Chapter 39: I Go to Denver.

Monday morning I headed for the resort offices and to the I.T. offices. Things were somewhat unsettled there. The manager was packing out his desk. I acted like I didn't see anything out of the ordinary and went over to Garrett's desk.

"Garrett, I need to get into the computer room here to check the connections."

He looked at me funny for a moment before snapping out of it. "This way." He got up and started leading me to the back of the office where the computer room was. When we got to the door we went through it and closed it behind us.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yeah, my boss got the boot this morning. The call came from Ian Thompson first thing. He spoke with the local Operations Manager and my boss was called into the office. Five minutes later he was in the H.R. offices getting his walking papers and termination paperwork. He's supposed to be gone by lunch time."

"Ian didn't waste time, did he?"

"Apparently Ian was waiting for us to complete the installation before dropping the axe. Do you really need to check anything in here?"

"No, I just said that to get us both out of sight and ear shot from everyone else. I'm supposed to talk with Ian this morning. Do you want me to put you up for the manager's position?"

"I've been talking with Joyce about it all week. Do you really think I can do it?"

"I don't know enough about the office politics or admin requirements here, so I can't speak with you one way or the other about them. I DO know you can handle the technical part of the job, easily. If you want it, you can do it, I'm sure."

"That's what Joyce said. If you're willing to stick your neck out and recommend me, I'll go for it. Of course they may have somebody else in mind already."

"They might but it won't hurt any for me to put your name up."

"Thanks, Rob."

"Let's go back in. I still have to give my report to your office and to Ian in Denver. I'd like to get out of here today if I can."

We went in and the manager's desk was clear; he was nowhere in sight. I headed to the executive suite. There'd be someone there to take my report. I went to the Executive V.P.'s office. His secretary (assistant?) knew who I was and greeted me.

"Good morning Mister Lister, I've been expecting you. Will you please come with me?" She got out from behind her desk.

"Certainly, who am I going to see?"

"I'm supposed to bring you to the conference room and connect you to Mister Thompson in the Denver offices; he's waiting on your call."

We went to the conference room where she gave me a seat near the speaker phone and offered to get me coffee before she placed the call to Ian's office. As soon as his secretary answered she put me through to Ian; apparently he really was waiting on my call.

"Good morning, Rob, thank you for calling this morning, thank you also for emailing your report to me. I've already gone through it enough to get the gist of it. I've passed it to Hank Stein, our I.T. Manager here, to go through it in depth this morning."

"Ian that's the type of report I always do when I've done any sort of major work for a client. If your I.T. Manager there has any questions, please have him email me and I will answer them to the best of my ability."

"Actually, Rob, I'd like you to come to our offices here and meet with him today. I've had some discussion with him about what you said regarding backup files and having them at an offsite location from the original files. He tells me we are not as protected or safe as I thought we were. Do you think you can be here for lunch? I want the three of us to sit down and discuss this whole incident, its ramifications and the dangers it has brought to my attention."

"Ian, I'd be happy to come to Denver and meet with you but before I commit to doing that this morning, or even today, I need to make a few phone calls and check my schedule. Can I call you back in an hour or so? I've spent all of my time this past week working on your systems and I have to make sure none of my other clients have any issues that require my immediate attention. Please don't misunderstand, I appreciate the business opportunity with you but I can't neglect any of my other clients."

"Rob, I can understand that and I respect the commitment to your clients, all your clients. If we reach a working agreement for you to take us on as a client here in Denver, I would expect the same level of commitment, so I can't begrudge it to any of your existing clients. I can tell you, though, after my discussions with Hank, our I.T. Manager, we're looking at doing business with you for more than just the resort you're calling from."

"Thank you, Ian. I'd appreciate the business. Let me check on my other clients and I'll get back to you within an hour."

"I'll be waiting on your call. In the meantime, I'll direct the offices there to give you any support you need while you're there."

"Thank you, Ian. I'll get back to you shortly."

"I'll be waiting." He terminated the call.

I sat back thinking about the conversation I'd just had. Wow, who'd have thought this would mushroom the way it has? How big was this holding company? About that time, the secretary stuck her head in the door.

"Is there anything I can get you, Mister Lister?"

"No, I'm good with the coffee still. I do have a question. How far away are the offices where I'm supposed to meet Mister Thompson, time wise?"

"Uh, they're about two hours away, maybe two and a half, depending on traffic."

"Can you please get me directions there? I'll be driving myself later today."

"Certainly, give me a few minutes. Anything else?"

"Not right now, thank you."

She left and I opened my laptop. When I was on-line, I accessed my home office system to review logs. I went over the logs for the past week. I had been looking them over each evening but that was more a fast scan than it was an in depth review. Now I was looking over each day's logs closely: there were specific triggers that I looked for on the fast scan because they meant trouble. What I was doing now involved specific metrics and they were different for each of my clients. They were more indications of pending problems than they were flags of specific issues.

The secretary came back in. She had a fresh cup of coffee for me and a sheet of instructions. When I looked them over I could see I would have to work hard to get lost. These instructions would make Google Maps jealous if they knew of them. "I talked with our courier service to get these; they told me if you follow them and travel at the posted speed limits, they'll bring you to the office door in Denver in one hour and fifty-eight minutes if you leave here after ten but before two-thirty."

"Thank you, this is more than I was expecting."

"I was told to give you any support you needed directly by Mister Thompson. It was the first time he spoke to me and he was rather emphatic about giving you anything you might need. Is there anything else I can do for you? Take your laundry out? Shine your shoes? Wash your car? I got the impression that if you asked me to jump I better learn levitation if I like my job. If you don't mind my asking, what did you do or what are you going to do?"

"I'm just a computer nerd who helped bail you guys out of a mess that was caused by insufficient or improper planning but I'm a very good computer nerd."

"Somehow I don't think that's all you are but who am I to argue."

"Thanks for the coffee. Now, I've got to get back to this so I can go to Denver."

"I'll leave you be but if you need anything just pick up the phone; my extension is two-six-two." She left me again.

I turned back to my computer and returned to my work. Twenty minutes later I was through. Fortunately there was nothing to upset my apple cart. I sent out six emails to clients making recommendations before I closed up the computer. I thought about calling Kay but decided to send her a text instead; I didn't want to affect her work day by interrupting her. I picked up the phone and called Ian's office. When I identified myself to his secretary she asked me to hold, Mister Thompson was waiting on my call.

"Rob, you must be good or you must need the work. Which is it?"

"Excuse me?

"Either you're good at what you do and were able to check on your other clients quickly or you don't have that many clients, so which is it?"

"If you ask me, I'm good at what I do, very good. By the way, what did you say to the young lady who has been giving me anything I ask for and even some things I haven't asked for. I think if I ask her to get out of her skin and dance in her bones she will."

"I know you're good. I did some checking on you and you have an excellent reputation. I told her you were to get all the support you needed and then some. When can you come see me?"

"I should be there by twelve-thirty unless I get lost. With the directions I've been given, I'd have to work at getting lost."

"We'll have lunch when you get here. I'll see you then."

"Yes sir, for lunch." We hung up and I stopped by the secretary to thank her again before I left, headed for Denver.

Two hours and five minutes later I walked into the offices where I expected to see Ian. He was actually waiting for me at the elevator when the doors opened. He had a young lady waiting with him; she was behind him and just to his side so I could see her clearly.

He reached out to shake my hand. "Hello, Rob, I hope you haven't eaten yet. Hank is waiting for us at the restaurant. Do you need to set anything down?"

"If we're coming back here, I won't need my computer until then." I handed my computer bag to him and he in turn gave it to his assistant.

We went back into the elevator and there was a car waiting for us at the curb. At the restaurant we walked in and past the maître d' to a small private dining room. I was impressed; apparently Ian really did want something from me.

Ian introduced me to the gentleman obviously waiting for us. "Rob, this is Henry Stein, our corporate I.T. Manager, he's responsible for our I.T. operations and those of all our daughter companies. He would have been there last week but he was on vacation and out of the area when things went south at that resort. Hank, this is Robert Lister of Lister I.T. Service. He's the one that came out to get that resort back on-line for us. When I went there he didn't hold anything back and told me what we needed; when I gave him the go ahead he took care of everything for us."

"Hank, it's nice to meet you. I hope you enjoyed your vacation."

"I did, thank you. I understand we now have a whole new installation at that particular resort and it's thanks to you. I want you to know that setup was there when we bought the resort in the first place. I should have known about that weak point in the setup and I didn't. Mea culpa. I did some research and found there had been a previous recommendation for a remote backup service and it had been quashed by the local I.T. Manager to save money."

"I understand he's no longer with the company."

Ian spoke up, "As of eleven o'clock this morning. It's one of the things we wanted to talk with you about, Rob."

We sat down and a waitress took our drink order. When we had our drinks, they rolled in a carving table with a nice looking prime rib on it. It was set up in front of us and we each ordered the cut we wanted. When we had our plates and were seated at the table, the conversation resumed.

Hank started again, "As we were saying, Rob, we wanted to talk to you about the I.T. Manager's position at that resort. As of this morning it's vacant and we need to fill it. While you were doing some very good work for us this past week we did some checking on you and your company. We're quite impressed. There's an aerospace company and an airline that both have offices in San Diego and when I spoke with them, among others, those company I.T. people couldn't speak highly enough about you, your work and what you've done for them."

Ian stepped back into the conversation, "We would like you to join us and take that newly vacant position. We know you have your own company and although it's a small company, it's very successful and well thought of. I also have a good idea of your income from that company. We're willing to match that and add another twenty percent to it. The position will start at the resort but will end up here. Hank is leaving us in about a year and you would be moving up to his position."

"I've been diagnosed with a slow growing cancer, nothing significant at this point but I'm taking an early retirement. The timing here is coincidental but fortuitous for our company and hopefully you'll see it that way as well, for yourself."

"We knew we were going to have to find a replacement for Hank this coming year. Things have fallen in place right now and are well aligned, if you agree. We don't expect you to answer us right now but we do want you for the position."

I sat there for a moment, kind of in shock because this was out of the blue as far as I was concerned. "Ian, thank you for the consideration, I appreciate it. I'm honored you would even think of me but I'm sorry to say I can't take the position. I'm happy with my company and the work I do with it. I also like the flexibility it gives me and the freedom from corporate pressures. I can make a recommendation for your position at the resort, if you'd like."

"We'd really like you for the position, Rob. Is there anything we can do to induce you to take our position? Hank really does want to retire next year."

"I'm afraid not. There are two big stumbling blocks you can't overcome. I sail and I have a thirty-six foot, ocean going, sailboat that is a key to my relaxation. Colorado doesn't offer much in the way of an ocean front. I also have a fiancée who works for that aerospace company you mentioned, Ian."

"That's disappointing, Rob, but I can understand. Hank, we're going to have to do that search for your replacement after all. That is unless you think this recommendation of yours could step up, Rob."

"I don't think he's up to Hank's position, not yet anyway and truthfully I don't think he'd be ready for it in a year, so I'm not able to help you there. He's very good, though, at what he does. The I.T. Manager position at that resort would be a step up for him that I think he can handle. You already know him, Ian."

"I do?"

"It's Garrett Johnson; he's currently the senior I.T. tech at the resort. He was with me when I first met you in the board room there, Ian."

He thought for a minute. "I remember him. He was kind of quiet at that meeting."

"It wasn't his meeting, he was my escort at the meeting and he was a huge help all week long in making the equipment change out and alignment. He's been at that resort since it was built, including that computer system installation. He's very good. He may need a little help in administration but not much. I don't think you can beat him on the technical side."

"Is he interested in the position?"

"I know he's discussed it with his wife and yes, he's interested. If you don't have someone else in mind for the position, I highly recommend you at least interview him. He has an advantage over anyone else you might consider. He knows the operations of the resort intimately and knows everything there is to know about the computer installation. I highly recommend him to be the I.T. Manager at that resort."

"We'll take a serious look at him and do an interview. Thank you for the recommendation."

The rest of the time we were at the restaurant our conversation was not as intense. We finished the meal and went back to their offices. When we got back I went with Ian to the conference room while Hank went to his office to pick up some papers before he rejoined us.

Ian and I were standing around in the conference room waiting on Hank. "Rob, I know you already said no to our job offer but is there ANY possibility you might change your mind? I was serious when I said we were very impressed with you and your accomplishments. We would REALLY like you to come on board with us."

"Ian, I really appreciate the consideration and the offer but I'm afraid not. I think it's a very nice offer, I'm sure you would compensate me appropriately and I'm flattered. If you've checked on me and my company I'm sure you know I'm a one man operation. I'm very happy with my present situation and I don't see any way you could make me an offer that will make me as happy. If you consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I'm at the very top of that pyramid."

"I had to try at least one more time and I'll warn you now, I'll probably try yet again." He smiled at me.

I smiled back at him. "So noted."

At this point Hank rejoined us. We settled in around the conference table and got to work.

Hank started, "Rob, if you won't join us and take the position we're offering, will you help us to bring our systems up to appropriate levels, so we don't have to go through this disaster ever again? I don't mean at that resort only, either. We have seven other resort properties that are ultimately my responsibility. Since we can't get you to come to work for us we want to contract with you, to have you go to each of those properties to survey them and make recommendations for any and all system modifications and upgrades you think would be beneficial."

"I can do that, Hank, but I need to know what sort of time frame you're considering. I'm getting married the first weekend of August and there is nothing I can allow to interfere with that. My fiancée, her family and mine would take a severe exception to anything that interferes and probably kill me."

Ian spoke up, "Rob, we're very flexible on the time frame and sequence of things. We'll leave that all up to you. The only stipulation we'll put out is we'd like it to be complete by a week before Halloween. That is the unofficial start of our winter season."