FROM WEIGHT WATCHERS TO OUR WEIGH--FROM BERNIE TO JOHNNY

On
Friday July 16, 1974, Johnny and I left Memphis and drove up to Denver
stopping at Colorado Springs for an afternoon and then went on to Denver
where we stopped at the Denver Hilton. I remember we ate at a French
Restaurant one night and then the next in a bank vault that had been
converted into a steak house.  I would continue on my planned trip to
Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec, Montreal then on
to Chicago and back to Memphis while Johnny took the car and drove down
to Miami Beach--why the latter I don't remember!

I
have my original itinerary for that trip planned by Travel Unlimited,
Inc., and at the bottom it says, "All the hotel reservations have been
confirmed. All are deluxe hotels and high floors have been requested to
suit your accommodations. In addition we have ordered a private
chauffeured limousine in each city for your sightseeing connivance. The
driver will be at your service for your stays in Canada."  As I said
earlier I was making money faster than I could spend it and I was
certainly trying--did I mention that I was paying tax at a 37% rate?
Even with the government taking so much I still was raking it in. The fact
that I knew my life would change in 2-3 months didn't make me anymore
thrifty. By the way, as an example, the deluxe suite at the Denver
Hilton Hotel cost $36 while the highest cost was for the Bonaventure,
in Montreal, which was $43!

I
enjoyed Portland and went on to Vancouver. I stayed at the Bayshore Inn
at the latter, overlooking Stanley Park, which I investigated with much
success. Aside from that I really don't remember much or the sequence
of events but I vividly remember getting a call from Barbara and Margie
from the Weight Watchers office and telling me I had to get back as
Bernie was going to take them, plus 4 others and myself, to court, that I
should call my attorney right away. I do remember cancelling the rest
of my trip, calling Johnny to pick me up at the Miami airport and that
we would have to drive back to Memphis.

Somewhere
along the way I knew I would have to leave WW--quit before I got
fired?--and in the drive home I started to make plans. It would have to
be a delicate plan but I needed which of the office women and possibly
some of the lecturers would come along with me. What about those who
wouldn't? Would they go to Bernie and tell him what I was doing? I would
have to work quietly but at the same time be ready by October to
open the new place.

It
seemed as if Bernie and I were having a truce from August to the end of
September but we were both working behind the scenes for what would
eventually be our break up both personally and professionaly. We were
both caught up in 'games' again but I gave myself a deadline that on the
day I left Weight Watchers I would end all games with Bernie. While it
didn't quite end that way it did end.

Knowing
that Bernie would find out by the end of the day who I approached to
come with me I waited for my 2 last weeks to speak to the women.
Meanwhile I was taking things from the office that I would need and
personal things that concerned Bernie and I that were irrelevant to
business. It is funny now but I had rented a 50 gallon fish tank for
my office that an outside business maintained which WW paid for but was
under my name and was one of the last things I took from the office
which certainly wasn't an easy job! Just as I know Bernie went through
my desk drawers and filing cabinets I did the same with his. It was
under these circumstances that I came across papers written by Bernie to
his (our) lawyer regarding how he wanted shares of WW of Memphis and WW
of Chattanooga to be divided up giving me an equal amount to his. To
give you an idea of the games we played with each other I truly don't
know if he did that knowing I would go through his desk drawer and find it
or if he truly was going to go through with it.

In
September both our lawyers were busy meeting to get what money owed me
would be paid my last day there such as my share of profit sharing, a
bonus due me, etc. And, yes, it looks like there were going to be a few
lawsuits filed not to mention having to go to court. He did file a
'non-competitive' suit against the women who left with me but couldn't
find the papers they had signed.

On
my last day at Weight Watchers Bernie stayed away from the office on
some pretense and, being the smart business man he was, he had all my
classes and the women who were leaving with me, covered with his taking
most of my classes to hold on to as many members as he could.

I
left Weight Watchers at the end of September, 1974, after 7 years
participating in a business I loved and that had done so much for me. On
October 15 I opened teh Our Weigh office and on October 30 held the
first OW meeting to an overflowing crowd. I would see Bernie one more
time for the last time and that would be in court.

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