In the bubble era, with unrealised gains on securities portfolios acting as a buffer, and eager bankers a mere phone call away, companies had few incentives to keep more than minimal financial accounts.

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While obviously disappointed, it also reminded me that our next big sale could be a phone call away.

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"A quick and simple phone call to me right away would have defused the whole thing immediately, " he said.

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Yet somehow between transactions the postmistress had snuck away for a tattling phone call, or so we surmised from the blinking patrol car that now swept up in front of the P.

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It was the second night when the Piersons received a phone call from an apartment manager working over four miles away from their home.

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Instead he used his cell phone to call a colleague at another office building eight miles away.

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