Chapter 3: Promotion

Dave made the rounds over the next three days as the opportunity presented itself for him to see every Circle member and affiliate. The question he asked was, ‘What do you think of Dale and Susan Harnett becoming Circle members?’

The response was uniform and enthusiastic, ‘Oh, yes. I’ve been treating them as though they were members, but certainly. They belong with us.’ When Dave had talked to everybody, he suggested to Dale that he and Susan stay over to the following Tuesday before returning to Atlanta.

Thus, at Monday evening’s board and member meeting he presented the motion that they be elected as affiliate members until they could physically buy Christie’s house, and then they would automatically shift to being regular members of the Circle. The vote in the room was unanimously in favor.

The pair had gone out to a movie, but had been nervous because they knew from Dave that he was going to call for the vote on their membership. They were ecstatic about the results, and pledged to be good Circle members from the moment they were around. Susan cried. Dale looked relieved.

The next day, the couple was gone by the time the others in the Circle started to move around to get ready for work. Dave suspected they had a lot to do around their home to get ready to move to the Circle.

Dave took Alice, Heather, and Julie out to dinner on Wednesday evening, and then they went to see the third episode of 50 Shades – a movie called Fifty Shades Freed. Over ice cream after the movie the four discussed the film and book trilogy.

Alice said, “I loved the story. It really was our cup of tea. She was so innocent at the start of the series, and ended up very savvy at the end.”

Dave commented, “And, they had vastly different positions about the BDSM stuff that Christian was into, and they each moved significantly towards each other as the story progressed. Love resulted in them moving.”

Heather asked, “Didn’t the two of you move in your loosening up process?”

“Oh, yes. Tremendously, but we moved from about the same place for each of us to the same new place for each of us. We weren’t coming from different end points.”

Julie followed up, “What would have happened if you hadn’t taken the same journey and ended up in the same place?”

Dave shrugged.

Alice said flatly, “We probably would have separated. It happens to established couples every day. They chalk it up to ‘growing apart,’ or ‘having different goals,’ but the end result is the same. You or your partner are no longer the same person you were when you married them. One of you has changed and the other didn’t keep pace. The gap becomes too large to bridge.”

“Do people ever separate and then get back together?”

“Sure. I’ve heard of lots of remarriage stories five and even ten years after a divorce, although I don’t know anybody that’s been on the journey personally.”

Julie said, “That’s got to be emotional.”

“I suppose. I do hear the term ‘happily divorced’ from some people, but that may be a little one sided or maybe someone was just glad to be out from under another person. I think some people separate but still get together for sex.”

“Why bother to get married?” Julie posed rhetorically.

Dave replied, “These days most people don’t. The number of people getting married shrinks each year, and the number of couples living together without marriage grows. The number has doubled in something like ten years. Moreover, more than forty percent of unmarried households have children. I was reading a report a few days ago, because how people live directly impacts how much electricity they use.”

Julie mused, “And we go through so much trouble to find our soul mate. I got lazy. I let my sister do it for me, and then she found you.” She leaned over and kissed Dave on the cheek.

Dave laughed, “You outsourced the job. The concept of a soul mate is seriously flawed. The phrase suggests that there is only one person for you in the entire universe, and I think that’s incorrect. How many of the other men in our Circle could you be married to?” Dave looked to Alice and Heather as he asked, as well as Julie.

Heather said, “At this point, any of them. I love you and I know I could grow to love any of them in the same way.”

Alice pointed and Heather and said, “What she said. You already know I could be content with Owen and Dev or Sean, but that’s as true for the other men as for them.”

Julie had listened carefully, “I guess you’re right. Of the billions of people on earth, I guess there are a large number of acceptable partners. I never thought of it that way.”

Dave said, “When you’re raised with the ‘Exclusivity Paradigm’ you are also raised with the meme that says you have to get it right the first time. Most people don’t. Alice and I lucked out, but we changed to make that accommodation and lock in our future together.”

Dave shook his head. “That’s kind of dumb the more I think about it. People change; they grow and evolve in their interests, physical abilities, and mental acuity. Moreover, we know that their values and priorities shift over time. There’s a ‘happily divorced’ man at work. He talks about how he had the perfect ten-year marriage with his first wife. At the end of that time, they amicably split up and went in different directions. They’re both remarried to people more compatible with who they became as they grew and evolved.”

“Could that happen to us?” Alice asked.

Dave thought for a little and replied, “Possibly, but here we are in our early thirties feeling pretty compatible. Many of the years prior to this were about change and growth; not so much now. One of us could revert to our old way of thinking, but I think that’s unlikely. The way we were talking isn’t necessarily what the majority do; it’s only a possibility.”

Heather said, “I don’t plan on reverting. I love this lifestyle, and so does everybody in the Circle. You’ve made me realize I’m married to ten men, thirteen women, and the mom to one five-year-old. I love it.”

Dave teased, “Well, then, let’s head home and have some conjugal relations with some of our spouses and partners.”

“Ooooooh, I like that idea,” Alice crooned.

Julie’s grin confirmed that she liked that idea, as well.

About ten-thirty on Friday morning, John Thompson, the CFO of Knightsbridge and Roy’s boss, came down from the executive suite, went into Roy’s office and shut the door. Roy rarely shut his door, so something was afoot. Alice watched from her desk with great interest wondering what was happening. Through the narrow window beside the closed door she could see Roy sitting in a chair beside his desk as Thompson sat in the visitor’s chair. Roy didn’t look worried; in fact, he was smiling occasionally almost as though he were getting some good news.

After about forty-five minutes, Abby Walsh, the head of human resources, showed up looking a little perplexed about where to go. Alice said to her from about a dozen feet away, “Mrs. Walsh, can I help you find somebody?”

“Oh, yes. I’m confused about where Roy Goodman’s office is ... and it’s Abby. I’m not married.”

“Why right over here. That door there.” She pointed.

Alice got thanked and then watched as the head of HR walk in and shut the door behind her. This meant that whatever was happening was a human resource issue or problem of some kind.

Ten minutes later, Dori’s boss and Roy’s lateral, Jerry Chapman hustled past the desks from his office and went in and joined the three others. He gave her a wave and nod as he went by Alice’s desk. Jerry’s presence likely meant that the issue, whatever it was, was not only in Roy’s area of responsibility. Martin Cowlers, the head of IT, came hustling in from his office and went right into Roy’s office. Thompson was in there with all his direct reports.

Alice worried for a while that somehow the interrelationship between Roy and her had been revealed, and that some kind of discipline was being meted out, but with Jerry and Martin there, she didn’t think that was the case. Besides that, the two of them had never hidden the fact that they lived three houses apart in the cohousing project and saw each other frequently on a social basis because of their proximity. Of course, playing by the old rules, nothing was ever mentioned about the sex they often enjoyed together.

At noon, just as Alice was going to go the cafeteria, the door opened and Roy stuck his head out. “Alice, could you join us for a few minutes? Don’t worry about lunch for now.”

The tone of Roy’s voice strongly suggested that Alice respond positively to his request. She was on her feet, and at the door to his office in seconds. “What’s up?”

Roy made sure she knew everybody, a sop to allow time to pass as Roy went back to his chair. Alice sat in the only vacant chair in the office – a chair not normally there. This had been a meeting planned in advance and not on the spur of the moment.

John Thompson assumed control of the meeting. “Thank you for joining us, Alice. I have a couple of questions, but I’m pretty sure I know the answers. First, are you happy working here at Knightsbridge Manufacturing?”

Alice was taken back by the question. “My God, yes. I love it here. I’ve been here over ten years now, and see this as the cornerstone of my career. I’ve risen from junior clerk to chief analyst, and I love the work, the people, and the ambience of our work environment. Nothing I’ve ever heard of excites me as much as what I’m doing?”

John asked, “And Roy said that you single-handedly created those insightful marketing reports that let us cull our unprofitable customers into a niche that requires less effort to service them, hence making them highly profitable?”

“Yes. I got bothered thinking about how we were treating all of our customers more or less the same, and spending the same effort on each of them, whether they bought a few items from us a year, or hundreds if not thousands. Mitch Rush, the head of marketing, was very pleased with what I showed him and recommended.” Alice recalled talking to him about her observations one day many months earlier when she was trying to flash her tits at some men as she loosened up.

John waxed, “Not only did you show him, but you gave him two ways to deal with those unprofitable customers to make them profitable and not lose them. You also saved the company several million dollars on an annual basis because we didn’t have to hire people to treat them the same way we were treating our A-list customers.”

Alice nodded, and wondered where this discussion was going. She didn’t think the meeting was about her work for Mike Rush. She did feel she was getting applauded for what she’d done.

“Roy also told us that you’ve made some real insights into how we manage both our raw stock and finished goods inventory. I believe you saved the company some money there as well?”

Alice speculated carefully, “My estimate was that we were able to reduce idle assets in the warehouse by about twenty million dollars annually,” Alice replied. “Of course, that’s a ‘what if’ analysis and those aren’t always what they’re cooked up to be. Overall, though, we have been able to reduce both inbound and outbound stock inventories by about thirty percent. There are still some savings to be made there, but I think we’re waiting for their overall systems to absorb those changes first.”

Roy spoke up, “John, barely a month goes by that Alice doesn’t make some marvelous insight into the business that results in the managers making better decisions, more efficiencies, or, as in the warehouse case, some transformations of the business. They just keep rolling off her desk.”

John sized up Alice. “Alice, do you know what the Peter Principle is?”

Alice couldn’t help but laugh, “Of course. Everyone gets promoted to their level of incompetence.” She chuckled.

John nodded and grinned, “Well, what’s going on here is that two of you are being promoted and we hope it’s to just shy of your level of incompetence.”