Back in my days as a buyer, I played a double whammy prank on my biggest supplier who just happen to control a number of different brands. Now realize that the salesmen of 2 of the brands were rather premier pranksters in their own right, (they once had a junior person from their office cart a "very important package" half way around the world to a trade show for their #1 buyer- Cycleguy. VERY IMPORTANT do not lose it! In fact put it in your carry-on luggage! I was in on the prank... it was the Chicago Yellow pages! LOL) and I had also been the victim of a number of those pranks as well. Also understand that in addition to being a footwear buyer, I also had a unique distinction of being a supplier of computer products to the company I worked for through a personal business of mine. Since the 2 entities were mutually exclusive and all done above board, (during "business" hours I was strictly a buyer, and all the computer work I did for the IS department was done after hours) there was no conflict of interest. Everyone including many of my footwear suppliers were aware of this and in fact I would sometimes be called upon to help them in personal situations as well.
Anyway... now for the prank...
Everyone in business knows, the relationship between supplier and buyer can make or break multi million dollar deals. And in my capacity as a buyer, I had built a very lucrative business with this company via one of their brands, and was well on our way to building a second one. On the day of the prank... I had my assistant call up the salesman (we'll call him John for now) of the smaller of the 2 accounts and explain that I was moving over to a full-time position in the IS department to help with the company's Y2K preparation. (A move fully explainable and believable due to my unique situation...) A new buyer would be named in the next couple weeks, but my assistant would be taking over in the interim and that a number of programs would be "re-evaluated". (Suppliers HATE that word because it usually means orders will be canceled!) All orders were to be placed on hold. (I was standing right next to my assistant at the time coaching her on what to say...) Out came the questions. Whats going to happen to this program... what about that program... who is the new buyer... have you spoken to the salesman of the other brand yet etc... We left the poor guy hanging! No sooner did he get off the phone with my assistant, he bee-lined it over to the other salesman's office in the same building... I'm told the conversation went something like this:
"So Dave (not the salesman's real name obviously), who is our single biggest account?"
Salesman answers "Cycleguy of course, why?"
"NOT ANYMORE!" Panic strikes the salesman's face! He picks up the phone immediately! LOL
It took about 2 minutes from the time my assistant hung up with "John" for my phone to ring! Hi "Dave", I guess you heard the news. He explains that "John" is also in the room and they put me on speaker phone... the V-P of both brands (and just happens to be a bit of a prankster in his own right) walks by their office wondering what the commotion is... and joins in on the conversation. I spend the next 15 minutes explaining the entire deal and that this move would be great for my career and I have been thinking about moving over to IS for awhile now, and that the new guy or girl would "I'm sure" be just as open to their strategic value etc. etc. etc. (all of which was a complete and total fabrication!) Finally the president of their company (lets call him Mike) walks by and I get to explain it again and he says, "sounds interesting... This isn't some kind of April fools joke or something is it!" I calmly say, well yes Mike it is, and frankly I'm very surprised that John and Dave here of all people fell for it! Dead silence for about 3 seconds and then they all burst into laughter! (Mike is a great guy as well BTW...)
I am no longer a buyer (that was 11 yrs ago now) and I now work along side these guys as one of their competitors, but whenever we run into each other we still reminisce about that prank to this day. :mdr:
