The two men agreed, immediately they transformed their new business enterprise and the pain clinic was a big hit with all the local drug addicts. However, Dr.Cullen's former patients felt slighted and the, once convivial, families now made Michael feel castigated by the people he had cared for. Losing a family clinic and a General Practitioner was devastating to the community, who now depended upon the emergency room at the local charity hospital waiting for hours in overcrowded waiting rooms, gun shot victims being rushed in, people overdosing in the lobby. Dr.Cullen fully understood there new loathing for him, however, Dr. Cullen was not deterred from the prime directive and that was to make as much cash as humanly possible, and they did. The first ten days they brought in just $48,000, the next ten days $67,000, the next ten days after that a staggering $97,000, all in cash, for a grand total in thirty working days of $212,212 a wonderful sum. Now this was achieved when word spread around Chicago, far and wide, and by the end of April, Dr. Cullen was having to extend his working hours from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., this was very grueling forcing Michael to see up to ten patients every hour! No full exams could be given just a brief round of questions such as; Are you in sever pain? How did you injure yourself and where does it hurt? Are you allergic to any medication? etc... Then he would write out prescriptions for darvocet, xanax, vicodin, demoral, codeine, percocet, roxycodone, nembutol, etc, etc, etc... Ethics had no place in Dr.Cullen's office.
Now, in any successful business, supply must keep up with demand, or there becomes a backlog, spilling over, and in Azir and Michael's business, that meant people spilling out on to the streets, forming lines outside the pharmacy waiting for their 'medicine'. Azir was overwhelmed everyday and he had to hire two pharmacy technicians to assist him daily. Michael needed two girls to work reception and two nurses to assist him in the office. There was always a never ending lists of patients, who, if they could not get in to see the Doctor by closing time, would come back early in the morning to be the first in line. Though, through all this madness, Azir and Michael believed they had everything under control, and they were led to this conclusion by the scent of cold hard cash.
April passed into May, May into June, June into July, that summer of 1990, Michael and Azir had become accustomed to their hectic work schedule and Michael had finally paid off almost half his loan. He had moved to a new apartment, on the 15th floor of the Marina Towers, with a stunning view, over looking downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan. Michael had even struck up a, successful, romantic relationship with one of the gorgeous nurses Azir had hired for the office, he finally felt relaxed in his own skin after the burden of his debts were eased off his broad shoulders, and a gentle peace of mind returned to him having no longer the burden of doubt and worry, but he did miss working in the Hospital. Though Michael knew full well there was no way in hell he could have made any good money there. So he worked his four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, ten hours a day, raking in money hand over fist. There were a few scary moments in the waiting room at closing time, when patients were forced to leave, but that was what the security men were for, and the pair did a fine job as they were extremely large and well armed. It was on a cold day in September when Azir suggested they open up on Mondays to make an extra $40,000 a month and Michael thought this was a fine idea. Now you would think they would be smart, and leave well enough alone, but their avarice, and love of money, exceeded their reason, so on a rainy Monday morning, at the end of September, Azir and Michael opened up the pain clinic as the line formed around the block.
Now the police did not often patrol the local neighborhood, usually on the weekends, but Chicago's finest kept an eye on the busy clinic, and today they knew, for sure, seeing all those people waiting in the pouring rain and lightning storm outside of the pharmacy, that this Doctor and Pharmacist had to go. So the officer's kept a closer eye on the pain clinic over the next few weeks. Then the Police started talking to the D.E.A., and the D.E.A. started talking to the F.B.I. , and the F.B.I. got the boys at the Justice Department involved in their undercover operation. But alas, our greedy Azir and Michael hadn't a clue. This was because they thought they were too smart, and too clever, they believed they had everything under control, they believed nothing could touch them because they had made it this far. In six months they had made well over $1,000,000, and this filled them with courage and great confidence each one having absolutely no compunction. Their voracious appetite for more and more money was much like an addiction, for no matter how much they gained and held in their hands, they were never satisfied with it. This was the sickness of chasing after something that never satisfies you, no matter how much you get, you just want MORE!. If these two avaricious, morons would have found any gratification with what they had accomplished, Michael and Azir would have stopped. They would have realized they were way in over their heads, rapidly drawing more unwanted attention to themselves, something they swore they would never do, however, greed is like love, it leaves you blind.
Now, in any successful business, supply must keep up with demand, or there becomes a backlog, spilling over, and in Azir and Michael's business, that meant people spilling out on to the streets, forming lines outside the pharmacy waiting for their 'medicine'. Azir was overwhelmed everyday and he had to hire two pharmacy technicians to assist him daily. Michael needed two girls to work reception and two nurses to assist him in the office. There was always a never ending lists of patients, who, if they could not get in to see the Doctor by closing time, would come back early in the morning to be the first in line. Though, through all this madness, Azir and Michael believed they had everything under control, and they were led to this conclusion by the scent of cold hard cash.
April passed into May, May into June, June into July, that summer of 1990, Michael and Azir had become accustomed to their hectic work schedule and Michael had finally paid off almost half his loan. He had moved to a new apartment, on the 15th floor of the Marina Towers, with a stunning view, over looking downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan. Michael had even struck up a, successful, romantic relationship with one of the gorgeous nurses Azir had hired for the office, he finally felt relaxed in his own skin after the burden of his debts were eased off his broad shoulders, and a gentle peace of mind returned to him having no longer the burden of doubt and worry, but he did miss working in the Hospital. Though Michael knew full well there was no way in hell he could have made any good money there. So he worked his four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, ten hours a day, raking in money hand over fist. There were a few scary moments in the waiting room at closing time, when patients were forced to leave, but that was what the security men were for, and the pair did a fine job as they were extremely large and well armed. It was on a cold day in September when Azir suggested they open up on Mondays to make an extra $40,000 a month and Michael thought this was a fine idea. Now you would think they would be smart, and leave well enough alone, but their avarice, and love of money, exceeded their reason, so on a rainy Monday morning, at the end of September, Azir and Michael opened up the pain clinic as the line formed around the block.
Now the police did not often patrol the local neighborhood, usually on the weekends, but Chicago's finest kept an eye on the busy clinic, and today they knew, for sure, seeing all those people waiting in the pouring rain and lightning storm outside of the pharmacy, that this Doctor and Pharmacist had to go. So the officer's kept a closer eye on the pain clinic over the next few weeks. Then the Police started talking to the D.E.A., and the D.E.A. started talking to the F.B.I. , and the F.B.I. got the boys at the Justice Department involved in their undercover operation. But alas, our greedy Azir and Michael hadn't a clue. This was because they thought they were too smart, and too clever, they believed they had everything under control, they believed nothing could touch them because they had made it this far. In six months they had made well over $1,000,000, and this filled them with courage and great confidence each one having absolutely no compunction. Their voracious appetite for more and more money was much like an addiction, for no matter how much they gained and held in their hands, they were never satisfied with it. This was the sickness of chasing after something that never satisfies you, no matter how much you get, you just want MORE!. If these two avaricious, morons would have found any gratification with what they had accomplished, Michael and Azir would have stopped. They would have realized they were way in over their heads, rapidly drawing more unwanted attention to themselves, something they swore they would never do, however, greed is like love, it leaves you blind.
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