Bob Blisten writes: Gene, I read what Ed [from Dane Productions] wrote www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=25494 yesterday, and I want to set the record straight.

I did not shut the company down. The only list I have is the the one which has the customers I sold for the past 4 plus years. There are no other lists, other than those which every company has. We all share the same names. That can be verified by all the companies who call stores and distributors. Plus, all these customers are in the Dane database, so they can be pulled anytime.

The business was done by me because I was honest with my customers, never sent them what they did not want, and treated them all with dignity and respect. They bought from me. I had and still have a very fine relationship with these people, and had it not been for the fact we were able to obtain outside product, and feed Dane in with this, we would have never survived as long as we did.

Ed always pressured me for more business. I do not mind this, in fact I would do the same thing if I were in his shoes. I am not however a collection department. The customer he is talking about is our best customer. They were taking 60 to 90 days to pay, but every week, we received checks from them. I am sure I do not have to name them, as people that are in this business will be able to surmise who it is.

Ed had 3 people working for him doing the job of 6. This was the case from day 1. He hired people, and they hurt the company, so Dane was a revolving door for dishonest salespeople who did all they could to screw him. This was done repeatedly, in fact one person whom he said he would never hire was in fact back on a continual basis. While I have no bad feelings towards Ed, I do feel there are things that need to be addressed.

I worked for another company for 2 days, that is true. I delivered some product to Dane during that short time, and Eddie and Dana told me Ed was in trouble physically and emotionally. I did not believe this, but when I saw him, I felt terrible that I had walked out on a man who was in obvious deteriorating health.

Ed was not well, this I knew. But he looked terrible, and I felt sad. Boy was I dumb. The people told me to go to dinner with him and talk. Though I was reluctant to do this, we went to the Ramada for a drink. He wanted me to come back. I felt reluctant as I knew the situation, but I figured he was not well, needed time to be away from Dane, and I could help him as I always had.

I guess I did the wrong thing, looking back. I am not the cause of Danes problems. For the most part, the product is good, but it has been around for awhile, and the price Ed wanted to get for it was difficult to say the least. People did not want to pay the price we tried to get. Ed loves Dane, as well he should, but the market now is too competitive to try to get inflated product.

I was hired to sell catalog and sell-thru. We had many meetings where Ed stated he would bring in someone to sell new releases. This was done and we had as many returns on these as were sold. So I became the only salesman at Dane. People did not want our new releases, and I am not the kind of person who would force anything on anyone. I was content to do catalog and sell-thru, but this was not enough, I treated Dane as if it were my own. I came in daily by 7, and did all I could to create business, but in an honest way with Dane and whatever outside product we could get.

I did not ever put out stories Dane was hurting. As a salesman on commission, why would I do that. I let Ed change my pay structure 4 times during 2007. I tried to do all I could, but Ed became increasingly hard to deal with. I sold a ton of product while I was there, going thru 5 to 10 thousand sell-thru products every 2 weeks.

I hope Ed would admit this is true. To address the issue of the big time player, that is a lie. Ed told me, and the rest of the crew that someone was interested in working with him, but that we all would be there. He would be in the background, not in charge of sales, as the pressure was great, and he would be of better service as an accountant, which he is very adept at, he blames me for all the ills of Dane, because I was the only salesman there.

I did my best, but as he said it was not good enough. many things have transpired these past few weeks. Ed and a rep from another company came to my apartment a day after he let me go, and wanted me to come back, stating we were like family. I still do not know why this other man came with Ed, but I guess Ed did not want to be alone.

I declined. We were let go over the phone. Ed said his situation was bad and he was going to either the hospital or doctor I do not remember which. The next day he was at Dane. He let us go in such a bad way, but he could not do it face to face. There are things I could say here, and be really vindictive but I will not take that road. Ed knows full well what I am talking about, but I will not hurt him any more than he already is. I will never take that road.

As far as the rest of the story goes, there are many things I can bring up. My current employer received goods from Dane as payment for monies owed to him. There are receipts signed by the warehouse man documenting this. Ed put the word out not to buy Dane from this company as it was bootlegged. Well, this came from Danes warehouse, so what can I say. He did want want me to sell Dane thru my new company.

One of my customers called me, I told him the situation. Knowing me, he understood, and I sent him a letter attesting to the fact as to what had happened to me at Dane. Now to address the final situation. I was and am seeing Dana, the former receptionist at Dane. This in no way had anything to do with Dane. Ed feels it did, and i cannot change that. I would talk to her and Eddie during the day, as I had to stretch my 61 year old body from time to time.

I could not sit for more than a half hour without getting up to walk around. Ed had an issue with this. He wanted me to pound the phones for 8 hours straight, or close to that. I used to kid with him to put a phone in the bathroom so I could call from there. There is a larger issue, one I will not comment on here, but it is very hurtful to both of us. I was called in his office repreatedly on this issue, and in order to keep all things afloat, I told ed basically what he wanted to hear, not what was true.

Finally, 2 months ago, Dane moved to a warehouse about half the size of our previous headquarters. We all said it was too small, but Ed said due to my sales performance, that was all he could afford. He said when he was a kid, he shared one room with his brothers and made do. Eddie put all the product in the new warehouse, but there was room for nothing else. The warehouse next to us was vacant, so the manager let Ed use the spot, which was half full with Dane reords, box covers, etc.

The week before we were let go, the warehose had to be cleaned out, as they were trying to lease it. All the product was moved into our warehouse, and it was so jammed, you could not get in either from the front or back. You could not get to the bathroom, you could literally not get in. There was no way to ship, let alone pull any orders, as you could not get in. My last day there, I had to get the key to the adjoining unit to go to the bathroom. I do not know how the warehouse is now, but I assume it is the same.

Finally, and the main issue for this communication is the week we moved there were no sales, due to the fact we were moving. The dane lines were transferred to my cell phone that week. All Dane calls came thru my cell phone. Ed said I would not be paid for that week. I went to rent a truck, helped move all I could, and received nothing for that, which Ed later admitted was wrong, but never rectified.

I like a fool did not pursue this. On my last day, when he let us go over the phone, he said I cost him too much money, so he would not pay me for my final 2 weeks. I was livid, hence I called you and AVN on line and told them nothing but the truth, which was printed by both.

Lastly, yesterday, Dana received a call saying he stopped payment on her final check. So the last 2 weeks she worked, he does not want to pay her for. I know this will be resolved shortly, as you do not do this to anyone.

Dana is a mature African American woman, and that was and remains an issue to this day. I will not expand on this. There are many things I can say about Ed, things that were both hurtful and wrong to me and Dana, but I will not go there. I would only hope that this situation resolves itself, and does not have to become ugly. I do not have bad feelings towards Ed or Dane, that you can believe.

I have worked for 49 years with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and believe me, my heart will not allow me to either be mad or hold a grudge for long. I am a decent person, and as Ed said, he used to trust me with everything. Sometimes kindness and caring are misconstrued as weakness. Well, I am not weak. i just want what is right. I was not the downfall of Dane. Dane by not advertising, and letting people know we were still around. Ed said he could not afford it and I understand that.

But do not blame me for everything. I gave 4 plus years to Dane, and I can hold my head up high. I ate, slept, and did all I could for Dane while I was there.

There is a lot more I can say, but I feel I am a gentleman, and do not want to irreparably harm anyone, and I will not, as long as this situation with the final check is resolved. We all deserve to be paid for work done. There is no question as to this fact. I promise this is all the truth, and if there is anything I have said here that is not, I would like to be made aware of it.

Thank you, Bob Blisten.