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One day, for example, an IBM staff member who had moved to Africa sent a postcard to a group of former colleagues who were stationed at EDS. The card pictured native women with exposed breasts. "It was like something you'd see in National Geographic," recalls Wilson. Nonetheless, Perot, who saw the postcard, fired off a letter to IBM "about how EDS employees were embarrassed by this pornography, and that we should control our employees better," says Wilson.
Sometimes Perot's complaints involved real business issues. In 1968 Perot cried vigorously about IBM's refusal to let him purchase equipment on credit, yet records show that he consistently refused to provide even limited financial data in order to prove he was creditworthy. Nonetheless, several months later, EDS filed a public prospectus that included reams of financial data. In March 1968, Perot wanted to buy IBM equipment that he was leasing, but he demanded that the deal be retroactive to the first of the month, which would save EDS three weeks' worth of rental payments, or $28,000. "When IBM refused, Perot fired off a letter accusing me of having called him a liar," says Wilson. "Of course, I didn't call him a liar. Nobody in a sales or marketing position is going to call a customer a liar -- at least not to his face."
As a result, Perot threatened to sever all ties with IBM, prompting the company to concede the $28,000 and apologize for any misunderstanding. "Perot then specifically asked for me to return to do business with him, but I refused," says Wilson. "He basically created that crisis and trampled on me to get what he wanted. And I found that totally immoral and unacceptable." As Aubrey Wilson and his colleagues at IBM have apparently learned, it's hard to be a billionaire and a Boy Scout at the same time.