Not that morning, not that week, not for eleven months.

And the reason I did not ask it is that I had a date in February and a number, and a woman across a desk had just made both of them go away, and a man in that position does not go looking for the reason he should decline.

That is not coercion.

That is something more ordinary and much harder to legislate against, which is that a person with a sick child is not a free negotiator, no matter how well he negotiates.

I got everything I asked for in that room.