He then went to a men's clothing shop and purchased a couple of suits, shirts, ties, a pair of shoes, and a leather attaché case. He was now ready to play the most compelling role of his life.
The owners had flown in to check on the bakery, which was going through some last minute modifications. They were anxious to meet with Dough, called and invited him for a get together at his convenience. To scrutinize the layout of the shop, he thought meeting there would be perfect and agreed to meet with them the following day.
He rehearsed his lines in front of the mirror and foresaw every question the owners would pose. He knew they would check his references and had that area covered; he left nothing to chance. He laid out his garments and had his résumé along with an introductory letter in an elegant dossier. Stating that this man was not on top of his game was like saying, "The dog was not a descendant of the wolf."
It was just a matter of time before he would con the owners, wreck them financially and leave Passion holding the sack.
On the day of the interview, it was a bright and sunny day. Dough woke up feeling victorious. He took a shower, got dressed and was ready to leave for his meeting. Since the shop was not too far from the house, he decided to walk, which gave him enough time to practice his script.
When he arrived at the bakery, the owners were already there. With a gleam on their faces, they introduced themselves as Cid and Betty.
He responded by saying, "It is a great honor to meet you; Passion has told me so much about you and your other shop in New York."
"Likewise," said the owners, who started to give him a tour of the place; he made a mental note of the shop's layout. It was spacious and well designed with earth tone colors and trendy exhibit cases. The enclosed back area was where the baking would take place. On each side was an office. The front area was indicative of a specialty gourmet shop with enhancing wooden floors.
Because the shop was on a highway, the area was a crowd-puller; the business would unquestionably make tons of money.
As the three sat down, Dough talked about his business background as a consultant and came up with many thoughts as to how the shop could pull in more money.
He recommended setting up a mail order department and emphasized, "This way, you could build a customer mailing list, and during special events or holidays send out flyers or brochures announcing new products and special sales. To build your in-house mailing list, you could have the customers sign their name and address in a guestbook before leaving the shop. In the near future, you can have a presence on the World Wide Web and quadruple your revenues."