Chapter 59: “I Told Dave I Quit!”

May 22, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

“No, she didn’t,” I countered.

“Steve, I’m serious. She called, said she quit, and hung up before I could say anything.”

“Dave, go get a vacation form, fill it out requesting a week off for Penny, mark the ‘emergency request’ box, sign it, and bring it to me. Put ‘by telephone’ on the line where Penny would sign.”

“What?” he asked, a confused look on his face.

“Just do that, please. Once I sign it, turn it into Keri, then get Terry and come talk to me. OK?”

“You’re taking this awfully calmly.”

I smiled, “I know Penny. She’s having one of her patented hissy fits. As someone who’s had plenty of them in the past, I can relate. Please do what I asked, OK?”

He nodded and was back ten minutes later with Terry and a filled-out vacation form. I signed it, Dave gave it to Kimmy to take to Keri, and then Dave, Terry, and I sat down in the «yōshitsu» room.

“Dave told me,” Terry said.

“Do you agree with my assessment? That she’s most likely acted in a fit of pique and she’ll calm down?”

“I think so.”

“What set her off?” Dave asked.

“The usual stuff with Penny,” I replied. “I paid attention to another female employee and didn’t tell Penny things Penny thought she was entitled to know. Penny also thought I should have sent her to Dallas. It’s the same old story. Terry, is there anything else going on we should know about? If you can share, that is.”

He shook his head, “No. Just the same stuff; the kids, the house, and our marriage counseling, which I think is going OK.”

“Should we send someone else to Dallas?” Dave asked.

“I’ll have to leave that up to Terry,” I said. “He probably should find Penny and talk to her. But the last thing I want to do is have her think throwing a hissy fit is going to cause us to change our business decisions. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“I’m supposed to be on a 7:00am flight,” Terry said. “And come back late on Friday afternoon. Let me go find her. Who should I call?”

“I guess it depends on the issue,” I replied. “Dave, what’s your alternative?”

“Either Brenda or Ally, but it’s super-short notice for either of them because of their kids.”

“Let me track down Penny and see what’s up,” Terry said. “I’ll call and see if Amber and Andy are with Amanda, and check at home. I’ll call as soon as I hear anything.”

“Thanks, Terry,” I said.

He got up and left, but I motioned to Dave to stay.

“So what do we do?” Dave asked.

“Let her calm down. She loves working here. She’s a shareholder. She’s just ticked at me, personally. I think Terry can get her straightened out.”

“Put your manager hat on for a moment. Any other employee who was this volatile would have been talked to and possibly even written up. Penny gets a pass because of your relationship.”

I nodded, “She could use some professional counseling.”

“And who raises THAT issue with her?”

“Zo. He’s her manager and he’s a director. She’ll come bitch to me but I’ll send her back to Zo, or if she wants to escalate, to you and then Julia. Short of firing her, use whatever methods you want to get Penny on the right page. I’ll back you one hundred percent.”

“What about moving her out of here for a short time? Would you support that?”

“If that’s what you think is necessary. She’ll have a complete meltdown when you tell her that, and remind me that I promised she’d always work side-by-side with me. But if we need a break, then make it happen. Just warn Terry before you do that. I know it’s not normal procedure, but he’s going to have to take a much stronger role in helping her. I can’t do it for obvious reasons.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“What’s the alternative? Being held hostage to Penny’s moods? That’s worse than being held hostage to a certain almost seven-year-old female of my close acquaintance!”

Dave laughed, “As if you could EVER escape that hostage situation. You’ve got Stockholm Syndrome with your terrorist captor, my friend! Boys are SO much easier to deal with!”

“You have met Jesse and Nicholas, right?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

“OK, MY boys are easier to deal with!” Dave laughed.

“Elyse would agree with you with regard to Matthew and Michael, that’s for sure. WAY less drama and emotion than little girls.”

“Or you.”

“Get the fuck out of here, Dave!” I laughed. “And let me know when you hear from Terry.”

He left and I went to Elyse’s office. Unsurprisingly, Keri had told her about the vacation request. I explained the conversation I had with Dave, and Elyse shook her head.

“There are times when I don’t want to do HR, and this is one of them. She’s going to really lose it if Dave moves her out of your office, even temporarily.”

“What’s the alternative? Let her quit? Be held hostage to her emotions? Bend her over the desk?”

Elyse laughed, “She’ll take that last option and you know it!”

“It’s not a REAL option any more than it is for any other female employee here, with the exception of Michelle. I probably shouldn’t have even said it out loud. Or even thought it.”

“That is the root of the problem, you know? She still has it bad for you. Just as Kimmy does.”

“Yes, but Kimmy doesn’t let that interfere with her work OR her marriage. I can’t say the same for Penny. And I need to let Zo, Dave, Julia, and you deal with this. Penny is special, but she can’t use our special relationship as a weapon.”

“This could get very ugly.”

“I know,” I sighed. “Terry is supposed to go to Dallas tomorrow, which, by the way, is part of the problem.”

“Because Penny feels she’s being sidelined?”

“Yes. But I believe Dave made the correct decisions about who to send, and even if I wasn’t in complete agreement, I would never undermine his authority in that way.”

“Changing topics, any more word on Dante?”

“No. And that’s exactly what I would expect.”

“You aren’t going to try to counter him further?”

“No. I don’t want to give Dante any clue that I’ve figured out what he’s up to.”

“And your plan?”

“I’ll get Dave’s analysis of the development team and fly down to Dallas on the 8th. I’ll talk to his two top choices, besides Skye, and do my best to convince them to stay, including additional bonuses. Whatever I end up giving them, I’ll give to Skye as well.”

“You think you can peel them off at the last moment?”

“That’s the plan. It doesn’t give Dante any time to react. The others quit and he thinks he’s won. I’ll ask the ones I keep to stay silent until the following Monday.”

“What if you can’t get anyone to stay?”

“Then we have Skye and we use a couple of people from Chicago.”

“What does Dante do when he realizes he can’t get the source code?”

“After he throws a temper tantrum? I don’t know. He’s mostly boxed out.”

“What if he rescinds the offers and tries to simply make a go with Peach?”

“Then we have a ready-made way to reduce the development staff in any way we decide. We simply don’t allow them to rescind their resignations. But, I think Dante has more up his sleeve. But we’re well-positioned to deal with anything he does.”

I headed back to my office to work. Just before 5:00pm I went downstairs to talk to Dave. He hadn’t heard from Terry and was in a quandary about what to do about Dallas. I was careful not to make any suggestions, simply listening to him think out loud. In the end, he did what I would have done. Nothing. Penny needed to get her act together, and we needed to run NIKA. I asked Dave to call me if and when he heard anything, then went back upstairs to get my bag.

Michelle, Elyse, and I headed out to my BMW for the drive to Cook County to get Jessica.

“What’s up with Penny?” Michelle asked. “I saw she put in an emergency vacation request.”

“I think the stress has finally caught up with her - getting pregnant, finishing school, marriage, kids, and all the changes at work. Add in me being gone a significant amount, and I think you can see how she might be stressed out.”

“It’s a wonder YOU aren’t stressed out!”

“I’ve finally learned to deal with it. I’d love to simplify things, but there isn’t much I can do at this point. In a couple of months I’ll be able to get back to programming which I find very relaxing.”

“Have you given any thought to how you want to reorganize things once we complete the acquisition of Lone Star?”

“I have some ideas, but we’ll get the leadership team together to discuss it in late June.”

“How are you handling things while we’re in Europe?”

“Julia and Cindi will work with Kimmy to handle everything. We’re only going to be gone ten days, and they’ll be able to contact us if there’s some crisis. But I trust them, and the regional managers, to handle anything which might arise.”

We picked up Jessica, who was waiting just outside the ER doors, then headed home.

“Alec Glass invited me to the playoff game tomorrow night,” I said. “I’m going to see if Marcia is OK with meeting after school. If not, I’ll skip the game.”

“You said she was ready,” Michelle said.

“She is; I don’t want to discourage her in any way, and I promised to work with her every day this week. As Sensei Jim said, it’s a joint effort, and the last thing I want her to do is be distracted because I want to go to a hockey game. Jess, do you know what shift you’ll have when you start at UofC?”

“The scheduling clerk called me today. Twelve-hour night shifts, starting Sunday at 10:00pm. Pretty typical for a new Attending. That’ll probably be my shift for the next year. Then I’ll have a chance at a better one. We knew this would likely be the case. I’ll be able to get my vacation scheduled right away because we have the tickets. I made sure that was part of my contract.”

“Who’ll cover for you, Jess?” Michelle asked.

“A semi-retired Attending from Cook County. He teaches at Northwestern and works ER shifts during the summer and other breaks. Doctor Barton already made those arrangements.”

“Remember to talk to Bruce Grady about what to do with your W-4. And make sure you max out your 401K.”

“I have it on my calendar. I take it you want me to switch you, Albert, and Ashley to the UofC health insurance plan.”

“Absolutely. It’s the best deal for us.”

“How are we going to handle time together?” Jessica asked.

“Mostly you’ll sleep while Kara and I are at work, so it won’t be too bad, really. We can have dinner together, go to karate together if you’re up for it, and we can walk you to work.”

We arrived home and I checked with Amanda who told me that Penny had picked up Amber and Andy a bit early, and that she’d seemed to be a bit distracted. I felt it was a good sign that she’d come to get the kids, and once I’d hugged all my kids, I went to the kitchen to help Amanda finish making dinner.

After we ate, my wives, Michelle, Birgit, and I headed to karate. I took Marcia aside and explained the situation. We agreed to meet at the dojo at 4:00pm on Tuesday and then I let Sensei Jim know. After our warm-up exercises, Marcia and I went over the sparring rules in detail and I described how I’d seen them enforced. That made me think of Miyu winning the previous competitions and how she’d apparently abandoned martial arts.

After karate, I showered, then called Dave to see if he’d heard from Terry or Penny.

“Terry called,” Dave said. “Penny is adamant she’s quitting, but he doesn’t believe she really means it.”

“Neither do I. Once I arrived home and Amanda told me that Penny had been here to get the kids, I knew she wasn’t going to go off the deep end, at least not tonight. Is Terry going to Dallas?”

“Yes. I left that decision to him, and he seems to think Penny just needs some time to cool off.”

“Probably. How is this going to affect the schedules?”

“It’s not too bad, really. We’re not in a crunch right now, and it’s close to the usual times a lot of people take vacation, which we account for in the development schedules.”

“OK. I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”

We said our ‘goodbyes’ and after I hung up, I went to spend time with my wives and Michelle before heading to bed.

May 23, 1995, Chicago, Illinois

There were no developments with Lone Star or Dante on Tuesday, nor did I hear from Penny, which didn’t particularly concern me. My lunch with Melissa was relaxing and enjoyable. She hadn’t seen any moves by the engineering firm in Atlanta that bothered her, but she was obviously keeping a close eye on them. I left the office early, as I’d planned, so I could meet Marcia at the dojo.

She was waiting outside the dojo with a woman who looked to be about forty, and bore some resemblance. I assumed, correctly, it was her mom.

“Sensei Steve, this is my mom. Mom, this is my karate instructor, Sensei Steve Adams.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ingles,” I said.

“Nice to meet you as well. Please, call me Jillian!” she said, extending her hand, which I shook gently.

I unlocked the door and let them into the dojo, then locked the door again so I didn’t have to worry about anyone interrupting our session.

“Jillian, you can watch from the vestibule,” I said. “At some point, we’ll go into the smaller room so Marcia can work with the practice bag. If you want to come in there it’s fine, but you’ll need to remove your shoes first, please.”

“Thanks.”

Marcia and I went into the main practice room to stretch and do our warm-up exercises.

“Mom didn’t think I should be here alone with you,” Marcia said very quietly.

“I totally understand,” I said. “It’s OK.”

We practiced kata, then she practiced defending my attacks. When we went into the small training room to practice combination attacks with the bag, her mom followed us. I suppressed a chuckle at the ‘mama bear’ or ‘lioness’ protecting her cub, but it did make sense to keep an eye on her nubile sixteen-year-old daughter who was with a man twice her age.

“Marcia says you’re very confident in her abilities,” Mrs. Ingles said when we finished.

I nodded, “I believe she has an excellent chance to win the tournament, and Sensei Jim, the master of this dojo, agrees with me. If she performs over the weekend the way she has during practice, she’ll have a very good shot.”

“Thank you so much for working with her. She only has good things to say about you.”

“She’s a very good student and I’m happy to train her for the competition. I understand we’ll see you on Saturday and Sunday?”

“Yes! Absolutely! Marcia has three or four friends who’ll be there as well.”

“That’s great. Marcia, I’ll see you tomorrow at the usual time. Mrs. Ingles, Jillian, it was nice to meet you.”

We left the dojo; I locked it up and hurried home for a shower and a quick bite to eat before I went to the coach house to get Jesse and Nicholas.

“Jesse, are you TRYING to cause trouble?” I asked.

“What?”

“The Ducks jersey!”

“Nicholas doesn’t have a jersey so I let him wear my Hawks jersey.”

“Alright, you turkeys, let’s go to the game!”

“Yay!” both boys shouted, barging past me out to my car.

I drove to the United Center and the three of us walked to the ‘Will Call’ window where I showed my ID to collect our tickets, then went to the VIP entrance where I showed my ID again, along with the tickets, and were admitted to the elevator lobby. We rode up to the ‘sky box’ level and walked down the hallway to Alec’s box.

“This is COOL Dad!” Jesse exclaimed.

“Hi, Alec,” I said. “This is Jesse and his friend Nicholas.”

“Jesse, why are you wearing a Ducks jersey?” Alec asked.

“I like the Ducks! And I only have one Hawks jersey. Nicholas is wearing it!”

“I see! Help yourself to some food, and you can have any seat you want.”

“Thanks!”

Jesse and Nicholas moved over to the tables where the hot dogs, chips, and other food was, and Jesse helped Nicholas prepare a plate.

“I saw the Pens lost last night. The series is tied at a game apiece, right?”

“Yes. The comeback was epic, but it was the Caps, and the Pens simply own them in the playoffs. The Devils are another story altogether.”

“Well, the Hawks are looking good. I expect them to win tonight.”

“Me, too.”

“Help yourself to some food and drinks. And enjoy the game!”

“I will. Thanks for letting me bring Jesse and Nicholas.”

“Thanks for your help with that other thing.”

“You’re welcome!”

I fixed myself a plate of food, grabbed a bottle of water, and went to sit with the boys.

“Same bet as three years go?” a female voice called out.

I chuckled, “Hi, Gracie! I’m not a Canucks fan, so I’m rooting for the Hawks.”

“Who are the kids?”

“My son Jesse and his friend Nicholas. Nicholas is the one with the proper Jersey!”

“Hi guys! I’m Gracie!”

“Hi!” they both said.

“Are you my dad’s friend?” Jesse asked.

“Yes,” she said.

I hoped against hope he wouldn’t bring up ‘kissing’ or any related topics, but he’d been pretty good about not doing that except in the proper situations, which this was decidedly not.