Chapter 52

Day Fifty-two - Wednesday

My eyes were being kissed. It's a good thing my eyes were closed or the kisser would have been kissing my eyeballs, how gross.

Now the kisser is kissing and licking my lips. That tickles.

I opened my eyes to see a smiling Sue.

"I love you so very much. You make me so complete. I love you."

With a kiss to thank her for that wonderful proclamation, I said, "I love you back, you wonderful apparition. You must be from my imagination; you're too beautiful to be real."

That just got me more kisses.

My lower extremity was getting pretty interested in all this loving and poked outward to get some attention.

Sue said, "Quick, into the shower, I need you in me right now."

We spent a wonderful twenty minutes in the shower, expressing our love and giving pleasure to each other. As the hot water grew cool, we hurriedly finished washing and got out to get ready for the day.

I put a couple of pots of coffee on and called Phil to ask him to stop by Macdonald's to get about forty egg McMuffin's and Biscuit sandwiches. He said he was on his way.

Glenda was first this morning, telling Sue that she would be late to do the cleaning today, as she had a doctor's appointment this morning. She told us not to worry, it was just her regular appointment.

So that's how Sue was keeping the place so nice. I'm sure Glenda felt like she was helping Sue out while making a few bucks. It was nice to know all of our crew was involved with each other in some way.

Hanna wanted to talk to Sue this morning, so they went back to the office, while the rest of us sat on the porch eating the stuff Phil had brought and talking about the day to come.

Tom and Al reminded me that I had promised to teach everyone how to work with the stainless steel. I told them we would get right on it this morning, as soon as they had the frames they were working on cleaned up and ready to paint.

Sue came out with Hanna to announce that Hanna was going to work with her from today on. Sue told me later that Hanna's boss was hitting on her everyday, and she just couldn't handle it any longer and had quit. Sue said there was more than enough work for everyone. She was surprised Hanna didn't talk to Phil or Tiny, but was happy to have her work for her growing company.

At work, Shawna had Tom and Al take the newly painted car and hang it in the showroom, next to the bare painted frame. The car really looked good with the big S&S logo on the front and back. She had painted the number thirteen on the top and sides. All of the usual decals were not decals, but her airbrush painting. Over the drivers window was 'Steve "Speedy" Sharp.' She even had a Marine insignia on both sides. It was very classy, and should excite anyone visiting.

Debbie thanked me for selling my old pickup to Hank. She said he felt that he got the best end of the deal, as he thought the truck was worth a lot more than he had paid us. They were planning a quick trip up to Georgia to pick up his bike this weekend.

Four guys showed up, saying they were acquaintances of Dan, and said they wanted to apply for welding jobs if I would have them. I took them upstairs and listened to each of them tell me what had gotten them into prison. Three had been jailed for selling dope. One guy said he had tried to rob a convenience store, but was caught by a sheriff's deputy while faking he had a gun. All of them said they had learned their lesson and would give anyone who hired them an honest day's work.

I told them that our insurance carrier had said we were going to have to give all employees regular drug tests in order to keep our rates down. I gave them my talk on workmanship and why it was so important to me. I had them fill out applications.

While they were busy with that, I told Ruth we should make sure we followed the insurance company's drug free workplace plan. She said she would get right on it and advise everyone what would be coming up.

I took the four men down to the welding area and found some scrap. I showed them a finished product and a finished test piece that was perfect. After showing them all the tools available to make their samples the same way, I jotted down the time then joined the other welders to begin our lessons on stainless steel.

The bending was the most difficult because it took more heat to bend these tubes that it did regular steel. The stainless also had some spring in it, so when you heated and bent it, you had to over-bend it then let it spring back into the correct angle. If the bend was too much then you would heat it up a little and beat it with a rubber or wooden mallet.

We cut a few pieces so I could show them how to bend it.

Tim showed me a stack of numbered wooden forms which Bob and Tim had built to match the bent pieces of tubing. When the bends and angles were correct, the piece would fit into the form perfectly, touching along the straight lengths. Every bent piece of tubing could be tested within the form. It wouldn't save much time but would be a great way to insure quality.

The first man to finish his test piece came up and handed me his test sample. It looked very nice and appeared to have been put together professionally. He had completed the task rapidly, as well.

Before I could go back to teaching, the other three guys came up with their samples. I handed them around to my welders to let them look at them. All four of the welders had done a good job.

Tom groaned, as this meant he had four more guys to train and watch, along with trying to learn how to work with a new metal.

With the four new guys watching, I took two pieces of scrap and showed them that cleaning the stainless pieces before welding was easier with this metal as it filed smoother faster. Using the wire feed with some different type wire, I tacked two sides to show them that the arc handled the metal fine but you had to use a lighter touch to keep the bead low.

Next, I drew the bead completely around the connection, with it barely raising where the contact was. Now was the more difficult part, as we would go through grinders like water with the stainless steel. It was a tougher metal, harder to grind, but easier to file. I finished off with coarse, followed with fine sandpaper to show how I wanted them to look.

My men were impressed that I really was a good welder.

I had noticed on the apps that all four new guys had some sheet metal experience and training. When Al found out about it he assured me that he would keep them busy on both sides. The four guys were thanking Dan for getting them an interview, and now a job.

I wanted Tim and Bob to work on the stainless frames while every one else worked on regular steel today. Tomorrow they could all try out working with the stainless.

In the motor shop, the four new people had unloaded some impressive toolboxes and were already set up to work, with a crate engine already on a stand in front of them. I welcomed them into our company family, and said I would have Ruth come down so they could fill out applications that would also be the apps for their health insurance. I told everyone that we were going to have to start drug tests coming up soon. If anyone thought they might have a problem with a test, they should let me know so there would be no embarrassment.

I made sure that Kurt and Carl, as well as Sandy and Mandy, would check over the new folks' work as they went along, to make sure that it was perfect. Robert said he didn't mind at all as he was proud of the work he and Roberta did.

I said, "Let's make it a contest. When you all finish your next motor, let's test and record all of the measurements, including the vibration and dyno readings. That's one way to compare. The winner gets this." I held up a hundred-dollar bill.

Everyone one of them said that I might as well give it to them now, as they were the winners. I love the confidence. I also thought it might be a neat part of a finished motor to have a record of the tests to send along with the product. When I suggested that to the group, they thought it was a great idea.

Shawna was busily putting the axle back together for Gene's Servicar. She had the frame put aside, saying it needed to be cleaned up before she could paint it. It was going to take some heavy duty filing and grinding to make it clean.

While there, I asked her about the powder coating electrostatic equipment. She said it should be delivered today or tomorrow. She would set it up and test it as soon as it arrived. She thought that if we were good with it, we could get a lot of business from the biker community, as it was popular to paint frames and cases that way.

Debbie said this morning was not as heavy with orders. She said she still didn't have a material order yet with the orders she had received. Perhaps we would get a breather and get caught up a little.

We were discussing orders when a group of men in suits came in the front door of the showroom. They were looking at the racecar and frame hanging from the ceiling, as well as the bike frame and my old shovel. Then they went over to the generator and were looking it over very thoroughly.

I went out to greet them and asked how I could help them. A man who appeared to be the spokesman for the group said in a very authoritative voice, "We are from the Onan manufacturing home office. We have come to see Steve Sharp."

Curious, I asked, "Did Mr. Sharp know you were coming, did you have an appointment."

The man looked at me very disdainfully and said, "Just go get him, sonny, he'll see us, don't you worry about that."

"Please, come upstairs to the offices, and let me get you coffee while I see about Mr. Sharp."

I led them up to the big office and had them sit in the comfortable chairs in front of the big desk. Knowing they would be curious, I opened the curtains and raised the blinds so they could look out onto the welding and sheet metal areas.

I asked Ruth to help me get four coffees for the men, and asked them if they had cards. The only one to have a card was the mouthy one, a Mr. Robert Bigalow. Aha, Mr. Big I laughingly thought. He didn't have a title on his card.

I went to see Phil to ask him if he knew the guy. Phil said he was the national sales manager. The one who canned him a short while ago. I asked him why he would be here, and he said it was probably to see if he could steal some prospects or your customer list.

I got Tiny to come with me and introduced him as our CFO. Mr. Big was a little rude, even to giant Tiny. "I've already told this boy that I'm here to see Steve Sharp. How many times do I have to ask the same question?"

Tiny smiled and said, "My goodness you are a rude person. Do you get much accomplished acting like that?"

"I don't have to take this kind of abuse from you now go get this Steve Sharp guy right now. We have important business to discuss."

"May I ask who these other gentlemen are?" I asked, seeing if I could distract him a little.

Mr. Big huffed and puffed a little then said, "These men are from the accounting department of the company and are here to audit the business you have been submitting."

"I see, Tiny would you get a copy of the contract we have with Onan and bring it in," I asked, ready to call this guy's bluff.

As Tiny left to get what I asked for, Mr. Bigalow asked, "What do you need that for, why would you want that?"

I didn't say anything but waited for Tiny to come in. "This is a copy right?" I asked, with the emphasis on the copy part.

"Mr. Bigalow, I have to step out for a second. Would you show Tiny where it says you have the right to audit our orders that we have submitted to you?"

I went to find Phil and asked him to call Onan legal and ask him if they knew they had this Bigalow guy here along with three people who said they were auditors. Phil said he was still a good friend with most everyone in the home office, except this guy. I told him to call me in the big office when he had the legal counsel on the line.

Back in the big office, Mr. Bigalow was steaming. "I have repeatedly asked to see Steve Sharp and all you people are doing is pissing me off. I don't need to show you anything within that contract for what I want to do."

The phone rang and I answered to hear Phil say, "The legal counsel is conferenced in on the line, and said they didn't know Robert Bigalow was coming down to see you. He also said that he didn't think the guys with him were auditors."

"I see, perhaps Mr. Bigalow can explain a little more," I said thinking he would get more confrontational.

"God damn it," Mr. Big yelled, "I'm not explaining a fucking thing to anyone. Now get me Steve Sharp right now, or I'm going to pull your dealership so fucking fast, you won't know what hit you."

I had been holding the handset so it would pick up the tirade from the asshole.

When I put the phone to my ear I heard the legal counsel say, "Can you put Mr. Bigalow on the phone?"

I handed the phone to the sputtering Mr. Big. "Who in the hell are you to interrupt my meeting and where is this Steve Sharp?"

Robert Bigalow's eye got real big. His mouth was wide open in a big "O." He looked directly at me and said, "You're Steve Sharp?"

Mr. Big then spoke three names into the phone. He said, "Yes sir," continuously before handing the phone back to me.

The voice on the other end was a different one, "Mr. Sharp, I'm sorry for what has occurred today. I'm sure it will never happen again. My name is David Owens, the President of Onan, U.S.A. I can assure you that we want your business and appreciate that you are promoting our company and product. I will contact you again later today. Please escort the gentlemen out of your building as they have a plane to catch."

When I hung up I said, "You know the way out gentlemen, seems you need to get home real fast."

The four men left quickly, getting into the rental car and driving away.

When I turned from the door, I saw Phil standing on the balcony giving the departing men the bird. Once they were gone, he turned to Tiny and they high fived each other.

Back upstairs Tiny said, "You are really sneaky. How come you didn't tell them who you were when they came in?"

"The guy was obnoxious from the second he came in, demanding to see Steve Sharp, whoever that is," I said smiling about the deception.

"Now that asshole can find out how it feels to lose his job. The difference is that I was thirty percent over budget when he canned me," Phil said, still upset the guy had invaded his territory.

I told him that David Owens was going to call me later today. I didn't have any idea what he would talk to me about, just that he had said he would call me.

Phil felt he would probably apologize again, and offer some kind of deal that would be a bonus to us.

"What would be a bonus for us, Phil?" I asked thinking he had something in mind.

"Ask him for the mid-Atlantic area, in addition to the southeast region. That area includes a lot of ports all the way through Maryland, which includes Washington, DC, where the Pentagon is. It's like taking candy from babies. Onan has never taken advantage of that market. Instead of letting others get the bid and order through us, we can bid on the items as well. We wouldn't be hurting our customers as they are going to get their share anyway. The feds spread the wealth around by ordering from different firms every order. Major orders are always from factory direct dealers, though. That's where we would clean up."

That means more road customer service guys and more road techs. Poor Abe, he'll need an assistant to keep up with everything.

Ding! The bell went off in my head.

I turned to Ruth and Judy who were standing together. "Find Abe an assistant that will keep track of everything for him, order supplies, parts, and equipment so all he has to do is help out on the floor the way he likes."