""Spot-checks on...." "Speaking of the merger, are you rich and famous yet?" "Congratulations in advance on your promotion." "Arthur."" "Dad, you got a e-mail." "I'm not a pain in the ass, I'm being a lawyer." "There's a difference." "No more computer games, Matt, it's time for school." "Eliza, where are you?" "You got a e-mail, Dad." " Matt's got toothpaste all over!" " Matt." "If you can't get them ready for school, don't say you'll take care of it." " You're welcome." " Yeah, I'm here." " And Liza needs a jacket." " I know." "Liza!" "A jacket doesn't go, Dad." "Matt, put on a sweatshirt." "That's for girls, a white sweatshirt." " Since when?" "Liza!" " Dad, leave me alone." "Liza, I am the father." "When your father says put your jacket on, you put your jacket on." "Ariel doesn't have a father." "She has two mothers." "That's interesting." "He's in a hotel with his secretary patched in from New York while I'm brushing the Cheerios out of my file folders." "It's insanity." " Put your jacket on." " No." " Put this on, sweetie." " No." "You can take it off when you get to school." "When I say listen to Mom, listen to Mom." " Matt, did you pee?" " Yes." "I don't know why you said you'd help me out on a day like today, with your promotion." "What's dad wearing around his neck?" "You don't know what this is?" "This is a tie." "Daddy's getting a promotion." " Dad, you got a e-mail." " Thanks." "Let's go." "We're late." "Did you call about those Disneyland tickets?" " With everything I have to do today?" " It's just one call." "Who are they for?" "Mohammed Jafar." "He's foreman of the Malaysian plant." "You're the one person I know who sucks up to the people below you." "Matt, don't kick the seat." " What's that on your tie?" " Toothpaste." "Let's go." "The one day you wear a tie, it shouldn't look like a bib." "Hi, Cindy, what's up?" "Garvin came by the office this morning?" "About the promotion?" "Matt, will you stop that?" "He was surprised I was late?" "What does that mean?" "Did he say it in passing, or like he really meant it?" "I wonder why Garvin's coming by the office at 8:00 in the morning." "To congratulate you." "That's not like him." "He treats everyone like dirt." "Except the top guys." "Yeah." "Except the top guys." "When this merger with Conley-White goes through and they spin off our division, we're gonna be rich, Susan." " We're already rich, if you ask me." " No, I mean" " I mean really rich." "My grandmother used to have this expression:" ""Don't climb up there too close to God, He might shake the tree."" "Tom!" "Thanks for this morning." "Go!" "Go, go, go!" " Smaller, faster, cheaper, better." " Yeah, heh." "Remember the first ones, the way you lugged it around?" "People were amazed." "It was like showing a Polaroid to a bushman." "Now, if it's bigger than a credit card, it's too inconvenient." "Keeps you on your toes." "Eddie, it's Tom." "Cindy said you called." "Sure, I can hang on." "How's the job search?" "28 years with IBM." "Did I tell you what they told me?" "I was "surplussed." Ever hear that word?" "What's going on down there, Eddie?" "What?" "That's crazy." "They should've said, "sodomized."" "They're not gonna sell the Austin plant." "That's just a rumor floating around." "You don't see it coming." "You go along, and then one day there's no room." "Boom." "No more room for you." "Smaller, faster, cheaper, better." "I won't mention names, I'm on a cellular." "No names." "I'm just telling you, it's not true." "It's a rumor." "I was making 150 a year." "Big money." "Boom." "It's probably what you make, huh?" "One fifty?" "Eddie, hang on." "Why don't you call Cindy make an appointment?" "I'll see if I can help out." "Eddie, they are not gonna sell Austin." "If I'm telling you, who else are you gonna believe?" "Cindy." "Pretty name." "Used to have fun with the girls." "Nowadays she probably wants your job." "Good morning." " What did Garvin say?" "Want me to come up?" " He didn't say." " He growled." " Yeah." "He was flirting." "Did you get Arthur?" "He's standing by on the DVL." "Lunch with Conley-White got pushed up to noon." "We'll probably have those sandwiches with the crusts cut off." "Their jaws were wired shut at the same prep school." " The merger's still going through?" " Why, you heard something?" "No." "Just, I...." "What's that on your tie?" "Garvin didn't say anything about my promotion?" "I thought you'd be in early today." "People from "Father of the Year" haven't called?" " No." " That's a joke." " Five seconds to Malaysia." " Want me to close your door?" " Do I ever ask you to close my door?" " Never." "Malaysian video linkup." " Tom." "You look, uh, frighteningly awake." " What's wrong with Arcamax?" "The drives are very slow." "We're getting seek times in the 140-160 range." "140 isn't a sexy CD player anymore." "140 is what everyone else has got." "My guys think there's a compatibility problem between the controller chip and the driver's software." "If it's the chip, that puts us back a year." "The screen flickers." "The current cuts in and out." "It's a design problem." "What do you mean?" "Every laptop in the world's got the same design." "I sent you out some drives." "You should get them today." "This is bad, Arthur." "How could this happen?" "Gonna bury it until the merger?" "Don't you say anything." "Does anyone else know?" "I'm a grave." "What, are you kidding, Tom?" "I still think, really, that Arcamax will be a major, major hit." "I'll talk to you when I see the drives." " Tom, did you get the macadamia nuts?" " Good night, Arthur." "They are so good." "He's off the phone." "I gotta go." "Do you know a Meredith Johnson?" " Meredith?" "Yeah, years ago." " She wanted to see you." "She's here for the lunch." "The entire company invited up for this lunch?" "Garvin brought the Operations Group up with him." "Meredith is in Operations?" "What should I tell her?" "Bad day, in-laws in town?" "I'm gonna see Lewyn about the 900s." "Get that worried look off your face." "If there was bad news, Garvin would've sent Phil Blackburn." "Hey, Phil." "You're not coming to see me, are you?" " No." "Why?" " Nothing." "How are you?" "Jesus." "How are you, Tom?" "You look all beat up." "I do?" "You're letting it get to you." "Don't." "It's Garvin, you can't take it personally." "Take what personally?" "Look, maybe it's just a rumor." "What's a rumor?" "I don't wanna spread rumors." "That's how these things get started." " Talking about Austin?" " Who said Austin?" "What am I missing?" "I can't believe he didn't tell you." "He's so perverse." "Didn't tell me what?" " So how's Susan?" " Susan's good." " How's Lonnie?" " Great." " Do you know she got tenure?" "Ha, ha." " That's great." "Well, here's my stop." "I tried to explain to Garvin." "You know what he's like." "He's like a child." "Fuck your feelings if they get in the way of his big surprise." " What surprise?" " Rumor is you're getting passed over." " I'm not getting the VP job?" " That's the rumor." "All I can tell you." "Rumors are always true." "Garvin hasn't said anything?" "Came by the office." "I was late, Susan had a conference." " You were late?" "Today?" " What brings you to Seattle?" " Good to see you again." "Ha-ha-ha." " Nice to see you, Mr. Blackburn." "Somebody tells Garvin I was talking to you, phew." "You know how he is about leaks." "Now it's a leak?" "I thought it was a rumor." "It was different when we were in the Valley together." "I could watch your back." "Who gets the job, Stephanie Kaplan?" "Rumor is he's going outside the group." "You'd still head up Manufacturing presumably." "Wait a minute." "I might be out of a job?" " Don't get paranoid all of a sudden." " I'm a quick learner." "You wouldn't make somebody VP and not let them appoint their own team." "How would that look?" "Phil, am I out of a job?" "Come on, Tom." "I'm already out on a limb." "You gonna be okay?" "You want a Prozac?" "No, I'm fine." "I'm, uh" "I'm disappointed, but I'm fine." "You sure?" "Don't have to worry about me." "I'm a stockholder." "Whatever's best for the company." "If you wanna leave a message for Susan, Tom, Matt and Eliza please do after the beep." "Thanks for calling." "Bye." " Obviously, he's disappointed." " But he took it well?" "Overall, I'd say yes." "I don't want any bumps before the merger." "I don't want him quitting." "It's up to you." "Just one big happy family." "You got that?" "I have to tell you, going down to see him this morning was a masterstroke." "It really put him on the defensive." "I'll keep an eye on him." "He'll get on the program." "When push comes to shove, he doesn't have the guts." "Let me ask you something." "You know Susan." "If I heard a rumor about the future of the company my future you know, nothing crazy, a real rumor what would Susan say?" "You think she'd say go see Garvin?" "Hey." "Here's a guy you should meet." "Tom Sanders." "He heads up our Manufacturing." "Steven Chase, Crescent Capital." "John Conley." "You're John Conley?" "Junior." "Dad's coming on Friday with members of the Board." " Catch you at the lunch." " Tom, come on in." "You wanted to see me about something." "Yeah, sorry about this morning." " You know how it is with kids." " Yeah." " Have you ever met Meredith Johnson?" " Hi." "What's the matter?" "That's a hello you'd give to a rash." "I'm preoccupied." "It's nothing to do with you." "Sanders and I go way back." "He broke my heart." "She's making that up." "I thought your heart was made of that plastic they use for helmets." "He said I could be anything I wanted." " He got that right." " It was a line." " It wasn't a line." " I had no idea you knew each other." "What's that Wilde line? "I like a man with a future and a woman with a past."" "Somebody said you were in Operations." "I don't know." "Bob, am I?" "The last few years, I've been cleaning up the mess..." " ..." "Bob's made of this company." " Ha-ha-ha." "If it's such a mess, how come I'm so rich?" "Yes, but you're a lot richer now." "We should catch up." "Get together." "I'd love that." "Plenty of time for that now." "I remember flying over Wyoming, I thought this merger was dead." "Conley was choking on the valuation." "The spin-off was Meredith's idea." "Don't say that too loud." "Conley thinks it was theirs." " Really?" " Lit them up like a Christmas tree." "Meredith saved the merger." "You have money now." "You could even buy yourself a new tie." "So, what was it you wanted to see me about?" "Meredith-fucking-Johnson!" "Son of a bitch." "Goddamn Garvin." " What?" " I didn't get it." " You're not the new VP?" " He announced it?" "It was a secret." "He's got her installed in the office bouncing back and forth like it's the Tonight Show." " Who's Meredith Johnson?" " Will this affect the spin-off?" "This is a technical division." "She doesn't know the difference between software and a sweater." "What aren't you telling us?" "I might be out of a job." "Is that enough?" "You know what it's like out there?" " He said something about the spin-off." " They didn't tell me about me!" "Think they'll tell me about the spin-off?" "I'm sorry." "This is the worst day of my life." "All right?" "Who is she?" "attractive?" " What does that have to do with anything?" " Nipples like pencil erasers?" "She's attractive." "Very attractive." " Sleeping with Garvin?" " That's why he bought the Nordic Track." "It's a curse to be me." "Life holds no surprises." "This is such a cliché." "How do you think a cliché becomes a cliché?" "You mean like, "Size doesn't matter"?" "I have such a thing for you." "All right, please, can we get some work done?" "We got a small problem with Arcamax." " It isn't the design." " It's not the code." "Any woman has to be twice as good as a man and work harder for less pay." "See that, Hunter?" "Cliché grande." "How do you think a cliché becomes a cliché?" "Hunter, it is very weird." "We don't know anything about this woman." "I do." "I had a thing with her." "Ha, ha, you are amazing." " It was years ago." " Tommy." "You've seen more ass than a rental car." "Get a few more women in your life so you can be a census." "Maybe you can sleep your way up." "Yeah, right." "Wait, why?" "Why her and not Tom?" "He's not attractive?" "Because men and women are different." "Not in a way that matters to you." "Are you saying I'm a virgin?" "Meanwhile, you were asking me about the spin-off." "Garvin said it was her idea." "It's always such a pleasure to come to Seattle and spend time with the Advanced Products Group." "I feel such a warmth for the people here." "On the cutting edge." "I feel a kinship." "And I've always wanted to give you...." "Is this seat taken?" "...the most advanced original leadership that I could." "Push the envelope." "How are you?" " Sorry you didn't get your promotion." " I'm sorry you didn't get it either." "How long have you known?" "Really?" "That long?" "Every time I've wanted to promote a woman to break the glass ceiling it's always been the same story:" ""But, Bob...." "But, Bob...."" "I've thought about it often since my daughter's death, that had she lived it would be extremely rare that she ever got to run a company." "So it has a special meaning for me when I tell you that Friday, when we announce the merger we will also announce that the new VP for Advanced Operations and Planning here in Seattle will be Meredith Johnson." "Unbelievable." "Thanks, Bob." "Can I have the lights?" "The Advanced Products Group has been the heart of DigiCom for the last 10 years." "Advanced Products has historically consisted of four divisions...." "You seem to be spending a lot more time up here." "My son's a freshman at the university." "This way I get to see more of him." "I thought it had to do with the merger." "This merger means everything to Garvin." "Give a man a $100 million and you create a frustrated billionaire." "The new compression algorithms should shift industry standards to full-res digitized video at 60 fields per second with platform-independent RISC processors supported by a 32-bit color-active...." "Conley's a conservative company." "Is Meredith conservative?" "I don't know." "I thought you knew her." "Is there anything you don't know?" "We offer, through technology what religion and revolution have promised but never delivered:" "Freedom from the physical body." "Freedom from race and gender from nationality and personality, from place and time." "Communicating by cellular phone and hand-held computer PDA and built-in fax modem we can relate to each other as pure consciousness." "Smart, touching base with all the division heads." "Especially since she didn't name them in her speech." "Does it mean something?" "Only if she plans to make changes." "Phil said she wasn't planning on making any changes." "You know Meredith." "Stephanie, wait a minute." "I gotta know, am I out of a job?" "What was she bending your ear about all lunch?" "Uh, Stephanie?" "Um, nothing." "Just small talk." "What, all of a sudden there's Stephanie Lite?" "She's, uh, talking about her son at the university." " Sorry I didn't get to mention you." " That's okay." "That's fine." "I'm jammed all day but why don't you come up around 7?" "We'll have a drink and catch up on business." "Sure, that'd be great." "I remember how you liked a good bottle of wine." "I'll get one." " What's she want to see you at 7 about?" " I'm sure it's the problems with Arcamax." "We gotta get in sync before these Conley guys ask questions." "She doesn't give you a boner?" "Because, you know, I definitely have lift-off." "What about you?" "You got a woody?" "She's very nice." " I'll tell you what the company line is." " Don't do that." "You have a sexual urge every 20 minutes." "It's a physiological certainty." "It's hard-wired into your limbic brain." "You can't fight it." "Why would you want to?" "Live a little." "Ten years from now, you'll need a forklift to get a hard-on." " Ha-ha-ha." "I'll call you." " I'm counting the minutes." "There you are." "Where've you been all day?" "I didn't get it." "No, they went outside the division." "Someone from Operations." "What can I say?" "I got passed over." "Yeah." "What can I say?" "So did you get those tickets for Disneyland?" "No, I know, but I promised the guy and it's...." "Mohammed Jafar." "Right, so it's one F." "Thanks a lot." "Probably won't be home for dinner tonight." "Don't wait up." "Okay." "I love you too." "Bye." "Are there any asset sale triggers?" "In the indenture?" "Mm-hm." "Will you do me a favor?" "Look, Alan, Brown will go 250 on this, easy." "Let's just do this thing as a top-down recap." "Not a bad idea for a girl, huh?" "Let's talk first thing." "Okay, bye." "'91 Pahlmeyer." "How'd you know?" "I've been looking all over for it." "I like all the boys under me to be happy." " Congratulations." " Thank you." "Mm." "I brought the files up for Arcamax if you wanna go over them." "Let me see your pictures." "The, uh, diagrams?" "Your family." "You have pictures?" "Yeah, sure." "Here's, uh...." "Here" "That's Matthew." "That's Eliza at Halloween." " And here's Susan with the kids." " Ah." "She looks like she always has food in the refrigerator." " She never lost the baby weight" " I didn't say she looks like a refrigerator." " Ha-ha-ha." " I mean, she's made a home for you." "In my fridge I've got bottles of champagne and an orange." "Doesn't Eliza look beautiful?" "She looks like Susan." "It can be inhibiting." " What's that?" " Domesticity." "Ah." "You'd be surprised." "I don't imagine you can jump her from behind because you get excited by the way she bends to pick up the soap." "Remember that?" "I remember that." "And you miss it." "I have my compensations." "Of course." "Life's a series of trade-offs." "I wouldn't trade what I have." "I wouldn't want you to." "That's exactly why I can trust you." "You have a lot more to lose than I do." "I'll bring you up to speed on the problems with the drives." "You kept in good shape, Tom." "Nice and hard." "Thank you." "Meredith, it's different now." "You're my boss." "It's different." "Okay." "Rub my shoulders and I'll listen to your problems." "The specs and the seek times call for 100 milliseconds." "We have that on the prototypes." "But the drives coming off the line" " Do you have the drives here?" " It might be a chip." " Answer my question." " I'm trying to." "Understand the controller chip positions the split optics." "I'll show you the schematic." "No, no, no." "Rub." " You can't understand the problem" " Do you have the drives?" "Arthur sent five units" " Did I say no calls?" " It's Mr. Garvin." "But after that, nobody." "Is it all right if I leave for the day?" "That's fine, Mrs. Ross." "You'd rather talk about a million different things than answer my question, because you don't know." "You don't know what the problem is." "But you can't say, "I don't know" because in your mind that means you lose." "You're worthless." "Men." " What will you tell Conley?" " I can't lie to them." "Talk about the prototypes." "They work." "Focus on the positive." "We're on-line." "It's not about the prototypes." "They wanna know you're confident you can build it." " I understand that, but I" " Do you have a problem working for me?" "No." "I, uh...." "Hi, Bob." "No." "You don't wanna hear about my hard day." "Yes, that's hard work." " Let me get my docs together." " Meredith" "The merger is not about Arcamax, it's about people." "They're comfortable with me and Bob." "This isn't about some CD-ROM that'll be obsolete in a year." "If they ask, then you tell them you don't know." "Hi, Bob, I'm here." "I've got a great idea about that." "Go ahead." "Lewyn, this is Sanders." "I've discussed the drives with Meredith." "She says don't tell the Conley people until we found exactly what the problems are." "That is the line for the 8 a.m. meeting tomorrow" "Let's get down to business." "Wait a sec, wait a sec." "Meredith, wait a second." " There, was that so bad?" " That's not so bad, it's just" "Come on, while there's still a chance we might get caught." "No, no." "Oh, yes, I think so." "Meredith, no, no, no." "Some things never change, and some things just get better." "Meredith, come on." "Meredith, Meredith, no." " Remember all the things we did?" " I remember." "Things nobody knows about you but me." "All our secrets." "Just lie back and let me take you." "I could've had anybody and I picked you." "Now you've got all the power." "No, no, no." "No, no, no." "You've got something I want." " What are you doing?" " Doesn't that make you feel good?" " No." " Just let me." "Come on." " Unh." "No, no, no." " Don't worry, I'm not gonna bite." "Let me do whatever I want." " You just lie back and let me be the boss." " No, no, no." "No." "Meredith." "Meredith." "No." "Mere" "No, no, no." "Wait a second." "Wait a second." "Wait a minute." " Shh, shh." " Listen to me." "What?" "Look, nobody has to know." "Nobody gets hurt." "It's just a meeting between two colleagues." "Just another dull day in the computer business." "Meredith, no." "No." "No." "Don't!" "No!" "No, no." "Huh?" "Here" " Want to get fucked?" " Do it." "Is that what you want?" "Come on." " Is that what you want?" " Uh-huh." "You just stay hard." "Oh, God." "Unh, heh." "You bad boy." "Come on, baby." " Unh." "Ooh." " Yeah." "Uh-huh." " Yeah." " Unh." " Oh, yeah." " Uh-huh." "Uh huh." "Come on." "You gonna fuck me?" "Put it in." "God, look at us." " I want you inside me." "Come on." " No, no, no." " I can't do this." " Put it in." " I'm not gonna do this." " Now!" " I'm not gonna do this!" "No!" " Now!" "You can't just stop!" " Come on." " No!" "Goddamn!" "You stick your dick in my mouth then you get an attack of morality?" "This never happened." "You never used to be this way." "I have a family now." "A family made you stupid." "You take those two champagne bottles in your refrigerator and you go fuck them." "You son of a bitch." "You get back here and finish what you started." "You hear me?" "Do you hear me?" "Get back and finish what you started or you are dead!" "Hear me?" "You are fucking dead!" "Shit, it's dead." "You are hereby notified that we will hold your client liable" " Hi, honey." " I didn't hear you come in." "I'm gonna take a shower." " No kiss?" " I just feel kind of shitty, you know." "Screw them." " They don't deserve you." " Can you get me a beer?" "Thanks." "Before I forget, could you do me a favor?" "The, uh, battery went dead in my cellular." "Sure." "I thought they were supposed to last all day?" "That's what I thought." " Who's Meredith Johnson?" " What?" "Meredith Johnson." "She called just before you got home." "Meredith called?" "Yeah, about 10 minutes ago." "She said the 8 a.m. had been pushed back to 8:30." " Who is she?" " She's the one, the, uh" " The new VP." "She's the one?" "Yep." "She came from the Valley." " How old is she?" " I don't know, um, 33, maybe." "That's young for that job." " Had you ever heard of her?" " She's a face guy." "She made the merger happen." "Now she's Garvin's fair-haired, uh, whatever." "Where did she come from?" "Has she any technical background?" "No." "That's the thing with the merger." "Everything's changed." "That's not the worst thing in the world." "She'll crash and burn." "Then maybe they'll appreciate you." "Things aren't easy out there." "So quit rather than let them treat you this way." "We might lose everything, including the stock options." "I don't care about the stock options." " I'll go back to work full-time." " I'm capable of supporting our family." "Just trying to help." "You're too nice sometimes." "I don't need you to fight my battles for me, thank you very much." "Right now some lucky girl in the building will come after me." "I deserve that, but ask yourself why does a man run around with another girl?" "He's unhappy at home." "Because he's lonely." "But that was before you, Fran." "I've stopped running." "Why are you wearing a T-shirt?" "You never wear a T-shirt to bed." "I don't know." "Just a little cold." "Tom, what are you gonna do?" "Grin and bear it, like I usually do." "Hope it doesn't get any worse." " Morning." " Good morning, Bob." " That's a nice suit." " Thank you." " Nice fabric." "Can I feel it?" " Sure." " What is that, a tropical wool?" " With a little bit of viscose." "That's what makes the pants drape so well." "You work out, Tom?" "When I get a chance, Bob." "It's been busy lately." "But, uh...." "I've always liked you, Tom." " Bob...." " Now you have the power." " You have something I want." " Come on, Bob." "The computer takes the information from the database and constructs an environment which is projected in the headset." "When the user walks on the pad, he or she feels like they're walking through a corridor with drawers of files on all sides." "The user can stop at any time, open any file and thumb through the data." "The laser scanners are for body representation." " That's amazing." "Ha, ha." " It's cool, isn't it?" "Where is everyone?" "They left 15 minutes ago." "Don Cherry's demo-ing the Corridor." "The meeting was pushed to 8:30." "No, 7:30." "It got pushed up." " Nobody told you?" " No." "If someone wants to log on with a regular computer, what they'll see is a model of themselves with a photo that's pulled up from the data file." "Oh, hey, I know you." "The photo bears some resemblance to me, I admit." "A little inside joke here at the company." "We've also constructed virtual help." "Users always need on-line help." "We've created an angel to help you." "Welcome to the Corridor." "The same face." "Ha-ha-ha." "Angel, how do I open this drawer?" "What's the angel saying?" "That's between him and his angel." "We don't see the Corridor as a product in the marketplace now." "This is something that we worked up to demonstrate the potential of virtual reality technology." "This looks good." "Ha-ha-ha." "Hold on." "What's that?" "I believe it's your financial records." "Ha, ha." " Turn that damn thing off." " Ha, ha." "Sorry." "In the final system there will be safeguards that will control access." "Tom." "So glad you could join us." "That was a sweet entrance, my friend." "Ferry hit an iceberg?" "You were supposed to call me after your meeting with Meredith." "I called you from her office." "Left a message." "There was nothing on my machine." "Then you're late again." "Thank God Meredith took over the discussion." "Hey, pal, I left a message on your machine, all right?" "Check it out." "Did you get my message?" "You told Susan the meeting had been moved to 8:30." "I said 7:30." "If your wife can't take a fucking message, get a machine." "Meredith." " There you go, Mr. Sanders." " Thank you." "You're welcome." " Full house today, huh?" " Yeah." "Meredith has been getting us up to speed on the Arcamax." "Now that you're here, we'd like your read on it." "Meredith told us, uh, there's real problems." "You might have to go back to the drawing board." "I'm sorry if I conveyed that impression to Meredith." "I am convinced we can manufacture them." "How many of the drives off the line meet specs?" "I don't have that information with me." "Meredith told us the line is running at 29 percent." "Is that approximately right?" " Yes." " The seek times are off-specs." "There's a power flicker in the screen?" " Right?" " That's right." "With this merger coming up, don't you think you should have told someone?" "The merger isn't about a CD-ROM that might be obsolete in a year." "It's about people." " It'll be obsolete in a year?" " The promise of the Arcamax was a central factor in this merger." "I may be at fault." "Tom said the problem with the drives was serious." " Not so serious." " I didn't wanna cover anything up." " I'm not covering anything up." " Give us worst-case." "We go back to the drawing boards and we're down for nine months." "Nine months?" "Meredith said six weeks." "Look, nobody likes to go back to the board, but it can be an advantage." "Is there a problem?" "This isn't an inquisition, Bob." "I feel like I'm pulling teeth." "John just wants to get a handle on what the problems are with the lines." " I don't know is the honest answer." " Wait a minute." "You are the head of Manufacturing." "You are in charge of Arcamax." "There are problems with it that could take nine months to fix, which I assume means a year." "And the bottom line is you don't know?" "Goddamn it." "Goddamn it!" "Jesus Christ!" " Tom." " Just the man I wanted to see." "Phil, this is not gonna work out with Meredith." " Evidently not." " She set me up." " She set me up." " I saw." "Sit down." " Why?" "What'd I do?" " Please, would you just sit?" "Meredith told me about your meeting last night." "What?" "What'd she tell you?" "She wants to handle the intervention internally, which is best." " She still cares about you." " Wait a minute." "What'd she say?" "Not to put too fine a point on it, she said you sexually harassed her." "I sexually harassed her?" " What would you call it?" " Phil, she jumped me in her office." "She jumped you?" "You're in denial." "That's typical." "She almost raped me." "You need help." "You have to accept responsibility for" "What do you call this?" "What about that?" "Looks like she was forced to defend herself." "Defend herself?" "The woman can kick the shit out of both of us!" " It may have seemed different to you." " I didn't harass her." "She harassed me." "I've never even heard of a woman harassing a man." "What are you doing here?" " I'm here as your friend." " My ass, you're my friend." "When Garvin finds out about this, he's gonna wanna throw you out on your ass." "I'm saying let's keep this quiet." "That's what Meredith wants too." "Resolve this quickly and quietly." "Want your wife to find out?" "We're gonna have to tell her at some point." "They'll get the whole thing, and it'll be on the front page of the paper!" "I'm offering you a chance to make a new life." "Keep your family out of this mess." "Keep your job." "Obviously, some kind of lateral move." "Lateral?" "When you say lateral, you mean out of the division." "You can't stay here." "She's scared out of her wits." "I'm not leaving this division." "I've spent 10 years here." "I built this place." " Now, we got a spin-off going on" " We're thinking, you know, Austin." "Austin?" "I told him what she said." "He claimed it was the other way around." "He said she harassed him." "What?" "He denies it?" "You know how it is." "The man always denies it." "Is he crazy?" "I offered him a lateral move to Austin." "To Austin." "That's like a duck making a lateral move to "á l'orange."" "Phil, he's too smart for that." "Let's hope he's smart enough to see he has no options." "Take care of this." "This is a goddamn bomb we're sitting on that can blow everything sky-high." "Meredith is key to the merger." "I can't have her involved in a sex scandal." "And I won't say goodbye to $100 million." "You got that?" "Yeah, I" " I get the picture, Bob." "Tenth floor." "Down the hall and make a right." " There were no witnesses?" " No." "Her assistant left earlier in the evening." "A cleaning lady was outside the office." "I don't know how much she heard." " Did you report that to anyone?" " In the morning, yeah." "What was the company's response?" "They believed her." "They suggested I transfer to Austin." "I heard they were selling Austin." "The point is, if I go to Austin, I lose everything, all right?" "My stock options, everything that I worked for." " Did you call anyone after the incident?" " No." " Did you tell your wife?" " No." " Oh, boy." " Why not?" "I didn't wanna upset her." "I felt guilty putting myself in the position in the first place." "How would you characterize Miss Johnson physically?" "She's very pretty." "She was Miss Teenage New Mexico." "So you were kissing." "Yes." "And then she began to rub me." "Rub you where?" "You know...." "Your penis?" "Yes." "And?" "I don't feel comfortable talking about it." " Because I'm a woman?" " Because you act like it's a game." " Mr. Sanders, why are you here?" " I want to know what my options are." "What your options are?" "I wanna know whether I can sue her for sexual harassment." "To do that, you have to convince a jury you were alone with Miss Teenage New Mexico and you said no." "Sexual harassment is not about sex." "It is about power." "She has it, you don't." "If you sue, you'll never get another job in computers." "If you don't, they'll bury you in Austin." "Sue, and it's news." "Don't, it's gossip." "If you sue, no one will believe you." "If you don't, your wife won't." "They will make your life hell for the next three years until this case goes to trial." "And for that privilege, it's gonna cost you a minimum of $100,000." "Do you not think it's a game, Mr. Sanders?" "It's a game to them." "How do you feel about losing?" "That's what Meredith wants." "To resolve it, quickly and quietly." "They said she's not gonna press charges." "Why?" "She's accused me." "Why stop there?" "Why not press charges?" "Meredith didn't press charges because she couldn't." "DigiCom is planning a merger with Conley-White." "It is supposed to happen this Friday." "They think that we are as conservative as they are." "With a scandal, Conley going to bed with Katie Couric, waking up with Jessica Hahn." "Garvin is out $100 million." "I think we might make a plaintiff out of this guy yet." "No, a potential plaintiff." "I don't have to sue." "I just threaten to sue." "That's a very dangerous game." "Are you willing to play it?" " Fuck them." " Now you're talking my language." "For the next three days this loose cannon is in a position to put a lot of pressure on this company." "And they on you, Mr. Sanders." "They on you." "Call security." "Throw him out on the sidewalk." "Bob, we have to appear to be impartial." "Keep him in his job, keep paying him, no hassles." "I made Tom Sanders." "Who the hell is he to sue me?" "Sexual harassment, under Title Seven." "He'll file with the Human Rights Commission if we don't fire Meredith." "If he files, it becomes public." "It'd blow the deal." "We realize that." "So does he." "He's blackmailing us." "This is America, goddamn it." "The legal system is supposed to protect people like me." "It gets worse." "His lawyer is Catherine Alvarez." "Great." "She'd change her name to "TV Listings" just to get it in the paper." "I'm trying to get them to mediate." "Keep it quiet." "Mediate?" "I want you to cut his balls off." "Did he say mediate or split the difference?" "I'm just hoping he'll agree." "Alvarez will tell him not to." "He'll agree." "He doesn't want this out in the open." "We pushed him too hard." "He has nothing to lose." "Really?" "He hasn't told his wife yet." "How do you know?" "I know Sanders, remember?" "He likes his secrets." "Excuse me." " I'll be in diagnostics." " Where were you?" "They're pulling the drives apart." " John Levin called." " Levin with Sematach?" " He said it was important." " Why didn't they come this morning?" "Susan called to remind you you had the benefit tonight." " Call Susan and" " She said don't think about canceling." " The Lewyns paid a lot for the tickets." " I'll be there at 7:30." " Ask her to bring me a shirt and jacket." " Sure." "Tom." " Yeah." " Is everything all right?" "Everything is fine, thank you for asking." "I'm gonna kill Arthur." "We gotta solve this before Friday, and you get the drives an hour ago?" "What is Arthur doing over there?" "All he does anymore is pass macadamia nuts to people." "Is he a manager or a flight attendant, for chrissake?" " He's sending you nuts?" " What's slowing it down?" "Over here." "Let me show you something." "Arthur was right." "There's a compatibility problem with the controller chip." "Is it a bug?" "Don Cherry debugged Arcamax." "There are no bugs." " Fabrication problem?" " It could" " What are you doing?" " Huh?" "This is a sophisticated piece of electronics, not a pickup truck." "Don, how bad is it?" "We have 4,000 of these." "I gotta junk all of them?" "I told Arthur to send me 10 units in heat-sealed plastic bags." "It's a hunch I have." "Do what you can." "I don't understand it." "In prototypes, we got no problems." "We go to manufacturing, it falls apart." "Mr. Garvin wants to see you." "He said not to tell anyone." "Catherine Alvarez on 2." "Thanks." "Could you close the door?" "Hello." "Hi." "How are you?" "They wanna mediate." "We should agree." "I don't want this getting out either." "Mm-hm." "Yeah." "If we get this all over in a week, my wife doesn't have to know." "No, I do not wanna tell my wife." "I don't wanna upset her if I don't have to." "Yeah." "Wait a second." "Guess what." "They locked me out of my computer and cleaned out my files." "I guess it's starting." "Mark, come in." "Sure I'm not interrupting?" "No, not at all, sir." "Going down?" "Aw, don't tell me you're scared of me." "I didn't want it to be this way." "Oh, yeah, we could be fucking in the elevator right now." " I think of you as a friend." " Oh, come off it!" "You called Blackburn" "To beat you to the punch." "I knew you'd play that card." "I wasn't playing a card." "You were the one that was supposed" "Uh-oh." "Alarm." "Alarm." "Alarm." "This isn't a game." "Come on." "You'd have a great job, the spin-off would make you a millionaire." "We'd have a little fun." "It's not like breaking rocks." "You don't get it." "Poor Sanders." "You have no idea what you're up against." "As usual." "By this time tomorrow you'll wish you took that Austin job." "We'll see." "I'm trying to figure out whether to get a fat Barbie for Eliza." "Mattel makes a fat Barbie?" "Yeah." "They call her the "Happy to Be Me Barbie."" "Does she come with the "Happy to Be Divorced Ken"?" "Heh." "I'm serious." "Which is more stigmatizing?" "Yeah, Barbie's stigmatized." "It's that whole male, 36-24-36 image of beauty." "Women are oppressed." "It's just a fact." "Women are oppressed?" "Ah." "Eighty percent of suicides are committed by men." "They're dropping from heart attacks." " You're not as tough." " Sorry." "We're just fighting the wars." "You start the wars." "I'm sorry." "I don't have my own crisis hotline." " You're taking this Meredith thing well." " That doesn't have anything to do with it." "What was today's rumor?" "She was once a man?" " Just tell her." " Tell her what?" "Tell her there's a lot of us who have worked as hard as you and you're blowing this merger for all of us because you fucked up." "What happened?" " Who got to you?" " It's not that simple, Tom." "The thought of losing millions happens to get stuck right here in my throat." "This was my big shot, asshole." "It's not like I'm being scouted by the NBA." "Mark, what happened?" "Who knows?" "The old girlfriend, the bottle of wine, the late meeting..." " ...fill in the blanks." " Thanks, pal." "Thanks." "You're like these women who think they're going back to the hotel room, drunk, to watch HBO." "Could you possibly be more lame?" "For your information, Mark, Tom told me everything." "Everything that happened." "And I support him 100 percent." " That is so sweet, but I don't think" " I don't think we should talk about it." "Can we just enjoy the evening?" " Susan" " Obviously, something happened." " Did you have sex with her?" " No!" " Think first." "Because if you're lying" " No, I said, no." "She kissed me, and she unzipped my pants, and...." " And?" " And that was it." "Nothing happened." "Nothing happened?" "How did it get that far?" " You think I encouraged her?" " Her hand was in your pants?" " Yeah, but nothing happened." " How did that happen?" "Then she accuses me of sexual harassment" " She harassed you?" " You don't believe me?" " Mark doesn't believe you." " Mark." "He's got, uh, stock options on the brain." "He's got fits of back-stabbing." "Everybody's sure you're having an affair with Cindy." " I'm not having an affair." " How could you let this happen?" " Nothing happened." " Something happened." "She's an old girlfriend of yours." "Like I'm surprised." "That's as exclusive a club as the white pages." " I was gonna tell you." " I can't believe everyone knows but me." " Nobody knows it." " You're so naive." "Of course they know." "I'm old-fashioned." "I greet my subordinates with a handshake." " I'll take care of it." " Jesus." "What does she look like?" "She's attractive." "One to ten." "Eight." "Nine." "What does the company say?" "They want me to transfer to Austin, do some therapy." "Austin?" "I'm not moving there." " We're not moving to Austin." " Texas?" " Susan, I'm pressing charges." " For what?" "Sexual harassment." "We have a mediation tomorrow." "When were you gonna tell me?" "That's brilliant." "Show up without your wife, who's a lawyer." "I'll take care of it." "They'll try to destroy you." " It won't go that far." " It'll take over our life." "Depositions and whispering and legal fees for some damn personal vindication." "And all anyone remembers is that you were involved in something sleazy." " Do you have a lawyer?" " Catherine Alvarez." "Great." "When are we on Hard Copy?" "But if it had happened to you" "You know how many times it's happened to me?" " You never said this ever happened" " You're so narcissistic." "Nothing ever happens until it happens to you." " You should've said something." " I do what women always do." "I deal with it." "I do not make a federal case." "Now go in there tomorrow and work it out." "Right." "I should shut up and fuck her." "What the hell?" "Apologize and get your job back." " Apologize?" " Shh, shh!" "The children are sleeping." "Wait, I got a better idea." "Why don't I just admit it?" "I'll be the evil white male you're all complaining about." " Then I can fuck everybody." " Tom, stop it." "Chau-Minh, come on down, I wanna exercise my dominance!" " You're scaring her." " I have an urge!" " The children!" " My children that I provide for and protect!" "They can come between me and my wife, move us, take my job and take the house we have made!" "And I apologize to them, Susan?" "They call me a rapist and I apologize?" "Come on." "This is a joke." "Sexual harassment is about power." "When did I have the power?" "When?" "Good morning, I'm Judge Murphy." "This is a mediation, not a court of law." "Our proceedings will remain confidential." "Maintain a civil and courteous tone." "Our goal is to determine the nature of the dispute and how best to resolve it." "The parties have agreed that Mr. Sanders will speak first and be cross-examined by Mr. Heller." "Ms. Johnson will speak next, and be cross-examined by Ms. Alvarez." "Any questions?" "Good." "Let's get started." "I had my cellular phone with me, so when she called Garvin I called Mark Lewyn to give him the upshot of our meeting." "Then she approached you?" "Correct." "She took the phone from me and she kissed me." "Where?" "She kissed me in my ear on my neck on my mouth." "She put her tongue in my mouth." "When you asked her to stop, did she?" "No, no." "She, uh, unzipped my pants and she massaged my penis." " Were you aroused?" " Yes." "Then she slid down and she put my penis in her mouth." "Did you climax?" "I grabbed her by the wrists." "I threw her on the ground." "Then I wanted to get out of there." "At that point, what did Ms. Johnson do?" "She threatened me." "She said, "You're dead."" "And then, the next day, Mr. Blackburn here told me that she said that I had sexually harassed her." "Mr. Heller?" " Sanders, would you like a break?" " No, I'm fine." "Thank you." "You say the bottle of wine was Ms. Johnson's idea?" "Yes." "But, uh, when you were living with Ms. Johnson didn't you discover wines together on trips to the Napa Valley?" " Yes." " Romantic trips?" "Yes." "But you weren't expecting anything romantic in her office?" "No." "Did you have a conversation after lunch about how seeing Meredith gave you a boner?" "That wasn't me." "That was someone else." " Isn't the term "boner" a slang for erection?" " Yes." "You had a conversation about having an erection?" "A boner?" "Yes, but I didn't say it." "But you laughed." " Yes." " So you condone it." "It was harmless." "If it's harmless why are we sitting here today?" "Well, it was just, um what guys talk about." "About their boss?" "No, not generally." "Yet you expect us to believe that after having a sexual conversation that you didn't have sex on your mind?" "That's correct." "How would you characterize your relationship with Ms. Johnson in the good old days?" "Highly sexual?" "I wouldn't know how to rate it." "Every day?" "Sometimes twice a day." "Sex in public places." "Sodomy." "Viewing of pornography." "Vibrators and other mechanical devices." "Sometimes we sat on the couch and watched television." "But when you became reacquainted, you no longer saw her as a sexual object?" " She was just your boss now?" " That's correct." "And do you admit having an erection during the course of your meeting?" "She had her top open." "It was an involuntary reflex." "Reflex?" "Do you think Ms. Johnson's gynecologist gets an erection when he examines her breast?" "I think that's completely different." "Do you admit putting your erect penis in her mouth?" " She did it." " Oh, I forgot." "You resisted." "Mr. Sanders, uh, during your rather fantastic testimony there was one moment that rang true." "You said, and I quote:" ""I was angry." "I felt I was being pushed around."" " Correct?" " Correct." "The truth is, you felt that way all day." "You'd been expecting a promotion, and she got it." "You got angry about it." "I felt I deserved the job." "You took that anger up to her office." "You were gonna show her who's boss." "That's not true." "Mr. Sanders, did you tell your wife about your 7:00 meeting with Ms. Johnson?" "I told her I had a meeting and I'd be home late." "You expected to be late?" "No, but if I got home earlier, my wife would be surprised, pleasantly." "So you make it a rule to lie to your wife?" "I didn't lie." "When you called your wife, did you tell her that Ms. Johnson was a former lover of yours?" "No." "When you got home, did you tell her what happened?" "No, I was hoping it would go away." "You hoped you'd get away with it?" "Mr. Heller." "Do not debunk the illusion that this dispute might be settled amicably." "That's okay." "I have no further questions." "I asked to see family pictures." "I thought if we put it on that basis it would be clear things had changed between us." "Mr. Sanders, do you have those pictures now?" "I'd like to Xerox them for the file." "You can continue." "He remarked his wife hadn't lost all the weight gained from having children." "I said his children were beautiful he said they made him feel old and seeing me reminded him of what it was like to be young and that marriage was a tough trade-off." "Go on." "My assistant, Mrs. Ross, came in and asked if she could go home." "I wanted her to stay, but I felt guilty." "I'd been keeping her late for weeks preparing for my new job." "And, uh, where was Mr. Sanders at that point?" "He began to rub my shoulders." "And you let him?" "Well, it was awkward but I thought we'd finish our discussion and leave it at that." "Is that when he tried to kiss you?" "No, I got a call from Mr. Garvin and then I came back to Tom and told him that was it, and then he began to kiss me." "Did you try to stop him?" "Yes." "I struggled with him and told him to stop." "But he didn't." "Did he attack you physically?" "Yes." "He grabbed me by my hair and, uh, forced me down on my knees." "And, uh...." "He put his penis in your mouth?" "This is making me very uncomfortable." "Would you like some water?" "Here" "Thank you." "He put his, uh, penis in my mouth and said that he was going to, uh...." "To "fuck you"?" "Were those his words?" ""Do you wanna get fucked?" "Is that what you want?"" "And then he reached down and tore off my panties." "What did you do then?" "He threw me down on the scaffold and I kneed him in the groin." "And that was the end of it?" "It's strange." "I'd think my instinct would be to run, but I became angry." "I yelled at him." "Called him names." "Told him I'd kill him." "Just yelling." "How did he react?" "He seemed to realize what he'd done." "He pulled up his pants and ran out." "Did you call anyone afterwards?" "No." "I didn't know what to do." "I kept going over the day in my mind, trying to figure out if somehow this thing was my fault." " You reported it the next morning?" " Yes." "But you didn't bring formal charges." "Why not?" "I talked to Phil Blackburn." "I knew he was a friend of Tom's." "I didn't wanna destroy Tom's marriage or his career, but it's clear we couldn't work together." "I would be too frightened." "I'm frightened just sitting here." "I have nothing further." "Ms. Alvarez." "Ms. Johnson, I just wanna be clear on one thing." "Mr. Sanders suggested the bottle of wine?" " That's right." " But you bought it." "I sent my assistant Mrs. Ross out to buy a bottle." " That afternoon?" " Yes." "Did you tell her what kind?" "I said to get a nice Chardonnay." "I remembered that Tom liked white wine." "From those trips to Napa that he was an amateur wine connoisseur." " He'd be impressed by a nice bottle?" " Yes." " Do you remember the wine?" " No." "The '91 Pahlmeyer?" "Yes." "That's right." "Do you know where your assistant got that wine?" "I assume she got it from the liquor store down the street." "Would it surprise you to know that there isn't a liquor store in Seattle that carries that bottle?" "Mrs. Ross is very resourceful." "Very resourceful?" "A bottle of wine you can't find within 500 miles of Seattle." "I have no idea where she got the bottle of wine." "Isn't it true, Ms. Johnson, that you told Mrs. Ross three weeks ago that you wanted a bottle of '91 Pahlmeyer for your meeting with Mr. Sanders?" " That's not true." " And when she couldn't find it, you said...." "Oh, oh, what was that?" "It had such managerial brio." "Oh, here it is." "Um...." ""If you don't find the wine find a replacement."" "Do you have testimony from Mrs. Ross?" "Yes, I do." "Ms. Johnson?" "The fact is Mrs. Ross has personal problems." "She has a drinking problem." "She tends to make up stories to make herself seem more important." "I told Mrs. Ross to go buy a bottle of wine after Tom and I spoke at the luncheon." "For all I know, she had that bottle at home." "Maybe in her wine cellar." "Ms. Alvarez, any more questions?" "Mm, no, not for now." "I think this is a good time for a break." "I just got some information on Meredith." "You won't believe it, or maybe you will." "Alan gave me a list, we can't verify any of this." " You told me you didn't have sex." " I didn't." " What about--?" " I didn't have sex with her." "What is it, Tom?" "She's trying to quit smoking?" " I'm telling the truth." " How could you do this?" "She did it." "That's the point." "You saw this woman alone." "You had wine, a back rub, you kissed." "And then this non-sex sex thing." "You took off her panties." "Those are facts." "So what?" "So what?" " Those don't happen unless the man wants" " I was cornered." " You let it happen!" " I did not let it happen!" "How could you?" "How could you let that woman into our lives?" " I did not!" " Get this." "Ten of her subordinates have transferred in the last five years." "All men." " How's that for a red flag?" " Can we get hold of them?" "Yeah, but nobody's gonna talk and we can't subpoena them..." " ...because this is just a mediation." " Aw, damn it." " Do you wanna have lunch?" " I gotta go back to the office." "How about you, Mrs. Sanders?" "Are you hungry?" "Yeah." " How are you holding up?" " Are you married?" "Chandler, Hogue and Alvarez." " I married Chandler." " You married your boss?" "Classic case of sexual harassment." "He asked me out five times before I said yes." "Today, if I had said no once, he would have been afraid to ask again." " Tom tells me you're a lawyer." " Ten years." " Wanna switch hats, tell me what you think?" " I don't look good in hats." "You're afraid she's telling the truth." "Yes." "What he did, he did out of weakness." "Hardly makes it better, does it?" "I can't get in the middle of your relationship with Tom but the fact is she broke the law, and that makes the difference." "Ms. Alvarez, 48 hours ago, my husband's penis was in another woman's mouth." "There's nothing in the law that's gonna help me deal with that." " How long you had these?" " Came in an hour ago." "Garvin had me send the Corridor to the Four Seasons for the Conley people to play with." "It's in the hotel?" "Yeah." "The Conley people had such fun with it yesterday...." "Getting anywhere with the drives?" "I'm counting on you." " I have a hunch." " What is it?" " I don't know." " What is it?" "I don't know." "She got to you, didn't she?" "What do you expect?" "They're stronger, they're smarter and they don't fight fair." "It's the next step in human evolution." "Like the Amazons." "Keep some of us for sperm and kill the rest." "What do you have?" "If I know something for a fact, I won't withhold it." "But I can't go out on a limb, it's too intense around here." "I'm 23." "I can't wake up tomorrow and find I'm out of the computer business." "Why aren't you at the mediation?" "I just came back to, uh...." "This was the last thing I needed this week." "Come in." "The situation you're in, something's come up." "I need to know exactly what happened that night." "Well, it's exactly like I told Phil." "You're not talking to Phil." "We got ahold of Sanders' phone records." "It's possible somebody overheard you two." "John Levin called again." "Find out what it's about." "He said he had to talk to you personally." "I don't wanna talk to him now." "Tom, could I talk to you?" "Cindy are you "a friend"?" "A friend?" "You know "a friend." A friend." "I depends on what you mean by "a friend."" "All right, never mind." "He's heading for the elevator now." "Heading back to the mediation?" " Yeah, I gotta get back." " I'll give you a lift." "Don't you think it's time we talked?" "I understand you both had a chance to get it off your chest." "Your version of what happened." "Now I want it to stop." "What I got off my chest was not a version." "It's always somebody's version." "That's the legacy of the modern age." "We have information but no truth." "Flashes of electrons in a grain of sand." "I'm telling the truth." " You gotta look at this from all sides." " How many sides are there?" "All right, let's say she made a mistake." "So what?" "She made a pass, that's all." "Put her hand on you." "You could have decided it was flattering." "You could've taken it off." "You could have handled it many ways, but this vindictiveness..." " ..." "I have to tell you, I'm surprised." " It's against the law." "I'm employed by her." " I work for her." " No." "You work for me." "That's what I'm saying." "After all these years, why didn't you come to me?" "Not go hire this lawyer." "Maybe I should have." "I mean, why can't you just forget it?" "Work together like adults and everyone makes a pile of money." " What's wrong with that?" " Things have gone too far." "Things can go back." "Why would he offer to settle now?" "He realized how much they got to lose." "No, he had us on the run." "It doesn't add up." "Maybe there's a vulnerability we don't know about." "I'm still getting messages from "a friend." I printed out the address." "Maybe your investigators can check it out." "I hope the company doesn't find him first." "Remember the cleaning lady?" " Yeah." " She's out of town." "No one knows where or when she's coming back." "The Bahamas, probably, with Mrs. Ross on the next plane to join her." "These guys play hardball, Tom." "Did Mr. Sanders ever touch you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable?" "I don't think he's aware of it." "Just answer the question, please." " Yes." " How does he touch you?" "He'll pat me on my behind or rub my shoulders while I'm at my desk." "Rub your shoulders?" "I don't think he means anything by it." "You don't like it." "I just feel it's inappropriate." "I'm not sure I see the relevance of this." "We're trying to establish a pattern of behavior." "Sexual harassers generally follow a pattern." " I'll allow it." " Thank you." "You don't have any chiropractic problems?" "Any neck problems, or your back?" "No." "So you would characterize this behavior as flirting or sexual?" " I suppose so." " But you never said anything." " He's my boss." " You didn't report it?" "No." "He's your boss." "I understand." "Your job is at stake." "Rumors." "Whether people would even believe you." "And if I asked you if you ever had any sexual relations with Mr. Sanders same answer?" " No, I didn't." " Didn't report it?" " It never happened." " I understand." "I have no further questions." "Barbara called..." " ...about the Disneyland tickets for...?" " Jafar." "He's got the tickets, and an upgrade at the hotel." "Thank you, I appreciate it." "They gave me your wallet photos." " I'll see you later?" " Yeah, I'll see you later." "Bye." "You know, it's funny how you always assumed it'd be you who got the job." "Lewyn assumed it would be him or you." "But nobody ever thought for a second it might be me." "Isn't that funny?" "That's not true." "You were always on the list." "Really?" ""Hunter, not someone you'd follow into battle." "Too much of a team player." "No killer instinct." "Doesn't have those tools."" "What is that all a code for?" "What are you saying, Hunter?" "You on Meredith's side?" "I studied engineering for eight years." "I was the only woman in that department." "You know what I did?" "I worked." "You think I'm on Meredith's side?" "What do you wanna do?" "Hmm, what?" "Their offer ends midnight." "It's what Garvin told you." "You get your job back." "She's your boss." "Everybody goes back to work." "Did you find "a friend"?" " Did we get the address from internet?" " Oh, yeah." "Dr. Arthur Friend, a chemistry professor from the University of Washington who's been in Nepal the last three weeks." "You got messages from a locked office." "I'm glad we got that one solved." "Shit, I have to call Lewyn." "The drives we're having problems with came in." " Only you, Sanders." " What?" "Anybody else would be sabotaging the company, not solving their problems." "It's Adele and Mark." "We're not home, leave your name and number, and we'll call you back." "What?" "That's Mark's wife's voice on the machine, but on Monday it was a man's voice." "Then the next day, Mark said he never got the message." "I dialed the wrong number that night." "So?" "That's why the battery was dead." "Tom, what are you talking about?" "That's why Garvin wants to deal." "He's got my phone records." "I've got a 10-minute phone bill the same time I'm in Meredith's office." "She yanked the phone away." "I called the wrong number but I never hung up the phone." "The phone line is open." "Somebody out there's got this whole thing on an answering machine." "It's Levin, not Lewyn." " Hey, John!" " What's going on?" "I've been getting phone calls." "Some creep has my Visa then, at the office, everything's turned upside down." " My files" " Have they got the tape?" "What I'm saying is, it's a good thing I brought it home." " I listened to it with my girlfriend." " Where's the tape?" "It's all here?" "I've been trying to get a hold of you all week!" "What do I gotta do?" "You know what this means?" "Do you have any idea what this means?" "Thanks, pal." "No deal." "No, no deal, Catherine." "We're gonna bury them." "Everything is on tape." "Yes, everything." "Put it in." "God, look at us." "I want you inside me." "I can't do this." " Put it in." " I'm not gonna do this." " Now!" "Come on, now!" " No, no!" " You can't just stop!" " No!" "No!" "Goddamn it!" "You stick your dick in my mouth then you get an attack of morality?" "This never happened." "All right?" "You never used to be this way." "We believe in any judicial proceeding, this tape would be inadmissible." "Inadmissible?" "I'm worried I'm gonna drive to work and hear it on Howard Stern." "Is she threatening to release this?" "I don't know how many copies of this tape there are." "I didn't put it out there." "I hate publicity." "Young lady, this tape demonstrates consensual sex between two adults however it may have appeared the morning after." "Mr. Sanders' regret is not my client's harassment." "Ms. Johnson, is that your position today?" "Yes, it is." "Ms. Alvarez?" "Ms. Johnson, just so I'm clear on what today's story is would you define for me "consensual sex"?" "Sex where both parties are willing participants." "How many times did we hear Mr. Sanders say "no" on that tape?" "I don't know, I was too busy listening to my underwear being torn off." "Thirty-one." "Thirty-one times." "Doesn't no mean no?" "Sometimes "no" means that person wants to be overwhelmed, dominated." "The way we're supposed to have sex nowadays, we'd need the UN to supervise." "No means no." "Isn't that what we tell women?" "Do men deserve less?" "When he really wanted to stop he didn't seem to have problems doing it." "That's when you got angry." "Of course I did." "So would anyone." "Don't we tell women they can stop at any point?" "Haven't you ever said no and meant yes?" "Up until the moment of actual penetration" "The point is, he was willing." "That tape doesn't change anything." "The point is, you controlled the meeting." "You set the time, you ordered the wine." "You locked the door." "You demanded service and got angry when he didn't provide it." "So you decided to get even, to get rid of him with this trumped-up charge." "Ms. Johnson, the only thing you have proven is that a woman in power can be every bit as abusive as a man." "You wanna put me on trial?" "Let's be honest about what it's for." "I am sexually aggressive." "I like it." "Tom knew it and you can't handle it." "It is the same thing since the beginning of time." "Veil it, hide it, lock it up and throw away the key." "We expect a woman to do a man's job, make a man's money then lie down for a man to fuck her like it was still 100 years ago." "Well, no, thank you." "Well, you are not gonna believe this." "I think the Howard Stern thing got to them." " What did Phil say?" " You get your job back." "You get 100 grand in pain and suffering, and I get fees and expenses." "Meredith?" "She stays through the merger, then they announce she has to leave for some medical-- Uh, whatever. --emergency." "She's out." "This is total and complete vindication." " Yes!" "Ha, ha!" "Yes!" "Whoo!" " It's over!" " Yes!" "Oh, man." " Ha, ha." "Whoo!" "I almost feel sorry for him." "He has no idea, does he?" "I'd like to read this over again before we sign." "Not that I don't trust you." "Just as long as it's done by midnight tonight." "Garvin wants this off his screen." "Oh, uh, Tom, we want you to make a presentation on Arcamax at the merger announcement tomorrow morning." " Nothing technical, three or four minutes." " Fine." "No problem." "Great." "Now I've gotta go upstairs and break it to her." "It won't be easy." "I thought you enjoyed that kind of thing." "You go after one of our people, we'll put the wagons in a circle." "Once you made your case, the company behaved appropriately." "Wouldn't you say so?" " You don't wanna know what I think." " It's terrible." "The way a thing like this can tear a company apart." "I told Bob we really need to take a look at it." "Hey, friends?" " What?" " I hope you still think of me as a friend." "Good night, Phil." "Sign it now and I'll read it over later." "Where will you be?" "Here, getting that presentation together." "If not, I'll have somebody run this by your house later." " Let me ask you something." " What?" " Why do you think Meredith did this?" " What?" "You've seen her in action." "She's cool, smart, always in control." " How could she have lost control like this?" " I don't know." "You're attractive." "Maybe." " But you are not irresistible." " I'm serious." "She's here one day." "There's a merger going on." "Conley people are touchy." "She thought you'd go along." " There's more to it than that." " Come on." "You think too much." "You need to go home open a nice bottle of champagne make up with your wife, and get some sleep." "It's over." "Thank you, Catherine." "Absolutely." "You're welcome." " Have a good night." " Good night." "Hi, Stephanie." "Must be difficult, so much going on, and nobody giving you information." "It's been a crazy week." "I had a friend." "She was one of the first women to move high up." "You know what it's like, every day putting out fires." "It turned out the job wasn't anything she thought it was." "She was looking the wrong way when they fired her." " Interesting." " Mm." "Truth usually is, once you get to it." " Ah." "It's you, Mr. Sanders." " Where'd everybody go?" "Mr. Garvin came in an hour ago." "Said they were working too hard." "Sent everybody home." "What if Sanders doesn't bring it up?" "He will, he will." "I talked to him about his presentation on Arcamax." "He has no idea." "When he brings up the line...." "You gotta pounce, because we don't have the harassment." "It's gotta be that Sanders is incompetent." "Uh-huh?" "It'll be in public." "With reporters." "Bob's counting on you." "We gotta clean out the database, just in case." "And any backup." "Sanders." "Catherine, can you hold on one minute?" "Do we wanna talk about--?" "Catherine, has my contract gone out already?" "Shit." "What does the contract say about firing me?" "They can fire me for cause, can't they?" "For incompetence?" "The problem with the drives is not with the programming or the design." "It's with the production line, and that's my responsibility." "This whole thing tomorrow they're setting me up." "Housekeeping, please." "Yes." "This is Mr. Conley." "Could someone come up and turn down my bed please?" "Uh, my room number?" "It's on the phone here somewhere...." "Yeah, that's right." "Thank you very much." " When does your dad arrive?" " Midnight." "They had to stop in Houston." "I'd love for him to get a chance to see the Corridor." "You know I stayed up late last night, fooling around with it up in my room." "It's really incredible." " Aah!" " I'm sorry, sir." "Here, thank you." " You're welcome." " Good night." "Have a nice evening." "You have accessed DigiCom's Corridor our prototype for a virtual reality database." "Enjoy the demonstration." "Information accessed during this demo is for entertainment value only and should not be duplicated to another database." "If you have any questions, please ask the angel." "Malaysian Operations." "Searching Malaysian revisions file." "Why don't we go up to my suite?" "Give my colleagues here a chance to try out the Corridor." "Good idea." ""Reduction of air handling capacity from number 7 air handlers to a more appropriate and cost-effective number 5."" "You can't put number 5 handlers in there." "You'll have dirt getting in everything." "Aah!" "My God, she's in the system." "Angel, I need help." "Help is here." "Is there any way to stop these files from being deleted?" "I'm sorry." "You're not Level 5." "You're supposed to protect the files." "Sysop controls are restricted to Level 5." "Show me all communications with Malaysia." "Telephone or video?" "Video." "Show me, uh, the last transmission involving Meredith." "It's only a matter of time before Tom figures out about the changes at the plant." "He's not stupid." "Tom will be out of the picture by Tuesday." "Trust me." "I don't like to gamble." "I love Tahoe, but I think the risk" "Think." "Who'll believe him?" "He's married, he has a family." "He'll have no choice but to take the settlement and leave." "Then we say Sanders made the changes at the plant?" "He'll deny it." "He won't know." "He'll be gone by then." "These things are so darn complicated." "You got it upside down." "There we go." " So who's first?" " Must have left the system on." "Mr. Furillo, why don't you go?" "You're gonna love this." "Sure." "I'd love to try it." "I am totally screwed." "I'll make my presentation Meredith will ask me questions." "She's gonna set me up." "She'll make me look totally incompetent." "Are you sure there's not another system somewhere?" "The system has been completely deleted." "So I'm a sitting duck." "I'll be one of those people walking around like a ghost with a resume." " Hello." " It's Mohammed Jafar." "How are you?" "I don't mean to bug you, but we're departing Monday" "No, it's my fault." "Um, Susan got the Disneyland tickets for you." "The e-tickets?" "Uh, you're comped for all the rides, and at the hotel they'll upgrade you." "Magnificent." "I can't wait to tell my wife." "She didn't believe you." "She said you were full of shit." " You know how women are." " Yes, I sure do." "I miss your face." "Talk to Arthur." "He sees it enough on the DVL." "I'm always" "Tom?" "Hello?" "Tom, are you there?" "Mohammed, on this end, we back up our files on DAT." "Do you guys do the same over there?" "I don't know what we have." "I'd have to check it out." "What do you have in mind?" "I got a real problem here." "I'm up against the wall and I need you to do some things for me, Mohammed." "I hope we have what you need, Tom." " Daddy?" " Yeah?" "I never believed what they said about you." "Thank you, honey." "Come here, big guy." "Thank you." "Faxes from Malaysia?" "I can't believe it's still coming out." "It started at 7." "Testing." "Put these in one of the files." " Yeah, there's a real talent to fishing." " What?" "First you gotta choose the right bait then you have to know when to reel it in." "Tom, about the other day, I didn't mean to suggest...." "Yes, you did." "I apologize, and thank you." "I accept." "Which brings us to our Advanced Products Group." "Tom Sanders heads our manufacturing department." "Tom, I wonder if you can come up here and review for us the revolutionary new product we call Arcamax?" "Thank you, Meredith." "Arcamax is our own stand-alone CD-ROM drive player." "Now, for a CD-ROM drive to be effective, it has to be portable it has to be fast." "Arcamax is twice as fast as any CD-ROM drive in the world today." "In production, we've had our problems, but we are solving them." "The problems, are they design problems?" "No, they were fabrication problems involving the production line." "What sort of problems?" "Well, for example, we should be using automatic chip installers to lock the control chip on the board." "The Malaysians have been doing it by hand literally jamming the chips in with their thumbs." "And the quality of the air is dirty." "We should use level 7 air handlers, we're using only level 5." "And, uh, we're ordering our components like hinge rods and clips, not from our Singapore supplier but from someone who's a lot cheaper, but also less reliable." "I'm confused." "You set up this line." "You didn't anticipate these problems?" "The line was changed." "The specifications were altered." "How is that possible?" "We know you to be a competent manager." "Well, you should know, Meredith." "You ordered the changes." "I don't know where you could've got that idea." "Weren't you in Kuala Lumpur last year?" "To settle a labor dispute." "I've never even seen the line." " You've never seen the line?" " No, I don't know who told you such a" "You're watching Malaysian Channel 3." "Perhaps instead of digging up Malaysian video clips we should discuss the problems in front of us the problems in your department with the line you set up." "All right." "The first memo in the file being handed out is signed by Meredith Johnson." "It states that manual labor will be used to install the chips." "That made the Malaysian government happy." "It also meant voltage irregularities and memory allocation" "That was a complex negotiation." "The Malay government insisted" "The Malaysian government does not own shares of DigiCom." "These people here do." "The second memo reduces the air handling capacity in order to cut costs." "And that's why we're getting dirt in the split optics, the drive arms, the chip joints." "The resulting delays will actually increase the costs by more than 70 %.." " The third memo regarding" " The drives were your responsibility!" "These problems were created because of your incompetence, not mine." "That's the problem with this division!" " Passing the buck, back stabbing." " Meredith" "I'm not through." "This so-called evidence of yours is fooling no one!" "You can showboat and protect your turf and think it means something." "You weren't told of these decisions, because they're over your head." "This merger is about a synergy between hardware and software, between cash flow and capital needs." " That's a language you can't understand!" " I don't understand it either." "We were buying this company because they could build things." "You understand what the heck she's talking about?" "I was trying to accurately convey the sentiments of everyone here." "That's what I intended to do." "Meredith, could you step outside for a moment?" "Bye-bye." "Can you build the darn thing or not?" "Yes, sir, we can." "Tom, they're replacing Meredith." "Garvin's announcing it in 10 minutes." "Ten minutes?" "I'm surprised you didn't come to gloat." "Gloating is underrated." "I actually came here to pick up the Arcamax files." " Very smart people underrated you." " Thank you, Meredith." "Not including myself." "I beat you." "I beat you fair and square." "Garvin lost his nerve." "It was his brilliant idea to fire you for incompetence." "Him and Phil." "And I'm the one getting fired." "I've never seen you play the victim." "It's the only good quality you had." "I'm playing the game the way you guys set it up, and I'm being punished for it." "It's fine." "I've had calls from 10 head-hunters with job offers in the last hour." "Don't be surprised if I'm back in 10 years to buy this place." "Did it ever occur to you, Meredith, that maybe I set you up?" " Tom, this is my son, Spencer." " How you doing?" " Good." " You're at the University of Washington?" " Yeah." " That's great." "Very good." "Wow." "Wow." "What a week!" ""May you live in interesting times."" "This merger is the most interesting merger I've had since my second marriage." "The merger is complete." "The question now is who do we find to run things up here in Seattle?" "And what I realized during this very interesting week is that I have probably focused too much on breaking the glass ceiling, on finding a woman to run things here when what I should have been looking for is the best person to run things up here." "Someone whose long service with this company has established a record of creativity sound judgment and hands-on expertise." "And that person is Stephanie Kaplan." "Congratulations, Stephanie." "I tell you something, she's the greatest!" "Thank you." "First, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the department heads:" "Mary Anne Hunter and Mark Lewyn here and, um, Don Cherry, where are you?" "There's Don Cherry." "And particularly, Tom Sanders who epitomizes the inventiveness of this division its past and its future." "I'm counting on you to be my right hand." "Thank you." "We are heading into a new millennium a new time." "You a chemistry major, Spencer?" "Yeah, I am." "I know a chemistry professor there, Dr. Arthur Friend." "A. Friend." "I don't know if he teaches freshmen or not." "I'm his research assistant." "So if Dr. Arthur Friend was in Nepal, for example you'd have the keys to his office and password to his computer?" "Yeah." "We all work so well together and it's exciting and it's wonderful to see." "Um" "Ah, thank you." "Your mother's an extraordinary woman." "You just figured that out?"