Memory-Lane Monday: Did they say anything about an offer you couldn’t refuse?

But they certainly clarified exactly what they wanted.

After working for a company that provides services to regional automobile dealerships such as sales, financing and inventory-control software, this pilot fish leaves to start his own company.

Shortly after that, he gets a call from a dealership that’s a client of his old employer.

“They heard I now owned a small software-development business,” says fish. “They’re interested in dumping the old company and want to know if I can develop competing software for them.”

That sounds like a good opportunity to expand his business, so fish sets up a meeting.
Turns out the assignment is simple: The dealership wants software just like what fish’s former employer provides.

Sure, says fish, I can develop new software to meet your needs.

“No,” the guy from the dealership says, “we don’t want new software. We want it to be exactly like the old software.”

Then he hands fish the distribution diskette for his old company’s software. “Will this help?” he asks.

Reports fish, “I told them thanks for the opportunity, but I didn’t want to spend the next few years of my life — and the pittance they were willing to pay me — defending a copyright infringement lawsuit.”