Chapter 36: A Long Distance Relationship Does Nothing for the Body.

Wednesday morning Garrett was at the door to my suite by eight-thirty. He had two other techs from his office with him. Dale and Amy were younger than and not nearly as experienced as Garrett but eager to help. As it sat right now, with the main system as damaged as it was and completely shut down, they had very little to do. It would be to their benefit to get the system back up and running as quickly as possible.

While Garrett and I were removing and sorting components on Tuesday the hotel staff set up a work area for us in the maintenance department with proper lighting and ventilation facilities. All the components to be cleaned and evaluated were staged and we set up a production line in maintenance with stations to disassemble, evaluate, clean and give an alcohol bath to each unit before passing it to either Garrett or myself for electronic testing and pass or fail evaluation. We got to work.

By the time we broke for lunch we had gotten through about a third of the staged components. We worked through the afternoon until about six in the early evening but we were finished evaluating all the individual components. The results were about what I had expected. Ninety percent of the components were completely useless. Of the remaining ten percent, nothing would be usable in the new system because of the equipment upgrade we were doing. None of the memory units were at all usable. They had gambled on not needing offsite back-ups and lost.

Garrett and I went out to dinner, again going to the Outback.

"It's too bad we couldn't salvage any of the drives or the information on them, Garrett. I thought that might be the case when I gave the initial report to Ian. It was possible but not probable. Have you heard anything in the office about it?"

"My boss is not happy. He's trying to figure out some way to deflect the blame but you cut him off at the knees Monday evening when you talked with Mister Thompson. You just about pointed a finger at my boss and said 'It's his fault.' and he didn't like it."

"I did no such thing. All I did was tell Ian the recommendation I had made and when. I didn't even try to say who was responsible for not following it."

"You know that and I know that but my manager is guilty and feeling it. He knows it was his fault and even though his intentions may have been good, saving the company some money, the result is they now have to shell out a lot more. He wants someone else to blame for it and anyone else will do."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. My signature isn't on the plans or the work orders anywhere; his signature is all over them. I think he's afraid for his job. There are things going on above my pay level I don't have the specifics of and I think they involve money and waste."

"As the British say, 'Penny wise and pound foolish, ' and that description applies here. Do you think I should say anything to try and get him off the hook?"

"No. He did this to himself and neither I nor anyone else in my office likes him enough to go to bat for him. He's never backed us up when there has been a problem so I'd prefer if you didn't save his butt. We might get someone decent if they trash him."

"Then again, you might get someone worse. It's possible, you know."

"Possible maybe, but not likely."

"If they toss him out would you be willing to take the position? I can put in a solid recommendation for you as I make my reports to Ian in the Denver office. It would be a lot more responsibility for you with the salary to match."

"I don't know. I haven't wanted the responsibility before because of the politics that goes with it. Let me think about it and talk with my wife. I'll give you an answer by the weekend. Is that okay?"

"Sure. From my perspective you're already doing the work, so you might as well get the credit. There's more to it than what I see and I know it. You have to want the job, just let me know."

After dinner he took me back to the hotel and I went to my room. I still had my regular work to do. When it was done I took my shower and then called Kay.

Thursday I started the day by making a call to Ian Thompson in his Denver office as he had requested. I gave him the full evaluation and my opinion. He wasn't happy but he also wasn't surprised at the total loss. He told me he needed a written report for the insurance company and I promised it to him before I left to go back to San Diego. He asked about the new equipment and I explained that I expected to receive it and have it physically installed by the end of the day.

Garrett, his assistants, and I spent the morning cleaning out and preparing the equipment room for the new items. At lunch the four of us sat down to figure out our plan for the rest of the day and agreed to work as late as needed to complete the physical installation. Garrett and I could get started on the electronic installation and alignment Friday. Things started showing up right after lunch and we worked again until after six getting everything installed.

The extra hours we put in paid off and we had accomplished a lot in two days. The overtime they were all racking up would put a boost in their paychecks and had been approved by Ian on Monday evening. My bonus was spelled out in my contract but it wasn't something I would discuss with Garrett or the others. Ian wanted the system up as soon as possible, naturally. The others couldn't work over the weekend so I planned on doing up my report then for Ian.

One of the things I did during lunch was to call my airline client. I ordered tickets for Kay to fly out Friday to join me in Colorado when she was done with work. It would be a surprise for her. I didn't want to put off getting together with her any longer than necessary. I didn't see myself getting back to San Diego before Tuesday at the earliest and if I went into Ian's Denver offices it might be even later than that, too much later. I had her flying back on Sunday.

Kay's turn (Wednesday morning):

I'm getting this timing thing down, I was only fifteen minutes early and I didn't wait in the car at all. I went into reception and used my new I.D. to get through the inner door and to the conference room without an escort. It was a good feeling. Linc was already there and we talked a little while waiting for the day to start. Five minutes later, Ryan came in acting as Wayne's escort.

We sat around drinking coffee and reviewing our notes while Lyndsi worked with Wayne to get his security paperwork caught up. It was nearly nine-thirty before they were done. Wayne was disappointed when Lyndsi told him he still had to wait until the end of the day before he'd get his I.D. card. It would be that long for the paperwork to be accepted.

We spent the day as a group in Administration. A lot more goes into administration than I ever thought about. There were two different sections in admin.

The first dealt with personnel and all the employment paperwork for every employee of the company. It didn't matter whether an employee was hourly or salaried. It included the all the pay and compensation records. We weren't allowed access to those files because of privacy concerns. I know that some people find that kind of thing interesting and fulfilling but I wasn't one of them. I found them boring more than anything else, not for me.

The other section dealt with what the company did as a whole and since there were several government contracts in addition to the commercial side of the business the amount of paperwork was immense. There was a bank of file cabinets lining a wall that were filled with the contracts and all the supporting paperwork for them. We had to learn at least the basics of the filing system so we could get a contract by ourselves if what we were doing required it.

I had been paired with Wayne for our time in admin and it made for a long day. He acted like it was beneath him to learn how admin worked and what functions it filled in the bigger picture of the company's operations. He made it very clear he thought he should be somewhere else. I wish he was, somewhere far, far away. I was glad to get away at the end of the day. I had had enough of Wayne.

When I got home I gathered the laundry and got a load started. I sat in the kitchen where I could hear the machine running and reviewed my notes from my first three days. The material we were covering wasn't particularly complicated but there was more to it than I had ever considered. I had a light dinner and was out by the pool reading when Rob called.

"Hey sweetie, how's my favorite intern? I love you. What sort of things did you do today at the salt mine?"

"Oh, Rob. We sat around for what must have been half the morning waiting for Wayne to get his security paperwork done. We spent the rest of the day in the admin section. There is a lot more to admin than I ever thought about and I learned a lot."

"Is everyone treating you guys okay? Sometimes people are resentful of interns, especially if they didn't go through an intern program themselves. There are some that are insecure in their jobs and afraid of helping interns. You might show them up."

"We didn't see any of that, at least I didn't. We had to learn the filing system for the contracts and supporting paperwork. How does anybody get any work done when they have a government contract they have to work to? Some of the contracts they showed us today had to be an inch thick and there was a foot high stack of supporting paperwork that went with them. Who has the time to read all that and still get a job done? That's if you can even understand the gibberish it's all written in."

"Now you see why I avoid government contracts as best as I can. If I took one I'd have to hire someone just to read it through and interpret it for me. They're not worth the effort they require. The contracts normally come with good money but they're still not worth it to me. On an hourly basis I wouldn't make nearly the same amount of money on a government contract that I make with my commercial contracts."

"I'm glad they have a legal team to go over the contracts. I don't know what they'd get if I had to go over one."

"In the field you've chosen, government contracts are common so if you stay with aerospace you're going to have to learn how to deal with them. For now, if you know where they are and who to go to about them, that's all you should need."

"I'll have to remember that when I take over as the head of engineering or design."

"You do that and let me know how it goes. If you get real good at it I'll let you take care of government contracts for me."

"Wayne was a pain in the butt today."

"Oh? How so?"

"Do you remember me telling you Mister Pietro told me not to be afraid to ask questions?"

"Yeah, how is that a problem with Wayne?"

"Either he's as dumb as a box of rocks or he's intentionally acting dumb. He was asking some really stupid questions and not just one or two. After we were given the indoctrination spiel we split into pairs. Guess who I was paired with. Each pair was teamed with an admin person we shadowed for the rest of the day and we were supposed to learn the basics of their jobs including the filing system for contracts. It really isn't hard once you understand how things are filed. Wayne refused to understand and the woman we were working with was getting pissed."

"That's not good. She wasn't pissed at you, was she?"

"I don't think directly but her frustration was bleeding over. I tried very hard to make sure she knew I understood what she was telling us. It was almost as if Wayne was trying to see how far he could push her."

"The only thing I can recommend is for you to distance yourself from him as best you can. Don't try to show him up but don't hold back either."

"That's about what I came up with, too. He was given his I.D. before we left today. Hopefully he'll behave better now. He may have been acting out because he was jealous but who knows."

"Give him his space but don't be cold to him and piss him off. You don't want to make a target of yourself for his antics."

"Okay, I'll keep clear."

"Please."

"I miss you. I'll be glad when you're home again. When are you going to get back?"

"I wish I could tell you otherwise but I don't see it happening before Monday or Tuesday. There's just too much to be done. I want to do a really good job for the corporate V.P. to see. I've started talking with him about the system in the corporate offices in Denver. I'm trying to get him to expand my contract to take in their equipment and system there. He seems warm towards the idea and I want to show him I know my stuff."

"That's a bummer. I was hoping you'd be home so we could play this weekend."

"Do you have anything at all going on for the weekend?"

"If you're not going to be here, no."

"I may be able to do something about that but I don't know yet. I have to check on a few things before I say anymore to you about it."

"Don't tease me. Tell me what you've got up your sleeve."

"You're just going to have to wait, sorry."

"You're a rat; you know that, don't you?"

"If I'm a rat then I expect you to keep a supply of cheese on hand for me."

"You're being mean to me."

"I'm not, really. I'm protecting you, I don't want to build up your hopes and then dash them on the rocks of reality."

"You're still a rat."

"Well, this rat needs to get to bed. I still have a lot of work to do here and even though I have help, they can't do it without me to oversee what is done."

"I love you, Rob."

"And I love you, too. Keep out of Wayne's way and I'll talk with you tomorrow. G'nite, Kay."

"G'nite, Rob."

I watched a little TV and wondered what Rob was planning. He hasn't disappointed me yet with the plans he's made. I found I wasn't paying any attention to the show I was watching. I was too busy thinking about Rob and what his plan would be. I gave up and headed for bed. This time I didn't change the alarm setting. I could deal with sitting in the conference room for fifteen minutes. It gave me a chance for a cup of coffee and was a lot better than being late.

Thursday morning traffic was heavier than anything I'd seen before and I don't know why. I was glad I had the extra fifteen minutes built into my travel time because I used ten of them between the traffic and finding a parking spot. Even though we now had company I.D. cards and parking stickers we were still restricted to the West lot. Linc was in the conference room before me and Ryan was right behind me. When Lyndsi came to get us for the day Wayne still hadn't come in. She didn't say anything and I wondered about it but it was his problem, not mine.

We were again in admin for the day. The difference this time being we were supposed to do more than watch. It was our first opportunity to do anything even remotely productive. Wayne not being with us worked to my benefit. Ryan and Linc were still working as a pair but I was alone. It resulted in my getting the individual attention of the admin office manager's assistant and she really was nice. She'd been there for several years and knew her stuff. When she realized Wayne wasn't with me she relaxed and started training me as if I was taking over her job.

Wayne showed up after the morning coffee break and he was in a foul mood. I limited my interaction with him because it seemed he was spoiling for a fight. Unfortunately with his return, the individual attention I was getting came to an end. She still smiled at me but with Wayne around she'd just give us an assignment and leave us to it. I think I learned more in the first two hours than I learned the rest of the day. She was minimizing her exposure to Wayne and his sullenness.

It was during lunch I found out one of the reasons traffic appeared to be so heavy on my way in. The four of us sat together in the lunch room and Ryan made the mistake of asking Wayne why he was late. Wayne went off on a tirade about bad drivers and people not yielding right-of-way. He was ranting and cursing rather profusely about it. At one point a big burly guy came over to our table and told Wayne to shut his mouth, there were women present and his language was inappropriate to the point of becoming offensive. Wayne shut up but sulked.

We finally got out of him he had an accident on the way into work this morning and his car was crunched, tying up traffic. He claimed the other guy came out of nowhere and hit him crumpling the front passenger quarter of his car and it couldn't be driven. He had to wait for the police and a wrecker to tow his car then had to get a cab to come in. He himself wasn't hurt but the other driver took off and no one got the license plate. The police told him it was probably an uninsured driver, possibly an illegal so he'd have to talk with his own insurance company.

No wonder he was in a foul mood. I would be too if my car was hit. He would have to work out something about transportation until his car was on the road again. I didn't know where he lived but where ever it was it was out of my way by definition. I didn't trust him enough to even offer him a ride home let alone a daily ride. Even when he didn't have a reason to be in a foul mood he irritated me.

After lunch we returned to admin. We were supposed to be there through Friday lunch. The rest of Friday we were going to work out our schedules for the rest of the summer. I hadn't said anything to the guys yet about being engaged and planning to get married over the summer. I wanted to see what I could arrange without having to plead for the time I needed. I was planning on the first week of August for the ceremony. I thought it would be a nice touch to get married on the anniversary of when I first met Rob. It would mean I'm the last to take vacation.

I was again at poolside in the evening again when Rob called for his nightly call.

Rob's turn again (Thursday evening):

After eating dinner in the hotel I did a log review of all my customers. I had a couple of phone calls to make in the morning. There weren't any significant problems but there were things that needed to be checked on. I called Kay.

"How're you doing, Kay?"

"I'm tired, I'm lonely and I'm not happy about it. How about you?"

"I love you and I'm missing you, too. I'm sorry but there really isn't much I can do about your loneliness right now."

"I know but if I can't complain to you about it, who can I complain to?"

"I don't have an answer for that. Why don't you tell me about your day?"

"It had a mixed start. I'm glad I kept my timing the way I had it so I had a little leeway this morning. I needed it because of traffic. There was an accident that snarled it all up and I was late into the parking lot. It took me longer today to find a parking spot and between the traffic and parking I only had five minutes left before I was late."

"Was it a bad accident?"

"Only for Wayne."

"Hunh?"

"Wayne was in the accident. He was hit by another car and had to wait for the police and a wrecker, so he was late into work today."

"Was he hurt?"

"Only in his wallet, the other driver didn't hang around to exchange information. The police basically told Wayne he was out of luck and would have to depend upon his own insurance to get his car fixed. You can imagine how happy he was when he heard that."

"Ouch! Is his car damaged very badly?"

"I don't know how badly damaged it is but I do know it couldn't be driven after the accident. Wayne was late because of it. It held him up until after our morning break and made his day I can tell you."

"Besides holding you up on your way in this morning did have any other effect on you?"

"It actually worked to my benefit. With him out this morning, I had the full attention of the admin assistant and I learned a lot from her in the two hours before Wayne showed up. Once he was back with us she kept her distance. I told you he pissed her off yesterday. It was too much to hope he dropped out of the program after only three days."

"We can't have everything we want. Give him space and don't laugh at him, at least not where he can hear you."

"I know. I'm not happy with him. Until he came in I was really learning and enjoying it. After he came in, not so much but I'll survive. I'll be glad when we split up and aren't going around as a group. I don't want anyone connecting him with me."

"When do you guys split up?"

"Next week, I think but I'm not sure. How about you, how are things going out there?"

"My suppliers came through for me and everything came in today. We worked late and have all the physical installation done. I'm starting on the electronic installation and alignment tomorrow with the senior tech out here. He's a good guy and knows what he's doing. He has two juniors and they have a lot to learn but he seems to know what he's doing to train them."