Brent Uses the Rings’ Power to Lower IT Support Prices in Los Angeles!

To Clean House or Yard?

IT support in Los Angeles had, to Brent Whitfield's knowledge, never been done as proactively as he intended. He looked at the ring he had taken from the giant who came and went with the quake. With it came invisibility, and Brent could watch anyone whom he wished. He had already used this power to “suss out” bad apples among employees. Now, his thoughts had expanded to company-wide improvement.

"Where should I clean first... inside or out?" Brent turned the ring in his fingers. It glittered. "You got a pretty yard and a dirty entryway, folks think you're a hypocrite... but if your yard's filled with trash, you probably can't get them in the door."

He rocked back and forth in his chair, then sat bolt-upright. "Vendors," he said, "I can talk 'em down. If I can cut vendor costs, I can cut client costs. It's a win-win for everybody! Don't we have those hard-drive boys in the server room today? Yes, we do," and he popped on the ring and popped out the door--- looking both ways to ensure nobody noticed it open and close all by itself, this time.

Vendors in the Server Room

It took a moment to get into the server room; he'd have to use his key-card, and cameras were watching. So, he stood by the entryway and waited invisibly. Sure enough, the vendors arrived, gabbing away as was their custom.

"You know these guys provide IT support in Los Angeles, Bob?"

"No way! And they pay us what they do?"

"I kid you not! Take this dingus," the man held out up a hard drive. "I hardly know the brand. I know it's new. I know how to pull out the old one, and install this one. And I know we buy these things for 20% of what we sell them for."

"Ain't gotta tell me, Jimmy; I sign the receipts," Bob wheeled a hand truck full of crates gingerly down before closing the server room door. Brent barely had enough time to sneak in.

Jimmy was already unscrewing the panel on a server that had been deactivated earlier. "If it weren't for associated costs, I'd start my own vendor opp." He set the panel aside.  "Here's the thing--- how can you be a provider of consulting like DCG Technical Solutions, Inc., source services like:

• Cloud Computing Support
• Backup and Data Recovery
• Proactive Monitoring and Support

... and not have the most cost-effective vendors? I mean Lenny in acquisitions haggles; they could pay a third what they are!"

"Well perhaps we will," Brent said aloud; forgetting his invisibility didn't inhibit speech.

Surprise!

Both vendors whipped around incredibly fast. One slipped on the recently removed server panel and banged his head on the floor.

"Did you hear that!?" asked Bob.

"I heard that!" replied Jimmy.

"What was it!?"

"I don't know!"

"Think it was a collective psychosis brought on by subconscious fear IT support in Los Angeles through DCG might suddenly get cheaper for our vendor?"

Bob blinked. "Sounds reasonable. Hand me that screwdriver, let's get this done," and they curtailed further repartee.

Brent clapped a hand to his mouth, but knew he had a workable strategy. Now he just had to wait until they left so he could sneak out.