American History 1988
Chapter 44 - 41: Messing Around

Chapter 44: Chapter 41: Messing Around

"Sir, fill in the company name, registered address, and other information on this form, and then pay a 45 US Dollar fee," said a white female clerk at the service window in City Hall, handing Dean a form.

Dean picked up the form and looked at it, which contained columns for basic information. "Apart from this form, do I need to prepare anything else? Like an organizational review or something?"

"No need," the white female clerk shook her head indifferently. "A form and the procedure fee is all the work required, after which the federal government will mail you the registration certificate, business license, company seal, and other documents. With those, your company can operate legally."

"OK~" Dean shrugged his shoulders, finding it simpler than he had thought.

"Hey~, please don’t lean on the window. If you need to consult, please communicate from outside the yellow line."

Just as Dean turned around with the form, the white female clerk at the window loudly chastised an African American who was pushing forward.

"Come on, why was that guy just now allowed to?"

"I’ll repeat, please stand outside the yellow line, or I will have security come and talk to you." The white female clerk picked up the internal phone beside her, ready to call security at any moment.

"OK~OK~, I’ll stand outside..." The African American grumbled as he stepped back a few paces.

Dean, who was bent over a writing desk filling out the form, was no stranger to this scene. The slogan of racial equality had been chanted for so many years, but it had never reached the countryside of Ohio.

Haphazardly, he wrote "Computer Office Systems" in the column for company name. Dean’s company’s name was thus decided—COS for short.

After all, it was just a shell company, so the name didn’t matter much.

Ever since getting a hint from Judge Witte, Dean had been planning this.

If he wanted to deal with other public institutions and sell DCAP as a product, then it was absolutely necessary to put on the guise of a company.

Surely, a grand administrative institution couldn’t talk about cooperation with just a student—that would be too childish.

Besides COS, Dean also registered another company for "Rent Plus."

This was a preventative registration, for when the income Dean earned from landlords exceeded ten thousand US Dollars, he would need to consider the issue of taxes.

So, rather than looking for a loophole later, it was better to prepare a plan now. As for Rent Plus’s scope of business, it was naturally an information consultancy firm. Just like those background check companies—reasonable, sensible, and legal.

After filling out the form and paying a 90 US Dollar fee, Dean left City Hall with the receipt.

Although Ohio was a bit remote, it had one advantage—no corporate income tax.

The corporate taxes in America, besides the most basic federal tax, varied from state to state. During the recent Reagan administration, the federal corporate tax had been streamlined into four brackets.

The highest was no more than 30%, and the lowest bracket was 15%. Of course, with Dean’s modest endeavors, his tax rate was basically locked in at the lowest bracket.

In addition to the federal tax, he wouldn’t need to pay any corporate tax in Ohio. This was also a preferential tax law, enacted by the Rust Belt to attract capital.

Now turned into the boss of two companies, Dean immediately made a call to Susie.

"Susie, I have completed the registration for Rent Plus. In the section for the backup phone number, I put down your number."

"Wait, why mine?" Susie was a bit confused; she didn’t even know what had happened.

"Come on, you’re my business partner. When I’m not in Youngstown, you take care of communicating with the landlords," said Dean.

"Business partner? Do I have shares in the company you registered? And what do you mean by ’not in Youngstown’?" Susie listened more and more uneasily.

Dean stood in a phone booth by the roadside and, taking advantage of the moment when no one was around, casually spat out his chewing gum before slowly explaining.

"The relationship of business partners doesn’t necessarily need to be established on paper. Your ’Landlord’s Handbook’ is solidly incorporated into the software of Rent Plus.

As one of the operators, when I’m attending classes in Cleveland, isn’t it right for you to take care of our clients?"

"Ah ha~!" Susie finally understood, "So not only does this company not involve me, but it’s also going to take a 30% cut from my income, and on top of that, I’m expected to serve as customer support for free?!"

"Susie, you’re always so smart. Too smart for a girl, not easy to attract men’s interest," Dean enjoyed interacting with the smart Susie.

Look, she didn’t even need him to explain before she understood his thinking.

"Dean, you’re not just a jerk, you’re a stingier jerk than Glan Tai! Also, I’m an advocate for remaining single, so I don’t need men’s interest, thank you!"

"Susie, you’re not the first person to describe me that way, but the fact proves that I’m much more reliable than others. At least I keep promises and can offer you a bigger platform—you know what that means, right?

I didn’t expect that you were an advocate for remaining single; you never mentioned this topic to me. Great! Susie, I respect you~"

Wow, a dedicated bachelor, huh? Dean was somewhat tempted.

"F*ck you, Dean!" Susie was so angry she wanted to hang up the phone.

"Wait, Susie, can I say one more thing?" Dean stopped her.

"What?"

"I’m in the mood for seafood pasta, when are you free?"

Click!

Her response was a resounding click of the phone hanging up.

Dean shrugged his shoulders, taking it as if she had agreed.

Dean was about to start school in a few days, and his focus would have to be on the university transition. Whether it was DCAP or collecting more rent, he needed someone to share the workload.

DCAP was manageable, Dean had already completed most of the work. What remained was routine maintenance, which he could handle with a weekly trip to Youngstown.

Collecting more rent was a bit more troublesome because it could attract inquiries from potential clients at any moment. Dean didn’t have the time to deal with these trivial matters, which made Susie the perfect candidate.

She wanted to sell as many copies of her "Landlord’s Handbook" as possible, so communicating with potential customers was the perfect time to pitch.

If she could compile a weekly list of tasks to delegate to Dean, it would significantly lighten his workload.

Of course, to sweeten Susie up, Dean would need to eat several more servings of seafood pasta.

...

"Debbie, like I said before, you and your friends are fully capable of editing the website. Think about it, selecting interesting school news or community news and then sharing it on Price’s List. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?"

"But I can’t remember all those complicated codes?" Debbie said, doubting herself. She certainly loved posting gossip and then experiencing the sense of achievement when she heard people around the campus discuss it.

She was fine with typing, but when it came to arranging those words properly on Price’s List, she felt helpless.

Facing those dull codes, Debbie would rather go to class, even if the professor might be on her blacklist.

"No, Debbie, you don’t have to deal with the codes," Dean pointed to Jerry next to her, "because our Jerry here can take care of that when it really matters."

"Hey, Dean, that’s your website," protested Jerry, who had been innocently watching TV on the sofa and was now unfairly targeted.

"Just a bit of coding, that’s easy, right? I’ve taught you," Dean patted Jerry’s shoulder, "And of course, as compensation, you can choose any video game that’s been released in the market each week, no platform restrictions."

Jerry’s expression was conflicted.

Seeing this, Dean immediately leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I’ve got a few collector’s editions of ’Penthouse’ and ’Shaved’, the kind that leaves nothing to the imagination."

"Deal!" Jerry agreed promptly.

"Just to be clear, don’t upload cracked games or emulators on Price’s List. I don’t want to be taken away by the cops in front of everyone in class," Dean warned again, fearing Jerry might play some tricks.

"Come on, uploading on Price’s List is too slow. I have floppy disks, Dean," Jerry didn’t think much of Price’s List’s internet speed.

"Fine," Dean shrugged, "Anyway, Debbie is in charge of text editing, and Jerry, you’ll handle uploading it to Price’s List. Of course, I’ll keep an eye on it too, but I need you guys to help watch over the Youngstown section."

"Don’t worry, Dean, I like this job," Debbie was very enthusiastic, thinking this was much more interesting than attending classes at school.

"Good, Debbie, you’ve found the code to wealth," Dean liked proactiveness, "Oh, and Debbie, check if there’s anyone at school who’s into computers. It would be great to have them help maintain different sections when appropriate."

Price’s List was quite straightforward and didn’t require much of Dean’s effort to manage.

As a service-oriented classified information website, user engagement was its core. Classified BBS posts, rental ads, lost and found, second-hand item trade, job sharing, etc. were all initiated and discussed by users.

Dean’s usual job was just to maintain the order of the website. Even after some time, Price’s List was planning to accept public contributions, turning the news section over to users as well.

That would reduce the operational costs of Price’s List to a minimum, since for the time being, it was a free, non-profit website. Dean could do whatever he wanted with it, he was in charge.

According to Dean’s plans, Price’s List wouldn’t need more than ten employees within a few years. The main expenditures would be just servers and labor.

That wouldn’t cost much, and Dean could completely afford it.

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