Chapter 414

I walked to the elevator to greet whoever was coming to see me, just as door was opening.

Phil, Robin and Bob Jackson stepped off the elevator.

“I get another look at the inside of the lion’s den; you have expanded a lot since I was here last time,” he said.

“Yes, we have and all of Lorrie’s division was moved to the Morton building; she has offices both here and there.”

“Bob, are you going as chaperone?” I asked.

“Yes. Mr. Gifford sent an email that the medicines being donated for Nimule were being shipped to you in two weeks. He CC’ed me on the mail asking if I could finagle a seat on the plane to take video and pictures for them. I knew there would be plenty from you but he carries a big stick, if you know what I mean,” Bob replied.

That conversation ended as Rachael and her parents stepped off the elevator.

“Glad you made it, so you are up for a challenge?”

“Yes, I so glad you asked me to go with you. I was so excited when Dad asked if I wanted to go. We are not late, are we?”

“No there is plenty of time! The doc is waiting; Maryann is going to lead you where you are going. But first I need you to understand we are going on a military type transport plane. This is not first class fare.”

“That’s OK, that will make it more fun,” Rachael replied.

“Are you three OK with that?” I directed at Bob, Robin and Phil.

“I don’t know about fun but it sure sounds like an adventure,” Bob replied.

“Well, let’s get the process started; follow Maryann to the docs,” I replied.

“The shots are being billed to JBG,” I stated.

Our company Doctor Greg Burns’ practice had grown as JBG had. When we first started we went to him because he had been the family doctor to both the Jones and the Coles. It was a small practice; one doctor and a couple of nurses.

Now it was located in a new building with four doctors and several Physicians Assistants with a nurse for each one. There was a lot of medical equipment that usually was found in emergency centers. They could do x-rays and blood testing in-house.

The good thing was they billed us direct at a cash price for all the new employment physicals and shots. They had agreed to keep all of our employee records off the system because of our security status. Marcy even bought the filing system for them.

I was ready close down the computers and go to the house with the girls, when my phone rang one more time.

“Jones”

“Ambassador Jones, Johnson Black; I made some calls and I found the response time for Mr. Pope’s office to be unacceptable and changes are being made as we speak. Mr. Pope will call you personally to apologize for the long wait and the response from the north-east service center personnel to your request.”

“There is a standing policy that if an area cannot handle a customer’s needs they are to request help from the other service centers. Work load fluctuates; we have other centers that are not working up to capacity and can use the work.”

“The techs you requested will be there Monday morning. They are flying out of the Southern and North Western service centers direct to you. I also took the liberty to look at your account to look at your parts purchases for the aircraft you have repaired. They will bring multiples of those parts with them and anything else they think they will need to speed up the repair process, based on your descriptions,” he said.

Then he added, “I am terribly sorry that you needed to go the route that you did for a solution. From my viewpoint it is somewhat depressing. We spent so much time, effort and money to improve service and then one hard head can wreck it all in one call. I can promise you it will not happen again.”

“I appreciate your help; thank you,” I replied. Only time would tell for sure, I thought.

We were up at three; all of us - including Crash - wanted to see the takeoff. Crash had Lorrie take pictures of him and the plane with the crew; he wanted them framed and placed in the terminal building by his original crop duster.