“We are glad you enjoyed yourself. Dr. Franklin was wonderful. He was genuinely pleased to escort another animal lover around the park.” She said this matter of factly as she moved toward the kitchen. I followed closely, wondering how she was going to inform the movers about the furniture from the kitchen. Instead, she opened the third cupboard, bypassed three different types of fancy coffee and grabbed the plastic container of Folgers and the filters next to it. She pulled the coffee maker away from the wall and began making coffee like she had lived here her whole life. I was mesmerized. That fancy crap was the result of gifts over time. I grew up on Folgers and, unless I am on the road, it was all I drank.
“I already spoke with Maggie this morning. You have a conference call at ten with your department heads.” Crap, nothing like a nice weekend to make me lose track of my commitments. “She faxed over the agenda and a set of handwritten notes on the subject that you left in the office. They should be waiting in your office here.” It would have been a bit embarrassing forgetting my own meeting. Suddenly a bad thought entered my head.
“You two are not thinking that Maggie is redundant are you?” Maggie has been my secretary for ten years. We have gotten very used to each other. She is very loyal to me and in turn, I am loyal to her.
“Oh heavens no. She is our eyes and ears at corporate. We wouldn’t be near as effective if we lost her.” The pot began to blow steam as it dripped fresh coffee. “She is taking care of Susans processing for you. Pam in HR was hesitant in dealing with us directly until she got word from you.” They already have already found their way into my corporate umbrella. How did they convince Maggie? Samantha continued, “It’s Maggie’s twenty fifth wedding anniversary today. She is really proud of it and in this day and age, who can blame her. She and her husband will be having dinner at Vitolini’s tonight. The maitre d has been instructed to surprise them a nice bottle of champagne with a short violin serenade with your compliments.” She smiled, “Every woman likes to be the center of attention now and then.” I remembered Susan’s transformation and her description of walking in the restaurant.
“How thoughtful of you Samantha.” I realized I was grinning.
“Well actually, it will come from you.” She was grinning back. “That reminds me,” She held up her hand in the standard high five position. I complied. “That’s from her husband Frank. He hates frilly surprises and wanted to thank you for letting him in on it so he didn’t look like a ‘dork’ as he put it. Sweet guy really.” Did I just do some male bonding through a gorgeous redhead? I am going to look like a hero and all I did was sleep in.
She continued to fill me in while pouring me a cup of coffee. “We found Bruce Wilkerson a great position with the Havertons. We couldn’t leave such a talented man out in the cold at our expense.” These ladies have a talent of leaving everyone they touch a bit better off. “Go ahead and relax, I’ll go get you those notes so you can prepare for your ten o’clock.” She moved off toward my home office. Why was I not surprised that she knew where it was.
Curiosity got the best of me. “Aren’t you going to tell the movers about the furniture in the garage?”
She gave me mischievous smile. “They already know. Now if you would have chosen a different option, then I would had to talk with them.” I laughed to myself. They have been in my employe for a total of ten minutes and I already didn’t know how I got by without them.
Just before ten, Maggie called. “Are you ready to be put into conference Mr. Timmins.”
“One moment Maggie,” I valued her opinion, “What is your opinion off Rebecca and Samantha?”
“They are very competent and will be a great asset to you, Mr Timmins.” What a line of bull. She was feeding me the corporate line like she felt I wanted to hear.
“Maggie, there is no one else here with me, what are your honest impressions?” I tried to emphasize the word ‘honest’. “I don’t want you to dress it up.”
“Well frankly, Mr Timmins, its about damn time you got some help. They are wonderful. This is the first morning I felt that we were on track together. I am usually frazzled on Monday because I never know what you remember from the week before. It is really difficult when you work from home so much. Today, I think we had your day organized before you even got out of bed.” They already had her using the word ‘we’. They bonded as a team and have my favorite employee eating out of their hands before the ink in their contract is dry.
“So you think I should keep them?” I was smiling openly playing Mr Obvious.
“Are you playing with me Mr. Timmins?” She wasn’t biting.
“Maggie, my name is Robert. All my friends call me Robert and so should you. And yes I was toying with you. I was just making sure you agreed with my decision to hire them since you will be working closely with them.” I paused a bit, “Oh, and congratulations on reaching twenty five. Pretty impressive this day and age. Although, I can’t imagine any guy ever letting you go.”
I could feel the smile beaming across the phone. “Thank you Robert, were hoping for another 25 if we should be so lucky.” she paused, “Would you like me to put you through now?” Thank you Samantha.
I added one agenda item to the meeting. I informed all the department heads that Rebecca and Samantha were my personal assistants and I would appreciate all of the departments cooperation. Pam apologized about being hesitant earlier. I hired Pam because she was a stickler for processes and protocol. She was, in a sense, a bitch at her job. Just the sort for HR and I wanted to keep it that way. Payroll was one of my biggest expenses and I needed someone to watch it like a hawk. I thanked her for not to making any changes before she was authorized by me. I also told her she was now authorized to take my direction through Rebecca and Samantha as she does through Maggie. The girls were now full integrated.
The meeting took longer than planned. Some zoning issues had cropped up that were slowing down a development we were working on. My construction folks were concerned we would lose our timing window with the cement company. One thing screws up and it could snowball until we fell months behind schedule instead of days. Unfortunately, we couldn’t resolve the issue at this meeting and planned another meeting for tomorrow when we had more facts.
It was time for lunch and since I usually just drink breakfast, I was starved. I headed to the kitchen to make a sandwich and wasn’t surprised to see a fresh ham and cheese waiting on the counter. Next to it was mug with and unopened bottle of beer next to it. One of the reason’s I like to work from home is I can enjoy a beer in the middle of the day. Wouldn’t set a good example if I were to partake at the office. I grabbed the sandwich and lifted the bread. No mayo, perfect. The rest of the world loves mayo, I hate the stuff. I popped the top off the beer, emptied it in the mug and sat back to think about what could be done about the zoning issue.
One of the girls sweep through the kitchen. Grabbed the empty bottle and placed it in the recycle bin under the counter. Weird, before today I didn’t have a recycle bin. I guess I am more earth friendly now. “Maggie just sent a bunch of construction project info over. Samantha is doing some additional research and you should have it all by the time you’re done with lunch.” And off Rebecca went. My mind returned to the zoning issue.
True to her word, the pool table in the rec room was covered in information when I finished lunch. I had the original project schedule, new forecasted schedule and a worse case schedule along the left side. I had the construction plans, maps and zoning issues in the center and pages of the people involved running down the right. I looked like our planned opening in early October will be pushed to the February, March time frame. Worst case was early summer. The cost increases were stiff due to the loss of revenue time.
I glanced through the people on the zoning board and thought briefly about greasing some palms. I let it pass. I had skirted the edge of the law many times, I just refuse to cross the line. Samantha had developed a page of politicians who have a direct interest in the area. Looking over the information, I didn’t immediately recognize any of the names so any calls I made would be cold. I wondered if some carefully placed campaign contributions might get me an ear or two. She included tenure information for the offices and I noticed a pattern. The mayor and half the city console was up for re-election in November. There was a note in the margin next to the mayor that he has serious opposition for the election. Thank you Samantha.
I immediately placed a call to the Mayor since Samantha saw fit to include contact information.
“Mayor Donaldson, this Robert Timmins. I am building the Phillmore project downtown.” I am sure someone on my staff had spoken with him or his people before. I wasn’t sure if he could connect my name to the project.
“Robert, it’s good to finally speak with you. I was happy to see someone tearing down that old eyesore and putting the land back into production.”
“Good, I am happy to hear you feel that way. I’m calling to try and put together a ribbon cutting in October. We would like to do something in the press to make sure the public is aware and helps to make it successful. My people have forecasted 120 permanent jobs and a sales tax increase to the city of just over a half million. It would really help to have you put together a small speech in support of the project and maybe help cut the ribbon.” I know he only heard October, jobs, money and speech. I was baiting the trap. .