Alrighty, lets march forward with the story....
March, April and May..... Oh my my!!
Obviously trust became a HUGE issue, but as I stated, we were too far invested in this dream and my husband felt it was still possible to get things under control. The problem we didn't really comprehend at that time is, "things" weren't out of control, people were.
Because it would take me forever to fill in all the gaps, and because I don't want to bore you, I'll just say that everything continued to slide downhill. It would have its moments of looking promising, but then lack of character and lack of integrity would prove that things were not changing.
Fast forward to Memorial Day, 2009. This would be the last day my husband would have an actual conversation with his partner David Tieman....
Now, for the sake of "the other side of the story", truth be told, by this time David Tieman had come to really dislike my husband. I would take a gander that if you talked to him he would tell you that my husband is selfish and has anger issues. If not agreeing with or to everything your partner desires is selfish, if running a company with integrity and efficiently is selfish, then yes my husband is selfish. If getting frustrated with someone who can not be told he's incorrect, who does not like to be questioned about his actions, who makes decisions based on what he wants not what is right or best for the company, then yes, my husband was easily angered. Not to mention we had everything financially on the line. We were investing our funds into this company, we had everything monetary to lose.
Back to Memorial Day.... Tiemans Fusion Coffee was at an outside event serving coffee. I believe the straw that broke the camel's back occurred that day. My husband questioned David Tieman on a purchase that he had made and as I stated David Tieman does not like being questioned. I also believe at this point it had become David's opinion that he was ranked the superior partner who had the only right to make any and every decision - period. They worked the event, went their separate ways, and then all communication from him stopped. During that week we did receive a text message from him stating that he was sick, but he would not answer a phone call or email message.
During the next several weeks, and still no communication with my husband, David Tieman started draining the company bank account. Once again, a substantial amount of the money was written to himself.
Finally we receive a phone call....
To meet him at his lawyer's office. We lawyer up, and a mediation date is set for July.....
To be continued....
Saturday, January 23, 2010
A Little Additional Info.....
Before I continue with the rest of '09, I want to give you a little bit more background....
Tiemans Fusion Coffee was established in the summer of 2008. My husband and his partner shook hands one sunny day on the beach in San Clemente and decided to go forward into business.
My husband's business partner is my husband's cousins husband (follow that??!). In a nutshell, he's family. We spent every Saturday night together attending church and dinner afterward. They joined our church small group and were at our home every Wed. night.
The point I'm making is, our relationship was not only based on a social one because we are family, but we were also rooted in the same christian principals and values....
Or so we thought....
Tiemans Fusion Coffee was established in the summer of 2008. My husband and his partner shook hands one sunny day on the beach in San Clemente and decided to go forward into business.
My husband's business partner is my husband's cousins husband (follow that??!). In a nutshell, he's family. We spent every Saturday night together attending church and dinner afterward. They joined our church small group and were at our home every Wed. night.
The point I'm making is, our relationship was not only based on a social one because we are family, but we were also rooted in the same christian principals and values....
Or so we thought....
Thursday, January 21, 2010
2009.... Continued....
February continued with more crappiness...
After I returned from Colorado, and while I was still struggling with significant amounts of emotions, we received a phone call from the bank regarding our business account. It was overdrawn almost ten thousand dollars!
As a reminder, my husband and his partner had started a coffee business in 2008. My husband had fiduciary control, the only one with a check book and debit card.
Of course my husband called David Tieman immediately to find out what could possibly be going on. David Tieman played stupid, stating he would "immediately" run to the bank to get a current statement and then "be right over". He said this for four days. My husband finally went to the bank himself and found out the truth we suspected all along, without our knowledge his partner ordered checks and a card from the bank and paid all his personal bills out of the company account for the month of February.
In a nutshell, he had two weeks to replace the money into the bank but, unfortunately for us, he was not able to do so. We had to borrow the money from my parents to prevent the bank from closing our account and going forward with legal action.
I am forty three years old, can I tell you how much it sucked to go to my parents asking for money? And to be told by your partner, there was nothing wrong with what he did, he had to pay his bills!! I tell my children all the time, if you have to hide it, IT'S WRONG, plain and simple.
At that point, we should have taking a long hard look at the situation and looked for an exit strategy, but we were too emotionally and financially invested to see the true character of who we were in business with.
To be continued....
After I returned from Colorado, and while I was still struggling with significant amounts of emotions, we received a phone call from the bank regarding our business account. It was overdrawn almost ten thousand dollars!
As a reminder, my husband and his partner had started a coffee business in 2008. My husband had fiduciary control, the only one with a check book and debit card.
Of course my husband called David Tieman immediately to find out what could possibly be going on. David Tieman played stupid, stating he would "immediately" run to the bank to get a current statement and then "be right over". He said this for four days. My husband finally went to the bank himself and found out the truth we suspected all along, without our knowledge his partner ordered checks and a card from the bank and paid all his personal bills out of the company account for the month of February.
In a nutshell, he had two weeks to replace the money into the bank but, unfortunately for us, he was not able to do so. We had to borrow the money from my parents to prevent the bank from closing our account and going forward with legal action.
I am forty three years old, can I tell you how much it sucked to go to my parents asking for money? And to be told by your partner, there was nothing wrong with what he did, he had to pay his bills!! I tell my children all the time, if you have to hide it, IT'S WRONG, plain and simple.
At that point, we should have taking a long hard look at the situation and looked for an exit strategy, but we were too emotionally and financially invested to see the true character of who we were in business with.
To be continued....
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
2009....
Last year was just plain crappy.... It all began in February....
My two best friends in the whole world, Steve and Cindy moved from California to Colorado five years ago. My relationship with them began with Steve.
I met Steve when I was 18 years old working in corporate America, he was a vendor and I coordinated his work. We clicked and became fast "work" friends. He married Cindy and she ended up getting a job in the department I worked in , we became close friends right away. Our work relationship soon became a personal relationship as Cindy and I quickly became best friends.
I ended up leaving that job and actually went to work for Steve. I was his right hand "wo"man for 14 years. Steve sold his business and they moved to Colorado. That was one of the saddest days of my life, watching my friends who I spent so much time with, pull away to begin a new life so far away.
We have spent two to three weeks together every summer since they've moved - Colorado has become our second home.
So, that brings us to February 13th, 2009, when I received a phone call that spun my world. My friend, whom I loved so much, had taken his life. The day before Valentines day, my friend chose to leave his wife and daughter.
I flew out to Colorado as quickly as I could and I spent the following week assisting my girlfriend with all that needed to be handled. Making arrangements to have a body dealt with and death certificates issued is tragic, but under these circumstances it was just plain wrong....
It's been almost a year now and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about Steve, be it a good thought or an angry one. I don't know that I will ever forgive him for being so selfish, for leaving his wife and child, his family, his friends...
I miss my friend....
My two best friends in the whole world, Steve and Cindy moved from California to Colorado five years ago. My relationship with them began with Steve.
I met Steve when I was 18 years old working in corporate America, he was a vendor and I coordinated his work. We clicked and became fast "work" friends. He married Cindy and she ended up getting a job in the department I worked in , we became close friends right away. Our work relationship soon became a personal relationship as Cindy and I quickly became best friends.
I ended up leaving that job and actually went to work for Steve. I was his right hand "wo"man for 14 years. Steve sold his business and they moved to Colorado. That was one of the saddest days of my life, watching my friends who I spent so much time with, pull away to begin a new life so far away.
We have spent two to three weeks together every summer since they've moved - Colorado has become our second home.
So, that brings us to February 13th, 2009, when I received a phone call that spun my world. My friend, whom I loved so much, had taken his life. The day before Valentines day, my friend chose to leave his wife and daughter.
I flew out to Colorado as quickly as I could and I spent the following week assisting my girlfriend with all that needed to be handled. Making arrangements to have a body dealt with and death certificates issued is tragic, but under these circumstances it was just plain wrong....
It's been almost a year now and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about Steve, be it a good thought or an angry one. I don't know that I will ever forgive him for being so selfish, for leaving his wife and child, his family, his friends...
I miss my friend....
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