Chapter 17: Tracy's Job. Marlene Comes to Stay

Tracy's first day at a regular, full-time job at Visionix Tech wasn't that different from how she'd started each of past three summers as an intern. A couple of hours in human resources filling out forms and tax documents, this time signing up for the 401k plan, and a few other administrative things.

After that she walked down the hall to where she'd start working – the same team of people she'd supported the past three years.

As she came into the office area, she was confronted with a huge banner – 'Welcome Tracy.' About twenty people faced her and applauded and shouted their glee that she was finally through college and able to be a full-timer.

After lots of hugs and kisses, several of the group sat around and talked with her about her assignments for the coming months.

Tracy had been a business major with an emphasis on marketing and sales. As she put it, "Companies will always have stuff they're trying to sell to someone else. I want to be the go-to person who can do that better than anyone."

In her summer jobs, she'd worked on some of the marketing campaigns for the optical products that Visionix made or imported from Europe. Now, she was about to be a sales assistant, working with the top salesman as he traveled to see major clients for their products, mostly the head offices of various optical companies.

While Tracy expected to be hit on by her new colleague, she'd already fucked three of the other men in the company. All three had been at the graduation party only a couple of weeks earlier, and they left as happy men. Although those three knew about each other, and had even shared Tracy a time or two, they were mute on any relationship with her, so no one else in the company knew of her lifestyle or of her penchant for wild sex in a group setting.

Tracy's new colleague, the head of major account sales, was Doug Mayes. He was fifty-five, getting a little bulgy around the middle, and sported a bushy crop of salt and pepper hair. He was tall and handsome, and had sex appeal that he used to advantage when meeting with women clients. He understood the fine art of flirting, and knew just where to draw the line and still accomplish his goals.

Doug and Tracy had met many times during her internship. Although she didn't know it, he had handpicked her to work with him. She was smart, assertive, articulate, knew the company and product portfolio almost better than he did, and she had a dynamite body that the males they called upon would want to fantasize about over and over. They'd want her to come back, and that meant they had to place an order.

Doug was part of the party that greeted Tracy with coffee and doughnuts. After the celebration, he suggested that they have lunch together. The two of them headed out to his Mercedes, and went to a restaurant Tracy had been in several times called The Homestead.

Doug greeted the restaurant staff by name and was shown to his 'usual' table. Tracy waved to several of the wait staff she recognized.

Tracy probed, "You come here a lot?"

"This is my favorite place to bring clients who come to visit us, and I encourage that when you have your own visiting clients. The food is superb here, as you may know, and right down the street is the Hamiltonian Hotel, and they have some magnificent suites that make them very comfortable. It's all about making the customer happy. The man that trained me had an expression, and I've always loved it: 'Find out what the customer wants, and give them plenty of it.'

Tracy said, "We had the same expression in college, only it was about teachers."

"Good, then you understand the philosophy."

They ordered their lunch and then Doug got down to business.

Doug said, "This is an unusual welcome lunch for me. I've never had a young woman working with me before, and I may screw up and say inappropriate things from time to time, so I'm asking ahead of time that you let me know and accept my apologies."

Tracy nodded and wondered where Doug was leading the conversation.

"I am sure you know that you are a hot and sexy number. You ooze sex appeal, and this is a natural trait you have that will help you with this job. You will find a lot of horny men out there who are our clients. They will hit on you time and again, and I'm telling you now, never follow-through on their advances. Flirt, thank them for the attention, even lead them on a little, but nothing further. Never make a deal than hinges on you doing something sexual. They have a name for women like that, and I don't think you want to be one of them."

Tracy nodded at the straight-talk.

"On a separate but allied note, I am giving notice that I hereby hit on you." Doug grinned. "Anything further is up to you."

He paused and went on, "We are going to be doing a fair amount of traveling together, some by car and some with flights to various cities. You'd be wise to get some light weight luggage, and figure out the minimum you can take to satisfy your feminine needs to look as sharp as you do. I can put you in touch with some other women who are road warriors if you want some advice or hints in that regard. Unless we travel to Europe or South America, all of our trips will be five nights away or less."

Doug paused and obviously looked Tracy over in an appraising way. He spoke, "Tracy, you are a very good looking woman. You will be hit on all the time, but there are a lot of kooks out there. I am also advising you to get some training in self-defense. I'd hate to see something happen to you, and the skills will last you forever. When you start traveling alone, you may need them." He paused and asked, "Any questions?"

Tracy thought, "I have a knack for asking embarrassing and sometimes personal questions, so fair warning. Do you sleep with your clients?"

"Never, but I do have friends I've developed here and there. One or two work in a client's company, but they have no say in doing business with us and if things turned sour, it's unlikely that would influence any outcome for us."

"Aren't you married?"

"Yes. We've had a long-term open marriage. I'm away a lot, and often need companionship and so does my wife. We've each developed other friendships that serve our needs nicely."

"What does your wife do?"

"She's a vice president at City Bank. She oversees the branch banks in the state, so she does some traveling herself, but most of it is driving not flying. It is a big state, and she overnights from time to time herself."

"When is our first trip?"

Doug laid a computer printout from his pocket on the table. "We leave on the seven a.m. flight out of City Airport tomorrow. If you want a lift to the airport, I can pick you up about five a.m. I have your address in the personnel file they gave me. If you drive yourself, use long-term parking; it's much cheaper."

"Yes, please pick me up. I'll be ready. Where and what will I need to do? How many days away?"

"We're headed to Denver to see two clients there – optical supply houses; plan on two nights away, but always make a contingency for one more. We are seeing if they have any needs for our normal product line, which they should know well, and seeing if we can sell them on the idea that they need to be pushing our new prescription analysis system. You're role on this trip will be to look pretty and listen. Of course, you can speak up and contribute as you can, but don't feel you have to. When in doubt, stay silent but attentive."

About sixteen hours later Tracy stood on the front step of the house shivering in the morning chill as Doug pulled up. It was still dark out. "Good morning, Sunshine. Toss your bag in the back, and we're off for another adventure and to see if we can amaze the world."

Tracy smiled, and put her bag in the back seat. She also carried a small portfolio that held her iPad, pens, business cards, and some notepaper.

The first day on the road in her new job, Tracy did admirably well. The client was friendly and not overbearing, and she was able to hold up her end of the conversation over lunch. She was obviously young and new to the company, yet she knew much about the needs of optometrists and ophthalmologists, and also asked intelligent questions.

At the end of the day, Doug drove the rental car to the Hyatt and the two checked in. As they rode the elevator up to their floor, Doug said, "Meet me in the bar in thirty. We'll have dinner here. They have a good restaurant downstairs."

Tracy cleaned up, checked that she looked acceptable as a dinner companion, did some email and Facebook replies, and then headed down to the bar. The Hyatt bar was alive with activity. About two-thirds of the room consisted of males, mostly in the mid-thirties to mid-forties.

Tracy sashayed in, didn't see Doug, so she took a seat at the bar until he arrived. She ordered a vodka martini, and sat back. Just as her drink arrived, two sporty looking young men surrounded her.

"Hi Babe, I'm Buddy, and this is Sal." After that the questions came rapidly, 'Are you staying here or are you local? What do you do? Do you want to hang around with us tonight? What's your name? Are you far from home? Are you alone? And more.'

Tracy played coy, teasing the men with some of her answers and not really giving them any real meat about herself, her status, her job, or anything else that mattered.

Doug sauntered over eventually, having watched her for fifteen minutes as the two macho guys worked her over. He wondered if she role played, but decided to give it a try.

He spoke with a slow southern drawl, "Good evening, little lady. I can see these young turks are turning you off. I am assumin' that you'd prefer a more mature man, perhaps someone with more style, and someone who's seen the movie many times. Believe me Miss, I can show you a much better time, and I am a romantic kind of guy." He eyed the two guys who were nearly hanging on Tracy.

Tracy put her hand out to Doug. "Why, you do seem to have spotted my weakness. I'm Rachel, and I'm here in this big city all-alone tonight. Do you know anywhere good to dine, and maybe afterwards we could find something fun to do together?"

The mouths of the two dudes were hanging open in amazement that they'd been thrown under the bus for someone at least twenty years their senior.

Doug said, "Well, my name is Jesse – Jesse James, and no I'm no relation to that famous outlaw, but I bet I can charm the ladies as well as he could. I even used to be a bad boy."

'Rachel' looked at her empty glass. "Well, I just finished my drink. Would you like to start charming me over our dinner? I like bad boys."

"Oh, yes. Yes, I would. And I know just the kind of dessert I bet you'd love."

"Why, Mr. James, you do read my signals very well."

Tracy slid off the bar stool into Doug's arms, but they didn't kiss. Instead, he put a protective arm around her shoulders and led her off towards the restaurant. As he left, the men heard him say, "You know there are some myths about the virility of older men that I'd love to show you are false a little later, if you'd allow me that privilege."

Tracy turned back to the two men and waved.

By the time they got seated for dinner, Doug was laughing. Tracy joined him.

"Tracy, that will happen to you on every business trip, in every restaurant, and in every bar unless you have someone with you. It's why many women come back to their hotels and order room service. I don't know what it is about the American male when they're on the road; they think that every single chick wants to hop in bed with them and that they're God's gift to women."

Tracy allowed, "That was sort of sudden. I got used to the college crowd, and actually they're a little smoother. The questions are similar, but delivered with more sincerity: 'Are you taking Glockenheimer's physics class? Did I see you driving a motorcycle over by the art building? Don't you live in such and such a dorm? And so on.'

Doug said, "OK, now before we get too involved in social things, I want you to tell me what happened today with our client."

Tracy said tentatively, "Well, we met with George and ... and ... the tall guy, chatted about their business, suggested a few things they might order, talked about the new system, and left. We were there about five hours including lunch in their cafeteria."

"What was George's full name?

"I don't remember."

"What was the other man's name?"

"I forget."

"My first lesson and a reprimand. Never ... and I mean never forget the name of a client. Their names were George Pelnick and Tom Wellman. George was the more senior. He is married and has two children in college, probably close to your age. He wants to retire early so he can hike around North and South America. Tom is divorced, but has a young daughter – around ten years old. He lives alone, but would love to meet someone nice, but you're too young for him. He's scared to try Internet dating because it's so easy to get lied to."

"You learned all that about them today?" Tracy was amazed.

"I did. As I told you earlier, I'd never met either man before. There were both new to their positions. Would you have walked away knowing all that – oh, and I picked up a lot more I've not mentioned."

Tracy said sheepishly, "No."

"Read between the lines. Ask a personal question here and there, nothing too prying, just curiosity. Be observant. George wore a wedding ring. He had pictures of two grown children and family on the bookcase behind his desk; his wife is pretty. Tom only had a picture of his daughter; no pictures of a wife and no ring. George also had a couple of snapshots that showed him up in the Rockies hiking. Tom commented about being scared of being too personal on the Internet. You get the idea? The client will tell you what they want to talk about. Look and listen."

Tracy nodded and felt dumb.

Doug went on, "Did they order anything from us?"

"No, but they seemed to like what we told them."

"They did, and they're not the real buyers. They're the recommenders. If you recall I asked at one point about how their purchasing decisions were now made. Their answers led me to the conclusion that we couldn't force a sale in that meeting. What we did do is force a strong recommendation to the head of purchasing that they buy about half-a-million dollars worth of stuff from us. That's a fabulous order and we'd both make some good money on it. I told them I'd follow up with a letter and some details about the final package, and I will before the end of the week. I want you to draft that letter. They'll take that 'upstairs' for approval, and bingo we just made a lot of money."

"Oh, I understand now." She paused and asked, "Doug, what did you mean when you said 'we'd both make some good money on it'?"

"Our commissions. Didn't they make that clear to you in HR?"

Tracy shook her head. She wasn't sure what should have been made clear.

Doug rolled his eyes. "When you're in sales, a good chunk of what you take home is your commission on what you sell. If you don't sell, you don't eat. If you sell a lot, you make a lot of bread."

"How much?"

"You, my dear, are only taking home a bonus of one percent of what you sell. That will change rapidly upward as you start to go out on your own."

The calculator in Tracy's brain fired off. "You mean if we get the whole order today for $500,000 that I'd get $5,000?" She couldn't believe that what she'd said could be true.

"I do," Doug smiled at her. The realization was just sinking in for Tracy.

Tracy said in amazement, "And this is just one client?"

Doug grinned. "I think you're catching on really fast." He liked being the messenger for such good news.

"How much do you take home, or shouldn't I ask that?"

"You may ask because it is a matter of public knowledge. I get ten percent as my commission, and there a few strings here and there, boundaries if you will, but that's the gist of it."

"Holy shit, you'll get $50,000 for what happened today?"

Doug nodded and pointed at Tracy's dinner. She'd barely taken a bite. He said, "If and only if they buy the whole $500,000 worth this year. If they string it out, I get proportional payments for whatever happens in any particular year.

After dinner they went back to the bar. They were sitting at a side table when the same two guys who'd hit on her earlier walked in.

Tracy said, "Encore performance." She slid over close to Doug, and put his hand on her thigh. In a slightly louder voice she said, "Why Mr. James, you are so talented; I had no idea you could make a woman do that. Would you mind showing me again, maybe a little later tonight? That felt soooooo good."

The two guys looked over with dejected looks on their faces.

Doug acted as though he were whispering something so her. Tracy reacted by looking pleasantly shocked, obviously as though she had just been propositioned with something shocking and sexual. She nodded enthusiastically and stood, pulled Doug up with her. He tossed a twenty on the table to cover their drinks, and put his arm around her and led her out of the bar and towards the elevators.

Tracy laughed on the ride up, "That was fun. I love to tease people."

Doug shook his head, "I can tell. Just don't tease old men too much. We don't have the time or inclination for it."

As they reached Tracy's door, she stood on tiptoe, kissed his cheek, and gave him a coy smile. "When I'm ready, you'll know." She disappeared into her room.

Alice sat in a high chair at the kitchen counter with notes and her large laptop computer in front of her. She was putting the last touches on a graphics-intensive website she'd designed for a client. It was nearing four-thirty and she wanted to finish by five o'clock when some of the others in The Circle started to arrive home from work.

'Ding dong.'

Alice went to the front door. No one was expected, but they did have drop-in guests from time to time. She opened the door to face an attractive short blond.

Marlene smiled at Alice. "Hi. I'm Marlene Mason. I met Jim and Matt about two weeks ago at a party my husband and I hosted. I wondered if Matt was home and had a few minutes to talk to me."

"Oh, yes. Come in. I recognize your name. You live near here, isn't it on Pheasant Ridge, near the golf club? Oh, I'm Alice. I live with Matt and the others."

Marlene wondered just how much about her Alice did know. "Yes, we've been there a little over a year."

"Matt won't be home for at least another half-hour, but please come in unless you'd like to come back at another time. Can I get you a drink of some kind? I'm about to have a glass of wine."