America 1982-Chapter 173 - 65: Honesty is a Virtue_2

"Before meeting me, you never even considered the possibility that Compaq and IBM might settle in this lawsuit. With so many alumni, from so many angles, with so many brains, there can only be more ideas, and everyone might have thoughts like, ’Perhaps this lawsuit could help me achieve a little heart’s desire.’ What you just said was very good, ’Control money, don’t be controlled by it,’ remember those words, and treat the upcoming meeting like a business lesson. Although I don’t know what business the other side will discuss with you, it definitely won’t be what you originally thought, so whatever the business is, when you feel you can’t help but agree..."

Benjamin said this, paused, and gently tapped his chest: "Recall the purpose you had in mind when you first designed all of this, because it can guide your heart, take it back to the beginning. People and newspapers often say that Wall Street is strewn with gold to describe how easy it is to accumulate wealth there, but what they don’t say is that each piece of flowing gold is marked with a price, which can’t be picked up casually. Just because you don’t see a price tag doesn’t mean it’s not there; it might just be hidden."

Seeing Tommy nod in agreement, Benjamin continued:

"College students are eager to join various fraternities to expand their networks and uncover opportunities, but there are always those who get bitten back by opportunities. Only the truly calm can escape unscathed. My personal experience is that in fraternity networking, the biggest surprise isn’t the connections and opportunities, but that you can get those alumni to tell you how to view the same issue from different positions and perspectives, thereby discovering issues you previously never noticed, learning to view the big picture from a greater height, thus completing your own evolution, making yourself... better, or worse."

At the end, Benjamin stood up and gave Tommy a fraternity-exclusive hand gesture, then patted the shoulders of Tommy and Charles, who had risen to follow him, and said to Tommy, "For me, this is the most valuable life gift the fraternity brothers have given me. As for investing in Actor or share transfers, after you lose interest in those big businesses that you could never have imagined in twenty years and that make you marvel at how fantastical this country is, you’re welcome to come back. Then, we can continue our discussion about the ten-million-dollar small business."

"Thank you," Tommy said to Benjamin seriously: "Thank you for your guidance." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Those words just now convinced Tommy that Benjamin, who had dealt with various elites and high society figures on Wall Street for fifteen years and had now retired to California, truly wanted to be an angel investor for young people and young industries.

Because some things, he didn’t have to say so bluntly; he was worried that his fraternity junior, realizing that the situation was getting out of control, would panic and lose his calm, which could lead to wrong choices on some important multiple-choice questions.

In the United State America, such virtue is as rare as an adult virgin.

Just like Benjamin said, Tommy should meet the other party even if he doesn’t reach a cooperation deal; at least he can view the lawsuit from the perspective of a big figure like Robert Miller and draw some nutrients from it,

Not to make himself better or worse, but stronger.

...

This was the first time Tommy Hawk had taken a business class flight; an exclusive jet bridge, a private lounge, luxury business cars from San Francisco International Airport to pick him up for the airport, and other first-class services made Tommy Hawk feel there was nothing particularly surprising. However, it was after boarding JetBlue Airways’s plane that he became determined to be a wealthy person.

Because the beautifully smiling, attractive young flight attendants in front of him were completely different creatures from those he had seen on other red-eye flights.

The reason for this discrepancy mainly stems from the Women’s Rights Movement’s influence, which also affected the occupation of flight attendants. In 1980s America, don’t think that the busy flight routes were always staffed with young, good-looking, well-groomed, high-heel and stockings-wearing, uniform-clad flight attendants.

Taking the red-eye flights Tommy is most familiar with as an example, the flight attendants ranged in age from twenty-eight to forty, tall, short, fat, thin... all sorts of strange creatures might be present, each flight was like opening a mystery box filled with excitement, but the only guarantee was that none would be beautiful.

These beings, who were also called flight attendants, wore the same pants as men, flat shoes, no makeup, and smoked with a proficiency that surpassed the passengers. If a dispute arose, they could swiftly curse out all of a passenger’s relatives in ten seconds and then push all the blame for the argument onto the passenger, claiming women passengers suspected theft and insulted their character, and accusing male passengers of sexual harassment.

Apart from Warwick’s old dad and his workmates, Tommy couldn’t even imagine who else could stand their ground against these formidable flight attendants.

It was these unattractive women who raised the battle cry for equality in the flight attendant profession: "Professional, not sexy!"

This slogan was opposed by countless male passengers because, before this darned equality slogan, the flight attendants’ maxim had always been: "Fly me!"

A double entendre that led to many a lascivious thought.

The absence of flight attendants over forty on red-eye flights was primarily due to airlines considering that older flight attendants were at a higher risk of sudden death when frequently flying red-eye routes. To avoid being sued, airlines concentrated older flight attendants in the economy class of regular flights, providing passengers with motherly or grandmotherly considerate services.