Billy DeClercq, Esq. - a real lawyer - invites comedians and improvisers to discuss real legal cases and concepts. He helps them dissect the case, then they throw it in the improv blender to create comedic magic in completely original scenes. Then, Billy throws off his gloves and goes for the jugular by asking heavyweight questions to find out what makes his guests tick.
Attention: This is a machine-generated transcript. As such, there may be spelling, grammar, and accuracy errors throughout. Thank you for your understanding!
Speaker1: [00:00:03] From the beyond a reasonable Doubt studios. In association with fight no production.
[00:00:11] It's lay down the law.
Speaker1: [00:00:19] With your host, Billy the Clerk.
Speaker2: [00:00:22] Hey, that's me.
Speaker1: [00:00:23] Yeah, that's right. Billy, that's you. Featuring Henry David. And Pia Smith. Only a mad man would dare to bring these people together to build a world of law and order only to tear it apart with laughter. That mad man is attorney Billy de Klerk. The result is a podcast blasted to the farthest reaches of the Internet. That podcast is this one, and it starts right now.
Speaker2: [00:00:55] Welcome to Laying Down the Law Earmark Edition, the Law and Comedy podcast hosted by me.
Speaker3: [00:01:00] The unacknowledged bastard.
Speaker2: [00:01:02] Child of Sam Kinison and Karen Bass. Billy Dee Clark. Welcome. I'd like to welcome.
Speaker3: [00:01:08] My returning guests. First, he's an actor, improviser and writer, originally from.
Speaker2: [00:01:13] Washington, D.C..
Speaker3: [00:01:15] A graduate from UC Riverside in art history and film, and he's part of the indie improv team, Rae Propellers. He is the hysterically funny.
Speaker2: [00:01:24] Henry David.
Speaker1: [00:01:25] Yes.
Speaker2: [00:01:29] And my second guest is a costume.
Speaker3: [00:01:32] Designer with five stars on Poshmark. She's a comic and improviser and an actor from the Upright Citizens Brigade, Second City, Hollywood. And she can.
Speaker2: [00:01:40] Be seen on American.
Speaker3: [00:01:41] Gangster Trap.
Speaker2: [00:01:42] Queens. Please welcome the hilarious Pia Smith.
Speaker4: [00:01:46] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker2: [00:01:49] Great to.
Speaker4: [00:01:49] Be back.
Speaker2: [00:01:50] Oh, absolutely. I'm thrilled to have you on the show. But first, the word from our sponsor and we're back. All right. Are we ready to.
Speaker3: [00:01:57] Get into.
Speaker1: [00:01:57] It? Oh, yeah.
Speaker2: [00:01:58] Yeah, right.
Speaker3: [00:02:00] This week's case has to do with partnership. You know, the thing you got to know about partnership is the only ship that doesn't sail is a partnership.
Speaker2: [00:02:07] Ah ha ha. Can we get our rim shot in there? Oh.
Speaker3: [00:02:14] That's horrible. So this is a case out of New Jersey in 1945.
Speaker2: [00:02:20] The case is Fenwick.
Speaker3: [00:02:21] Against Unemployment Compensation Committee. But before we talk about Fenwick, do either of you have any experiences with partnerships, good or bad, or in between?
Speaker1: [00:02:32] I had a partnership for about two years. She we just it didn't work out between her and I. And I haven't been in a relationship since. That was about a decade ago.
Speaker4: [00:02:45] Oh, you mean like a real romantic partnership?
Speaker1: [00:02:49] Yeah, that's what we're talking about, right?
Speaker4: [00:02:51] Oh, okay. I. I had what should have been a partnership, and I was so I was too young and naive to be sure that it was classified as such. Like just as I was as my senior year of college. And I met this, well, gentleman who was starting a publication. And so we went into business together publishing this like it was a great idea for the time. This was years ago, but at the time there wasn't like an inclusive publication that spoke to all of the different campuses around Los Angeles, like all the different college campuses. So we had created this magazine that would do that. Long story short, that was my very my really bad experience with the partnership.
Speaker3: [00:03:44] So you didn't you didn't make money. You could retire.
Speaker4: [00:03:47] I lost every dime that I have, which is a perfect way to start my post. College life did not. Yeah, I didn't get to retire off of that one.
Speaker3: [00:03:59] Yeah. You know, sometimes what you say about a partnership is that partnership starts out with one person, with a with a great idea and no money. And another person with. With money. Oh, no, that's not. That's not what it is. You know, one person, one partner has experience and the other person has money, and by the end, they change places.
Speaker4: [00:04:24] Oh, wow. Mm hmm. Didn't really change places, but we. It leveled.
Speaker2: [00:04:30] Out. Yeah.
Speaker3: [00:04:32] Yeah. You ended up with experience and no money.
Speaker4: [00:04:37] Yes.
Speaker3: [00:04:39] It's kind of interesting how this case arises. It comes up in the context of unemployment insurance, but that's got nothing to do with the case. Really. The reason it has nothing to do with the case really, is because the question is whether this one employee or partner is an employee or partner. So whether one. R-line Cheshire was from January 1st, 1939 to January 1st, 1942. A partner or an employee? Of Fenwick, John Fenwick, who was doing business as the United. Beauty Shop.
Speaker1: [00:05:15] These names are so old school.
Speaker2: [00:05:17] They are. They're very old timey.
Speaker1: [00:05:19] Arline Cheshire and Fenwick Fenwick.
Speaker4: [00:05:23] Sure. I'm dying to find out about this beauty business in 1939.
Speaker3: [00:05:29] 1939 to 1942. And the reason is that if she's an employee, she's the eighth employee, which means he had to get insurance and he didn't have insurance. He said she's a partner. And so if she's a partner, she's a co-owner. So you don't have to have worker's comp insurance for her. And so whether or not he is in trouble for not having insurance depends on whether she's a partner or an employee. So he's arguing that she was my partner.
Speaker2: [00:05:56] Not the employee.
Speaker3: [00:05:57] Yes.
Speaker4: [00:05:57] I'm just really curious, how long had these institutions even like how long had unemployment insurance been around at that point?
Speaker1: [00:06:08] That must have been a it must have been a New Deal thing.
Speaker4: [00:06:11] That's what I think. Yeah. I'm thinking of just relatively new. Right. It hadn't. And I know what you mean when you say New Deal. I didn't mean new as in, you know what I mean? Yeah. Any idea, like when that stuff had become American?
Speaker1: [00:06:28] I'm going to guess this is what I'm going to guess. It was a part of a social safety net that FDR implemented. And I want to say that it was implemented. You've got mail in 1935.
Speaker4: [00:06:44] How did he do? How did he do, Billy?
Speaker1: [00:06:45] It's completely just I'm just extrapolating.
Speaker4: [00:06:48] I love it. I love it. Yeah. See, I've been out of college too long to be able to put those sorts of facts together. So I'm counting on you youngins.
Speaker1: [00:07:00] I do know that the I think it's the 22nd Amendment. So two term presidencies, it wasn't in law, but people just kind of they went by that convention and then FDR kind of took it too far.
Speaker4: [00:07:14] And so they didn't he do like four or three and a half or three and a fourth or something like that?
Speaker1: [00:07:19] Yeah, he won four terms. I think he died in his fourth term.
Speaker3: [00:07:21] So in 1932, you're you're right on Henry. In 1932, during the Great Depression, it was actually Wisconsin was the first state to bring unemployment insurance into law. I knew that off the top of my head with no wow computer.
Speaker4: [00:07:34] So.
Speaker3: [00:07:34] Smart. And it had been on a voluntary basis in some states, but it was the first time it was formalized. California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Utah and Washington were shortly thereafter. And in 1935, as Henry predicted, FDR signed the Social Security Act, which created plans for unemployment insurance and encouraged states to form their own unemployment insurance laws. So 1935 is the right year. So the unemployment insurance laws had been in place about ten years. So this is relatively novel. Question Of course, the existence of a partnership goes back much, much further. If I know one thing about businesses is that they like to game the system and pay as little insurance as possible.
Speaker4: [00:08:18] Oh, come.
Speaker3: [00:08:18] On. Something happens and then they want to pay, have the insurance.
Speaker1: [00:08:22] So just a quick clarification. So they needed as a partnership, they needed to pay eight employees worth of insurance or I guess that's where I'm kind of lost is.
Speaker3: [00:08:36] The reason that this case comes up in front of the court. Fenwick didn't have unemployment insurance. If you had eight employees or more, you were required to have it. If you had fewer than eight, you didn't have to have it. He basically says, Well, this Miss Cheshire was my business partner.
Speaker4: [00:08:53] And not a.
Speaker3: [00:08:53] Business partner. She's not an employee. So because I because she's a partner and not an employee, we're exempt from unemployment insurance. And there should be no penalty on me for not having it because I only had seven employees during the time in question, not eight. And the Unemployment Insurance Commission says, no, she's your employee. The question in the case is whether this Cheshire is a partner or an employee in the beauty shop. And so the purpose of this case, for those of you who are listening for continuing education. The purpose of this case, for.
Speaker2: [00:09:26] The purpose for continuing.
Speaker3: [00:09:28] Education credits is thinking about whether a partnership relationship is formed when it's formed or whether someone's an employee. These are general principles that could vary from state to state based upon state laws. But but these are general legal principles. So Fenwick had created the Beauty Shop in Newark, New Jersey, in November of 1936. Mr. Cheshire had been hired as a cashier or as a reception clerk in 37 or 38. So before she became a quote unquote partner, she brought customers in. She took their orders for the services to be performed and she collected the money. It was a first come, first serve kind of beauty shop, no appointments. And she got $15 a week. And she continued that salary until December of 1938 when she asked for a raise. So this is when it all changed. He said, Well, you know, I can give you a raise if we are making more money. And they they came up with this agreement and they called the agreement an agreement of partnership. So they said we're partners. And they actually they had a lawyer draw up their contract. And the contract said we become a partners as of January 1st, 1939. The business of the partnership will be this beauty shop. The name of the Beauty shop will be United Beauty Shop. By the way, it's a shop. Pee shop.
Speaker4: [00:10:46] Oh.
Speaker2: [00:10:47] Nancy is a fancy shop.
Speaker1: [00:10:48] Yeah, it's French, you know.
Speaker2: [00:10:51] Shop.
Speaker3: [00:10:52] Mrs. Cheshire does not have to put any money in. She's not a capital investment partner. She's sweat equity partner, as they call it. Fenwick is in charge of the control and management of the business. And Ms.. Cheshire will continue to be a cashier in reception clerk with $15 a week and a bonus at the end of the year of 20% of net profits if the business warrants it.
Speaker1: [00:11:15] If the business warrants it. Interesting.
Speaker3: [00:11:16] And only Fenwick is liable for the debts of the partnership. There's both supposed to devote all their best efforts and time to the shop. Each can look at the books and records, and the salary of Fenwick is $50 a week, and at the end of the year he gets 80% of the profits. And it will continue until either party gives ten days notice of termination. That is the agreement of partnership. They called themselves partners. They said they were partners. What is essentially the partnership? It seems that what Mr. Cheshire is getting is a profit sharing at the end of the year. If the net profits, if.
Speaker2: [00:11:52] The business.
Speaker3: [00:11:52] Warrants it, which that sounds like some wiggle words to me.
Speaker1: [00:11:56] Boy, what does that even mean?
Speaker2: [00:11:58] Business doesn't warrant it.
Speaker4: [00:12:00] Do we know if they had an existing relationship prior to this employment or a partnership?
Speaker3: [00:12:07] She was an employee previously, so she had been working in the shop for for about a year or a year and a half or so as a.
Speaker4: [00:12:15] I guess, I mean, do we know if they knew each other outside of that beforehand?
Speaker3: [00:12:19] Oh, like a social relationship?
Speaker2: [00:12:20] Well, I think we.
Speaker3: [00:12:20] Ought to make one up.
Speaker4: [00:12:24] Don't you? I'm just like, Why? I'm just trying to figure out why that would be something that that person would consider. What I mean.
Speaker3: [00:12:32] Yeah. Like.
Speaker4: [00:12:33] Mean there had to be, like, a level of trust beyond just.
Speaker2: [00:12:37] Yeah. Like, what's more going on here.
Speaker4: [00:12:39] I'll give you.
Speaker3: [00:12:40] Yeah. Give you, give you a profit maybe.
Speaker1: [00:12:44] Does that but that, that partnership, it sounds a little irregular or non traditional. I mean it seems the partnerships don't seem to be that lopsided in terms of 2080 and.
Speaker3: [00:12:57] Yeah, well definitely Fenwick has you know, he's in control and management. He's paid three times more than three times as she makes he's the you know, he's responsible for the debts, but she's not bringing in any money either. And she's working as a receptionist in the shop just the same. So I think this is you know, they look at the they look at this agreement. And so, you know, you're balancing your scales of justice. And on the side of the scales of justice, on the side of this is a partnership is the fact that they're calling it a partnership. And she's supposed to get some of the profit at the end of the year. And the court's going to look at the other factors and say, well, maybe it's not a partnership because of these other aspects. So they continued in this partnership relationship until January 1st of 1942, when Ms.. Cheshire decided decided she wanted to stay home with her child, the Unemployment Insurance Commission decided that this was nothing more than a employment agreement. It was just fixing her compensation. As an employee from the unemployment commission. They went to the the court and they say, no, they weren't. She wasn't an employee, their partners. And they said essentially, no, they're partners. And the reason they're partners is because they said they were partners. They called it a partnership. And they said, you know, the other factors surrounding it isn't enough to overcome this agreement that they had that were partners. This court says, well, we're going to have to make a decision here as to whether they are or. Partners. So in order to determine whether they are or aren't partners, they consider a number of elements or factors.
Speaker4: [00:14:31] Can I stop if I'm. Please forgive me. I may have. I just. Maybe I lost track here. I'm not understanding how unemployment ever really came into it. So she. She wants to stay home with her child.
Speaker3: [00:14:53] Yeah. So there's kind of two things going on here at once. The reason that this case comes up. Is because he didn't pay it for insurance.
Speaker4: [00:15:02] Right. But who how did that even become an issue? Because he's already in that like area where he's safe. He's got seven employees and one partner did someone I mean, how did that come into question?
Speaker2: [00:15:14] Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker3: [00:15:16] It doesn't necessarily tell us here how that.
Speaker4: [00:15:19] But it did somehow unemployment is involved in there. They're trying to say no, no, no.
Speaker2: [00:15:25] Yeah. I mean, typically unemployment.
Speaker3: [00:15:27] Yeah. The unemployment insurance division that audit employers and things like that.
Speaker4: [00:15:31] To see if there I see it.
Speaker3: [00:15:32] Okay so I think this is coming I'm sort of speculating here, but I think this is coming out of a situation where they're taking a look at this guy. They see they have he's got eight people working there and he's not paying for his insurance. And so they're like, hey, dude, you got to pay for insurance. And he says, Oh, no, no, no, no. I don't have eight employees. I have seven employees and a partner. And they say, that's not a partner.
Speaker4: [00:15:56] You're like, Nice try, buddy.
Speaker3: [00:15:57] Nice try. So she doesn't care. She has. She doesn't have a dog in the fight. She's not even part of the case. She it's this is about her, but it's not involving her in any way. This is about Fenwick, who doesn't want to pay for insurance. And the insurance commission that wants Fenwick to pay for insurance.
Speaker2: [00:16:13] Got it.
Speaker1: [00:16:14] And it's cheaper for him to give her whatever percentage he gave her than to pay out that insurance.
Speaker4: [00:16:21] Unemployment for everybody in the in the salon. Yeah.
Speaker3: [00:16:25] I mean, it could be that's why he he decided to do that. It could also be that he was, you know, found himself a clever way of not giving her a raise, but giving her a raise at the same time. Maybe he meant to give her a raise. He thought she deserved it. But, you know, he wanted to, you know, 20% of the profit. I don't know how profitable a beauty shop was in 1939, but it could have been significant. So they have this agreement and the Unemployment Insurance Commission says that's just a profit sharing. That's an employee profit sharing plan. That's all that is. That's not a partnership because she has no real control. She's not a manager. She doesn't get to continue to own the partnership after she stops working there. She gets ten days notice and she's out of the partnership and he keeps it. And so the appellate court says, we think that the Supreme Court below us. The Supreme Court is not the Supreme Court up above us. There's a Supreme Court below us. We think they're wrong. The Unemployment Insurance Commission is right. This is not a partnership. And we look at a number of different factors to test this out. We're weighing all the factors and the circumstances to come to some kind of conclusion as to whether what we call this. Of course, we look at the agreement of the parties. It does matter that they had this intention, and it's clear here that there was this written agreement. It's clear here that they had it drawn up by a lawyer. They called it a partnership. They said it was a partnership. And they put this testimony of Fenwick in my business associations, casebook and I always love to read testimony because it's.
Speaker2: [00:18:05] Just so fun.
Speaker3: [00:18:08] Let's see. The question was, when was she first hired by you guys from New Jersey? So I'm going to do my best. Ray Liotta.
Speaker4: [00:18:15] Great.
Speaker2: [00:18:16] Good. That is wouldn't what I said was either 1937 or 1938, I can't say definitely what it was without looking it up. I couldn't give you the exact date. And she felt as though she was not getting enough money. Well, we were doing a lot of business, but the prices were very, very low at the time. It was in the Depression. You had to bring prices down to get business. And I told her I did not want to lose her because she was a very good girl in the office and say what I needed. And I told her I couldn't see where I was. I could afford to give her any more and I did not want to lose her. So I went back and forth, back and forth. And finally I said, Look, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. If we make any more money, I will pay you more if you want to go along on that agreement. And that is where the partnership thing came in. That's how we started to be in the partnership concern at that time, and that was when it was all discussed and arranged. That's the Enigma code. That's Fenwick. That's how he talks.
Speaker3: [00:19:26] Thank you. Oh, please. Oh, please, stop.
Speaker2: [00:19:29] It's too.
Speaker1: [00:19:29] Much. Beautiful.
Speaker3: [00:19:31] Yeah. The court says. Well, it sounds like this is a possibility of an increase in compensation, but he only had to pay it if the business warranted it. So it was the whole they say the whole point here we look at this testimony is clear that she was just asking for more money and he didn't have it. And so he was just looking for kind of an excuse or a way to do it. So it's just a financial relationship for compensation. That's what they really had in mind. And January 1st, 1939, the day of this partnership, nothing changed. She kept doing the exact same thing. She kept being a receptionist and he kept being the boss. He kept running the business. And so their intention while they said, Oh, well, it's a partnership, it really even though they called it a partnership, it wasn't a partnership because she had no control in the business at all. She was still a receptionist and she just, you know, might get more money, maybe if he decided to give it to her at the end of the year. So that's the main factor, is that they say the words of the parties don't matter. It's their intention. The intention of the words wasn't to create a partnership in the legal sense.
Speaker1: [00:20:39] Did it ever get far enough along the partnership where she was paid out from profit share?
Speaker4: [00:20:46] Yes. Yes, that was my question.
Speaker3: [00:20:49] That is a good question. There's no facts in this case saying that she was paid under those terms. I don't think.
Speaker1: [00:20:55] So.
Speaker3: [00:20:56] I think it was just a you know, we'll pay it if I pay it if I can. Yeah. So I don't think he actually paid her anything. And that may have been a that may have been an important factor, too.
Speaker1: [00:21:04] Interesting.
Speaker3: [00:21:05] Yeah. So, so they go through these several different elements. One of the things they say is, is basic to a partnership is the right to share in profits and that it did exist here. We have this profit sharing agreement 8020 if there are any profits. But they say that doesn't necessarily make it a partnership. A profit sharing agreement isn't necessarily a partnership. You cannot be partners. And you can say, I'm going to you know, you could think of like a loan situation. You know, I'm going to give you I'm going to give you $100,000 to start up your business. And you don't have to pay me back unless you make money. But if you make money, I want isn't that Shark Tank? Isn't that basically what they do in Shark Tank?
Speaker1: [00:21:42] Oh, yeah. They pay for a share in your company. They're not just giving you money.
Speaker3: [00:21:46] Yeah. So? So they're not going to run the business at all. They're not going to be your partner. They're just.
Speaker2: [00:21:51] Guessing.
Speaker4: [00:21:52] That's sort of good negotiation. I don't want them to make this about Shark Tank, but but it's usually like part of the negotiation is how involved they are going to be in the in the running of the business as investors.
Speaker3: [00:22:04] Yeah yeah yeah you say and you know I don't I don't want to be told what to do so it's a it's a, it's a question that the point here being that profit sharing doesn't necessarily make it a partnership, not it there are different issues. Certainly if you have profit sharing, it starts looking more like a partnership. Doesn't necessarily mean it is one.
Speaker1: [00:22:21] Is there such a thing as a partnership without profit sharing? Hmm.
Speaker3: [00:22:26] Because without.
Speaker2: [00:22:28] Profit sharing. Well, I don't know what to. What the. What would the point be?
Speaker1: [00:22:31] Right. Right. That's what I was thinking.
Speaker2: [00:22:33] So I'm going to be your partner.
Speaker4: [00:22:36] What? Just for fun.
Speaker2: [00:22:38] Just for again. You know, I'm just thinking.
Speaker3: [00:22:41] About.
Speaker2: [00:22:42] It. I think it's I think it's I.
Speaker3: [00:22:45] Think that's the idea that that the partnership if you know, I'm trying to think of a situation where you want to become a partner with somebody and not want not get any of the upside. I guess that would be called marriage.
Speaker4: [00:23:00] Okay, we have to go.
Speaker2: [00:23:02] Kidding. Just kidding.
Speaker4: [00:23:04] Oh, for goodness sake.
Speaker3: [00:23:05] I didn't mean that.
Speaker2: [00:23:08] It's no.
Speaker3: [00:23:08] Financial, no financial upside. I mean, there is, but it's not part of the agreement.
Speaker4: [00:23:15] Mm hmm. This is interesting.
Speaker3: [00:23:17] Although, you know, one of the reasons that I don't that I don't do joint partnerships myself, as I say, I've got one partnership, and that's my spouse. And my focus is on making sure that that one's great.
Speaker1: [00:23:27] You got to. Yeah, You got to fulfill that agreement.
Speaker4: [00:23:29] Nice one. Yeah. I'm so. I mean, I'm trying. I don't want to, like, you know, dwell on the soap opera sort of aspect of this, but I can't help but think that. Something was going on.
Speaker2: [00:23:45] You know what? Seems like something going on.
Speaker4: [00:23:48] Like, hey, I need a raise. All right. The best thing for us to do is see what happens and see if we make more money.
Speaker2: [00:23:57] And at the end of the.
Speaker4: [00:23:58] Year, sounds like a. A way for him to keep having sex with her and not have to. You know.
Speaker2: [00:24:04] I mean I mean.
Speaker1: [00:24:05] This is a this is a 1930s business owner.
Speaker2: [00:24:10] I mean I mean, I don't know if it.
Speaker3: [00:24:11] Was my if it was my take on Fenwick.
Speaker2: [00:24:14] But as I'm reading the words, I'm like, this guy sounds a little shady to me. It sounds a little shady. I don't.
Speaker1: [00:24:20] Know. Fenwick The slick is what they used to call him.
Speaker2: [00:24:23] Yeah.
Speaker4: [00:24:23] Okay. Right, right, right. And I have to say that your. Your reading of his, like, your interpretation sort of pushed me further toward my assumption that something was going on.
Speaker2: [00:24:36] Well, you know the thing, right?
Speaker4: [00:24:37] It's great.
Speaker2: [00:24:38] It's text.
Speaker3: [00:24:39] So really, it's just that it's just like Shakespeare. It's like the words are working through me.
Speaker2: [00:24:46] Right? I didn't bring.
Speaker3: [00:24:48] A I didn't have a preconceived notion. I barely read this case. So it's just, you know, I chose I chose Ray Liotta, although it came out a little bit. Joe Pesci. But but you know what?
Speaker4: [00:24:58] Of a hybrid.
Speaker2: [00:24:59] Kind of hybrid.
Speaker4: [00:25:00] And if you if you've done it. Walter Cronkite I'd have been fully like, Yeah, Oh, the guy's on the oh, he's absolutely on the up and up good guy. Yeah, But yeah.
Speaker2: [00:25:13] I mean, also the.
Speaker3: [00:25:15] Fact that he calls her a very good girl, I think is kind of that's sort.
Speaker2: [00:25:18] Of he said she's a very good girl.
Speaker4: [00:25:21] Like really I didn't want to lose it.
Speaker2: [00:25:23] I'm like, I didn't want a loser. She was very good around the, you know, shot. So she wanted more money. But I figured out a way to make her wait an entire year.
Speaker4: [00:25:36] I'm just I'm sort of wondering about the other women in the shop. I mean, I'm presuming that they were.
Speaker3: [00:25:42] Yeah. And we are we are we.
Speaker4: [00:25:44] Positive sounding like like.
Speaker2: [00:25:47] He's a.
Speaker4: [00:25:47] Little sounding like a hostile work environment to me. I don't know. I just.
Speaker3: [00:25:52] Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker4: [00:25:54] I make these assumptions about I'm sure. Yeah.
Speaker3: [00:25:57] And, and staying home to spend more time with my children kind of.
Speaker2: [00:26:01] Does sound like, Oh.
Speaker4: [00:26:03] God.
Speaker2: [00:26:03] You know, maybe I don't want to work here anymore.
Speaker4: [00:26:06] And then, oh, my God, I don't even want to wonder about this pregnancy of hers. What? Yeah, about.
Speaker2: [00:26:12] That. Serious. Oh, my God. The scandal upon scandal. Upon scandal. We're heaping upon Minister Fenwick. Fenwick? Yeah.
Speaker4: [00:26:21] And she quietly goes away. He doesn't even want to speak. Yeah, I'm just this. I mean, not sounding good.
Speaker2: [00:26:29] She stuck around.
Speaker3: [00:26:30] With this, quote unquote partnership for two years, and she got bupkis. So she was like, Oh, no, three years. She was a partner. Oh, she got nothing, really.
Speaker1: [00:26:39] Wow.
Speaker3: [00:26:39] She got nothing.
Speaker1: [00:26:41] So that sounds like somebody who's under duress or something.
Speaker3: [00:26:46] Yeah, we're all feeling we're feeling for Cheshire right here. Nobody. There's no there's no Fenwick Fenwick protectors here. There's no he doesn't he doesn't have an advocate.
Speaker4: [00:26:55] In this room. Is there any more dialog from him?
Speaker2: [00:26:58] I'm fortunate. Not.
Speaker3: [00:26:59] I wish there was.
Speaker1: [00:27:01] Yeah. You know, I don't. I don't know anything about myself. I just want to be. I want to be around women. So I want to be. I want to be in the shop. I open the shop.
Speaker2: [00:27:13] I open the shop. It's a beauty shop because I like to be around the beauties. That's why I like the beauties. And I didn't put out. It's not an ugly shop.
Speaker4: [00:27:24] Guys. Imagine. So the teams of women coming through there on the daily, weekly, monthly.
Speaker2: [00:27:30] This guy Fenwick's kind of.
Speaker4: [00:27:32] Overweight he no good balding 33.
Speaker1: [00:27:35] Yeah he doesn't he has alopecia he doesn't have hair Yeah anything about.
Speaker2: [00:27:40] Hair It just basically drooling on.
Speaker3: [00:27:42] His shirt all the.
Speaker2: [00:27:42] Time, you know, way we've turned him into a monster. Fuck that guy. Make him pay his insurance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, well, here's the other.
Speaker3: [00:27:58] Thing the court said is important in determining whether they are partners.
Speaker2: [00:28:02] The sharing of losses.
Speaker3: [00:28:04] Now, one thing in Mr. Fenwick's favor we will say is that he didn't make her bear the losses, if there were any. And here the agreement explicitly says she's not on the hook for the losses. So only if there's profit, then maybe she'll get a 20% of that profit if he wants to pay it. So that's the second factor or third factor. The next factor. Fourth factor I'd say is is the ownership and control of the partnership property. And here they say, look, it's really obvious she didn't put any money in. She didn't own the shop, she didn't run anything, she didn't buy supplies. She didn't have she had no ownership in it, really. And when she left, she didn't take anything with her. So she doesn't have a real ownership or real control in the partnership. And then they look at the power to administer that is like to, you know, who's who, who runs the management, who's in charge, who decides. Usually a partner is the person is a person in charge. They're a person that makes decisions. They have some authority. And here they say this isn't the case. They cite to a case called Vorhees and say, you know, the person doesn't have any of the prerogatives of a principal in the management control of the business. And if it's not your prerogative, you can't do what you want to do.
Speaker4: [00:29:10] Everybody's talking. Sorry, go.
Speaker2: [00:29:13] Ahead. That was a little shout.
Speaker3: [00:29:15] I was there was a little shout out there.
Speaker1: [00:29:19] But, you know, it's funny because he if he incurred losses, they would have been the same with or without that partnership. So it's not really. I don't see how that helps his case at all.
Speaker3: [00:29:34] Right, Right. I mean, this agreement, I think, is the only thing that really helps them in the agreement, is that the word partnership is in it. So basically, the court says, you know, the language of the agreement, they call themselves partner and they call the business a partnership, but the agreement gives her no rights at all.
Speaker4: [00:29:52] Well, she is setting those appointments.
Speaker2: [00:29:54] She's setting a point.
Speaker3: [00:29:55] Absolutely. She's saying. But she's got no.
Speaker4: [00:29:57] Control of when people come in and out of the shop.
Speaker2: [00:30:00] Right. But if she's truly a partner, she's like, you know, what do you think? We get rid of the extra P and E in a shopping? I just call it a shop instead of shop.
Speaker4: [00:30:09] Right, Right.
Speaker2: [00:30:11] And Fenwick's, like, look, I paid for the marquee, I paid for the extra p, I paid for the x three. It's a class joint. We're keeping the P and the E at the end. All right.
Speaker4: [00:30:21] Fancy.
Speaker2: [00:30:22] It. Fancy.
Speaker1: [00:30:24] I got I got two bees for the price of one. I mean, I had to.
Speaker2: [00:30:27] Think I went to the I went to the, I went to the signpost maker and they're like, listen, I know you don't have an E, but we got this extra.
Speaker3: [00:30:36] E laying around. It's the most.
Speaker2: [00:30:37] Common letter in the alphabet. We're going to give you a two P's for the price of one. If you buy an E, it's like, I'll buy a vowel.
Speaker1: [00:30:47] Oh, man, that's a whole different world marking letter buying that read.
Speaker4: [00:30:52] What else do we know?
Speaker3: [00:30:53] Another factor the court looks at is how do they act toward third parties? And here they say, okay, one factor that cuts toward it being a partnership is that the tax returns they filed were actually partnership tax returns.
Speaker4: [00:31:05] Oh.
Speaker3: [00:31:06] For income taxes. They they held themselves out as partners. Fenwick reported on his income tax return, that his income came for the partnership. But they didn't inform any of their vendors that they were partners. It was just Fenwick or the Beauty Shop.
Speaker4: [00:31:19] Is that a big deal?
Speaker3: [00:31:21] Well, if you're holding it out to third parties that it's not a partnership, then it doesn't seem like it is.
Speaker4: [00:31:25] Okay.
Speaker3: [00:31:25] They're kind of batting things around. They didn't they didn't inform people. They said, well, it's not necessary.
Speaker2: [00:31:31] And he says because all the purchases were cash, we didn't need credit. We just paid for everything in cash.
Speaker1: [00:31:40] All right.
Speaker3: [00:31:41] So so.
Speaker1: [00:31:42] That's when they put there with tax.
Speaker2: [00:31:45] Evasion. I'm starting to think maybe, maybe Fenwick's laundering money out of this beauty.
Speaker4: [00:31:50] By just I mean, my God, can he get any sleazier?
Speaker2: [00:31:54] I know.
Speaker4: [00:31:54] He's. Were they bootlegging in the back? I mean, Jesus.
Speaker3: [00:31:58] Yeah. The name of the shop, the United Beauty Shop. He had gotten from one Florence Meola. He was basically paying this Florence Meola to use the name United Beauty Shop. So that was in his name, not in the partnership's name is a rental of the very excellent trade name, United Beauty Shop.
Speaker1: [00:32:14] I love that name was I mean.
Speaker3: [00:32:16] They also look at what happens when the partnership breaks up. It's called dissolution when a partnership dissolves. And in this case, the partnership was exactly the same as if she had quit a job. She stopped working and she stopped getting compensation and everything went the way it was before she had become a partner when she was just a receptionist. And so they look at everything and they say the burdens on the employer in this case, because it's worker's comp, the burdens on the employer of proving it a partnership, and we just don't think so. They're not the definition of a partnership. This is go back goes back to Henry's question. The Uniform Partnership Act is an association of two or more people to carry on as co-owners, a business for profit. So the element of co ownership is what's really lacking in this case. They are carrying on the business for profit, but there's really no co ownership. He got everything back when she was out and ownership is basically conclusively shown here to be just in Fenwick. And they say the law says if you're paid profits, that doesn't necessarily mean you're a partner. It says no inference of partnership is drawn if the profits are received as wages of an employee. So the inference here, inference being the conclusion you draw from facts. The inference here is that the profit, the 20% that she's supposed to get is an employee's wages profit sharing agreement. So the outcome is 7 to 5. Seven of the judges said this should be reversed and five said it should be affirmed. That is Fenwick against unemployment insurance.
Speaker1: [00:33:47] This reminds me, I don't know if this is a an appropriate analogy, but when people get married for citizenship, oftentimes there will be some type of case worker to come into the the abode to establish whether or not it's an actual relationship. And the way they do that, from what I understand, is they'll see if there's common property ownership within the dwelling, you know, or does he or she have belongings there, etc., etc., to establish that it's actually an actual good faith partnership? You know, their.
Speaker3: [00:34:29] Chicken, they're checking the bathroom drawers for.
Speaker4: [00:34:31] Toothpaste. Right. Essentially just hanging out for the time for the moment. Okay. Wow. Interesting.
Speaker3: [00:34:37] I mean, you know, that could be I could get kind of intrusive. But yeah, it's the same thing. It's it's it's we're going to the idea being here, we're going to look past the label of something, what you're choosing to call it, and we're going to say what it is under the law.
Speaker4: [00:34:50] What are yeah, what are the clues.
Speaker3: [00:34:53] The factors? What are the factors?
Speaker4: [00:34:55] The elements we're looking at not not with. Yeah.
Speaker3: [00:34:58] So in the case of partnership, ownership or control. So in another episode, we talked about people creating a partnership inadvertently without meaning to and you can create a partnership inadvertently without meaning to and that can create problems as well. Here you have someone intending to create a partnership or or suggesting that they're creating a partnership and the court saying, no, you.
Speaker1: [00:35:21] Didn't really know.
Speaker4: [00:35:22] Yeah.
Speaker3: [00:35:23] No, you didn't. You said you did. You didn't. You said you did, but you didn't.
Speaker1: [00:35:29] What a what a sassy judge.
Speaker2: [00:35:31] Yeah.
Speaker4: [00:35:34] Duty or something. I'm just not.
Speaker3: [00:35:36] Yeah, it's like, it's like three generations up from Judge Judy.
Speaker2: [00:35:39] Now, you didn't date on my leg and say I'm raining. Don't don't, don't pee on my leg, and I'll say it's raining. All right, all right, all right, get. You didn't. You said you drove the car. You did. All right. I might. Right. I'm Judge. I'm Judge SAS.
Speaker1: [00:35:58] Judge, That's. That's a good. I like that. That should be. That should be a 1990 judge SAS. Sas. Yeah.
Speaker4: [00:36:08] It would be. It would be really fun to, like, go back to old cases and deal with them in the way that like some cheesy Court TV judge.
Speaker1: [00:36:24] Yeah. Wearing a wig like a white shirt.
Speaker4: [00:36:28] That's hilarious. Oh, my God.
Speaker2: [00:36:30] Yeah. So we open on a.
Speaker3: [00:36:32] Suburban home in eastern Detroit.
Speaker2: [00:36:36] Judge Sasse has walked through the door wearing his wig and his long robe. Honey, I'm home. Or am I? That's the audience cracks up. That's the.
Speaker4: [00:36:50] Catchphrase.
Speaker2: [00:36:51] From justice. Yeah. You've got to make dinner. Or didn't you? No, you didn't. Yeah. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. You said you did. You didn't. Yes, you did. You didn't.
Speaker1: [00:37:03] Yeah. After. After every punch line, the protagonist looks towards the end of the fourth wall. The punch line.
Speaker2: [00:37:11] Look, it did yet, didn't. Wow. It's a 90 sitcom. They got to have a catchphrase, right? You said you did, but you didn't.
Speaker1: [00:37:21] Yeah. Mm hmm. My favorite was. Did I do that?
Speaker2: [00:37:24] Did I do that? Yeah, That's a classic. That's a good one. Whoo! What are we going to do, Rachel? What are we going to do?
Speaker4: [00:37:39] I didn't watch sitcoms in the nineties. So that was that was.
Speaker3: [00:37:43] That was David Schwimmer.
Speaker2: [00:37:45] No. What are we going to do?
Speaker4: [00:37:48] Yeah. I've never been to RAF. I've never seen a single episode of Friends.
Speaker2: [00:37:53] Not one not missing anything.
Speaker4: [00:37:55] So they say. Or actually, some people say it would say save my life would turn me around.
Speaker1: [00:38:01] Mm hmm. Mm hmm. I've seen enough clips to equate one episode, but in length, not in continuity. So I've seen, like, parts of different episodes.
Speaker4: [00:38:12] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker1: [00:38:16] So, Mr.. Ms.. Chester. How are you doing today?
Speaker4: [00:38:25] I'm. I'm actually doing fantastic.
Speaker1: [00:38:29] You look. You look. You look great.
Speaker4: [00:38:35] Stop it. Are you. Are you flirting with me, Mr. Fenwick?
Speaker1: [00:38:41] Oh, you're my favorite. My favorite employee.
Speaker4: [00:38:46] Mr. Fenwick. Well, I just. If I could brag just a little bit, I'd like to show you the appointment book.
Speaker1: [00:38:54] You know how much I like. I like business. I'm a businessman.
Speaker4: [00:38:59] Well, I know how excited you get when I show it to you. So. All right. Let's take a look at Tuesday.
Speaker1: [00:39:06] All right.
Speaker4: [00:39:09] So you see here, 9 a.m.. We have three colored cats.
Speaker2: [00:39:15] Hmm.
Speaker4: [00:39:17] And oh, my goodness.
Speaker1: [00:39:18] Now, now, the three colored that you're going to have to slow that down. That's nomenclature that goes over my head. Three colored cuts is the remaining.
Speaker4: [00:39:30] I know. I'm sorry. I know you love this part. What a color and cut is, is when we take a.
Speaker2: [00:39:37] Product.
Speaker4: [00:39:38] And we apply it to the hair and that changes the color of the person's hair. And once we've done that, we give them a fancy haircut at the shop.
Speaker1: [00:39:53] Oh, well, this, you know, I don't know what I would do without you just because you know what? I don't I don't have hair. Clearly, I'm. I'm bald. And so that's why I have you ladies flocking around me to.
Speaker4: [00:40:11] Yeah, we've all been talking about ways that we can work on something for you. You just say the word and we'll fix you up with a fancy wig.
Speaker2: [00:40:26] Hi, Mr. Fenwick. Hi, Ms.. Chester. I'm here for my weekly cut color.
Speaker1: [00:40:31] Oh, good. Jennifer. Oh! Woo hoo!
Speaker2: [00:40:35] Oh, Mr. Fenwick, you're so sassy all the time.
Speaker4: [00:40:39] Oh, hi, Mrs. Broderick. You're actually an hour early.
Speaker2: [00:40:44] Oh, I wonder how I could kill an hour. Mr. Fenwick. What could I do? Should I just wait here under the blower?
Speaker4: [00:40:52] Oh, actually, Mrs. Broderick, what we would prefer is if you were to go down the street to the coffee shop and come back in time for your appointment in one hour.
Speaker2: [00:41:05] Oh, are you in charge of something, Ms.. Cheshire?
Speaker4: [00:41:09] I'm a partner here.
Speaker2: [00:41:12] Partner. Okay. Bring along anything.
Speaker1: [00:41:17] You know. You know, you didn't have to make her leave so quickly. I mean, she looked great in that sundress.
Speaker4: [00:41:23] I don't understand why you even would promote having her hang here in the shop for a full hour before her appointment starts.
Speaker1: [00:41:31] Well, you know, it just.
Speaker2: [00:41:33] Brings up the atmosphere.
Speaker4: [00:41:35] You know, a little slow right.
Speaker1: [00:41:36] Now. It's. But listen, I can I can see how look, I can see how that that might be.
Speaker2: [00:41:45] Yes.
Speaker4: [00:41:46] Mr. Fenwick. Look highly suspicious.
Speaker1: [00:41:52] I want to I want to tell you something. This chest. I see a sea of upset you. And it just so happens.
Speaker4: [00:42:01] Really upset.
Speaker1: [00:42:03] Look, I'm really.
Speaker4: [00:42:04] Upset, Mr. Fenwick.
Speaker1: [00:42:08] I can see that. You seem inconsolable right now. Let me. Women, they like things.
Speaker2: [00:42:17] Oh, hey, Chuck. Hey, Chuck. Hey, baby. Hey. How are you doing, Chuck?
Speaker1: [00:42:25] Hey, What's going.
Speaker2: [00:42:26] What's come? You know, it's 3:00 already. I've been down at the. I've been down at the the corner pub where all the guys are wondering where you are. We got a game of darts that we're getting ready to start. Where are you, buddy?
Speaker1: [00:42:39] You know, Barry, I'm a I'm a businessman now, okay? And my business is understanding that ladies need things like doing the hair.
Speaker2: [00:42:50] Oh, yeah. Hey, how you doing, putz? How you doing?
Speaker4: [00:42:53] Hello, Mr. Robinson.
Speaker2: [00:42:56] You could call me Barry.
Speaker4: [00:42:58] No, thank you, Mr. Robinson.
Speaker2: [00:43:00] Uh, Chuck, you got a real sassy one over there.
Speaker1: [00:43:03] Real sassy. Oh, that's how I like them. I love them nice and nice and sassy.
Speaker2: [00:43:08] Sassy. She's a good girl. She's a good girl.
Speaker4: [00:43:10] She's good. Robinson Are you going to be having a service today? Because otherwise we're going to have to ask you to leave.
Speaker2: [00:43:17] You know what I was thinking? Maybe we could continue talking about you as though you're not here. Is that what year? This is? 1939, right? We could do that, right?
Speaker1: [00:43:25] I mean, this is 1939 American oak. Oh.
Speaker2: [00:43:30] That's. Oh, excuse me for interrupting. Oh, excuse me.
Speaker4: [00:43:34] Oh, you make a good point. Go ahead and keep talking about me like I'm not here.
Speaker2: [00:43:39] Look, I know she's broken this kind of broken the vibe of that.
Speaker1: [00:43:43] Yeah. You know, it's. It's not. It's not the same. No, it's not the.
Speaker2: [00:43:46] We use the word vibe in 1939. I don't think we do.
Speaker1: [00:43:50] You know, like. No, I understand.
Speaker2: [00:43:52] It's like the vibration in the body.
Speaker1: [00:43:54] It's sort.
Speaker4: [00:43:55] Of a.
Speaker1: [00:43:56] One of those tree huggers that smoke that, that, that reefer. They talk about that stuff down the street.
Speaker2: [00:44:01] Reefer, that's a term that's very, very on point for 1939. I believe that is exactly the term that we use.
Speaker1: [00:44:07] Absolutely. I mean, it's madness. It's absolute madness. I mean, I'm an alcoholic.
Speaker2: [00:44:13] Yeah. I would never touch that stuff. Who would touch the rifle when you got the legal then you got the the legalize the alcohol, you know.
Speaker1: [00:44:22] Matter of fact, I have a little a little stuff. I got a little something here, a little Kentucky magic right here, if you want to take a little swig with me.
Speaker2: [00:44:31] Oh, I don't mind if I do it. Miss Miss Cheshire.
Speaker1: [00:44:35] Miss.
Speaker2: [00:44:36] You?
Speaker4: [00:44:37] Yes, Mrs. Robinson, do.
Speaker2: [00:44:39] You mind if we. Do you mind if we partake in front of you?
Speaker4: [00:44:43] Um, no, I don't. And you know what? Now that you have reminded me of my place in society at this time in our history, I would like to offer you a cup of coffee that I could prepare right here in the back for you.
Speaker2: [00:44:57] Hold on a second. You know something? You know something, Chuck? Oh, you know something, Chuck?
Speaker1: [00:45:03] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker2: [00:45:04] You know, I'm starting to have a thought.
Speaker1: [00:45:08] What? What I tell you about thoughts, Barry.
Speaker2: [00:45:12] They're not good. Usually I try to avoid it, but. But, you know, there's something that your partner over there said kind of made me think. You know, I'm not so sure, you know. Do you think the ladies like it when we talk about them like the not here because this one, she doesn't seem to like it all that much. I'm reading between the lines here, you know, but.
Speaker4: [00:45:31] I'm not even listening.
Speaker1: [00:45:33] You know what? Let's do a little. Let's do a little experiment.
Speaker2: [00:45:37] Okay, Well, try something different, Miss.
Speaker1: [00:45:39] Just what I would like you to do is I'd like you to have a conversation with Barry and leave me out, but talk about me as if I hear or not. Basically treat me as I. As if we were treating you.
Speaker2: [00:45:50] Okay. Oh, well, let's try that out. Let's see what that feels. Okay. All right. Hello? Hello, Mitch. Trisha. Hey. You look, um, very cute. Over. There you go. You're looking good.
Speaker4: [00:45:59] Barry Robinson. It's very important to me that you notice that. Have you spoken with my boss today or with my partner, Rather.
Speaker2: [00:46:11] You know. Is that the. The Phil over there? He's. He's looking nice over there.
Speaker3: [00:46:15] In his little, you know.
Speaker2: [00:46:16] Suspenders and whatnot. Look, a little sweaty. But you know what? Just talk about him like.
Speaker4: [00:46:22] He's fact that he doesn't have any hair. We all talk about how interesting it is that he owns a beauty shop, but he's he's bald as a jet ski.
Speaker2: [00:46:31] Yeah, I think they call that I think they call it irony. And also in 1939, we're very familiar with jet skis. Oh.
Speaker4: [00:46:39] Why keep forgetting about the difference between, you know, the things that I fantasize about and what the reality is here for me in 1939.
Speaker2: [00:46:51] But tell me more about these fantasy. Do they involve coming down to the corner, the corner pub and having a glass of whiskey with the other folks?
Speaker4: [00:47:01] Oh, well, my goodness. I wouldn't dare. I mean.
Speaker2: [00:47:05] I mean it's after 3:00.
Speaker4: [00:47:06] Thing would be would have no integrity would have. No I would, I would I well I would, I would bring shame to my family. I would be a strumpet. A harlot.
Speaker1: [00:47:18] You know, I'm not going to, you know.
Speaker2: [00:47:20] How did that feel for you?
Speaker1: [00:47:21] It's just this doesn't feel. It doesn't feel too good.
Speaker2: [00:47:25] It doesn't feel too good. All right, now, now you guys do it. Now, let me see how I feel. You guys do it and I'll listen. Are you talking to me like I'm not here? I just think. Ling Ling, I just walked in. Okay, You talk about me like I'm not here.
Speaker1: [00:47:37] You just take this. This whiskey away from me. Okay. I get you a forward in the press. I had almost half a bottle here. All right.
Speaker4: [00:47:46] Well, Mr. Robinson wants us to talk about him like he's not there. Yeah. So everybody knows that he hasn't had a job in like five years. And we don't know why his wife is tolerating that. That's crazy.
Speaker1: [00:48:01] And, you know, the crazy thing is, you know, I understand people are coffee, coffee enthusiasts, but, you know. You know what? Come in with coffee breath all the time. It's just it's. It's very.
Speaker2: [00:48:14] Unpleasant. It's horrible. Excuse me. Excuse me if I interrupt. I said you could talk about me as if I was not here, but I didn't necessarily mean insult me.
Speaker1: [00:48:23] Oh, well.
Speaker4: [00:48:25] These things insulting, Mr. Robinson.
Speaker2: [00:48:27] I mean. I mean, I don't think that coffee breath is considered a good thing. Even in 1939.
Speaker1: [00:48:36] A look. Look, look. You know, I took I took an acting class down downtown, and they told me, you know, really commit to the imagination, the imagine imaginary, if you will, situation. So.
Speaker2: [00:48:50] All right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I interrupted. You. See, I'll proceed as you please continue talking about me as though I'm not here. Yes.
Speaker4: [00:48:59] Hey.
Speaker2: [00:48:59] But just tone down the insults.
Speaker4: [00:49:02] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we, we, we won't say anything that's insulted the boss. I mean, partner, I'm really enjoying this role playing with you.
Speaker1: [00:49:13] You know, it's. It brings a lot of light to my life because, you know, things aren't good to good at home with. With the missus, as you know. But not as bad as Barry. Not as bad as Barry.
Speaker4: [00:49:28] Oh, I can't imagine it getting as bad as Mr. Robinson.
Speaker2: [00:49:31] Hey, I'm over here still. I can hear you. I got it.
Speaker4: [00:49:35] Oh, you watch. Oh, my God. You know what? Let. I think we should just go back to the way that makes the most sense, which is you to talking about me like I'm not here. I mean, that makes the most sense, right?
Speaker2: [00:49:50] Well, I don't know. I feel like now that I seen Perry, I can't go back to the farm, if you know what I'm saying.
Speaker1: [00:49:56] Oh, man, You. You talk like an educated man, Let me tell you.
Speaker2: [00:50:01] It's just, you know, it's that old song, you know? How are you going to get them back on the farm after they seen Perry?
Speaker1: [00:50:06] Yeah, I mean.
Speaker4: [00:50:08] I didn't know about that. That's a good one.
Speaker2: [00:50:11] It's a directly on point 1939 reference. I'm quite sure of it.
Speaker1: [00:50:15] That's pretty that's, it's pretty good. My, my.
Speaker2: [00:50:18] My point being. My point being I'm exploring the versions of my identity. Okay. Okay.
Speaker4: [00:50:25] Wow. How how deeply insightful, Mr. Robinson.
Speaker2: [00:50:29] Thank you. Thank you. Well, I'll be going now. Oh, no.
Speaker1: [00:50:35] Well.
Speaker2: [00:50:37] I got an idea, Chuck. Yeah. Maybe we just invite it down to the corner bar. What do you say? You closed up shop early. Oh, you are.
Speaker4: [00:50:49] Oh. I mean, are you still talking about me like I'm not here? Or am I?
Speaker1: [00:50:53] Here's the thing, Barry. Here's the thing. She. She's my partner. Okay. So I struck up this deal. Okay. Where she basically does the exact same job that I hired her to do, which is running the cash machine and occasionally putting her hands on some hat, and I don't pay her any. There's no more compensatory additions to her weekly pay. But I if we do make a profit if if big if 20% of the. A profit center. I get to deduct the insurance people while doing that.
Speaker2: [00:51:40] Well, let me ask you a question, Mr. Cheshire. Since I have evolved intensely during this conversation, how do you feel about that arrangement?
Speaker1: [00:51:54] We.
Speaker2: [00:51:55] Oh, she's not answering.
Speaker4: [00:51:56] Yeah. Miss. Oh, yeah. Look at me.
Speaker2: [00:51:59] Yeah. Yeah. I completely brush up on my resolution.
Speaker4: [00:52:03] I was so. And I was. I was so, you know, you have. You've grown so much in this conversation. I was. I just couldn't. I couldn't stop listening to you. And I got a little bit.
Speaker2: [00:52:14] I matured.
Speaker4: [00:52:15] You know what? Mr. Robinson? I really trust Mr. Fenwick, you know, I mean, this new arrangement last year, he says we didn't get any profits, and so he wasn't able to give me any, any anything. Couldn't give me anything extra. But I have faith that. I think things are going to turn around this year. I really do.
Speaker1: [00:52:45] She's a good she's a good girl. She's a good she's a very she's.
Speaker2: [00:52:48] A good girl. Do you think you're a good girl?
Speaker4: [00:52:51] I think I'm a good girl. I try to be.
Speaker2: [00:52:54] I think she's a good girl, too.
Speaker4: [00:52:56] I'm real good with the appointments.
Speaker2: [00:52:58] Real?
Speaker4: [00:52:58] Oh, real good.
Speaker1: [00:53:01] So. To answer your question, no, she cannot leave with us because she has to watch the front of the shop, you know.
Speaker2: [00:53:07] I understand. I understand. Hey, there's. There's a lady waiting down at the corner. By the way, she'd been hanging out there for about 45 minutes.
Speaker4: [00:53:17] Oh, oh, oh. Oh, my God.
Speaker1: [00:53:20] What?
Speaker4: [00:53:22] It's got to be Teresa. She has a 330.
Speaker2: [00:53:25] Ting a ling a ling ling. Why, hello, darling. To rest. How are you, darlings?
Speaker4: [00:53:33] Hi, Teresa. So, the beauty shop. Theresa, we are going to have you looking so gorgeous for your husband. You know, I wanted to.
Speaker2: [00:53:46] Look gorgeous for my husband.
Speaker1: [00:53:48] Let's let's not let's not talk about, you know, her husband right now. You know, that's.
Speaker2: [00:53:52] Not goo goo. Let's not ruin the mood.
Speaker4: [00:53:55] You know? Yeah. Yeah. So, Theresa, if you just want to hang out here for one second, we're going to have a booth ready for you. Let me go out and get you some from Eileen.
Speaker2: [00:54:08] Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker4: [00:54:09] I beg your pardon, sweetheart.
Speaker2: [00:54:11] I said no problem, Eileen.
Speaker4: [00:54:12] Okay, So, Mr. Fenwick, if you could just take care of her for a moment, I'm going to go in the back and get us some fresh cold lemonade.
Speaker1: [00:54:21] Yeah, it's. It's. It's way in the back way.
Speaker2: [00:54:24] Okay, we.
Speaker4: [00:54:26] All right, Mr. Fenwick. I'll be right back.
Speaker2: [00:54:30] Hey, you. We're fine. Hello? Teresa. Yes, Barry.
Speaker1: [00:54:35] I got something to tell you.
Speaker2: [00:54:37] Do you think we should pay any attention to? To. Oh, no, wait. Yeah. Chuck Berry's over there.
Speaker1: [00:54:46] That's Mary Berry. You know, Berry.
Speaker2: [00:54:49] Berry's over in the corner.
Speaker1: [00:54:51] Yeah. Berry's in the corner.
Speaker2: [00:54:52] He's just standing there. He's just standing there watching us. I don't know. I don't understand. I was thinking that right about now would be time for us to, you know, get a little get a little funny in the back. But I feel like Berry's watching us. All right, guys.
Speaker4: [00:55:07] Well, I'm going to head on out. I'm going to head on down to going to do some bowling for the afternoon. So Berry is out to Lou.
Speaker2: [00:55:15] To Lou.
Speaker1: [00:55:17] I love I'll see what the smoking lounge later.
Speaker4: [00:55:20] All right, man.
Speaker2: [00:55:23] What? Finally alone.
Speaker1: [00:55:25] To Teresa. You know how much I love you.
Speaker2: [00:55:28] I know you do, Chuck.
Speaker1: [00:55:30] I love everything about you. I love the way you just so womanly.
Speaker2: [00:55:37] Thank you so much.
Speaker1: [00:55:39] You shaped like a like an hourglass.
Speaker2: [00:55:42] Have you have you told your wife about us yet? That we're in love and we're going to run off and get married in Cancun?
Speaker1: [00:55:49] She could never understand something like that. You know.
Speaker2: [00:55:52] I've been waiting for so long for you, Chuck. So long.
Speaker1: [00:55:56] I know, baby. Look. At least for right now, because things.
Speaker2: [00:56:02] Are just complicated at home. I want to make you a partner. Make me your partner. I will be glad to be your partner.
Speaker1: [00:56:11] I want to. I want to. I'll have a lawyer draft up the paperwork.
Speaker2: [00:56:17] Oh. Oh, Chuck.
Speaker1: [00:56:20] For our love, it's going to be a love contract.
Speaker2: [00:56:22] Because of Teresa. Oh, Chuck, this is the best day of my life. Oh, after all this time I've spent coming and getting my hair cut here. I'm finally having my dream come true. You're making an honest woman out of me. Chuck.
Speaker1: [00:56:41] You know, you could maybe even start working here.
Speaker2: [00:56:49] All right. But I want half the salon. Uh, what happens a lot.
Speaker1: [00:56:56] Now, baby.
Speaker2: [00:56:59] I want management and control. I want half the profits. I'll take half the losses if there are any. Come on, Chuck. You know, this is what's right. 5050 equal partnership. You told me. You promised me.
Speaker4: [00:57:11] Here you go, Teresa. Here's your fresh lemonade.
Speaker2: [00:57:17] Oh, thank you. It's always lovely to.
Speaker4: [00:57:20] See you, Allie.
Speaker1: [00:57:23] Oh, gosh.
Speaker4: [00:57:25] Marissa, I don't know if you know this. But it's good news. I got real good news.
Speaker2: [00:57:32] No, no.
Speaker4: [00:57:33] I'm a partner right here. You. I love you.
Speaker2: [00:57:38] Yeah.
Speaker4: [00:57:40] I love my work.
Speaker2: [00:57:44] I'm just appalled. I thought that you loved me, Chuck. I thought that I was your partner. I thought that I was your one. True. And, you know, good two timing, shoe honing, vagabond, encyclopedia salesman. I never.
Speaker4: [00:58:02] Mr. Fenwick, you've been entertaining Teresa, too. I'm a woman scorned.
Speaker2: [00:58:07] And that's why I sound like I'm from the South. Suddenly.
Speaker1: [00:58:11] She. She. She's a bit a little histrionic right now. She's confused.
Speaker4: [00:58:19] I'm going to have to toss ice cold lemonade right in your face. No, no.
Speaker1: [00:58:23] No, no. Oh.
Speaker4: [00:58:26] There you go.
Speaker2: [00:58:27] You tell him, sister. You tell.
Speaker4: [00:58:29] Him. There you go, Mr. Fenwick. And I'm out of the shit. Out of here.
Speaker2: [00:58:34] Get out of the shop.
Speaker1: [00:58:35] Get that lemonade. Cost so much money.
Speaker4: [00:58:41] It's ours now.
Speaker2: [00:58:43] Women's power. No, you're out. I'm. I'm.
Speaker4: [00:58:49] I'm out. I mean, unless we should fight him for the shop, we could find him for the shop.
Speaker2: [00:58:54] The shop will be 5050 partners.
Speaker4: [00:58:56] We'll be 5050 partners. We'll be.
Speaker2: [00:58:58] 5050 partners. None of this, Lisa.
Speaker4: [00:59:00] And you know what? Well, I've always thought you.
Speaker2: [00:59:03] Yes, I mean.
Speaker4: [00:59:04] I've always thought you were real. Well, you know, we're not supposed to talk about this in this time that we're living in, but. I always thought you were so beautiful.
Speaker2: [00:59:16] Think about.
Speaker4: [00:59:20] Thinking of me in a way that might be a little bit unconventional.
Speaker2: [00:59:26] He? No. Hi. I think I'm ready for a new direction in my life.
Speaker4: [00:59:32] And it could just be our secret.
Speaker2: [00:59:34] It'll just be us. You and me and the Beauty Shop.
Speaker4: [00:59:39] United.
Speaker2: [00:59:40] United as one.
Speaker1: [00:59:43] You know I'm still here. I'm still.
Speaker4: [00:59:46] Yeah, well, we're talking about you. Like you're not as not seen.
Speaker2: [00:59:54] Whoa. That was perfect.
Speaker4: [01:00:01] I really enjoyed that.
Speaker1: [01:00:02] That was good. Yeah. All right.
Speaker4: [01:00:07] My jersey would go a little Southern at times, but I don't. You know what I mean? It was my first time, this.
Speaker2: [01:00:12] Holding on to an accent, you know? Pj, where can.
Speaker3: [01:00:15] People find you on the Internet and the socials? Thank you so much for being here today.
Speaker4: [01:00:18] On the socials, you can find me at Pia Minsky style on the Instagram, and I think that's plenty awesome.
Speaker3: [01:00:28] Thank you so much, Pia and Henry. Where can people find you on the socials, the internet, media?
Speaker1: [01:00:32] I also believe Instagram. It would be plenty and it would be at Henry the David All right, that's my handle folks.
Speaker3: [01:00:40] At Henry the David, thank you both and thanks for listening to.
Speaker2: [01:00:43] Laying down the Law Earmark edition. This show where we learn about.
Speaker3: [01:00:47] New ways of doing things and old ways of doing things and jet skis in 1939.
Speaker2: [01:00:57] That's our show.