A Time of Purgatory
Chapter 6: A balm to the wounded

Copyright© 2009 by Texrep

I surveyed my office, the one that used to be Mike's. Andrew Sellors had stepped back from day to day control of his business, and promoted Mike to General Manager. The vacancy of Sales Manager had fallen to me. I had inherited Mike's office and Pippa. She had been offered the position of P.A. to Mike, but had asked to be forgiven as she wanted to work part time. She could do that as my secretary, but not as P.A. to the General Manager. Of course I was pleased. It had taken me nine years of hard work to get here, and even as I walked into the office I still had doubts that I should be here. Mike had assured me on more than one occasion, that I deserved the promotion, and he personally was happy that we could continue our good working relationship.

"The alternative, Tim. Would be to advertise for someone. Andrew was very much against that. You know how he is. Patriarchal to say the least."

This was very true as I had discovered after that long ago meeting with Jas. Was that nine years ago too? I still remembered it as if it was yesterday. A few days after my diatribe at Jas, Andrew had asked me to come and talk. The conversation was not, as I feared, about Jas. But a discussion about a new idea.

"Tim. I have been thinking for some time to add to the products we offer. I have been approached by a manufacturer of curtain fabrics who want to distribute in this country. The normal outlets for their fabrics are pretty well tied up, so they need a different approach. The idea is that we through our carpet retailers offer a bespoke service of made to measure curtains. We will set up a workroom, and make the curtains to the sizes their customers want. All they have to do is find room for a show stand with the samples. What do you think?" I was astonished that Andrew would ask me. My first question was.

"What does Mike think?"

"Laddie, I know what Mike thinks already. What I want to know is what you think." I gave it some thought.

"I am sure that our customers would be very keen to take on another profit centre, particularly if there is little cost to themselves. But I know from my own experience that measuring for curtains is a different skill than measuring for cloth. There are some I am sure will adapt to the technique easily, but many will have a problem. If mistakes were made, who will pay for the remakes? The other concern is of course the mark-up." Andrew smiled.

"There, ye see, Laddie. Straight to the crux of the matter. That's why I asked you. Now I want you to go away and have a good think about this. See if you can come up with something that will overcome this problem. Take some time, don't worry about making your calls, just see if you can find a solution. Oh and Tim. The mark-up is better than we have on floor covering. I'm pleased you asked. Shows you are thinking." I nodded.

"Yes, Mr. Sellors. I'll look into the measurement problem."

"Good. Tim! Mike knows I am asking you to do this, so don't worry about your work. At the moment this is more important." I got up to leave.

"Oh by the way, Tim. You seem to have recovered well from your divorce. I don't suppose you have heard anything about Jas at all?"

"Funnily enough Mr. Sellors I had a letter from her."

"Did you, indeed?"

"Yes. We met. I'm afraid that there was too much anger there for anything constructive to come out of the meeting."

"I'm sorry to hear that Tim. Jas was a lovely girl, but..." The 'but' said it all. "It's a fact of life that trust is a dearly won commodity. It's a shame that Jas couldn't see that you were worthy of her trust."

It was about that time that Janet, one of the account office staff left under a cloud. Andrew said nothing about her going, but Pippa seemed to know something, but never mentioned any detail. It was years later that I discovered that she was the one who had phoned Jas. It would appear that she was something of a fantasist, and believed that I was in Love with her and she with me. As I had probably never had any conversation with her apart from passing the time of day, during the couple of years she was there. It was indeed a remarkable fantasy.

I applied myself to the task Andrew had set. It took me three days, and the solution came after I had visited one of the larger department stores. I left with one of their pamphlets, which outlined simply the measuring process. By adapting that to our own requirements I roughed out a simple, easily followed diagram. I suggested that at the bottom of the sheet a caveat be printed absolving the company of responsibility if the measurements submitted were wrong.

 
There is more of this chapter...

To read this story you need a Registration + Premier Membership
If you have an account, then please Log In or Register (Why register?)

Close
 

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...

Storiesonline is for adult entertainment only. By accessing this site you declare that you are of legal age and that you agree with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.