The Boxes

The creative businessman rules

At the Brazos River Dinner Club, where women were a rarity, Alex lamented that his wife was spending money like water going through his fingers. As a self-made multi-millionaire in the roofing industry, Alex could afford his wife. She had no problem spending a good chunk of what he brought in each month.

But Alex wasn’t the only one at the table who had a wife with such tastes.

Alex said, “I think my wife doesn’t mind funding the repairs for the billionaire owner’s yacht with all the money she spends on mail-order purchases.” He was referring to the world’s wealthiest man.

“She buys a lot, does she?” Bennington asked.

“Are you kidding?” Alex said. “She knows the delivery driver’s kids’ birthdays and gets them gifts too. And that’s not an exaggeration. Doesn’t hurt that the company makes it drop dead easy to order with their two-click, next-day-delivery buying, she’s ordering something every day. Sometimes two and three things. Never returns them, just uses them for a day or two and on to the next shiny object.”

“It’s the boxes, Alex, the boxes,” Johann said.

“The boxes? What do you mean?”

“My wife had the same kick too. Stuff coming two and three times a day until I figured it out. She loved the boxes. Loved ‘em. Loved ripping into ‘em, unboxing the item, stripping them down when they were too big, and just touching ‘em. Said she loved the smell of boxes. Sounds like your wife has the same problem mine had. The shrinks might even have a named disorder for it.”

“So, what’d you do?”

“What every good husband does, kept letting her buy,” Johann said. “No reason for her to stop. I look at it like this. She’s a good woman, great mother, doesn’t go bar hopping and doesn’t stay out all hours of the night. What harm is there in it? I let her go to town with the boxes. She continues to make me happy.”

Alex considered Johann’s words. Could his wife have the same sickness, the same penchant for boxes? Where did those boxes all go after she unboxed her deliveries each day? Come to think of it, he hadn’t been in the kids’ rooms since they left home three years ago.

Johann could see the befuddled look on Alex’s face.

“Alex, don’t let it concern you. In fact, I’m buying the next round and I’ll tell you why. When I finally figured out her quote unquote problem, I figured I had to do something about it, just like you’re thinking right now. So I did. I did a bit of due diligence and bought a box manufacturing company that was going under. Just barely making profit this year but I’ve turned it around. I put my wife in charge and she can’t be happier.

“If you’re interested, I could let you in on my little investment. Then she’d be happy and you’d be happy, and we all win. Plus, you stand to make a decent profit from it. Something to think about.”

Johann handed Alex his business card. “Give me a call some time.”

Johann said, “But the best part?”

“What’s that?” Alex said.

“The boxes all stay at work.”

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