Chapter 27

I asked, “Is she the new sales manager?”

Nelson said,” She’s close. She still needs some seasoning. We are advertising for a sales manager, she is the assistant sales manager now and is in charge of new car sales. We may shift our used car manager to the Sales Manager position and hire a new person for used cars.

Nelson said, “Vivian will ease whoever Gladys recommends into the sales manager position or used cars manager. Whoever we select, we need to get some females and minority salesmen very soon. I will work with Gladys to get a bunch interviewed and hired next week.

Nelson said, “We also need to rethink our advertising. That’s another Bart special. We can talk about that next week.”

I had to think about that. It seemed to me Vivian was a perfect match for the Sales Manager position. She had been in the department a while and she was a female. I might push her on Nelson as the Sales Manager. What better way than to let the old salesmen here know we mean business. “The times they are a changing” is an old saying.

I asked, “How many salesmen have left us?”

He said, “Eighteen so far. It’s early. A few more will go after they get their first new paycheck. I see a few more leaving when we start hiring women and minorities. That should be the bulk of them. We may not need to fire any ourselves. Who would have thought it? It took two guys to ruin this place. A weird thing.”

I asked, “Anyone else?”

He said, “No, actually. Gladys moved two women over to the credit department to work with John. He will be the boss and work with them part-time. One is to be his immediate assistant. The other helps by going back and forth with the customers and doing errands. She’s sweet and pretty but a bit of an airhead.”

Nelson said, “Gladys set John’s pay in the middle between his pay at the IT position and Bert’s base pay. She said Bert’s pay with all his underhanded bonuses was ridiculous. Gladys says the IT thing never kept John busy. His calls were mostly because so many people are not computer literate.”

I said, “We should test for their ability with a PC before hiring. Are we just trusting their word? Maybe they should be referred to a junior college that teaches computer literacy.”

He said, “Gladys mentioned that years ago. The department heads went crazy. She has let them know that SHE and she alone has the hiring authority. New hires will be based on many factors, including experience, knowledge, and testing. That includes the PC. She told them if they keep it up, she threatened to hire who she found suitable, and they would get no say whatsoever.”

He laughed, “She has your number. She knows nobody will come in here and cajole and connive YOU into giving them what they want over Gladys’ head. Er, like I would have. I’m too soft, I know. I let the managers run this place, and they got completely out of hand.

I hated some of them or what they did, but maybe I’m too much a people pleaser. I let them do it. My issues with my ex-wife have had me tied in knots for years. A few weeks of you coming in will do me a world of good.”

I said, “So, did you hook up with Sam before or after your divorce?”

He said, “After it. My ex was home alone a lot, she got bored and started boning a neighbor. He’s a house husband and was too convenient. If we lived in the days when you could challenge someone to a duel, I would have. At least we were childless. She wanted to wait a while.”

I said, “None of my business, but is she tapping your wallet hard?”

He said. “Yes. Florida sucks in that regard. When did women who fuck around on you then get to take you to the cleaners in a divorce? In the old days, a slut wife would have gotten nothing.”

He continued, “Nowadays, it’s like the state does not want to end up supporting a lazy, promiscuous woman. They screw over the men now. So much for the feminine revolution. No matter what we do and no matter how innocent we are, we get to take it up the ass.”

I said, “So, you went out and married again? Uh, how is that working for you?”

Nelson said, “Did you not see me fucking Samantha right here on that desk? Did you LOOK at her body? No, she’s wonderful. She’s sweet and attentive, and best of all, she likes to fuck me. She was a virgin on our wedding night. Statistics say a woman that is a virgin on her wedding night has an 80% chance of staying married her entire life.”

He said, “A woman that has had 5 partners or more before marrying has a 75% chance of divorcing her husband. Plus, Sam’s already loaded. She doesn’t need my money. I wished I had known those marriage percentages before I married the ex. Samantha works here because she likes to work, and she loves to help people.”

I said, “I’m glad. Just so you know, I’m a lot older than I look. I just turned 46 and have never married. I am happy not being married. Well, I should get out of here before something happens and I get stuck here. I really need to get my house fixed up. It’s a fixer-upper, but I saved a lot buying here.”

He said, “Well, you have fun spending money. Gladys is coming by to discuss shifting more people around and how to push the dead weight out. She’s got a head of steam up. We have at least five more that she wants to go.”

I said, “Well if you get rid of them, it will make the people staying here more willing to work. Nothing demoralizes a place quicker than a coworker who is lazy and unconcerned. Eventually, it slows the entire place down.

He said, “See you soon, Tom.”

I said, “Bye, Nelson.”

I drove towards the house and saw a pool place in passing. I had noticed a couple of these with the same name, so I went in. An older, chubby guy came over.

I said, “I Just bought a fixer-upper. The pool is green and cloudy. I have no idea how to care for a pool. I need someone to clean it up, and I probably need someone to care for the pool after that.”

He said, “Hello, “I’m Noah Hunt. I manage this store. We are a franchise, but this store happens to be company-owned. I have been with Florida Pool Centers for most of my life. In all probability need your pool drained and the green scrubbed clean and treated. After that, we will refill it. Do you know how big the pool is?”

I said, “No, not really. It is kidney-shaped and small in size. Maybe 12 by 20?”

He said, “Yes, that’s on the small end. You can barely get up to speed swimming. It’s more of a dipping pool for cooling off. If you give me the address, I will have my senior tech come out tomorrow and start right on it. Let me write this up for you. We also have an agreement whereby we come by each week to test the water, sweep it out, and add any necessary chemicals.”

I signed some stuff and paid him for the initial pool work.

I left there and drove to Everett and Moran Pier and Seawall Contractors. They were the ones that started to fix the seawall south of my property. I walked in and was shown into an office. After introductions, I told him of the property and explained that I wanted them to finish the job.

He called it up on his computer and gave me the price. I paid a lot of money and headed back to the hotel.

I suspected the job had already been paid for fully, but I had no contracts or receipts to prove anything. I assume the drug dealer-grower would have paid cash. He would have lots of cash, and it was hard to get illicit drug money into a bank legally.

I got to the hotel, and the girls were not back yet. I took a quick shower and went outside to take a dip. The pool was climate-controlled. That’s good because pools can get really hot in Florida. The 95-degree water is uncomfortable. This was set for 82. Still a little warm, but good enough.

This pool was square and had seating around the western side. You could sit in the pool on a shelf and look out over the ocean. The beach was out of sight. It has a short privacy wall but is high enough that you can’t see the beach while in the water. The pool probably predates the infinity pool craze.

The girls came home. They had spent hours at a flooring place. I gave them free rein to pick the materials and colors. They decided on natural cherry flooring for the downstairs. It looked like a young cherry before it had aged, a beige with a pink influence. They picked a thick underlay pad to go under it. Striped of carpet, the existing flooring downstairs was all bare cement. That would be cold in winter. The new underlay pad would provide insulation.

That was scheduled for a week from now because of the painting. The girls had also visited a cabinet shop. The existing kitchen cabinets were off-the-shelf contractor-grade. The old cabinets had to go now so the painters could paint everything. Cabinet workers removed all the old cabinets from the kitchen and the bathrooms.

Luckily, the painters had to mask everything. The two groups should be able to coexist for a half day.