The Original DING-A-LINGs, Frank And Carol Brooks
“Get all the good advice you can and then make your own decision.” - Herman Shooster THE DEAL IS OFF We rented a house in Hollywood and began settling in as Floridians. The first order of business was to get a business. One day I came home from the market to find Herman standing inside the house with sunglasses on and looking terrible. When I asked him what was the matter he just shook his head and said, “The deal is off.” The brothers had backed out. It was another crushing blow. By this time we had grown to know the brothers pretty well and I decided that we should part on good terms. I told Herman to invite them over and I would make lunch. Despite the fact that the brothers never went out for lunch they agreed.
HERMAN’S GOOD ADVICE We began a series of meetings with the brothers and things were progressing nicely. We liked them and they liked us. But before we could close the deal we had to sell our house in Cherry Hill and get some advice from people we trusted. We flew Herman’s brother, Harry, and our accountant, down to Florida to check things out and get their opinions. Both of them thought buying the answering service was a bad idea. Finally, after listening to everyone we trusted, we made our own decision to go ahead with the deal. Herman has always told our children that the best course of action is to get all the good advice you can and then make your own decision. You are the one that will live with the consequences, whether good or bad. So we sold our house to a young man named Michael Milken who would later become famous as the Junk Bond King and still later, after a couple of years in prison, as a philanthropist. With the money remaining after we paid off the mortgage, we headed back to Florida to continue our negotiations.
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