Overshopped

It was supposed to be a private, whispery sale. The bankers promised they'd only go on a handshake to sell your company to three likely easy buyers who were in your same business, same industry, same 'hood. They did meetings; they had a pitch book; they said all the right things to get their commiss...er, um, to sell your company.

But it didn't happen. Maybe the price was too high. Maybe others were nervous about the markets and wanted to keep their cash. Maybe they just didn't like you.

But you didn't sell.

So, reluctantly, you gave the bankers a green light to go out to 5 more companies, and then 12, and then 32...and all were shopped the same deal. And all passed. You were...overshopped.

After the third "no," you should have just pulled in your sales, hired new management, let them run the company differently and better than you did...and come around to shop it again years later under sunnier skies. But you didn't. So now you pay the piper in being enslaved to work there for the duration.

Luckily, the company was part of a chain of Fifty Shades-style bondage parlors, so it wasn't all bad news, as you were...a big fan.