Chapter 7: Getting Adjusted

It was the second week of December when I had an unwelcome visitor. Our receptionist let me know there was a man wanting to see me in the lobby. I walked out of my office toward the front and when I saw who was waiting I had a pretty good idea what this might be about.

"Are you Gabriel Allan Hancock?" the man asked.

"I am," I answered.

Neither of us offered to shake hands. This was not a conventional business meeting. He passed me a large manila envelope.

"Sir, you have been served."

I had only experienced this once before when Marion decided to end our marriage. No matter how it is done, it is humiliating and I felt no different now than I did the first time. I didn't know the details, but it was a civil action and the name on the front of the envelope was a local law firm.

I turned and walked toward Sue's office after opening the flap and taking a quick look at the contents. She would need to be involved in this.

"I've just been served with notice of legal action against Black Gold and me personally," I explained calmly to her. "Walter Trimble is claiming damages for wrongful dismissal. Looks like he has a pretty inflated idea of what he might gain from this."

"How inflated?" Sue asked, barely suppressing a smile.

"A half-million dollars inflated."

She whistled. "I never realized he was that valuable."

"I was convinced he wasn't. Right now, however, I need to contact our insurance company and see who they want to represent us."

"I have their number," Sue volunteered.

"Right. I'll get on it right away. Thanks, Sue. I may need to have you and some of the other staff meet with our lawyer to gather information. I'm not terribly worried, but I do need to treat this seriously."

She was nodding. "Good thinking. Don't worry. He hasn't got a leg to stand on," she assured me.

"I hope you're right. I better let Dave know, too."

I called my brother and we spent the better part of a half hour discussing my reasons and actions with regard to Walter Trimble. At the end of the call, he was somewhat concerned that a sharp lawyer might make a case of it, but in any event, we were insured against this type of action. I was just hoping we wouldn't have to make a claim against that insurance.

I phoned the law firm our insurance company had recommended and asked for the person whose name they had given me.

"I'm sorry, Sir. Mr. Demonte is no longer with our firm. Can someone else help you?"

"I hope so. I'm the manager of Black Gold Coffee in Lynnwood and I've been served by a former employee claiming wrongful dismissal. Is there someone there who can help me?"

"Yes, of course, Sir. Let me put you through to Mr. Cowland. He handles civil cases."

I waited for some time before a young male voice came on the line.

"Yes, this is Francis Cowland, how can I help you?"

"My name is Gabriel Hancock and I'm the manager of Black Gold Coffee. Some weeks ago, I terminated our sales manager via early retirement. This afternoon I was served with a summons to respond to a suit claiming damages for wrongful dismissal. I am named personally, along with the company."

"I see. How much is this former employee claiming?"

"Five hundred thousand dollars."

"Ah ... well ... not that much in today's terms. What would you like us to do?"

"Defend the suit, of course," I said in frustrated voice. Why the hell did he think I called him?

"Yes, well, let me see who is available to look after your case," he said, obviously looking something or someone up.

"Let me guess," I snapped. "You're going to fob me off on some junior fresh out of law school. Apparently a half-million isn't enough to warrant your attention. Well, Mr. Cowland, I think I'll look elsewhere for our representation. Good day," I said, slamming the phone down.

"I won't bother calling these people again, Sue. They don't think our business or our problem is important enough to assign an experienced lawyer. We need a recommendation for a more compatible firm. Any ideas?"

"Lexi's father uses business lawyers all the time. Maybe he can help, or recommend someone?"

"Okay, let's try that," I nodded. "We may be small potatoes, but we deserve decent representation."

Sue and I walked down to Lexi's office and, within thirty minutes, we had a new law firm anxious to serve us. Better yet, they would have someone at the office to meet with me first thing tomorrow morning. Lexi's father assured us that we were in good hands with this firm.

Randolph Mertz arrived promptly at five minutes before nine on Tuesday morning. I met him in the lobby and escorted him back to my office.

"Thank you for your prompt response to my inquiry, Mr. Mertz."

"You're welcome. But please call me Randolph or Rand ... anything but Randy," he grinned.

"I'm Gabriel, or more commonly Gabe. We're pretty informal here as you can probably guess. It's the nature of the business."

He nodded. "I'm familiar with this type of operation and that's why I chose to meet with you myself."

"Excellent," I said. "Then I guess we should get started."

I filled him in on the circumstances surrounding the early retirement of Walter Trimble. I also produced the recording I had made of his termination meeting.

"So, as I understand it, you didn't simply fire him, you gave him options which would allow him to retire with dignity intact and at full pension. Is that correct?"

"Yes. Of the two options, that was the more favorable to him, but he did have a choice."

Rand was making copious notes as we talked. I liked the guy right from the start. No extraneous chit-chat, and no pointless questions. He had obviously done this before.

"How did your customers feel about his leaving?" Rand asked.

"Nothing at all as far as I could determine," I said, shaking my head. "Of the few that knew him, I don't recall any of them suggesting he should have been retained or that they felt better dealing with him."

"So, are you suggesting he had no impact in the marketplace?"

"That's what it seems like to me. I won't pretend we questioned every customer, but I've been making calls on all our major and important accounts and that's the response I've been getting."

"What's happened to your sales since he left? I realize it's a short period of time, but is there any change?"

I nodded. "Yes, they've improved. But I attribute that to the sales people themselves. We've given them some direction and information support and they've run with it. Maybe it would be better if you talked to some of the sales people yourself. Here's a list of them with their home and cell numbers. And here's an e-mail I plan to send out if you decide to talk to them."

He took the piece of paper from my hand and read it.

In the event that you are asked about your work relationship and job during the time Walter Trimble was sales manager, please be completely forthcoming with the truth. Do not embellish your description in either direction. The truth is the only method to resolve the current situation.

Gabriel Hancock, General Manager

"I have informed all our people about the lawsuit and I expect them to be completely honest and hold nothing back, regardless of what they believe."

I saw Rand nod agreement and put a copy of the e-mail in his briefcase.

"I think that will help me. I do want to interview a few of your sales people. I'd rather you not know which ones. I want the unvarnished truth as well," he smiled.

"Then we are on the same page, Rand," I said with a grin. "Go to it."

It was three days later that I got a call from Rand Metzler.

"My interviews with your sales people were very enlightening, Gabe. I see no reason that Walter Trimble has a case against you or the company. I have five sworn affidavits that he was largely unavailable to them and certainly didn't inspire them to greater glory," he chuckled.

"So, what do you suggest?" I wondered.

"I'll have a chat with his lawyer. I'm sure when he sees what I have he'll want to advise his client to drop the suit. He has no chance of winning."

"That's very good news, Rand. Thank you very much for your handling of this. Let's hope his lawyer sees the wisdom of your advice."

"I'd be surprised if he didn't. There isn't a case to be made for Mr. Walter Trimble. He was treated more than fairly considering his limited contribution to Black Gold Coffee. I'll let you know how my talk with them goes."

I was patting myself on the back for dumping the first lawyer I called and contacting the recommendation of Lexi's father. If things turned out the way Rand expected, I would send Lexi's father a very nice bottle of single malt scotch. One good turn deserves another.

The next day, I started looking for that bottle of scotch. Walter Trimble's lawyer threw in the towel and the suit was dropped. I wish I could have extracted the cost of Rand Metzler's time from Walter's severance, but it was too late for that. At least we were rid of him and he wouldn't be returning to bother us.

I spent the weekend alone before I left for San Francisco. I had some business to attend to and I was determined to start looking seriously for a place to live. Early in the New Year, Dave would hold a management meeting to discuss the past year's results and the coming year's expectations. I wanted to get a head start on making the necessary arrangements.

The meeting was usually held each year the first week in February at a different branch. This year's meeting was scheduled for San Antonio. It was our thinking that each of the managers should get to know the others in the company as well as their strategies, successes and problems. In addition, we were permitted to bring a single department manager with us as well as our wives. Since I was single, I talked to Dave and requested I allow both Sue and Jan to attend and he granted my request.

"I want you to organize your work so that you can attend the management meeting with me the second week of February," I announced to Jan and Sue on Monday afternoon. "Is there any reason either of you can't attend?"

I got two headshakes and a "No" from both.

"The meeting usually lasts three days, plus a travel day each way," I explained. "With a little forward planning, we should be able to get a special rate if we leave on Saturday and make a couple of days for ourselves for sightseeing and other things."

These ladies weren't dumb. The caught my meaning immediately and smiled conspiratorially.

I used my points to get upgrades to business class for the three of us and booked the hotel. Two rooms would be enough, I was sure. The ladies agreed. Now it was down to preparing the information and presentations that I wanted to make. It seemed every year I was telling the group what we were doing to rescue or improve one branch or another. This year would be no exception.

Before I left for San Francisco, I called Jan into my office for a private discussion.

"Jan, you've more than met all my expectations in your job. I realize it's only been a little over two months, but I'm very pleased with everything you've accomplished. You have a very good rapport with the sales staff and your support group. You work well with the other staff. I'd like to propose a change in your role here."

She looked a bit surprised, but didn't say anything.

"I believe you have what it takes to be the sales manager for this branch. It will take some additional experience with you calling on the customers and working with the salesmen, but I'm confident you can do it. Are you interested in taking on that role?"

"Uhhm, I don't know. I'd never even thought about it, Gabe. When would this happen?"

"I think you need three months of training, working with me, the salesmen, and the customers. How do you rate your relationship with the salesmen?"

"It's mostly good," she replied right away. "They respect what I do and I try and help them with what they need. Lately, it's been even better since you made all the changes."

"Do you think they would have any problem with you being their boss?"