Right Hand, Left Hand

As an appliance dealer in Wilmington, Del., Phil Klein, 43, sells plenty of General Electric products. Looking at his fine record of orders last month, G.E.'s supply company decided to honor Star Salesman Klein; it gave him a free five-day trip to Havana. Five days later, another G.E. division took a look at Dealer Klein. The Small Appliances Division discovered that Klein was pushing sales by whacking 20% off "fair trade" minimum prices; it promptly got a court injunction to stop him from such selling. Confused by the pat from G.E.'s right hand and the slap from its left, Klein announced that from now on he would sell at "fair trade" prices, but he would donate 20% of each sale to any charity designated by the purchaser. By last week, donations had gone to twelve community charities and ten churches. "Anyway," said Klein, "I'm going to sunny Havana for five days."

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