Chapter 3

In the three years Tom worked for Mid-Home, several things happened in his life, most of which were for the better. There was one that was a disappointment and that concerned his relationship with Joyce. Tom had driven to Salt Lake City to visit her three times. These trips as far as Tom was concerned, were enjoyable as they involved lovemaking. During the last visit Joyce told Tom that with her one-year fellowship completed, she was relocating. She accepted a position to work for a school district in Seattle, Washington. Disappointment showed on Tom’s face when she said that because of the distance between Seattle and Boulder.

On the drive back to Boulder, Tom thought about Joyce moving to Seattle. It could be because he never expressed his feelings or uttered the “L” word to her. That could have influenced her to accept this employment position. Tom knew he did like Joyce, but at the same time, he also knew that he didn’t love her. She deserved to find someone who would love her, and he hoped for her sake that would happen.

Tom became familiar with all of the positions at work. He could work in every position and did when there was a need for him to do that. That evolved to Tom being the acting manager when Russ Casey was absent from work. When Russ was out of the office, all Tom needed to do was scan the morning mail to see if anything required immediate attention. The unit members did not need close supervision as they knew what to do without being told.

Russ was on vacation when Eric Adams from the HR Department, accompanied by an attractive young lady approached Tom.

“I want to introduce you to Myla,” said Eric. “She is a college intern majoring in computer science and is scheduled to be in the IT Department for one week.”

Tom quickly observed that Myla had a pretty face and a nice figure.

Tom welcomed Myla to the unit and gave her a brief overview of what they were doing. He told her that her being here today would help the unit. Alice Manners, a customer service rep, had called in sick and said she would be off for a few days. Myla, with her computer knowledge, could fill in for Alice and handle the customers who were calling in with service problems.

He told Myla that rebooting the modem would usually solve most problems. If all the modem lights were on, the trouble was at the customer’s end. Myla with her education and computer experience should be able to ascertain and solve the customer’s problem.

“Instead of doing this customer service work, I would prefer to be doing programming,” said Myla.

“Maybe in the coming days that could happen,” said Tom. “But right now it would be a big help if you would work Alice’s desk.”

Tom could see displeasure expressed on Myla’s face when he said this. He wondered who she thought she was in saying what she preferred to do and not liking what he asked her to do. Tom knew Myla represented the younger generation, and they were not reluctant to express themselves when they didn’t get their way.

About two hours later Tom received a phone call from Grace Jennings, a switchboard operator.

“We are backed up with customer service calls and customers are calling back complaining because of the long waiting times. Is there anything you can do?”

“The three customer service reps can’t handle the calls?”

“There are only two reps I can give the calls to. Extension three-two-five is always busy, and I haven’t been able to give that extension one call yet.”

That was Alice’s phone which caused Tom to ask Grace to listen in on that telephone line. One minute later, Grace said it was two girls talking about some sorority activities.

Hearing what Grace said pissed Tom off. He walked to where Myla was at a desk and on the phone. Standing in front of her desk, he pressed the plungers down in the cradle of Myla’s phone ending the call she was on. Myla didn’t say anything and just looked up at him.

“Can you tell me how many customers you helped today solve their service problems?”

Tom could see that Myla was uncomfortable with him asking her that question. There was no response from Myla.

“I thought so. I assume you know where Eric Adam’s office is in the HR Department. Well..., you need to get your butt over there and tell him that your time in the IT Department has come to an end. You are no longer welcome to be in this department.”

After watching Myla’s nice backside in her tight skirt walk away, Tom in a raised voice told everyone in the unit that they were on duty to answer the customer service calls until the backlog was reduced.

Tom called the switchboard and said who these service calls could go to.

What Tom had said to Myla was heard by a few employees, who quickly spread the word to other employees. Tom was back at his desk when Russ’s executive assistant, Claire Rogers came to him.

“I heard what you said to Myla. You do know who she is, don’t you?”

“Only that she is a college intern. Why..., who is she?”

“Her last name is Ackerman. She is the daughter of Colton Ackerman, the CEO.”

“Oh shit,” said Tom. He sat at his desk waiting for the expected phone call telling him what he did was a non-starter and Tom needed to welcome Myla back. The phone call that Tom was expecting never came. In the late afternoon, Grace said that Myla was seen in Colton’s office.

What happened was the next day, the first thing in the morning, when a contrite Myla Ackerman came to Tom and apologized for her actions. She said it wouldn’t happen again. Tom accepted her apology and assigned her to work as a customer service representative as Alice was still off work. He called the switchboard and asked them to inform him if there were any problems in giving calls to Alice’s extension. It turned out that Tom didn’t receive reports of problems.

Back in his apartment that night, Tom received a phone call from Jason Edman. Jason was a long-time friend who Tom considered to be an electrical genius. It was Jason who had spurred Tom’s interest in computer science.

“What’s up,” said Tom.

“I am planning to visit my sister and her family. That has me passing through Colorado on my way to Boise. I was hoping I could crash for a night at your place.”

“You are more than welcome to do that. Let me give you my address in Boulder. What day and time do you think you will be here?”

Jason gave Tom that information and there was more conversation before the phone call ended. Tom thought it would be a welcome change to see Jason as he always had news about the goings on in Austin and some mutual friends. It was always interesting to hear about the projects Jason was working on.