Chapter 14: Quintuple Overtime!

May 4, 2000, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“How were things in Durham and Boston?” John asked when Stephanie and I walked into the Pittsburgh office late on Thursday morning.

“Good,” I replied. “I’m still concerned about the ‘Lone Wolves’ in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, but they all seem reasonably happy.”

“We’re doing our best to make sure they feel like part of the team. Everything is set for dinner at 5:00pm. You and I will duck out at 7:00pm, which gives us just enough time to get to The Igloo in time for the puck drop.”

“You’ve let people know that’s going to happen, right?” Stephanie asked.

“Absolutely, Mrs. Krajick!” he deadpanned.

“Call me that again, and there’ll be a ‘face off’ right here!” she replied testily. “Yours!”

They both stared at each other, then laughed and hugged. They’d been playing this game since the first time they’d met, and it was similar to how Penny and I interacted. Stephanie and Sheryl had become friends as well, and their families had gotten together a few times since Stephanie had taken over as CEO.

“Where’s Mario?” I asked.

“On the phone with Tasha. One of the programmers gave notice this morning.”

“Who?” Stephanie asked.

“Big Jim,” John replied. “He’s going to a contract programming firm.”

“Bullshit,” Stephanie growled. “Who are they contracting him to?”

“That’s what we’re trying to sort out. My suspicion is Chickasaw because his partner is originally from Memphis.”

“You know that non-compete isn’t actually worth the paper it’s printed on,” I said. “I mean, sure, we could probably get an injunction, but the bad press isn’t worth it.”

“Theft of trade secrets or tortious interference?” Stephanie asked. “A call from Deborah to their counsel should put a stop to it.”

“And his resignation?” I asked.

“If he’s fucking with us, we have no obligation to bail him out. He can go to work for any place he wants, just not one of our legal software competitors. At least not for a year from today. Is Mario in his office?

“He is,” John said.

Stephanie hurried down the hall while John and I went to his office.

“That escalated quickly!” John said, shaking his head.

“She’ll handle it. How do your P&L and pipeline look?”

“Good so far. There’s some weakness in the consulting area, but most of our on-site support is for small and medium businesses, with very little in the ‘dot com’ space, so we’re not seeing much in the way of firms closing just yet. I hear through the rumor mill Jamie Ferguson joined McCarthy/Jenkins. Your doing?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied with a knowing smile.

“Got it. How bad will that revenue loss hurt us?”

“They were a one-office firm with about eighty seats. That’s significant, but we’re replacing some of those seats with the new ones McCarthy/Jenkins is taking, and some of those lawyers will go to other current clients who’ll buy licenses for them and their assistant. And some might start their own firms. Pretty standard stuff which I’m sure you’ve seen happen in New York.”

“I have. I was just curious about the revenue fallout.”

I grinned, “You and everyone else, given the revenue warnings we’ve made. Mostly that’s on the consulting side, but given our ‘all-for-one and one-for-all’ approach to bonuses and profit sharing, I understand. And if you think the computer industry is nuts right now, wait until the remedy ruling in the Microsoft case. Can you imagine the insanity which will ensue if the judge orders them broken up into an OS company and an application company? Just the licensing mess alone will create turmoil.”

“All those linked CALs,” John said, shaking his head. “I am very thankful for our simple licensing system. You wouldn’t believe the number of times people are incredulous that we don’t charge for our connector to Outlook calendars.”

“I’ve always thought that to nickel-and-dime your customers is to show them disrespect. It’s why we’ve never gone the modular route with our applications. You pay the license fee, you get the full application that you purchased. No unlocks. No add-ons. Yes, it puts us at a slight pricing disadvantage to Chickasaw and Hastings Mill, but when we can look a potential client in the eye and say this is the price, you get all the features, and you’ll never have to pony up additional license fees for functionality, that makes up for it.”

“We’re running into a bit more competition from EB Systems. ‘Strictly Legal’ has gained a bit of a foothold in Ohio and Michigan.”

“True, but they’re like an annoying terrier nipping at your heels but who really can’t do any serious damage. How many former Lone Star clients did they sign up compared to us?”

“Almost none, We took all the big ones in Boston, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. And New York City is a mish-mash as always. Nobody has a majority of clients there, and there are a bunch of boutique solutions.”

“All true. Enough of that! How’s morale here?”

“Pretty good, actually. The new folks are a bit unsettled, but those of us who have been around have reassured them.”

“And the REAL topic of interest?”

“Winning both those games in Philly was huge. Had we won that OT game the night before last, we’d have them in a real hole. A win tonight should seal the deal, being up 3-1.”

“I like the Avalanche from the West,” I said.

“I agree, though Dallas seems to be playing pretty well.”

“OK. I’m going to circulate.”

“Cool. You’re having lunch with Tara and Jerry, right?”

“That’s right.”

I left John’s office and went to talk to others in the office until my sister came to find me. We went into the small conference room and shut the door.

“I called Deborah and she’s going to make a call to the contracting company. We won’t have a word to say if they assign him to anything outside the legal software segment. She’ll make sure they have copies of his signed non-compete.”

“There’s no risk that comes back to haunt us if they rescind their offer?”

“Deborah said there isn’t. There are multiple ways it could play out, including Jim suing us for interfering with his job offer from his new employer, but if all we do is make them aware of his non-compete, he doesn’t really have much of a case. If he told them, no harm done; if he didn’t tell them, then he lied to them.”

“So it’s possible that Chickasaw hires contractors and their contracting firm went prospecting without their knowledge, and didn’t do their due diligence to know that if they fish in our lake, anything they catch can’t be sold to a competitor?”

“I’d say that’s the most likely scenario. And if Jim is either dumb enough to not tell, or slimy enough to hide the fact, then we don’t want him here anyway.”

“He formally resigned, right?”

“Yes, and per our usual practice, Bob interviewed him and followed the ‘notice waiver’ policy. Elyse will prepare his final paycheck. I don’t want him back if his contract falls through.”

“What about a second chance?” I asked.

“Permission to speak candidly?” Stephanie asked with a smirk.

“Right, because you haven’t been speaking candidly to me since you were about seven?”

“In this case, your soft heart is giving you a soft head. If he’s violating the non-compete, either willfully or by failing to disclose it, he can’t be trusted. There are literally thousands of jobs in Chicago alone for programmers that aren’t with competitors. He signed the document and now he appears to be fucking us. And nobody fucks me without permission! Or you, for that matter.”

“Point taken, but you do know I give people the benefit of a second chance if they make a big mistake. Jefferson being the prime example.”

“You know my opinion on that,” she said, shaking her head. “This isn’t Jim going to, say, SPSS and hating it and asking to come back. This is Jim saying ‘fuck you and your non-compete!’. Bob’s opinion is he goes into the ‘do not rehire’ file. Deborah agrees.”

“It’s your company to run, Squirt,” I replied.

Stephanie laughed, “Uh-huh. This is one of those policy decisions where you ALWAYS have the final say.”

“And I purposefully took myself out of the hiring loop for anyone who isn’t an executive. It HAS to be your call, and Tasha’s, together with Mario. What’s their opinion?”

“Shockingly, they said the same thing you did. But they’re your people, so I’m not surprised.”

“No, they are OUR people. It’s been long enough now that I’ve been out of the operations loop. Sure, I keep abreast of what’s going on, but it’s been two-and-a-half years now. You make the call and I’ll back you 100%. As always.”

“Really? And if I decided to move Penny out of your shared office?”

“Then I’ll say very nice things about you at your funeral,” I replied with a grin.

“Level with me, please. I’ve never asked you about this, but I think I need to. You haven’t touched her since she turned sixteen?”

“I swear by Loki, and by all that is chaotic, that I haven’t! We hug, and there are those little kisses on the cheek, and that’s it. Period. And given all the OTHER shit that went down in her life, it’s a good thing I stuck to my guns in that regard.”

“On that topic, are you going to keep fucking Liz after she comes to work at NIKA in a month?”

“We haven’t ended our physical relationship,” I replied. “And it will probably continue until she starts dating regularly, which she insists she plans to do in the near future. Remember, she was very close to getting engaged, but Mr. Indiana Highway Department wanted her barefoot and pregnant, not making arguments in court. He was a complete moron, if you ask me.”

“If Bob finds out he’s going to have a cow and go to the Board.”

“Bob didn’t know about me and Deborah, or me and Eve. None of us is an idiot, Squirt. Does he know about the Club?”

“No, but he does wonder about why your advisory team is all female.”

“Does he have the same question about the executive team?” I asked with a grin.

“No. I think after nearly three years he’s realized the method to your madness.”

“Then he’d be the first!” I grinned.

“Bullshit, big brother! You know better than that. There’s a reason people come to you for advice and emulate the way you handle things.”

My cell phone rang and I pulled it from my pocket. It was Deborah’s DID number, so I told Stephanie who it was and pressed the answer button.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Did your sister come talk to you?”

“Yes. She’s here. Want me to put it on speaker?”

“No. This is quick. The contract firm didn’t know he had a non-compete. I sent them a copy.”

“OK. Were they planning to assign him to Chickasaw?”

“I couldn’t ask that question, nor did I ask what they intended to do. I simply informed them he couldn’t be assigned to anyone who competed with us in the legal software arena for a year. Their counsel was tight-lipped, which is the correct response.”

“OK. Let me know if Jim tries to rescind his resignation. Stephanie said we won’t allow that.”

“No second chance?”

“Not my call,” I replied. “Want to speak to her?”

“No. I’ll tell Bob and he can call her if he wants.”

We said ‘goodbye’, I disconnected the call, and slipped the phone back into my pocket.

“Let me guess,” Stephanie said. “He didn’t tell them.”

“Correct. She said she’d tell Bob about your decision and have him call you if there’s an issue.”

“You still don’t agree.”

I shrugged, “It’s not my call in this case. And to even consider the second chance, I’d have to talk to him and decide if he was properly contrite.”

“Your gut?”

“It hasn’t failed me yet.”

“You’re a really damned good judge of people, big brother.”

“Maybe, but the truth of the matter is that I expect people to behave in a certain way, and that expectation, in and of itself, is often enough to get the right behavior. Think about how I raise my kids. Heck, you emulate it, for the most part. Almost all of our friends do, as well, because it turns out that if you set good examples, hold the kids accountable, and respect their individualism, they turn out really well.”

“Speaking of which - anything more on Jesse and Francesca?”

“He calls her on Saturday mornings when her mom is out, but I think he’s accepted reality. He’s taking Kelly to the Spring Dance tomorrow.”

There was a knock at the door.

“Stephanie?” Anne, the receptionist said, “Mario would like to see you, if you’re free.”

“Duty calls!” Stephanie said.

She left and I went to an empty office to check my email and catch up on Usenet. After I dealt with the email I connected to the Unix server with ssh and fired up nn. A minute later I was laughing so hard I was crying, and it was a good five minutes before I could breathe normally. I checked my watch and called Kara, who I knew would be either in her lab or her office on Thursday morning.

“Steve? What’s up?”

“Are you someplace private where wetting your pants laughing won’t be an issue?”

“I’m in my office. Why?”

“I just read an awesome parody of James Dobson giving advice to young men about prospective spouses.”

“Uh-oh,” she said mirthfully.

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “Here goes. ‘Men, before your ask her to marry you, make sure she has never self-raped her sin cave‘.”

Kara started giggling uncontrollably.

“And ‘Her fingers are for diamond rings, not ringing the devil’s doorbell‘.”

Kara was now laughing as hard as I had been and it took her a couple of minutes to catch her breath.

“‘Ringing the devil’s doorbell‘? Seriously?”

“If you think about it, it’s actually not that far off from the kind of stuff James Dobson or Kent van der Meer would say.”

“Well, I’ll have you know I rang the devil’s doorbell a LOT when you were away in Chicago!”

I chuckled, “Did he answer?”

“Repeatedly!” she laughed. “You don’t mind if I share that, do you?”

“If you share it with Jess, make sure she’s someplace public!”

“You are cruel, Snuggle Bear! But I love it!”

“Is everything set for tomorrow night?”

“Yes. I bought the gifts at lunch on Tuesday, and Alex has the private room reserved for our foursome.”

I chuckled, “That’ll be the day!”

“Oh, please! All you have to do is ask Maria Cristina and she’ll join us!”

“And she’ll regret it in the future,” I replied. “That’s not her thing and you know it.”

“I didn’t say you SHOULD, just that you COULD.”

“True. Not to mention it violates the cardinal rule that nobody except the three of us would be in our bed. We made THAT mistake one time.”

“We both misjudged that situation,” Kara replied.

“At least she’s managed to get past it.”

“You could have knocked me over with a feather when Jesse told us last year she was going to marry Alexi!”

“Same here, but really, in the end, I think she needed something like that.”

“And remember, Jess wasn’t with us that time.”

“Also true,” I replied. “And that’s a period of our trio’s relationship I prefer not to think about.”

“Me either. See you tomorrow?”

“Absolutely!”

We each said ‘I love you’ and ‘goodbye’ and I disconnected the call. I saved the article for further reference, then quit nn and closed my ssh session. The rest of the day went according to plan, and I had a nice lunch with Tara and Jerry, our office dinner came off without a hitch and John and I excused ourselves with just enough time to make it to our seats in The Igloo for the face off.

May 5, 2000, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“Five hours later, and I STILL don’t believe it,” I said, downing my third cup of coffee.

“How much sleep did you get?” Mario asked.

“Almost none,” I groused. “The fucking game didn’t fucking end until fucking 2:35 in the fucking AM when fucking Keith Primeau scored a fucking goal in the fifth fucking overtime to give fucking Philadelphia a fucking chance in the fucking playoffs!”

“SOMEBODY isn’t happy!” Ralph said, as he came down the hallway.

“Today is NOT the day you want to rag on the boss!” John said, shaking his head. “Or me! We’re fucking pissed and fucking tired!”

What had us both so upset was that we’d stayed for the entire seven-hour travesty that was the fourth game of the second round playoff series between the Penguins and the Flyers. It was the longest game in modern NHL history at 152 minutes and one second. The only longer games had been back in the 1930’s, which was before on-the-fly line changes, icing, the Zamboni, skating before a penalty shot, curved stick blades, and goalie masks.

“I heard on the radio on the way in,” Ralph said. “Obviously there was nothing in the paper.”

I chuckled, “Kind of tough to have the results in the paper on your driveway at 5:00am when the game doesn’t end until 2:35am!”

“The radio sports guy said Tugnutt made 70 saves,” Ralph said. “That’s unreal.”

“Sadly, he missed the 72nd shot,” John said.

“How many people were still in the stands?” Mario asked.

“Maybe a third,” I replied. “A lot of people left around midnight, which would have been after the 2nd overtime. And what really fucking sucked was the Penguins having two fucking powerplays in the third fucking OT and not being able to fucking score. Part of the problem was Jágr wasn’t fully healthy. There were times during the game when I thought he might just fall over. I saw this morning that he missed the pregame skate because he didn’t feel well. Not to second-guess Herb Brooks, but he should have made Jágr a scratch and had someone else on the game roster.”