Anthony the Manager
There has been some discussion over at the FOOBiverse’s Journal with persons who expressed surprise that Anthony Caine was a manager. In the letters the event occurred:
Mike's Letter, December 2005
My dad has always had a hand in the garage and helped to finance Gord's startup. He's been repaid with interest but he's become a sort of silent partner, working after hours with Anthony to balance the books and check on inventory, and to keep the staff happy and productive. Gordon has finally been able to let go a little. Anthony Caine is the official manager - something he's good at, and he's going to have to turn the company finances over to someone else or go crazy trying to keep up.
This is the first strip which mentions it:
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001781.php
John: I hear you’re in charge of the garage, the store and the restaurant.—Gordon’s made you the general manager.
Anthony: I am the manager, but I’m not much of a general.
Anthony has never been shown to be actually managing, just as Gordon’s business expands, but he’s the only car salesman. In the same strip sequence, there was some question as to the dynamic between Gordon and Anthony.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001756.php
Anthony: When they developed the land across the street, business went up over 100%. We don’t want to expand too far too fast—but Gordon has a lot of plans.
The implication was that when Gordon built the car dealership, he pretty much ditched the garage, the store and the restaurant to Anthony; and he has been making considerably more money selling cars. You could also read into it that Gordon made this move against Anthony’s wishes. Certainly the time Anthony took from work to chat with Dr. Patterson and the time he took to deal with the Howard Bunt trial are good indications these businesses have little or no need for Anthony Caine’s management. When you combine that with the fact Gordon sold his old house to Anthony for a song, you can easily get the impression that Gordon is going out of his way to support Anthony, and getting little in return.
The only thing which stands in the way of that assessment, is this letter:
John's Letter, October 2006
Hmmm, I'll have to discuss the details with Anthony. He is a pretty sharp fellah when it comes to investments. Gordon has done a lot of expansion, each time a very good financial move. I used to give Gordon all the credit, but lately have learned that a lot of the ideas have actually come from Anthony, and Gordon just executes them. Amazing how teams evolve and each part of the team has different skills that complement those of others in the team. This allows them to accomplish things that no one could have imagined or that they could have done on their own.
Considering we only saw John discussing the finances of buying the Stibbs' place with Deanna, there is some doubt about that letter. Also, in contrast to that assessment is this letter:
Mike's Letter, April 2004
Gordon Mayes is doing extremely well. He's paid off his house and the garage and has taken out a mortgage on both to develop the property next to the garage. It already had a small building on it and he was using the lot to display used cars, and renovated part of the building to showcase some of the new cars he has. Now he needs more space, and my dad, who is now a sort of partner in the business, is helping him to work out the details.
At this point, Anthony is working part time for Gordon doing his books, while he is getting his accounting degree. Somehow I don’t think the expansion was Anthony’s idea.
Mike's Letter, December 2005
My dad has always had a hand in the garage and helped to finance Gord's startup. He's been repaid with interest but he's become a sort of silent partner, working after hours with Anthony to balance the books and check on inventory, and to keep the staff happy and productive. Gordon has finally been able to let go a little. Anthony Caine is the official manager - something he's good at, and he's going to have to turn the company finances over to someone else or go crazy trying to keep up.
This is the first strip which mentions it:
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001781.php
John: I hear you’re in charge of the garage, the store and the restaurant.—Gordon’s made you the general manager.
Anthony: I am the manager, but I’m not much of a general.
Anthony has never been shown to be actually managing, just as Gordon’s business expands, but he’s the only car salesman. In the same strip sequence, there was some question as to the dynamic between Gordon and Anthony.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001756.php
Anthony: When they developed the land across the street, business went up over 100%. We don’t want to expand too far too fast—but Gordon has a lot of plans.
The implication was that when Gordon built the car dealership, he pretty much ditched the garage, the store and the restaurant to Anthony; and he has been making considerably more money selling cars. You could also read into it that Gordon made this move against Anthony’s wishes. Certainly the time Anthony took from work to chat with Dr. Patterson and the time he took to deal with the Howard Bunt trial are good indications these businesses have little or no need for Anthony Caine’s management. When you combine that with the fact Gordon sold his old house to Anthony for a song, you can easily get the impression that Gordon is going out of his way to support Anthony, and getting little in return.
The only thing which stands in the way of that assessment, is this letter:
John's Letter, October 2006
Hmmm, I'll have to discuss the details with Anthony. He is a pretty sharp fellah when it comes to investments. Gordon has done a lot of expansion, each time a very good financial move. I used to give Gordon all the credit, but lately have learned that a lot of the ideas have actually come from Anthony, and Gordon just executes them. Amazing how teams evolve and each part of the team has different skills that complement those of others in the team. This allows them to accomplish things that no one could have imagined or that they could have done on their own.
Considering we only saw John discussing the finances of buying the Stibbs' place with Deanna, there is some doubt about that letter. Also, in contrast to that assessment is this letter:
Mike's Letter, April 2004
Gordon Mayes is doing extremely well. He's paid off his house and the garage and has taken out a mortgage on both to develop the property next to the garage. It already had a small building on it and he was using the lot to display used cars, and renovated part of the building to showcase some of the new cars he has. Now he needs more space, and my dad, who is now a sort of partner in the business, is helping him to work out the details.
At this point, Anthony is working part time for Gordon doing his books, while he is getting his accounting degree. Somehow I don’t think the expansion was Anthony’s idea.
posted by howard at 10:38 AM
3 Comments:
And the retcons self-retcon. ;)
I hate when John says "fella."
May 2's comic was the best in a while Liz has become my least favourite Patterson. I can't help but feel a certain arrest made by the Karma Police today!
After having led multiple men on for years without being considerate enough to be honest with them, at last she finally gets a taste of her own medicine!
I enjoyed today's strip also. It was the best with Liz since the time last year when Vivian Crane laid into her for making all her plans for the future without including Paul in them.
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