Yes, exactly re: buy-out. I made this point in this thread too without seeing this post.

OK I'll stick this question in this thread. Isn't there a HUGE hole in the plotting here? "Oh shit if we fire Don we'll have to buy him out! It's cheaper to keep him" "OK Don, if you don't agree to these terms you lose you're stake in this company". Where do they get the power to do that? Don could CERTAINLY say,…

I would proceed in a flame war with you but I'm too amused by your avatar or Worf rather puckishly dressed as one of Robin Hood's Merry Men. You win.

Pete's a WASP.Thats the joke.

Played by Allan Havey! Remember him?

The joke here, of course, is that both the WASPy Pete and ignorant California WOULD think of putting cole slaw on a pastrami sandwich, something a real New Yorker would never do. Like a Woody Allen joke, cole slaw is mayonaisse based, and mayo and pastrami are a no-no. Mustard goes on pastrami.