Chapter 6: Smoothing the Waters

It was almost 10:20 when Mr. Flannery decided to make an appearance. He looked decidedly unhappy when he strode out of his hideaway and marched up to my chair in the reception area.

"I'll see you now, Mr. McLeod," he snarled and immediately turned and stomped back from where he came.

I turned and looked at Brigit and saw her shake her head with a look of dismay. I pushed myself up out of the chair and followed Flannery. His office was in the far corner of the floor with windows on two walls overlooking the city and the lakefront. He pointed to a chair at one corner of his desk and I sat.

"So what are you here for?" Flannery began without the slightest hint of politeness.

"Are you telling me you haven't been informed of the purpose of my visit?" I was all set to go one on one with him if he pushed his attitude much more.

His head came up and his eyes narrowed. I don't think he quite expected me to confront him.

"There was some mention of a visit by one of the Vancouver people," he said, offering nothing more.

"I find that hard to believe. I talked to Tom Yardley a few minutes ago. I'm sure he told you what the object of my visit was. Is there some reason you object to my presence?" I was working hard to keep my voice even and controlled.

"I object to the theft of my company by a bunch of western upstarts. There's nothing you have to offer Trent Engineering that we can't do ourselves," he snarled.

"Mr. Flannery, I'm here to upgrade your CADD systems and bring them in line with the Pinecone systems. I'd be very disappointed if you're telling me I can't expect the cooperation of your staff."

"You'll get your cooperation, Mr. McLeod. Just make sure you don't interfere with the work we have on hand. We have deadlines to meet and I expect them to be met regardless of your little project."

I tried to stare him down but he was reluctant to look me in the eye.

"Who will I be working with in the CADD department?" I asked.

"Whoever can spare the time," he said dismissively. "You'll have to work that out yourself."

"I'd like an office as well," I said, struggling to keep my temper.

"You'll have to make do with whatever you can find."

"Are we finished here?" I asked, beginning to rise. I wanted out of this office as soon as I could.

"Yes," was all I got from him in response.

I walked out to the reception desk and flopped into the chair I had previously occupied. I needed to cool off before I said or did something I would regret. Brigit looked at me and I think I was pretty easy to read.

"Don't be too upset, Mr. McLeod. He's been very unhappy these last few months. He's been nasty to just about everyone," she said apologetically.

"Thank you, Brigit. By the way, do you know if there are any unused offices available, preferable in the design area?"

"Oh yes, we have three. If you wait until lunch hour, I'll show you around and you can decide which one is best for you."

"Thank you again. I'm grateful for your help."

I went down to the café in the lobby at 11:30 and ordered a sandwich and a tomato juice to go. I didn't want to cut into Brigit's lunch hour any more than necessary.

"Where do you and the staff eat lunch, Brigit?" I asked when I returned.

"There's an area in the back that's not being used and we put some chairs and tables in there. Some people go out to lunch but a lot of us go there or eat at our desks. I can't do that, naturally."

"Mind if I join you?"

"No ... of course not. It might be a chance for you to meet some of the people."

The more I was around Brigit the more I liked her attitude. I had a hunch I was going to need all the friends I could find in this job.

Just after noon I followed Brigit to the so-called lunch area. I noticed it was about as far from Flannery's office as you could get. It was an open space of about 500 sq. ft., with a collection of unmatched chairs and tables scattered about the room. There was no sink but a rather ancient microwave was sitting on one table and an old refrigerator was standing in a nearby corner. Not exactly what I would describe as a lunch room.

Brigit guided me to a table near a window and we sat. There was room for another four people at this table but so far no one had approached. A couple of minutes later another young woman entered the room, saw Brigit and waved while walking directly to our table.

"Hi, Brigit," she said brightly, giving me the once-over.

"Hi Petra. This is Dexter McLeod. He's going to be working with us for a while."

I stood and shook the young woman's hand. "Nice to meet you, Petra. You can call me Dex. What do you do here?"

"I'm in the design department. Slaving away in front of a computer screen all day," she grinned.

I took a card from my shirt pocket and passed it to her.

"Looks like we'll be spending some time together then," I said. "I'm here to update the CADD systems and equipment. Bring you up to the latest standards."

"Oh, wonderful! That's great to hear," she enthused, looking at my card. I saw her eyes widen as she read the card.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "I mean in this place. Shouldn't you be with the other managers?"

I shook my head and I could see a big grin on Brigit's face.

"Nope. I'm happy with the people I work with. I'd like to have that kind of relationship with your department."

"Well ... that'll be different," Petra said with a wrinkled brow. "Most of the senior people don't mix with us peons."

"I was a peon for many years, Petra. I don't forget where I came from and don't be fooled by the vice president title. It's new and shiny and unused. Around my office in Vancouver everyone calls me Dex. We don't stand on formality."

"I'd get fired or maybe shot if I didn't call all the senior people Mister," she said. "This place is pretty 'old-school' in my opinion."

"I've only met Mr. Flannery so far but I can see where that idea comes from."

Both women giggled at my comment but didn't offer any reinforcement.

A couple of minutes later, a short dark-haired man joined us at the table.

"Mr. McLeod, this is Carlo de Prata, also one of our CADD operators."

"Hi, Carlo, Dexter McLeod," I said, handing him one of my cards.

He looked at it and like Petra, his eyebrows raised and he looked at me.

"Uh ... nice to meet you, sir," he said uncertainly.

"Relax Carlo. It's Dex to most of the people around here. I'm here to bring the systems up to date on both software and hardware."

"Oh ... good ... I've been hoping something would happen when we heard that there'd been a take-over," he said with an obvious sigh of relief.

"Well, it's not exactly a take-over. Pinecone are partners with Trent Engineering now. Our job is to help you grow back to what you once were and more. It looks like we might need more than just computers and software, though. You could use a proper lunch room."

"Wouldn't that be nice," Petra said, with Brigit nodding.

"I'll see what I can do," I said with a smile. "In the meantime, I need a guide to take me around the design department. Any volunteers?" I grinned.

"I'm probably the best one to do that," Petra said. "I've been here the longest after Terry Sanderson. He's the senior man in our department."

"Maybe I should meet with Terry then so I don't ruffle any feathers," I suggested.

"No problem. I'll go get him and we can talk," she said, rising to walk to another table. She bent over near a big red-headed man and said a few words. He turned to look at me then nodded to Petra and stood."

"Mr. McLeod, this is Terry Sanderson, senior operator."

I stood and shook hands with him. He was a large, friendly, freckle-faced man in his forties I guessed.

"Nice to meet you, Terry. I'm Dex," I said, handing him my card.

"Yes, I've been expecting someone. Nice to see you're here so quickly. I understand you'd like a tour."

"If you've got the time. I don't want to interrupt anything important."

"Not a problem. I've finished my lunch so we can go anytime you're ready," he said.

"Ladies, if you'll excuse me, duty calls," I smiled. "Nice meeting you, Petra. Oh, and Brigit, do you know where I can get a key to the office?"

"Yes," she said, "but you won't like my answer. Only Mr. Flannery can authorize that. Sorry."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll find a way. Lead on, Terry," I said, hiding my irritation at the roadblocks I seemed to be encountering so early in my stay. Another thing to talk to Tom about, I thought. I'd better start writing this down. The list was getting longer and I'd only been here a couple of hours.

Terry gave me a comprehensive tour of the twenty station CADD room. There were twelve active units, symptomatic of the decline in their business. He admitted that some of the unused units had been cannibalized for parts or software when problems arose. They had no budget for anything short of essential repairs.

Terry was candid but careful in his comments. He admitted he was hopeful that the merger would bring the equipment and software up to date but didn't expect to have it happen this quickly. He said it would be a big boost to the morale of the people in the office. I was glad to hear that. That should put a few more staff on my side.

Brigit had shown me the open offices and I found one just where I wanted it with easy access to the department but private enough when it was required. I put my laptop down on the desk, pulled out an Ethernet cable and hooked into the wall outlet. Within seconds I was confronted with a gateway that required a password. Good. There was some security in place.

Terry gave me the password for the week and I set up my station, logging on after registering. I spent the next hour surfing the site and seeing what we were working with. There was a job log and I reviewed that to see what our people were working on. It wasn't a very long list. The sooner I got this department up to speed the sooner I could turn Wolf loose on the potential clients.

At five o'clock I called Tom once more, having written a list of things I needed to resolve ... or work around.

"I can't even get a key to the office without Flannery's approval. Doesn't he delegate anything? Who's the second in command?" I asked.

"The two junior partners are active engineers and you should make their acquaintance. In the meantime, borrow a key from someone and make a copy. I'll cover for you if it's necessary. I doubt it will be. Flannery was never there before nine and very seldom after four."

"Jesus, Tom. No wonder the business is in trouble."