He never asks a second favor when he's been refused the first, understood?
Tom Hagen (played by Robert Duvall) from The Godfather
Tom Hagen is the adopted son and attorney of Don Vito Corleone...aka the Godfather in the famed movie series. After being sent out to Hollywood to secure a sensitive favor from a belligerent movie producer, Hagen finds himself a guest at the dinner table as "Mr. Woltz" refuses the Godfather's request while indicating that he'd be only too happy to comply with any others. Both parties know that the requested favor is only a superficial nicety to cover up what is essentially an extortion demand...do this or else. That Vito Corleone thrived in a criminal environment of circumventing the law never kept him from enunciating and practicing his own "principles"...the above "one-and-done" refused favor being one of these. Crime, extortion, violence...not at all for me, thank you. Yet I can see the Don's point of view from my own life experiences of dealing with obnoxious people whose paper authority in certain settings goes to their heads as they try to remind me of our relative positions on their cherished, pathetic pecking orders. I will ask such an individual for something once and if they make a grand show of resistance to my proposal based on their "superior" status, then that's the absolutely final time they will ever hear from me about any request...and they'd just better forget about me ever covering for their eventual mistakes as well. The Godfather...I'm speaking about the original movie...is a masterpiece of psychological and social relationships, exposing the corruption beneath practically...if not all...institutions (including business, law, government and religion). Corruption, I might add, enforced by its own extra-legal system of justice devoid of due process. We like to pretend we live in a free society, but I strongly disagree for the above reason...
