Chapter 120: Meet the New Boss

Wednesday, April 2, 1986

We decided to take somewhat of a break from studying after all. Some of it was inevitable. Angie and Mel wanted to be at the two GSS meetings today. The earlier one was a midday talk on AIDS, and the other involved a couple of ‘gay-themed movies,’ per the Batt announcement. One was, apparently, lesbian-themed, per Angie. Paige and Cammie went with them, naturally.

Meanwhile, Jas and I went to see Aggie Cinema’s showing of ‘Gigi’ at the MSC. We’d seen the stage performance. Seeing the movie seemed good. Plus, it was French, and how could we say no to that?

As Jas pointed out on the walk home, we were seeing multiple French musicians (the Labèque sisters and Jean-Michael Jarre) — all known for their keyboard skills — and a French-inspired film within a week and half. Hard to beat that!

And, with Gigi having a happy romantic ending, Jas felt it important that our evening went the same way. Exams or not, that sounded great to me!

Thursday, April 3, 1986

Today was the only chance Jas and I had to visit AggieCon this year, so we did. We barely did anything, but we checked out the Dealers’ Room, mixed, and mingled.

The others would all be back tomorrow for as much of the con as they could. It would have been nice to see more of it, but Rendez-Vous Houston was in the way, and nothing would edge that out.

Mel said that the organizers were privately more than a bit distressed about the whole thing. Many of them really liked Jean-Michel Jarre and were quite unhappy to miss the concert. They were also quite worried that much of their usual audience would make the drive down to Houston and Saturday would be sparsely attended.

They were probably right.

Friday, April 4, 1986

Jas and I skipped Martial Arts and hit the road around eleven, when class would have started. We’d had a decent breakfast, so we skipped lunch and arrived at P.C.’s Limited around one-thirty, thanks to some unexpected traffic in Manor, a small town along the way. I would have completely expected it thirty years later, but Manor was barely noticeable in 1986, especially compared to what it would later become.

Alice had made arrangements for us to come in through a fire exit that was usually never opened. It put us at a back stairway that would take us to Michael’s office. I had my garment bag with me and used a restroom to change into my suit. All three of us were dressing up for this. Michael was already in his suit, and Lee would arrive wearing his, but it had made sense for me to change here. It was hardly the first time I’d changed in a restroom!

By two, all of us were there and ready. Mary, Lee’s wife, immediately wound up deep in conversation with Jas, which seemed good to me. They were easily twenty years or more apart, but some things transcend that. Engagement rings seemed to be one, but I guessed they would be on to other subjects quickly.

Meanwhile, Michael, Lee, and I briefly discussed the meeting. The consensus was that I came third in the discussion — ‘last but not least.’ Technically, that might be wrong — the Board was the body hiring Lee, and I was part of the Board — but it made more sense. I was the least involved of the three.

We didn’t plan much of my part out. Michael knew I would roll with whatever setup he gave me. Lee’s introduction was much more choreographed. He’d already spent time meeting with some of the other senior staff, and felt like they were largely on board, but there was a lot of work to do in getting everyone else on board.

Goodness knows I’d had a number of President-level changes happen well above me over my career. Some of them were good. Some of them were bad. And, heck, some were disasters. These things happen, and most employees with any experience aren’t going to blindly trust the new guy.

Lee had a plan, and I was pretty sure it would work. It had before, after all. Or ... I thought it had. This was a different universe. Maybe it was a different plan. Who knew?

There was only one space at P.C.’s Limited large enough for this: an unfinished manufacturing area in a newly added building. They’d rented chairs and set up a stage for the presentation. While we’d been planning things, managers had brought their teams (except for a skeleton crew making sure the phones were answered) over to the new space and got them settled. Feedback was that the rumor mill had settled on ‘President’ pretty thoroughly. It hardly surprised me that the second-most-popular guess was ‘layoffs.’ Pessimism is pretty common in many organizations, after all.

Still, that was apparently a one-in-twenty type answer, according to our sources. That was good. The thing about the layoff rumor-mongers is that, sooner or later, they’ll be right, at least in most companies. Dell had had plenty of layoffs over the years, after all. Most tech companies had.

Apple had been infamous for ‘binge and purge’ — hiring a bunch of people, laying a bunch off, then hiring even more, including most of the people they’d recently laid off. I was pretty sure second-act Jobs had clamped down on that, but it had been a big part of their culture for years.

The three of us headed over about two-twenty, coming in from the back. Michael waved to everyone, getting cheers. Lee and I followed. It was hard to tell, but I guessed that we were getting puzzled looks. We weren’t getting cheers, anyway.

I spotted Jas next to Mary in the back of the room. She had our camera and looked ready to use it. There were two other photographers as well, and I made a mental note to ask Alice for copies of their pictures (if Jas hadn’t already asked — she might well have).

We stepped onto the stage. Lee and I stood back a few steps. Michael cleared his throat, tapped the microphone, then got us started, saying, “Hello, P.C.’s Limited!”