Chapter 153

Monday did go smoothly with lots of odds and ends coming together. Patti did find 10 of the old manikins at the department store that had been closed for so many years. I sent the maintenance guys to pick them up.

The owner wanted cash so I took it out of my pocket. There was no way with the accounting system in place here to get cash. If he would give the maintenance guys a receipt I could add it to the expense account for this project.

The rest of the week and next week were going to be busy. Tomorrow we were going to redo the demo bus attack with the fire chiefs and the 911 people at the shooting range at noon. With Jason on the board of directors there he simply posted that part of the range would be closed from 11AM to 3 PM to the public.

On Wednesday night we were flying out to do the Thursday and Friday seminars to complete this college year. We were going to fly to Charlotte and check in on the site there and spend the night.

Thursday morning I was going to meet with Max Kelly and the Hendricks group to sign the contracts for 200 new cars that we were going to buy. Even with multiple different destination charges to get the new cars delivered at our sites they were the dealers with the best prices. The orders had already been placed and the cars rerouted. Max was supplying Fords, Toyota, Nissans, a few Kias, Ford trucks and vans. The Hendricks group was supplying Chevy and Chevy trucks and vans.

The contract signing was a technicality; electronic transfers had already locked things into place. Plus it would give Vicky and Ching Lee their first site inspection and they were going to do a lot more. Marcy had worked up a procedure that she wanted followed when we went to any site. It was so we could evaluate and rate each site by the same standards. This was going to be the test run.

These site evaluations were to be one more tool in her bag for promotions and demotions of our site people, and negotiating leverage with the site owners for improvements. We suspected that because of the previous owner's problems a lot of routine improvements had been tactfully neglected. This was one more reason that site inspections were going to be pushed to the forefront and soon. Some of the comment cards we were getting back raised questions about maintenance of facilities and site lease renewals came almost every month. They were scattered throughout the year.

Marcy wanted leverage and a lot of it. There were times Marcy could squeeze nickels and dimes until they screamed to get what she thought was our full money's worth, and she was good at it. At times I thought she was getting her jollies off while she was doing it.

I was just about done getting my calendar updated, linked to my smart phone and make it available to Patti when Mischief and Mayhem came in. I guess the mental nickname I had given them was going to stay with me.

I handed Roseanne a slip of paper with the company website and the order to get to the job postings page, "I can make no promises. I have no control over that part of the business for all kinds of reasons. If you see something that catches your eye fill it out and send it direct to Lorrie and Marcy. Check the postings every day; a lot of good things are happening over the next few weeks," I said.

At noon I left for the shooting range to meet the 911 group and the rest of my party there. Jason, Jenny, Courtney, Ching Lee and Vicky dressed as school girls as a slight deviation from the original plan. Courtney and I had changed weapons in our shoulder holsters to a Glock that would only shoot blanks. I had everything ready to go when the group from C-town came through the gate.

Again I explained everything in detail not once but twice, then we pulled on our hoods and my group and I carried it out. The ingredients worked perfectly. As I bounced up from my roll to get away from the explosion and fire and Courtney and I were headed to the getaway truck, I thought the 911 staff were going to crap themselves they were so animated. We grabbed the fire extinguishers and watched as the flames died out from the lack of fuel. The bus we were going to use would still have the seats in plus the manikins so there would be additional fuel to keep the fire going if the fire department was not on the ball doing their thing. That was where they would get to show their stuff.

Another lengthy discussion and they signed off. Everything was ready for shock and awe, with some minor adjustments, a week from today.