Chapter 15

After breakfast the next day, Dewey had the hotel shuttle van take all of us to the clothing optional resort. It took three trips to get us all there, but we arrived as people were heading out to the beach. We were all dressed in swimwear, with cover-ups for the women and T-shirts on the men.

The moms had spent a great deal of time explaining to the kids that the resort we were going to visit was special as they didn't have to wear clothes if they didn't want to, but could remain in their swimsuit if they wanted.

At first, the kids were playing in the sand and at the water's edge in their swimsuits, but as other kids that didn't have clothes on began playing with them, the little ones lost their suits until all of the kids were bare. The ladies were all bare instantly, except Juanita. She kept her bottoms on for most of the day.

Steve, Dewey, and I met with the owner and some of the men he thought could be prospective managers. Later I was in my swimsuit and T-shirt, walking through the floors of the resort hotel, looking at the condition of the rooms when I met a lady coming out of one of the rooms. She asked, "May I help you, Sir?"

"I'm just looking at the condition of the rooms. I'm one of the new investors in the resort and am estimating what type of remodeling needs to be done."

"Wonderful, my name is Julie. I'm in charge of housekeeping and maintenance. The housekeeping staff does wonders keeping the rooms spotless and in good condition. The maintenance staff does well too, but could use more materials such as paint to touch up areas that need it. The stairwell next to the elevators is getting very dirty and we don't have the paint to do the whole thing yet. By next week, we should have what is required. Let me show you a room that has just been cleaned to show you the condition we like our customers to find."

Julie took me to a room down the hall and opened the door with her pass card. The room smelled fresh and clean. When I commented on that, Julie said, "The first thing we do in the morning is to open the sliding doors to air out the rooms, plus we use an air freshener than isn't too spicy. It smells like grass, the outdoors."

I noted to Julie that the carpet looked in excellent condition. Her reply was, "When the hotel was carpeted several years ago, they purchased some of the best commercial carpet available. It has paid off, as it will probably be several years before we have to re-carpet the upper floors and rooms."

As it was getting close to noon, I asked Julie if she could join me, the other investors, and our family for lunch. She smiled and said, "Let me make sure the staff is on schedule and I will meet you in the restaurant. Let me call down to make sure they have an area segregated for you."

"No, Julie, let us see how all customers are served. If we act like the tourists we are, we'll get a better idea of the quality of service provided."

Julie didn't frown, but did say, "That's kind of sneaky, but a good idea. The staff will want to meet you, as all of us have so many questions about our future."

Downstairs, I found Dewey and Steve and said, "I think I've found our manager. She's the manager of housekeeping and maintenance, a lady. She seems to have her act together and is very conscientious about her job. I've invited her to join us for lunch. Let's have the restaurant set up some big tables for us and get the family in and washed up for lunch."

The restaurant staff was very family friendly and arranged two long tables that would seat all of us. About the time the children were all seated on towels at the table and the women were also seated wearing their cover-ups and having some tea or soft drinks, Julie came to join us.

"Julie, this is Steve, Dewey, and ah Michael, who is not an investor on this venture, our wives," and I started around, "Dewey's Sheila and Sheena, Michael's, Chanda, Lucille, Margaret, and Serene. Steve's Sue, Mercy, Juanita, and Kathy. These older children are J.J., Ben, Carl, and Barb. Ah, the rest are all kids of all of them. Too many to list."

As she sat next to me, Julie asked, "Which are your children and where is your wife?"

Mercy laughed, "He's too busy to make up his mind, but I do understand he may become a father."

I was blushing, but didn't know who Mercy was talking about. Was it Nancy or Frieda at home, or was it Lucille and Margaret. Julie asked, "Are you opposed to giving a lady the opportunity to bear a child of yours?"

That was an unexpected question. "Ah, no, Ma'am. I just don't expect to be asked to help in that way."

Julie smiled at me intently, and looked at Mercy as if she and Mercy were communicating. I didn't feel Mercy or Missy, but did feel the scrutiny of Julie.

Steve and Dewey discussed the hotel and resort extensively with Julie. She had a great knowledge of the entire resort. She admitted to enjoying golf, but had not played the resort course yet. She said she had walked it several times with the maintenance people to discuss various options in landscaping. They used some of the pros who visited the islands to keep the landscaping fresh and to keep the course competitive.

Dewey asked a leading question. "If you were to assume another job within the resort, do you have a person you think would do a good job in your present position?"

Without pause, Julie said, "I have two. The senior maintenance man could be an asset in management, but he doesn't have a great deal of experience in housekeeping. I do have an assistant who could, and does, do a great job supervising the housekeeping staff in my absence. She follows up for me daily and has a great relationship with the staff. I think it important that the staff is comfortable with their supervisory personnel. We can't expect them to do their best unless we do our best for them."

Steve was grinning as he said to Dewey, "I think you have your answers, Dewey, what do you think?"

"I agree." Dewey turned to Julie and said, "The three of us want you to assume the position of resort manager, Julie. You would be in charge of the entire resort and would promote those you feel should be promoted to perform the necessary jobs. Would you like that challenge?"

Julie was grinning broadly, "I sure would. I've studied the resort for the four years I've worked here to find out what customers want, and how to make them happy while staying here. One of the things I would like to do is to expand our clothing optional dining area. The big formal restaurant and nightclub is known all over the island as the place to come, but many of our guests would rather remain in the clothing optional areas and enjoy a quiet evening. Our outdoor Tiki bar that serves the pool and outdoor lounge area is sufficient bar and lounge for the clothing optional crowd, but we do need extra eating facilities."

Steve said, "That's easy enough. I'm sure you can convert one or two of the big meeting rooms into a larger dining area. You should see if you should remodel in order to keep the clothing optional dining area as close to kitchen as you can. That will be your first major task, Julie. We'll go to your new office after lunch and discuss compensation. You know a resort and hotel manager is provided luxury quarters on site, don't you?"

Julie gasped, "That would be wonderful. I would love to live on site. I could be so much closer to the pulse of the place."

Dewey was nodding, grinning, happy with our selection.

Later in the afternoon, after returning to his hotel, Dewey asked me, "I want you to go to the other resort and do what you did today to look and talk to the staff. You did excellent in finding the perfect fit for the position of manager. See if you can repeat that process at the other resort. It might take more than a day, but you should be able to write a report of the personnel you have met."

I showed up at the new resort the next morning. The place was very elegant, but was still suffering from the smells of construction from the recent remodeling. They did have a manager, of sorts, in charge. He seemed a little surly and was reluctant to give me an immediate tour. I told him to handle those tasks he needed to and I would just wander.

I looked at the property, noting that the landscaping was beautiful. The men and women working on the grounds all seemed happy and were moving quickly through the shrubbery in front of the resort, working around the sides. As they continued, a couple took off in carts, heading toward the golf course or the condo complex.

As I was watching, a tall, willowy, lady was walking through the grounds looking as if appraising. She would stop, look at something, make a note, and continue. I strolled up near her and asked, "Are you evaluating the work of your staff?"

She looked at me quizzically and asked, "Are you a guest, why do you ask?"

"I just noticed the way you were walking the grounds after the grounds keeping crew had been through. The way you were looking so critically and taking a few notes, I thought you might be their supervisor."

"That is very astute of you, Sir. You didn't answer my question though, are you a guest here?"

"No, Ma'am, I'm one of the new investors in the resort. I'm taking a walk around the grounds before going through the hotel."

The lady smiled and stuck out her hand, "I'm Josie Floyd, the maintenance manager and head groundskeeper for the resort and golf course. Come with me while I check the condos, then we'll take a look at a couple of areas of the golf course the crew is working on."

Josie completed her walk and study of the grounds surrounding the resort hotel, then used a golf cart for us to go to the new condo area where a crew was still in the process of initial landscaping. She seemed satisfied as she checked a large print of the area for what was actually arranged and planted.

Next was the golf course. Josie parked her cart at the huge clubhouse and walked around the building slowly, looking at the freshly cared for landscaping. We then walked out to the first tee area and waited for a foursome to tee off before going to the side of the tee areas. The front tee had flowering bedding plants on both sides, while the rear tee had low shrubbery. Josie stood between the tee markers and looked from side to side. She asked, "Do you think the shrubbery or the plants are a distraction to the golfers?"

"I'm not a golfer, Josie, but the addition of the flowering plants looks nice. Will it be expensive to keep them up year round?"

"Not now that we have our own greenhouse set up. We will have a constant flow of flowering plants that we will use at each of the women's tees. I thought that would be a great addition. We will also have some flowering plants at the entrance to the women's locker room at the clubhouse. If we can do this right, we'll get more of the locals to come out to our course throughout the year. We can handle a lot more traffic than we get. There's no sense in having a great golf course and it only be used by the resort patrons. Not all of the people who come here play golf, and real golf nuts aren't going to play the same course day after day. I'd like to get reciprocity with the clothing optional course next door so our guests could use either course. Golfers couldn't care less whether there are naked golfers in front or in back of them."

"Great idea, Josie. I'll bring that up with the other investors and the manager next door. Do you know Julie next door?"

"I sure do, she's the best housekeeping supervisor on the island. She should be the manager over there."

"As of yesterday, Josie, Julie is the new manager of the resort."

"That's great. She is really good. I like the way she handles her people. I try to copy her style. I have so many people that I have to have leaders for each group. If they take pride in their work, it all goes better and it makes me look good. They like the idea that I look at everything they do. That's why I take the time to go over all of it."

"Smart lady. Say, how about having lunch with the investors today. I'd like to go through the hotel. Can you introduce me to the housekeeping manager so I can take a look at the rooms?"

Josie frowned, "I can, but she's not happy with the new manager and is going to turn in her resignation. She says she doesn't think she could manage the resort, but she thought a trained chimpanzee could do better."

I laughed and said, "The man did seem to lack some cordiality."

"You noticed, did you? He's done a great job of pissing everyone off. Your nightclub and restaurant manager is going to leave too, if you don't fix the problem."

"Can you take me back to the hotel? I still want to meet the housekeeping manager. I think I need to find the restaurant and night club manager too."

We went back to the hotel where Josie found Mrs. Murphy. The lady was a sweet, older lady, with a ready smile holding a clipboard and pushing a cart of towels and room supplies. After the introduction, I asked, "Do you clean rooms too?"

"No Sir, I have this cart so I can fill in where one of the staff might have missed something. I also leave some extras when larger families are staying with us. I think it makes us a better resort."

"That's a nice touch, Mrs. Murphy."

"Oh, Mr. Johnson, call me Margaret, okay?"

"Then you must call me Chuck."

The rooms had just been remodeled and were in wonderful condition. It was obvious the lady was pleased with the efforts of her staff.

I asked, "Margaret, what do you think of Josie. She seems to be really good managing and directing the ground crew."

"She's good managing the maintenance staff too. She's good at managing anything. One of these days that lady will be a resort manager. She's smart and knows how to work with people."

I smiled and said, "I feel that way too, Ma'am."

The lady stopped and looked me in the eye, "Why don't you ask me what I think of the idiot manager downstairs?"

"Probably for the same reason that I asked you what you thought of Josie."

Mrs. Murphy gasped and held her hand over her mouth, "Can I watch you sack the clod down there. He's called me so many vile names to my face that I would love to watch him get marched out of here. You know he makes some of the young lady staff do things to keep their jobs, don't you?"

"No, Ma'am, I didn't know that, but if you can find me just one of those young ladies, he won't be here minutes after I hear the story."

"Hmph, we can just go right in here," she said, as she went into a room with another cart by the door. A pretty young native lady was cleaning the room when we walked in. Mrs. Murphy said, "Luana, will you tell this gentleman what you told me earlier this morning?"

Luana blushed profusely and said, "I can't possible tell a man about that."

I spoke quickly, "Luana, my name is Chuck Johnson. I'm one of the new investors here and I've just heard there may be some improprieties by the current manager. If you have something I should hear, please tell me, but you don't have to be descriptive. Just tell me in a way that you are comfortable."

Luana looked at Mrs. Murphy, who nodded her head to her, then back at me. Luana was obviously distressed, "Mr. Johnson, when I came to work today, the manager called me into his office apartment downstairs and told me my work was inadequate. He told me the only way for me to keep my job was to make him feel good. I need this job, Sir. I work hard and do my very best every day to work fast and to do as good a job as I can. Because I need this job, I did what he asked. He had me get on my knees and do for him what I would do for a husband if I had one. He made me, a, made me, ah, suck him. There, I said it. When he was through with me, he said I should plan on doing that for him every morning. I need this job, so I will do it."

When she was through she had her eyes downcast. I place my hand on her chin and raised her face, "Luana, you will never have to do that again. Please forgive me for not knowing this morning what I know now. Would you like to accompany me while I terminate the man?"

"No Sir, I would be afraid. He knows where all of us ladies live. He goes to some of their houses. He will hurt us if he knows we've told on him."

"I think not, Luana. Please excuse me while I take care of this business."

I walked out of the room and used my cell phone to call Steve and Dewey. I said quickly, "You two need to come here right now. I've discovered a problem that we could have a great deal of liability from."

Steve answered, "We're on our way."

Since I was on the second floor, I took the stairs and headed straight to the resort offices. The two people at the desk had a terrified look on their faces and I could hear yelling behind them.

I walked through the open door to the resort offices to find a man laying on the floor, holding his mouth, while the manager stood over him with clenched fists. He said, "Come on, you punk. Get up and fight me like a man. I want to kick your ass all over my hotel."

I said quickly, "Please stand back. Stand back right now."

"Shut the fuck up. You may be some kind of investor, but this is my hotel, I'm the manager here and this asshole is nothing but some clod that thinks he's a world famous chef. He cooks slop."

"Ah, I think you should step back now. Please go to your office or leave the room right now."

"You know, I don't need you fucking with me, too. I'll kick your ass along with this guy. I saw you next door yesterday. You're nothing but a one-legged cripple anyway."

The man reached to grab me and with my left hand I grabbed him and twisted his arm behind him and forced him to his knees, pushing him toward the door. I released him pushing him forward so he had to catch himself with his hands. I stood up saying, "Leave now. Please go outside and wait for me there."

"Why, you little twerp. I'll fuck you up permanently," the man said, as he was standing and reaching into his coat. I didn't know whether he was going for a gun, so I stepped forward and chopped the hand that was reaching into his coat. The surprise on his face was great, and the man was pretty big, probably about six three and in fairly good shape.

The chop forced his hand to fumble what was a revolver that landed on the floor. With the introduction of a weapon, I needed to be careful. I said, "Please, I'm an officer of the law. Please step outside quietly with me right now so there will be no further problems."

The man looked at me and went to his knees to recover the gun. I kicked him in the chin. I tried to get the toe of my foot on my prosthesis into his throat so it would disable him, but it caught him in the mouth, which did a job on his teeth. While he was falling back, I pulled my Glock and held it on him and said again, "I am a Deputy U.S. Marshal. Please remain on the floor now with your hands above your head."

I turned to the man on the floor, noticing for the first time, a lady with a horrified look on her face sitting at a desk behind him. "Call 911, please. We need the local law."

I stood with my fake foot on the back of the manager and said to him. "Remain very still. I'm now going to press charges on you for a variety of very neat crimes. This other gentleman will probably gladly charge you with assault too."

The man wouldn't give up, he said, "My uncle will fix you. My uncle got me this job and expects you to give him his rent every month. You'll be sucking my dick like that cunt housekeeper by the end of the day."