Lloyd and the two guys in New York began discussing how much of the Everyware shares should be reserved for employees. Lloyd seemed to think it was customary to set a big percentage aside, but the two guys in New York seemed amused by that idea.

'This isn't 1986 anymore,' one said.

The other added, 'Don't give away the farm unless you have to.'

Francis turned to Quentin Black and whispered, 'I thought most employees always got shares.'

'Top managers, sure. But the days of secretaries retiring at age thirty-five are over. Give 'em a set of steak knives at Christmas, they'll be happy.'

Francis stood up again. 'Excuse me,' he said. 'Excuse me, hold on here.' He walked forward to stand beside Lloyd. 'Maybe you all are right about what we can get away with if we want to, but J don't want to. I want shares for the employees. I want to be able to hire people, engineers out of college, and say to them, "Here's a piece of the action."