professional license and for that matter maintain it."

Vera continued her recitation, without commenting on Walter's observation:

"I soon realized that for me to succeed at Watson and Woodhouse, considering my looks and my gender, I would have to be great in bed. Unlike my sisters of the feminist movement I was not philosophically opposed or appalled at such strategy in advancing my career. However at first I was sexually attracted to you and so I concentrated on luring you to bed for some fun. Hence my career was on hold at first."

Walter, ignoring Vera's blatant outlook on office sexual politics, merely observed:

"Yes I remember you so persistently coming on to me. It has been a relief that you ceased and we have now a truly great professional friendship sans romantic issues."

Vera resumed:

"Well yes when I saw you together with Linda, I could tell I had not a ghost of a chance in seducing you. After your wedding I concentrated on advancing in the firm. So I made the rounds and fucked every male partner of the firm; all thirteen of them. To my utter astonishment each and every one of them was inadequate to put it mildly.

I tell you Walter I do not believe I am difficult to please and can put up with a poor lover. But the partners of this firm were unbelievably bad; none of them could even succeed in getting my pussy wet; and considering how much I really do love sex that's quite a negative achievement by them.

So always I was fucked dry and it hurt; not enjoyable at all. I am willing to bet that their spouses encouraged them to philander so as to get out of doing their onerous wifely duties."

At this point Walter could not help but laugh at Vera's wry sense of humor in telling her story, despite no doubt having a serious purpose for her speech.

After recovering his composure he said:

"I'm sorry Vera for laughing; but this is too rich. Please continue. This is fascinating."

"No problem, Walter. Anyway I knew I had to give up the hope of becoming a partner as I was not willing to put up with the aggravation of indulging in torturous and useless sex. I knew it would threaten my sanity if I continued to fuck any one of them. So applying the cliché: 'if life throws lemons at you, make lemonade', I resolved to formulate plans to leave.

Since I had deemed Watson and Woodhouse to have been the best firm to hire on to, I could see no purpose in seeking employment with another firm. Ergo I have opted to plan on opening a firm on my own.

So my reason in continuing to work here was merely to gather sufficient experience that would be beneficial to me when I am out on my own. Seeing I was no longer willing to play ball with the senior partners, they started assigning in addition to my normal forensic accounting tasks, unappealing grunt work supposedly to punish me for my disinterest in them.

Paradoxically this played into my needs. Once I'm on my own, in addition to my normal accounting skills, I will have to be proficient at the every-day mundane details necessary to make my business thrive.

As you have managed my monies in the past you know I have the capital to start my own practice. With the non competition clause I am set to take about six clients with me, especially including Jed Baxter. In reality Jed is not a client of the firm. So I would not really be stealing him from Watson and Woodhouse, but instead I would be stealing him from Price Waterhouse, his current accounting firm.