It was a cold November evening, trench-coat weather, when Jim arrived in Zurich. It had been a busy day in Geneva and he had worked with Guy longer than was scheduled. After an early dinner he’d caught a train for the two hour journey to Zurich. Once there, it was just a short walk from the train station to the Europa hotel and now he was in his room – looking forward to a cognac in the bar and then a good nights’ sleep. Tomorrow he was scheduled to meet with Dr. Pfenniger.
His company had been working on plans for over a year to open a manufacturing plant in Europe and the choices had been narrowed to three. One was to work with Guy and expand the small distribution facility in Geneva. Guy had a background with the company, spoke French and German as well as English, and was already known to the agents there- so this seemed to be a good choice. The second alternative was England and government agencies there were offering large tax discounts as well as other incentives including assistance in obtaining a building and equipment. The steelworks that had closed there had left many people out of work and they were trying to remedy that problem. However, Germany had the reputation for the highest quality manufacturing and the leaders in the industry were based there. Jim’s boss, Mr. K., had, for many years, wanted to open a plant in Germany. The partner being considered was owned by Dr. Pfenniger and was a branch of the Zurich company he was visiting tomorrow. Now Mr. K had sent Jim on this very secret mission to add the last of the elements to make a final decision, cautioning him to be very discreet at every stop.
When Jim arrived the next morning, he went into his friend Eggie’s office. Eggie was a nickname for Eggenschwiler. He and Jim talked almost daily when Jim was back in Dallas. Eggie was very curious about the appointment and so were the others in the office. From the start, it was not like a normal visit. Everyone was looking at Jim and few were saying anything. Eggie explained that Dr. Pfenniger never met with anyone unless they were top management - investors or owners of other companies. He seldom even met with people inside the company. This was very, very unusual!
After a short time, Dr. Pfenniger’s secretary came downstairs to escort Jim to his office. It was a large room with large windows that overlooked the treetops and the city of Zurich across the lake in the distance. The meeting began with small talk. Dr. Pfenniger was an avid sailor and fisherman. That was obvious from the photographs on the walls and the decorator items in the office and that was the subject of the small talk. Jim heard the story of the catch of the huge stuffed marlin hanging behind the desk. But soon Dr. Pfenniger changed to the real topic of the trip. He’d taken care of the obligations and was ready to get the communication completed. "When you go to Germany tomorrow you will meet with Deiter as you usually do. You must say nothing to him about the real reason for your visit. While you are there, you will be approached by another man. His name is Alfred.He is the only one that knows why you are there and he will escort you through the plant. It’s imperative that you say nothing to anyone about the reason for your visit." The meeting was over.
The next day, Jim was in Germany. This was a favorite office to visit.It was just a short distance from Dusseldorf but was in a rural setting. From the large room on the second floor of the office the view was a large green pasture and cows were always grazing there. It was in this room that Deiter left Jim to do some paperwork and it was in this room that Alfred appeared. They talked briefly and then Alfred led him to the adjoining building where they worked for a couple hours touring the facility, making notes, and asking questions. Then Alfred took him back to the room they had come from, left him there, and a short while later Dieter again appeared. He was obviously being told what to do but not why. There were no questions from Dieter and, of course, no explanations from Jim. Lunch that day and the rest of the visit with Deiter was much like the visit in Zurich the previous day. Everyone was curious but no one asking.
This story doesn’t really have an ending. I used the word trench-coat in the first sentence because it really felt like a cloak and dagger tale when I was living that trip – particularly after Dr. Pfenniger said "you will be approached by a man". I wrote the first version of this for Glynda on the train leaving Germany the next day. She got a laugh - hope you did too.(The final decision on the plant was the England alternative. We hired Brian away from one of our reps there. He and I worked with a gentleman that had a “Sir” in his title to secure the benefits from the government. Brian became the man on the ground there and he setup and ran the plant.)
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