Chapter 8

Susan and I met with John, Dennis and Karen at Wheeler Industries for lunch and a quick briefing on what they had done so far. Susan grabbed Karen as soon as we went in to show her the new company car she had acquired on our way over. I was amused at her running around like a school girl showing off her new Barbie.

John and Dennis had good news; they were able to hire a reasonable management staff already. They still had to hire someone to be the manager but they could at least run the company with what they had.

I asked Dennis what he thought about hiring private investigators to look into all of my other companies and he agreed that was a great idea. Dennis told me that he was considering hiring Karen as his assistant; I told him that was fine with me.

Susan had decided that I needed to open an office downtown so she had arranged to look at some of the vacant offices our management company had.

The first office space we looked at was the penthouse suite in one of my downtown buildings. It took up the entire top floor in the 48 story building. As you exited the elevator there was a glass door that entered into the front of the office space. Were there was a spacious waiting room with a large receptionist desk. The desk was built into the building. There was a large solid oak door in the wall beside the desk. On the other side of the door was a hallway the led either left or right with doorways to individual offices every 20 feet or so. The agent took us to the left right to the end of the hallway and opened the office door to an extremely large corner office with a view to the southwest of the city showing the hills on the outskirts and the mountains off in the distance. It overlooked all of the other office buildings around it.

"Well what do you think?" Susan asked.

"I like the view; but do you really think we need this much room? I used to do all of my work out of my office at home." I asked.

"Yes we do need all of this room. You wanted me to make you richer and in order to do that I will need a staff. My staff needs a place to do their work" Susan explained.

I sighed and nodded as the agent took us through all of the other offices. They were mostly quite lavish the kind of offices you would expect for top level executives. The conference room was enormous. The table itself was huge and looked like it was a solid piece. I counted twenty two chairs around it and wondered if that was how many offices there would be on this floor.

After the tour the agent told us that this was the nicest of the vacant locations they had to show us. Susan said we did not have to look at any others as we would take this one. I looked at her and she just smiled back at me with a slightly defiant look on her face.

The agent pulled out the paperwork and asked what our company name was so she could fill in the lease.

"Johnson Inc." Susan said.

The agent looked up surprised. "Johnson Inc. The Johnson Inc that owns this building?" she asked

"That's right; and this is Rick Johnson the owner of the company and I am Susan Macbee his executive assistant." Susan said with a small smile on her face.

The agent started to put her papers away "I guess I won't need these then" she said.

"Oh yes you will. This office has to pay its' own way in the company. The lease will come out of Susan's budget" I said with a grin at Susan.

The agent grinned and her face relaxed as she realized she was still going to get her commission for the lease.

Susan signed the lease after it was filled out and accepted the keys from the agent.

"I guess we had better start putting ads in the paper for some staff to fill this place up" Susan said as the agent left.

"I think we should hold off on that for a little while. We should just hire a receptionist for the time being and see how fast the offices fill up once you let people know we are here. I would imagine that Dennis will want one of the offices probably should give him one of the corner offices and his assistant will want the one beside him" I said.

Susan nodded "Yes I guess there will be lots of your executives that will want to be close to the head office so they will be asking."

"Let's just be careful how we hand out the space. I don't think we need every company I own to have someone here. Maybe just some of the core management group and some lawyers" I replied.

"Ok I will get in touch with the telephone company and get some phone lines in here. Maybe even get your company listed in the phone book" Susan said thoughtfully.

"Yeah I guess it is time to come out and let people know how to find me. I don't like it though I kind of like being some one everyone wonders about" I stated sadly.

"Oh don't worry about it much. Between me and the receptionist we will filter out most of the people that want to get a hold of you" Susan said.

I smiled at her "I want a private parking space with lots of room around it so my car doesn't get scratched and we better make sure the is enough parking for all of the staff that will be here in this office."

"I will make sure the top floor of the parkade is reserved for us and that you get the best parking space available for your car and a pretty nice one right beside it for mine" She said with a smile.

"Well let's go down and get some coffee while we start making phone calls to get this office up and running" I said.

Susan locked up and we went down in the elevator to the round floor where there was a sort of food court. As soon as we walked away from the coffee stand I spotted the agent that showed us the office chatting with some other people and nodding in our direction.

"I bet we don't have to advertise that we opened an office" I said pointing to the agent.

"No I guess we won't have to" Susan replied.

We sat down and started making our calls. Susan looked after calling a couple of job placement agencies looking for a receptionist and I called the computer place that set up the T1 at my house to get them to set up the new office the same way.

I called Dennis and offered him first dibs on the corner office and a second office for his assistant if he had one. He told me that he was going to have to find an office anyway as he wasn't sure how his new assistant would like working out of his house. They were just finished for the day so he and Karen would come down and take a look at the offices.

Susan looked up at me when I put down the phone.

"We should have four or five applicants for the receptionist position for tomorrow and the phone lines will be hooked up tomorrow afternoon. It is surprising that they wouldn't be able to do the phone line until next week then I told her the company name and they can move things around and be here tomorrow" she said.

I smiled at her "Yes it is interesting how that works. Dennis and his assistant are coming by to look at their offices."

"I am going to go across the street and take a look at office furnishings and computers at the Staples. I will see if they can deliver some things tomorrow so the receptionist won't have the only desk in the place" Susan said

"Don't do anything about the computers; I have already called my computer guys and they are going to look after everything" I replied.

With that Susan got up and left to go and acquire some furnishings. I looked at her and shook my head women would do anything to do some shopping.

Susan hadn't even made it to the door when there was someone standing beside the table.

"Mr. Johnson; I am Jim Becket the building manager and I would like to welcome you and your staff to the building" He said.

I looked up at him noticing right away that the agent was standing with him.

"Thank you" I replied indicating the chairs across from me.

I had a good look at him as he sat down; he was plain in every way about 5' tall and with a complexion that indicated he had not spent much time outside in the sun.

"We need to know what you would like on the building directory for your offices" Jim asked.

"Johnson Inc. Corporate Headquarters" I said after pondering it for a minute. "And while the sign people are here have them talk to Susan and see if she needs any signs made up for the offices."

"Yes sir I will have that done as soon as possible" He replied.

"Also I would like to keep our presence here quiet at least for a little while. I don't want everyone coming in droves until we have the offices furnished and fully staffed" I said.

Both the manager and the agent nodded their understanding but I knew it was too late they had both let everyone know we had moved in.