Chapter 62: Storm Clouds On The Horizon

July 26, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“She’s playing you,” Dave said when he, Julia, and I met in her office on Friday afternoon

“Bullshit,” I said. “And how the heck could you know that after four days? In fact, how DO you know?”

“We had our weekly meeting this morning about the ‘sole proprietor’ version and I could smell the alcohol on her breath.”

“You’re sure it wasn’t mouthwash?” I asked.

“People drink mouthwash for the alcohol,” Dave said.

Al Barton had told me that when Jessica had one of her many incidents several years earlier. He’d also said that people use it to cover up drinking.

“So which was it, Dave? Mouthwash or alcohol?”

“Does it matter?”

“Actually, yes. If it was cinnamon, it’s the same stuff she’s been using since I first met her, and I’d hardly think she was drinking mouthwash in college when she could buy booze legally in Wisconsin, and a year later in Illinois. If it’s whisky, that’s a different story. Which?”

“I think she’s masking it with the mouthwash, or she just switched to it.”

“And there’s a fucking Red under every bed, right, Senator McCarthy?”

“She’s an alcoholic and you’re enabling her,” he said firmly.

“For fuck’s sake, Dave! It’s been a couple of days! Julia, did Cindi do or say ANYTHING that indicated she’s under the influence? I mean anything? A single slurred word? An incoherent thought?”

“No.”

“Dave, until such time as you have some kind of evidence, I don’t want to hear it. She gave me the bottle from her office and promised not to replace it. If you see a bottle, or this actually impacts her work, THEN come tell me. Until then, BUTT OUT!”

“Steve,” Julia said gently, “too far.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Look; we’re all under a TON of pressure right now. We have enough stress generated by the work we have to do. Let’s not create more. I’m sorry I snapped at you, Dave.”

“Apology accepted. There is still the issue of the aggressive schedule.”

I almost growled at him again, but calmed myself before I replied.

“Is that what this is really about? Trying to gain leverage to force her to back down?” I asked, then quickly added, “Don’t answer that question because I’m the one driving this. If you have an issue, you bring it to me, not her. I told you that a month ago. I’ve talked to the programmers and none of them are complaining. Brenda says they’re working hard and they seem to be enjoying their work. I concur with her assessment.”

“This whole thing is going to blow up in our faces,” Dave said.

“I don’t see any signs of that,” I said. “Julia, what’s your assessment.”

“I can see both sides,” she said.

And for the first time since I’d hired the two of them, I regretted it. In order to keep peace at home, she had qualified her answer. And in doing so, had made Dave’s prediction possible - but what was going to blow up wasn’t the ‘sole proprietor’ team, but Dave, Julia, or their relationship. And if there was a bigger possible disaster, I didn’t know what it was. And it had come completely out of left field.

“OK,” I said calmly, “then the schedule stays as it is.”

I got up and left the office. I checked my watch and I had ninety minutes before I had to leave for dinner with Elena Altieri and my wives. It was time to convene the first meeting of my new ‘Kitchen Cabinet’, which was very different from the leadership team, and for that, I was grateful.

“Kimmy, I need a meeting right away with you, Elyse, Eve, Deborah, and Charlie.”

“Topic?”

“When we’re together,” I said. “And no notes.”

She arched an eyebrow, then nodded, “Got it.”

Twenty minutes later the six of us were sitting in the ‘Lemieux’ room.

“I suppose you’re all wondering why I called you here today,” I grinned.

“God, that line is SO corny!” Deborah laughed. “But I suppose we are.”

“You all know about the leadership team, which is actually an operational team when it comes right down to it. This group, if you look around, is the leadership team because you’re here to advise me on leadership issues, NOT on day-to-day operational issues. In seventeen months, Stephanie will take over the leadership meetings and for the most part, I won’t attend. I’ll read the summary reports and the financials, but all that operational crap will, happily, belong to my little sister. She fucking deserves it!”

The girls all laughed.

“What did she ever do to you?” Deborah asked.

“Being a little sister is enough!” I chuckled. “Call it payback!”

“Don’t listen to him,” Elyse said, shaking her head. “They’re close and love each other; they have since I’ve known him, which is from age sixteen.”

“Anyway,” I grinned. “I have a problem which means all of you have a problem.”

“Shit rolls downhill!” Charlie laughed. “It always has!”

“In all seriousness,” I said. “I have a major concern. For the first time in eleven years, and more than that if you want to go back to college, I regret having a married couple as CTO and Vice President of Development.”

“Oh shit,” Elyse breathed. “What?”

“The actual issue isn’t relevant because it’s an operations issue. But for the first time I’m aware of, Julia couched an answer to avoid trouble at home. And to be honest, I have no idea what to do about it. Now, tied into this is a dispute between Dave and Cindi over the schedule for the ‘sole proprietor’ version of our legal software, which has turned personal. And, finally, the feeling that’s been raised by someone in this room, as well as a couple of people outside this room, that Dave is acting cross-purposes for corporate culture.”

“There’s a common thread there,” Kimmy said quietly.

“One which I only fully recognized today when Julia took a middle ground when I knew she agreed with me,” I replied.

“What’s happened with them?” Charlie asked. “In college, and when we first started NIKA, they were totally cool.”

“In a sense, they grew up and became their parents. Both were always more reserved and a bit prudish, though not terribly so. But as their kids have grown older, they keep them away from the house such that Nicky and Peter aren’t cousins. Don’t get me wrong here - Dave and Julia are entitled to raise their kids as they see fit. I’m just trying to explain that the change isn’t as stark as it might seem.

“So let’s not focus on that, please. What we need to do is figure out how to prevent what could turn into a massive Charlie-Foxtrot situation. If the issue between Dave and Cindi blows up, or Julia begins to change how she operates to keep her husband happy, the bovine excrement is going to hit the rotational air circulation device and NIKA is going to be screwed.”

“I think you need to share the issue between Dave and Cindi,” Charlie said.

“Deborah?” I asked.

“Dicey.”

“He told me she’s playing me,” I said. “He basically doubled down.”

“Well, fuck, Boss,” she said, swearing as I’d given her permission to, “then I guess you need to.”

I took a deep breath and let it out before I spoke, trying to keep as calm as possible.

“Dave accused Cindi of being a functioning alcoholic,” I said. “I asked Charlie to talk to her. They had a good chat according to both of them. Cindi came to me, blew off steam, and then agreed she’d get help when I pointed out I’d seen clues which weren’t clear until Dave said something. That was Tuesday when she came to see me.

“Today, Dave said he smelled alcohol on her breath, but I think it was just the same cinnamon mouthwash she’s used for as long as I’ve known her. He disagrees and thinks she’s playing me. I pointed out that she brought me her bottle of Jack Daniel’s and promised not to replace it. I believe her. Dave doesn’t. I asked him, rhetorically, if the aggressive schedule for the new version of our software was the issue.

“I know he has a real problem with it, but Brenda and Tasha are cool with it, and the newbies are doing great. Heck, they aren’t really newbies at this point; it’s been two months and they’ve picked up the ball and are running with it. Dave thinks it’s going to blow up. When I asked Julia’s opinion, she equivocated.”

“I’m probably going to hate myself for making this suggestion,” Eve said, “but what about changing the alcohol policy?”

“Based on what?” Kimmy asked. “Steve is saying he hasn’t seen any performance issues with Cindi, and I sure haven’t seen anything that concerns me. So we change based on Dave’s complaint? Then what? Move on to his next complaint?”

“And that’s EXACTLY the problem,” Elyse said. “Especially if he continues along the same lines he has been.”

“And to cap it off, we’ve had zero performance problems with Dave,” I said. “His team love him, and they make their deadlines.”

“Then you have to be very, very careful,” Deborah said. “Similar to the issue with Cindi where there are no performance problems. A difference in politics, worldview, morals, or whatever, is not grounds for termination, even if Illinois law says we don’t need a reason. Unless you can show how it directly affects his work, we’d be in deep sneakers if a wrongful termination complaint ever went to a government agency or the courts.

“What you have to show here is that he’s creating disruption or interfering with company operations with concrete examples which are well documented. And it needs to be a pattern. And you can’t let anyone else slide. The biggest problem, as I see it, is the one you identified at the start - his direct supervisor is his wife.”

“I’m open to suggestions,” I said. “I’m floundering a bit here.”

“Break it down into the constituent pieces and deal with each individually,” Charlie said. “Think of it as three modules for an application package. The Cindi thing is easy - we just keep our eyes open. I can ask her, because I’m not her supervisor, about going to AA meetings, or whatever. The rest of us just observe her. If she’s clean, and Dave continues to hammer on this point, then we can push back, right Deborah?”

“Yes. At that point, you ask him to make a formal written complaint. Steve and Elyse appoint someone, probably me or Eve, or maybe both of us, to investigate and report back with written findings. And when we find nothing, you politely tell him to shove it.”

Charlie smiled, “OK. On the software development project, I think Steve said he’s talked to Brenda and Tasha. Well, if Brenda and Tasha aren’t bitching, and the team isn’t bitching, and the development plan has been approved by the leadership team, it’s Dave’s job to make it happen. If he doesn’t, then that’s something he could be written up for, right?”

“Yes,” Deborah agreed. “The corporate policy of ‘manage your team’ does not include thumbing your nose at approved project plans. You can try to have them changed, but if the management team believes the schedule is appropriate, then you have to accept it. It’s safe to tell him, again politely, to pound sand if he doesn’t like it.”

Charlie laughed, “As for marital harmony, fuck if I know.”

“Maybe you should talk to them separately,” Eve suggested. “Perhaps it was because he was right there. Maybe she’ll be more forthcoming in private.”

“I considered that,” I said. “And that solves the problem but doesn’t solve the problem, if you get my meaning. If she can’t speak freely in front of Dave, something else is going to happen where she equivocates and sends the wrong message to him or to others. But to be totally honest, I think Dave is the problem, not Julia, and she’s doing her best to avoid problems at home.”

“The other married couples didn’t have that problem because there wasn’t a reporting relationship, right?” Deborah asked.

“Correct,” Elyse said. “Zeke and Tasha, and before they divorced, Penny and Terry. There was no reporting relationship in either case.”

“Not to be indelicate, but you and Steve?”

“Julia was running things for most of it,” Elyse said. “and if you ask Steve, I was HIS boss!”

I chuckled, “In more ways than one!”

All the girls laughed.

“I’d suggest inviting the new kids to the next ‘Lunch with Steve’,” Kimmy said. “And just those three, or maybe them plus someone else fairly new.”

“Make that happen, please,” I said. “And Charlie, have an accountability chat with Cindi, please.”

“Will do,” both Kimmy and Charlie replied.

“Thank you all,” I said. “We won’t have formal meetings, just from time to time. If any of you have anything you think we need to talk about, let Kimmy know and she’ll get the group together.”

Everyone got up to leave, but Deborah stopped me. She waited until the others left, then shut the door.

“So, am I supposed to feel privileged or left out?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, did I miss something?”

Deborah smirked, “You’ve fucked the other girls in this group. Am I supposed to feel privileged or left out?”

“Privileged, Counselor!” I laughed. “I mean unless you ARE feeling left out...”

“You’d have more chance with Elle Macpherson,” Deborah declared.

“I’ll bet you anything you care to wager that stranger things have happened in this universe, and if you ask any of the women who were in here a minute ago, they’ll tell you that if something bizarre can happen around me, it usually will! Remember, this is Crazy Town!”

“No kidding! On a serious note, for a newbie at NIKA, how bad could this be?”

“On a scale from stubbing your toe to Hiroshima? I’d dig a bomb shelter deep enough to survive the Tsar Bomba if Cindi continues drinking and Dave causes something to blow up with the development team.”

“Shit; I may take up drinking myself.”

“The thought had crossed my mind as well, Counselor.”

We left the conference room and I decided to leave the office a bit early so I could walk leisurely to Rosebud, where we were meeting Elena.

I reviewed the situation in my mind as I walked, considering everything that had happened. I thought back to the only other existential crisis we’d had since we’d turned profitable during our first year, and realized this was a far bigger threat than the ‘Gang of Four’, Mikela, and Keri had been. All of the issues with Dante paled as well. Two of the founders of NIKA were, in effect, at each other’s throats AND had personal issues as well. And a third founder was married to one of them.

But it wasn’t just that, either. When I looked at the size of the company, and the things we were doing, I wondered if we weren’t in a situation similar to the one when we’d divested ourselves of our logistics, inventory, and estimation software eight years earlier. In some ways, this was worse, because then we had obvious pieces which we could sell in order to focus on our core business. All we had now was core business!

And that was growing such that even our new space in Chicago didn’t have much room left for expansion. There was the option of the building across the alley and the ‘sky bridge’ linking the two buildings, The problem with THAT was that it would seriously impact our profitability in the short term and deplete our reserves, unless we borrowed, something I was STILL loath to do.

And none of this could wait for Stephanie to come on board. It was on me, with advice from my team, to find solutions and implement them. And that meant exacerbating my issues with Dave, or rather, his issues with me, as I would need to take time to focus on those things, rather than coding. Even with Kimmy handling all of the routine work, planning and problem solving were going to consume all of my available time, and then some. I’d need to tell the ‘leadership’ team on Monday and let Julia tell Dave.

I wasn’t going to solve the other problems during this walk, but I had laid them out in my mind. And, as I approached the restaurant, it was time to push them aside, and allow myself to enjoy the evening my wives and I were going to spend with Elena. By the time I arrived at the restaurant, I was in a good mood again.

“Buonasera!” Elena called out when I walked into Rosebud.

“Hi!” I exclaimed and hurried over to her where we exchanged a hug.

“How are you?”

“Good. My wives should be here any minute now.”

As if on cue, they walked in just then.

“Elena Altieri, Doctor Jessica Adams and Doctor Kara Adams; Doctors Adams, my friend Elena Altieri.”

They said ‘hi’ and greeted each other by touching cheeks.

“Both doctors? I thought only one...”

“Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry,” Kara said. “Jessica is the medical doctor.”

“Ah, the professor is now a doctor!” Elena said.

I walked over to the maître d’ and gave my name. He located our reservation and we were quickly seated. A waiter appeared immediately and after Elena and I consulted, we ordered a bottle of red Italian wine, and a bottle of San Pellegrino for Jessica.

“Are you on call, Doctor Jessica?” Elena asked.

“Not tonight, but I have to work at 6:00am tomorrow.”

“Who’s your client here in Chicago?” Kara asked.

“There are actually two; they’re both boutiques on Michigan Avenue. I have similar clients in New York and San Francisco. You know, I could make dresses for each of you if you wanted. I’m sure your loving husband would be HAPPY to buy them for you!”

“Why yes, of course I would,” I grinned.

“Very good answer, Steve!” Elena laughed. “If you two belle signore are interested, we can go back to my hotel after dinner and I can measure.”

Kara and Jessica both laughed, and Kara winked at me, to tease me that THEY had been invited back to her hotel room, not me.

“Yes, let’s!” Kara gushed. “But what will we do with Steve while you’re taking care of us?”