Rebecca Meyer
For about 30 years, this man considered his father his best friend. They worked together, operating two businesses for seven years.
During those seven years, he invented a product they eventually began selling. The product wasn’t too pricey for them to buy, but his dad wasn’t willing to pay him for any of the product or even give him a percentage of what they earned in sales.
“In one instance, he took 3,000 units from me for free, told me he would pay for them, sold them, and I never saw a dime. He thought he was entitled to the money and treated me like his son, who owed him, versus a supplier or partner,” he said.
While he was working hard to get their company off the ground, his father only cared about making money as fast as possible.
He was tired of how his dad treated him and hoped to have a written agreement so his father would give him his fair share.
Unfortunately, his father constantly drafted disproportionate, unfair contracts, so he refused to sign them. From then on, there was tension in their relationship because they couldn’t see eye-to-eye.
“He was selling more of the product then than I was since I was trying a different approach, so he thought the business needed him more than it needed me. He sent me contracts that were based on that fact,” he explained.
Amid this drama, he and his partner had a baby boy, and months later, his dad was two and a half hours late to his son’s first birthday party.
His father was the only family member he’d invited, and he didn’t have a large family, so it was important to him for his dad to show up.
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