Chapter 13: Finale Furioso

We passed the bar on the way to the exit, and I saw Allan sitting beside a stocky man, dressed like a Texan: Stetson hat, boots, jeans with a wide belt and a big silver buckle, and a tumbler in his hand. Allan saw us passing, smiled, and waved to us. I waved back and continued, but suddenly I was called back.

“The gentleman at the bar would like you to join them for just a moment, sir.”

I went back, and Allan introduced me.

“Mr. Bush, this is James de Winter, our Director of Sales. James, this is Jeffrey Bush, who will replace me.”

Mr. Bush seemed to be in his early fifties and looked me over.

“So you’re the wonder boy who put Australia back into play. I heard about you, and it’ll be excellent to have you working for me. We’ll have to sit down as soon as possible for you to tell me about your customers and prospects. I believe in personal involvement, and I shall stay at your side all the time. I’ll make last year look pitiful against what I’m going to do for the company this year! Come sit down and have a drink.”

I was surprised, as this was not the way I had expected to meet the new president, and for me at least, his words sounded rather strange. I looked at Allan, but he shrugged slightly.

“Mr. Bush, if you forgive me, I’ve been sitting in an airplane for long hours and need to get some exercise. Perhaps we can do this later?”

He stared at me, probably surprised that I was not taking orders. Then he looked to the exit where Jenny was standing, waiting for me.

¨You work fast, boy. Already picked up a girl?”

That was too much for me.

“Mr. Bush, we are not in Texas, and you may consider your choice of words. You may also have formed a wrong impression of me; my professional career, and if I may say so, always has been successful. Please also remember that nobody ever called me a boy for the future, and I don’t accept this from anyone! And second, I didn’t pick up anybody. The lady you see there waiting for me is my Executive Assistant, and we’ll be running on the beach for an hour before we’ll start working. Now excuse me, please.”

When I turned away, I saw Mr. Bush glaring at me, and Allan trying to hide a satisfied grin.

I was still furious about his remarks, and Jenny tried to calm me down.

“Darling, he’s not used to you, and you have to be careful; he’ll be your new boss.”

“Jenny, bullies, you have to confront early. He made some funny remarks about how he would change the company, and then he added some inappropriate expressions about you. Well, let’s forget him for now and do some running!”

We did this, and when we came back, exhausted but happy, we ran into Mr. Cunningham.

“I’ve heard that you met Jeffrey Bush already. What happened? Good afternoon, Miss Parker. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you. If you ever were interested in an assignment in HQ, let me know.”

I told him the story, and he nodded.

“He had problems before in other countries, and we asked ourselves when he would get into trouble here. You were absolutely right; it hurts me to say this because you should never criticize a manager before his staff, and you will report to him, but you are right. Be careful not to go too far but remember that you’ve our full support! But he’s the Chairman´s nephew ... Now go and change; James, you’ll join me for lunch with my colleagues, and I assume a similar schedule has been arranged for you, Miss Parker.”

Unfortunately, our rooms were on different floors, and there were people in the elevator, so all I could say was: “Have a good lunch, Miss Parker!” and receive a smiling reply: “Have fun at yours, Count de Winter!”

I changed into an informal outfit: a blazer, a white shirt without tie and grey trousers. When I arrived at the meeting room where the Hotel had prepared the lunch, I met Mr. Bush.

“Where are you going? This lunch is for top executives only, and you better join your staff for lunch.”

I wondered where this was coming from and told him that Mr. Cunningham had asked me to join them. He snorted and said things had changed; from now on, hierarchy would be stricter. Well, if this is the way he wanted to play this, he should not be surprised about eventual unpleasant responses! I was definitively upset and could not stop wondering about his stupid attitude and went to the coffee shop, but before I could order, a messenger came and asked me to come to Mr. Cunningham’s lunch. Not knowing what was happening, I went back to the meeting room and knocked.

“Come in, James!”

Mr. Cunningham looked at me.

“What happened to you? I had asked for you to join us! You’re our main guest today!”

I wondered what to do: be polite or direct. Considering today’s attitude towards me, I decided to go for it.

“Mr. Bush told me that this lunch was for top executives only and that he had canceled the invitation. He said that I should have lunch with my staff, and I was starting to do so when I was called.”

There was a moment of an icy silence in the room, and everyone looked at Mr. Bush. He glared at me and mumbled that there must have been a misunderstanding and took a deep gulp of his tumbler (I assumed it was filled with Bourbon, being Texan and all that). Mr. Cunningham did not know what to do: yell at him or try to brush things over. Allan stepped in and pointed to the seat between Mr. Cunningham and his colleague.

“James, sit there and tell us what you did in Australia – and better still, how you did it.”

Mr. Bush was not glaring anymore: now he was shooting bullets at me. There I was, sitting between the two top managers, and he was at the bottom of the table. He definitively was not going to become my best friend.

I told them about my work in Australia, the initial problems I had because I could not adapt fast enough to become efficient, the way my people had pulled together when we fought the NT battle and the bonus we had received from them, the guidance we had received from Sir Allan when it was necessary, and remembering what Allan had told me some time ago, did not try to hide my own efforts and successes.

Allan smiled, satisfied, and at the end of the lunch, Mr. Cunningham raised his glass.

“A toast to James: his success last year saved our asses in the region, and without him, we wouldn’t have made quota, and you know what this means in our company. May he be as successful this year as he was the last one. We’ll need it! James, you have our full support, but please bring the sales in!”

They raised their glasses (except for Mr. Bush, who continued to be sullen), and I accepted their good wishes for the future and their thanks for the last year.

When we left, Allan stopped me.

“James, you’ve made an enemy in Jeffrey Bush. You’ve to decide now whether you step back, be diplomatic and let things pass, or whether you continue to be James de Winter with his principles and convictions. Both decisions have advantages and negative points. The first option would be for you to continue to work with Bush in the company and convince him to step down from his campaign to downgrade you; this way, you might continue to have a future in this company. On the other hand, you can go ahead and hit him when he steps out of bounds.”

He looked at me and shook his head, wondering how to recover from this mini-drama.

“In this case, you better start on planning a new career! Remember that he’s the nephew of the Chairman, and up to now, he always came up on top of whatever problem he had caused. Whatever you decide, you’ll be successful, and I’ll be behind you whatever decision you take - you know this. It would be a pity to walk away from the company because of this idiot, but you will know what to do.”

He hugged me and went to join the others. To my surprise, Mr. Bush was waiting for me in the corridor.

“Who do you think you are? When I tell you not to come, you stay away, do you hear me! I’ve heard enough about you: the German with the golden touch, the guy who charms prospects into signing orders, who makes others work like hell and just breezes in with the result. I know your type, de Winter! Just wait until we are in Australia, and you’ll see what honest work means!”

I shook my head, not understanding what was said and why.

“Mr. Bush, can we start all over again? I don’t know why you are so aggressive, and by the way, I don’t like it. I have worked my ass off the last months to get where I am today, and I won’t let some new guy ruin my day. Tell me what you have against me, and let’s settle this now.”

“Everyone in HQ told me how good you are and how happy I should be to work with you. You would teach me everything about Australia and the people there. Let me tell you one thing: I work on my own, and I don’t need anybody to hold my hands. I’ll tell you what to do, and you better do it! So, golden boy, get accustomed to another world!” and he walked away.

I still did not understand his gripes, but I could see difficult times ahead.

I called Maureen and told her about my encounters with Mr. Bush. She was immediately upset about the disrespect he had shown me.

“Tell him to go to hell. This idiot will not spoil your career. You’ve other options: remember this.”

I tried to calm her down, but she was furious.

“I’ll tell Mom, and she’ll cancel the contract. Let him explain this to your colleagues in HQ!”

I convinced her finally to wait until I was back in Sydney and went for the nth time through my notes for the speech tonight. In the end, I could not stand it anymore to go through numbers and projects and put them away. I had gone through it so often that I had it practically memorized, and I went down to look for my people. Most were still at the pool, and of those, the majority was grouped around one woman: Jenny. They had always admired her beauty, but this was the first time they saw her in a bikini. It was not an Eileen-kind bikini, but still ... a small two-piece bathing suit did wonders to show off her body, too. She was surrounded by men of all kinds of men: old, middle-aged, young, small, large, well-rounded, or athletic. They offered drinks, tried to be funny or seductive, and judging from the number of glasses around her, drinks were not lacking. She saw me approaching and got up.

“James, anything I can do for you? We’ve finished our work and were relaxing until dinner, which, gentlemen, is approaching fast. We girls need our time to be beautiful for you, so I’ll finish this nice encounter. And I will tell you one thing: if ever I saw a picture of a Miss Parker in a bikini on a social network page, that man better look for another job because in this company he’ll be finished!”

They groaned but laughed.

“Mary Ann, you’ve always looked out for us, especially against a German despot whose name we’ll not use at this moment. You don’t need time to be beautiful since you are already the most beautiful woman in Australia. We decided to name you for the Miss Australia Pageant, but we just need a few more revealing photos. Will you pose for us?”

Jenny laughed and turned her back to them, and even that caused some cameras to click. I walked back with her, but she stopped.

“What happened, James? You seem to be quite upset.”

I told her not to worry; it was a problem I had to resolve, and fast. She wondered whether she could help me, but I thanked her – this was my own problem.

She blew me a kiss, seeing that nobody was around us, and we went to our rooms to prepare for the main dinner, with speeches and distribution of recommendations and silver plaques for the best salesmen. I was confident that this year we would win them all!

One more run through my speech on teamwork and leadership, and off I went.

Mr. Bush entered the elevator as I was going down. He was angry again; he had been given only a room, not a suite as Allan had received.

“De Winter, I’ve been told about you, and everything I’ve seen up to now confirms what I have been told in NY. These hillbillies admire you with your smooth-talking, but you don’t fool me. You better get accustomed to a very tight leash as soon as we arrive in Sydney!”

The door opened, and he stepped out. I was perplexed, asking myself where had this come from? What had I done wrong? Better to forget it for the next few hours, however.

Most people had already arrived in the big conference hall, and I greeted them all. The exalted HQ executives appeared and called the meeting to order. It was fun to have your work recognized in front of your peers and, in this case, also in front of your superiors. We did very well and, with one exception, won all the premium prizes and then it was my turn. There was tremendous applause when I stepped up to the speaker’s podium, and I smiled, grateful for the warmth I felt coming from my people. There was only one dark spot; Mr. Bush still seemed to be angry, glaring at me for whatever reason I could not understand. He was new to the job and would need all the help he could get, and here he was intentionally insulting the guy who would be his primary support? Nevertheless, I promised myself that we would resolve this during the weekend, one way or the other.

I had decided to talk about the causes of success and selected the last year’s efforts as an example. We had been a disappointed group of individuals, pessimistic about the year to come, but ended up as the best team in the Group. Why did this happen? First, we managed to come together as a team, accepting challenges with the will to succeed. Then Sir Allan had given us free hand and resources to work, how our efforts had consolidated a diverse group, and how people accepted the challenge to lead within that group. I managed to tell how certain people had reacted, working way beyond their responsibilities, which inspired the rest to pick up the pace and get it done. In the end, it was not Sir Allan or me who had succeeded, but they had done it. We had only given guidance, but the glory was all theirs.

They liked it, considering the roaring applause I received. Finally, Mr. Cunningham stepped up and called Sir Allan to the stage.

“Here you have the two people who made all this happen. You all did an outstanding job, but I want to congratulate these two: Sir Allan for the wonderful work he’s done all these years to grow the company into the successful entity it is today. I also want to congratulate James for his work the last year to get you back on track again. As James said, teamwork is essential for success; let me say, however, that leadership is as important. These two have given it to you, and I congratulate you all for a job outstandingly done.”