Page 245 - harryDEC12_clean.iba

He looked at her as though they had known each other for a long time, and she showed her best side, or at least one or two of them, as she had many. A tall, stately man with reddish blonde hair, bristling with self-confidence, optimism, and joy in life, only the "Kookaburra" hat missing - entered the room. His personality took over the room. He extended his mighty paw and shook our hands. He was already somewhat elderly, perhaps in his sixties, but full of youthful élan. Crocodile Dundee, I thought. I had seen the film recently and remembered vividly some of the quotations:
“Well, you see, Aborigines don't own the land. They belong to it. Its like our mother. See those rocks? Been standing there for 600 million years. Still be there when you and I are gone. So arguing over who owns us is
like two flees arguing over who owns the dog we live on”.
And this man was the physical embodiment, except that he was packed into a suit that somehow did not befit him.
"Nice meeting you blokes. Heard lots about you. You’re the specialists I’m looking for.”
That was of course the first bullshit he uttered; only an imbecile could regard us as specialists in yacht insurance. God knows where he got that, which brought me back to the question what John had told to the other broker. Without any further exchange of formalities he came to the point.
"John, Harry, - I have something big for you - I’ll tell you a bit about my background and the fantastic deal I can offer you. I’m the owner of an agency called YACHT Club of Australia. A year ago I sold my total business of over 30,000 insured sport boats and yachts to a company called MMI Insurance Group – for a decent sum. But those blokes have no idea of how to treat clients, I’m getting loaded up with complaints by unsatisfied customers and asked time and again to go back into the business. I have now the intention of doing just that. But I need a top insurer, most preferably with the designer label Lloyds's and for myself the status as a cover holder with full authorization to regulate claims. We’re talking about a 20 million Australian dollar premium. In two years more than AUD 30 million."
"Is there NO competition clause, I mean a non-compete clause?
John asks cautiously.
"Well, that’s the point, the smart executives of MMI have forgotten to place that in the contract, » Jefferson answered, and broke out in roars of laughter that were not unlikeable, « that the lawyers have overlooked.
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