Chapter 11

Running CIC was fun. We made almost no changes because Mitch is good. On the other hand, Melody wasn't quite the character Lisa is nor out in the shop as much. Stephanie came in the next morning with her eyes shining. Lisa was out in the shop so I received an extra hug from Stephanie. "Thank you. You're right. I'm not alone."

After she got her coffee and covered a few small issues, we talked about hiring more help. I went over duties and people and suggested some immediate changes. Stephanie brightened immediately. She said, "I think we can get by now with only one new person." She paused, "Will you make the changes? Mitch and Melody kept things pretty close."

I nodded. We went out to the main area. I announced, "I am going to make a few changes. Everybody listen up." I described the changes in duties.

One woman asked, "Who are you? Will these changes stick?"

"I am Al Chambers. I think they will stick." I paused. "We need another person in this area. If you know someone who needs a job, set up appointments through Stephanie as soon as they can come in. After hours is okay." It was quiet. "If there are no further questions, the changes take effect right now. If you know someone, make a call."

The woman who had asked who I am came up. "Mister Chambers, I am Alice White. I apologize."

"Alice, there is no problem. Call me Al."

She said, "I have a friend who is out of work. I would like to call her."

"That's great. Give her a call. I will be glad to talk to her."

"Thank you, sir."

An hour later, Lisa came in. She said, "Remind me to bring sneakers. Even in there, heels aren't that practical. It's a different type of business but it's something I can handle. Mitch is very hands-on. He's almost too good at all of it to let go. He has hired some good people. You go out this afternoon. For the most part, you'll like it.

"What have you been doing?"

"Not much. Mitch isn't the only one who wasn't delegating. We will have to talk to both of them. We'll take them to lunch Sunday unless they object.

"We're going to hire one person for the office area after I shifted some duties. All the paths lead through Mitch and Melody. It was slowing down work. I may find the same thing out there." She nodded. "Okay. We can handle it. We may have some applicants coming in later. Stephanie has been under-utilized, too. She should be Melody's right hand woman with some authority. We need to look at some hire dates and pay rates. For the office, we need to do the looking part quickly to know how much we should be paying the new person. I have a feeling that they aren't being paid enough. CIC has G and A costs that are a little low."

A moment later, Stephanie came in grinning. "We have two people coming in this afternoon. The shop is buzzing about the hot lady who seems to know more about the business than they do."

Lisa giggled. "It's nice to know this old married woman can still attract someone's attention.

"Stephanie, we want to go over hire dates and pay rates. Where is that information?"

"Melody has that in her office somewhere. We can run payroll after we enter the hours but she maintains the personnel information in her office."

I said, "Okay, let's the three of us go in and find what we want." We did and we did. Melody was organized. She just had too much. I found a pending accounts payable file and took it also. We returned to the office and Stephanie returned to her work. I logged into the computer network with my user name and password. I was able to get into the accounting program and pull a report giving me the information that I wanted shaken and stirred the way I wanted it. I printed it on the printer in the office.

As I went over the report with Lisa, I could see that some rates looked low. I said, "We are going to have to look at the personnel files to determine why some of these rates are what they are." We went over them and did determine that two people were underpaid simply because they needed the work and would work for that rate. I told Lisa that we would talk to Mitch and Melody Monday about those two. We talked some more and then left for lunch.

After lunch, we returned ready to meet with the first applicant. We talked with her at length. She would be able to do a good job. We thanked her for coming and said that we would be in touch.

I went out and told Stephanie, "We have enough applicants now. We'll see the rest but the first would do. We met with three that afternoon and had one coming in after hours. I went out to the shop to walk around. There were a few questions that I was asked and a few that I asked. One man said, "Is that lady really your wife?"

I grinned. "It's a tough job but I got in line first."

The men around laughed. The same guy said, "She is a beautiful lady and has a nose for B.S. of any kind."

I said, "Yeah. She also ran another company of ours for a year getting it off the ground. Mitch came from that company."

Another man said, "She said that Mitch and Melody are on vacation and you are running the company this week."

"That's correct. We're the stand-ins though do it slightly differently."

Another man said, "Your legs aren't as good as hers."

One of he women working in the area said, "I don't know about that. I like yours better. You've got a cute butt, too."

Lisa came up behind me saying, "I think he has a cute butt, too, and I've seen it naked!" Everyone loved that and the laughter including mine was loud. I made some suggestions about how a couple of things were done which were adopted.

We stayed for the last interview. Lisa and I talked it over on the way home. We decided to offer the job to Rose Madison, the first applicant, though truly would retain the applications on file because all the applicants could do a good job for CIC or either of our other two companies.

Our lovemaking that night was gentle. We went in to CIC in the morning and I went outside while Lisa handled the office folk. She would make the calls to the successful applicant, Rose, as well as informing the rest. I went out to the shop to look around.

One of the guys said, "Where's Lisa?"

I replied, "She's in the office today. I'm going to be out here today looking things over. She wanted me to have a look."

"What's it like being married to one of the hottest women in the world?"

"It's better than any fantasy you can imagine."

One of the women said, "That's what she said about you!"

"Isn't it nice we like it that way?" I grinned. "Neither of us gives samples." Everyone laughed. After that, work really began.

I was working with one of the guys who was putting together a board for a control bank. I suggested some changes in what he did. He looked at it and thought. He changed the method to my recommendation and nodded. "Thanks, that's a better way."

I went around that morning talking and making some suggestions about what was being done and how to do it. It was almost lunchtime when I went back into the office and Lisa.

The new employee was there and going through the introduction process with the office personnel. I met her again. Lisa and I left for lunch at C and C. Lisa had called and ordered sandwiches in for us to meet with Pam and Annie. Lisa was in slacks for a change though they weren't loose. She looked great as always. We ate lunch and talked together with Pam and Annie. Pam's two assistants were out on jobs.