Chapter 55

I was awake at five-fifty, so I put some workout clothes on and went down to the saloon. A Mr. Coffee already had a brewed pot, so I poured myself a cup and waited to see if any others might workout with me. Yuu, Hideki, and Dai all came into the saloon and suggested going to the gym so that we would have time for breakfast.

While we were running, Hideki told me that he was attending an important meeting to assist Yuu in completing the purchase of land for his new factory. Yuu then explained that he felt he could build his wind generator design cheaper in the US than he could in Japan. The productivity of US workers, he said, is higher than that of Japanese workers, while American workers have fewer benefits and worker protections, such as paid parental leave, than Japanese workers, so he expected to get a lot more production per dollar of labor expense. This factory would be able to manufacture some other products that were popular in America, but the wind generators were going to be the product he would profit from the most.

This shouldn’t be that big a deal, but the two men felt that it could be a very difficult negotiation. I wished that I could help, but I had other appointments.

We all left the gym, had some coffee, and went upstairs to go get ready for work. The girls were awake and discussing some investment strategy that they wanted to use to keep an invading company from taking other companies over. Jules said that she thought she had a way and was going to put it in operation today.

The girls showered with me without a lot of fooling around again. Katie told me, “I’m getting horny, so you better be rested by the time we go to bed tonight. We may be pregnant and busy with investing, but we’re still healthy, horny women.” Jules and Katie did a high five over my head.

I was ready to eat by seven, and saw that Hideki, Yuu, Dai, and two of Yuu’s bodyguards had already eaten. They prepared to leave to get up to North LA. They both said that they should be back in plenty of time for our golf game.

Dan, Forest, and Ken, the other partner, came down and had some breakfast. Vicki looked through the door and gave me a head wave. She was ready for us.

Donte rode in the front passenger seat of the big limo with us. I think he was still a little put off at having to share his watchdog responsibilities with someone else, especially a woman. We arrived at the office at seven forty-five and found over a dozen cars already there. Kelly’s Vette was there, so she also came early and probably brought Georgia with her.

All the Assistants were there including the new man although the office didn’t officially open until eight-thirty. Joan came into my office as the three men from Indy were being served some coffee and offered a pastry. They sat at my small conference table and observed, rather than interfere with the normal office flow. Joan said, “You didn’t pick a good day for a lot of visiting and presentations. Danni and Chica convinced one of the local channels to do an interview and present our office as the winner of the bid to rebuild sixteen square blocks of Los Angeles. We’ll give the man a tour of our office, and let the audience see for themselves what kind of business we’re doing that justifies the construction we’re proposing for downtown.”

Danni grinned at me and said, “I didn’t think a little free advertising would be unwelcomed. You’ve built this office from a garbage pen to something very prestigious. We’ll show them the plans for the new north office and the condominium complexes that we’re going to build homes on. We have some video of the new locations going up, so they will have some real video to show.

I asked, “What time is your interview supposed to be for?”

Joan said, “The camera crew will be here at nine-thirty, the news people at ten, and the video interview is to start at ten-thirty.”

“Come get me if you want me to be in this interview, and I’ll break away from the telephone system presentations. I like the idea of getting in front of more people and potential customers.”

I suggested that the partners and Forest go to the third floor conference room and I would have some of the other people, including our regional data guru, come up to be a part of the audience. I wished that Greg from San Antonio could have been there, but it didn’t work out. He needed to get San Antonio rolling so that it could quickly be finished.

Jim called me at eight fifteen. He apologized for calling so early, and hoped that he didn’t wake me. I laughed as I told him I was at the office with the partners waiting for the communications equipment presentations. Jim said, “I have the foreman and owner of the electrical contracting company with me. They are both telling me that what you want isn’t possible. They are insisting on power poles for the sales areas and keep telling we’re installing too many electrical outlets. Can you talk to them?”

“Okay, Jim, but find Greg while I do this, and bring him so that I can talk to him.”

One of the men got on the phone and began spewing all the reasons why what I want can’t be done. I asked him, “Can you tell me who you are?” when he finally ran down. “I’m Brad Johnson, the Mooney rep who signs off on paying contractors.”

The man hemmed and hawed before he finally said, “My name is John Davidson. I’m the foreman for this job that should be just about completed.”

“Thank you, Mr. Davidson. I understand that your boss is there with you. If you have a speakerphone, can you use that so we can all be a part of the conversation?”

I heard the click and quickly said, “Can you tell me the name of your company and the name of the man who’s the owner/contractor?”

An older voice said, “I’m Howard Jennings, owner and contractor of Alamo Electric. Let’s see if we can make this work.”

“This is the deal, Mr. Jennings; I’m the customer willing to pay to have something done. You’re the contractor with the ability to do what I want. I think we’ve already paid you multiple progress payments on this job and are willing to continue, but I want some major additions. I will have those additions one way or the other. Do you not need the work? Are you so busy that you can’t do this? What’s the problem, Mr. Jennings?”

There was a very long silence until I finally said, “I’m waiting. Why don’t you want me to have what I need?”

“This is John Davidson. Your additions to the building electrical grid are going to require a lot of additional wiring, and we won’t be within code if we add that much.”

“Did you do the job to the original blueprints and plans in the manner it was given to you, Mr. Davidson, or did you modify it?”

“Okay, so we cut some corners so that we could pull less wire and not have the extra panels the original plans called for. The office is within code and should be adequate for most offices the way we have installed the wiring.”

“So your installation doesn’t match the blueprints; is that what you’re saying? How did you get the electrical inspector to pass what you did?”

It was Jennings who answered, “You know how it’s done. A little sleight of hand on the side and they’ll pass it as long as the wiring is safe.”

“Okay, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go to your office, get an ‘as built’ copy of our prints showing exactly what you installed, and get them to our law offices there by this afternoon. Meanwhile, prepare a bid to comply with the exact wiring plan you have for the building as was presented this morning. Take me off speakerphone, Jim.”

“We’re off broadcast. The contractor and foreman are leaving.”

“Do this Jim, use Greg and find an electrical contractor that will do exactly what we want and have him document every change that was made to our original plan. The company is willing to pay a premium to get this work done. Make sure all the auxiliary panels are installed and all the outlets are appropriately installed. If you have to rebuild walls, do it but document it. Put Greg in charge of this, as he knows what to do and tell him to hire an assistant if he needs one. Call me this evening and let me know what the status is.”

Forest and Dan were riveted to my conversation and both looked at me through squinting eyes. Forest said, “You are a motherfucker. You were into that guy from the first sentence.”

I said to the two men, “That situation is a total FUBAR that will take years to figure out. Let’s get upstairs so that we’re ready for the first presentation.”

One of the sales secretaries had volunteered to be our caretaker or waitress for this party. As busy as the offices were going to be we should probably hire someone like that.

This wasn’t a good time for me to evaluate anything. I was so angry that I had to go into the restroom and do some deep breathing. I’m not violent by nature, but I would have tried to pulverize that foreman if he had been in front of me. I needed to call our legal and accounting people to cut off any payments to that company until this was resolved.

The huge conference room table was covered with various phones and display equipment. Howard began with an introduction of his company and what services they provided. He had us watch a five minute video promo of NEC equipment and how it integrated to the internet and still remained secure.

The man was smart as he had Dan and Forest give their cell phones to his techs. The techs made several entries and then handed the phones back. They had linked to our e-mail server and sent each man an e-mail. The cell phones burped and displayed the e-mail. Howard created a voicemail and hung up. Both phones burped again and they were asked if they wanted voice or text this time. Forest chose text, and Dan voice. I was impressed. They described how we could link all offices to a central VoIP location. Each office would have a separate IP or Internet Protocol address that would be identified through software and a call that needed to go to Indianapolis would be routed from any location directly to who was to get the call.

The receptionist’s console was the same as what was on our receptionist’s desk. The operator could handle an immense amount of traffic as she was doing it with keyboard, mouse, and voice command.

I already used most of that, but I wanted to make sure that I had it when there were the multiple offices I would be responsible for. Howard first, then three of his technical salesmen showed features that were fascinating and almost seemed futuristic, but were available today. A last person got up in front of us, and said, “You have a very good data person who has kept your systems flawlessly working. You’re lucky as most companies your size don’t pay attention to that kind of detail. I want to assure you that we will train your man or other people to know all about our equipment and integration methods. His main job will be to continue to monitor for security.”

I told the partners, “They didn’t say it, but they offer various maintenance agreements that ensure fast response to service problems as well as additions or modifications. We have a full service agreement with them for this office and still have an agreement on the old office since it’s still in operation in the old building.”

There were a couple of questions, and Howard Kraft shook hands all around and said that he wanted our business. He thanked me again for keeping the meeting in LA and said that he looked forward to installing our North LA office.

The man had left a copy of all the companies in the United States that were a part of the NEC national network. Now we were to see what Avaya had to present.

I went downstairs in time to run into Joan, Danni, and Chica who were with the TV interviewer. I was introduced as the Manager of this office and the Regional Manager of all of the western offices. They asked all the usual questions as to how long had I been with Mooney and how I had progressed with the company. I was giving them the canned speech when Dan came into my office and walked behind my desk. When I paused, he said, “I’m Dan Anderson, a partner within Mooney Corporation and this man’s boss. Brad has been one of the best choices we’ve ever made. We brought him out here from a very successful region in Florida. The man saved this office and several others from people who were trying to subvert them and steal every dime they could. Brad caught them and they are now in jail. Brad also was assigned offices in other regions that he has taken over and brought their numbers and profitability way up. The entire company is proud of Brad and what he has done. I don’t mean to interrupt, but Brad needs to be in a meeting upstairs.”

That was a great way to segue out of the interview.

Two new men were in the conference room. The first man introduced them both and their company, and told us that they weren’t used to having to put on a presentation with only twenty-four hour notice. The second man said that he wanted to take us to some of their installations to see the equipment in operation.

We were treated to a five minute video presentation of how wonderful Avaya was and the two men then alternated back and forth about the benefits of doing business with Avaya.

I asked, “Do you have a list of dealers and offices throughout the United States? We’re a national company and we need to ensure there are supporting offices in all our areas.”

We kept getting, “We’ll have to get back to you.”

I was tired of the tone, and stood. “Thank you two for coming in today. We’ll have to schedule something in advance to hear a better presentation. Did you leave any brochures of your equipment?”

Both men smiled and said some would be delivered to our office this afternoon.

It was lunch time, so I went to my office and asked Georgia, “Call Johnny’s for four plus two. I want our small booth.”

Georgia held her hand up with her thumb and forefinger in a circle while she was on the phone. Donte and Vicki drove the limo to Johnny’s and parked in front as Johnny’s had a limo parking area. The receptionist said, “So nice to see you, Mr. Johnson. I’ve heard you’ve been traveling a lot. All these men and no lovely ladies today?”

I pointed to Vicki and said, “Only one and she’s my driver. Put them at a table as near to us as possible.”

We were quickly attended to for drink orders. I could use something stiff, but knew better this early in the day. I said to the men, “We didn’t get a good presentation from the company who is supposed to be the major force in the country. NEC is very quickly becoming bigger and more recognized. I liked what was offered and think we should give them a chance to bid on the North LA office, but I also want to give Avaya a chance to bid on it in order to see how their price structures compare. I’ll give them both the requirements by tomorrow and expect a response within three business days.”

“We’re fucked in San Antonio unless we can come up with a really kick ass electrical contractor. Forest, I want your office to have our San Antonio legal counsel evaluate this and sue the shit out of this guy. We’ll be operating out of the new office and will have some numbers that we can use to recover our losses by the time this goes to court. I want what it costs to redo what they installed, as well as our loss of income.”

Forest said, “I’m not sure how much you can get for not following a blueprint, but it was contracted that way so there is some fraud involved. I hate to see us go to the wall with a new community, but we can’t be a patsy.”

I looked at the other partner, Kenneth Turner, and asked, “You don’t say much, but you always have an opinion. What is it today?”

The man looked around, and said, “You push hard whether you’re in our office, your office, or out in the field trying to get something done. I’ve watched you for a lot of years and wonder when you’ll burn out. I’m not sure what your releases are, but you must have some activities that you find relaxing. If I were going to offer anything, I would suggest for you to back off when presented with these ridiculous challenges and think about them first. Sure Mooney will lose money, but it isn’t as important as keeping you, our most important property, healthy. Get this stuff in some form of logical order and take a week or ten days to go somewhere with your family. It’ll all still be here when you get back. You know how to do it, so do it.”

I smiled at the man, and said, “Thank you for the suggestion. I’m planning to try to take some time to go to Hawaii to see how my home there is coming along.”

I looked around the table as we were eating, and said, “I need your permission to create some positions the company doesn’t have. I have control over a lot of offices that are all producing over their expectations. I know that I need Assistant Regional Managers, but I also need some Regional Accounting Managers, Regional Finance Managers, possibly Regional Title, and Regional Decorating, Engineering, and probably Sales Managers. The cost of these people isn’t that bad because they would still be responsible for their home offices, the same as the Regional Office Managers are. My idea would be to increase their salaries and not their commissions. They would have a travel budget as necessary, and could hitch a ride with me on the company airplane fairly often. I want them to use the aircraft if I’m not using it. You should consider this if you want me to continue overseeing all these offices, not including the south central region. The benefit to the company is smoother reporting from all offices so that we can see a developing situation before it becomes a problem.”

I had continued eating while talking, hoping the slower delivery would give it time to sink in. Dan asked, “Have you already set people up for these positions?”

“Nope, not yet. I thought this would fall under what you were talking about when I didn’t consult you about what I wanted to do.”

Dan said, “It is something the partners should agree on before implementing. Can you write a proposal for your idea?”

“There it is again, Dan. You want a proposal, so you’re hoping that it will take a couple of days to reach you so you can mull this over and figure out a way to turn it down. I can see in your eyes how you don’t want to push Mooney toward significant progress. This idea isn’t going to cost much and the value is big considering that you’ll have faster reporting than ever before and better trained people. Figure out a way to let me fail instead of figuring a way to turn me down. You can always say ‘I told you so’ that way.”

Dan was getting red-faced from my constant challenges. “I’m sorry to confront you like this, Dan, but that’s why this lunch is only us with my two people off to the side. You have to give your Regional Managers the ability to push ahead and not hold them back. We have an opportunity to excel and an opportunity to be one of the major real estate companies in the country. We must have people to guide their contemporaries into doing the job necessary for us to succeed. Work with me and don’t hesitate to state a good reason not to do something, Dan. You know that I don’t put things off, but immediately try to resolve a situation. That’s why I have all the Assistants I have. We’re going to go play golf this afternoon, and I want you men to think about what I’ve said. I’m not leaving unless you fire me, and I doubt you’ll do that. You don’t have anyone willing to devote the time to get the city condo buildings started. I’m going to get them started and completed. We’re going to be another reason why people want to move to LA.”

Forest winked at me, so he was listening at least. Dan was still red-faced, but wasn’t shaking with anger. He needed to think this through and realize that I was working toward the company’s success.

“Thank you for coming to lunch with me, Gentlemen. It’s on me today. I don’t always use the company card for lunches.”

It was very quiet on the way back to the office. I assisted with the afternoon tour and checked all the entities to make sure everyone was on track. Matt said that we were on schedule to do our two hundred and fifty sales this week once again.

The men were ready to go home and change into golf clothes, so I called Jim in San Antonio and found out that Greg had four companies bidding on the electrical, communications conduits, and wire corrections. Ken called from San Jose to ask how he was going to handle the increase in electrical and communications wiring.

I told him, “Give the contractor the go ahead if he gives you a decent bid, or we’ll have to get additional bids otherwise.”

Ken and Alec would get an additional night out on Mooney, but that was a good thing. The two had a lot of things to work out between them. I hoped this trip would help.

The ride home was equally quiet, so I knew that the wheels in Dan’s head were turning. The man wasn’t vindictive, but he would change things to be the way he wanted them to be. I figured that it was coming.

We had a large group playing golf today. I was going to pair myself with Yuu and Hideki, but Forest became the third person in their group. 0ur group consisted of Dan, Kenneth Turner, the other partner, and me. We let the other threesome tee off first and stood back watching. Dan began on the first tee by saying, “We’ve decided that you’re being stretched too far to do good job for the company. We have a plan that should work for you.”

We teed off and were at the second tee, when Dan said, “Since you like Taz as Assistant Regional for Reno, Seattle, and Portland, we’re going to promote him to Regional for up there, and give him Sacramento and Salt Lake City along with those three.”

That was a decent idea, but Taz wasn’t ready for that much responsibility yet, especially with Sacramento and Salt Lake City thrown in.

While waiting on the third tee, Dan said, “Since you have confidence in Jim, I’m, or we’re, going to promote Jim to Regional now instead of waiting. You won’t have to be concerned about the South Central Region that way. We’re going to keep Phoenix in that Region, so you won’t have to be concerned about them.”

On the fourth tee, Dan said, “We’re trying to figure who to promote as Regional Manager to take over San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. Do you have a recommendation?”

My only reply was, “I’ll have to think about it.”

The fifth tee had no new news, but I was still close to par so far. The sixth tee told me what I was expecting, and I was told, “We’re going to sell the CJ4 to cut costs since you won’t be traveling as much. You’ll have to use commuters and drive for the Region.”