Chapter 3

Back at the factory uncle Frank brought me up to date with the current workload. During my absence we had taken on three new employees so the first job was to introduce myself to them and to catch up with the old employees. The first two men were new Australians, even with their broken English we seemed to connect; the third chap Brian Moore, seemed a bit distant.

"Do we have a problem Brian?"

"Yeah, just because you're the boss's nephew don't think you can push me around, you're just a kid." I must admit, I was a bit set back.

"Brian, I started here pushing a broom and picking up scrap when I was ten years old. I know every process from start to finish, some of the procedures I was part of setting up. The other thing you need to understand is that when my father passed away, I became the principle shareholder in the company. As far as pushing anyone around, that isn't the way we work here. If I give you instructions for a job I do it in a well mannered way, if you can't handle that then I'll have no option but accept your resignation. I hope it doesn't come to that because Frank informs me you are a first rate tradesman, they are hard to find. Give it some thought mate." With that I moved on to reacquaint myself with some of the old crew. Looking back I saw one of the older hands having strong words with him.

"Hi Dominic, how are you going mate?"

"Good Wiz, how was the holiday, you pick much grape?"

"Yeah Dom, had a good time until they told me Dad had died."

"Yes, we all sad, him a good boss man."

"Thanks Dom, I'll talk to you later." I went around catching up with the men.

"Can I have a moment boss?" It was Brian wanting to talk.

"Yes Brian, I usually go under the name of Wiz, Let's take a walk outside, it'll be a bit quieter."

Outside he hemmed and hawed a bit. "Wiz, I owe you an apology, I was assuming you were one of those kids running under your uncle's authority. One of the older guys put me straight, can we start again?"

"No problem Brian, I can understand how you felt, in most other places someone my age would be a bit inexperienced. I might have been a bit snappy as well, my dad suddenly dying and having the responsibility of a factory and its employees dropped on me certainly didn't help my frame of mind. Shall we shake on it?" We shook hands and parted friends. Brian, although he didn't know it, was going to play a big part in the factory's future.

The knock off bell went and the men downed tools and went home. Frank, Sam, Joe and myself sat down for a meeting.

"How'd the first day back go Tony?"

"A bit shaky Unc, I thought we might have had a bit of a problem with Brian, but we sorted it out. Other than that, it was as if I'd just knocked off yesterday."

"I noticed Brian looking a bit hot under the collar, what was the problem?"

"He seemed to think I was a bit young to be telling him what to do, a little talk sorted the problem out though; all's well now."

"I think he's an asset." Said Sam, "He knows what he's doing and though he seems to just be plodding along he's actually getting the job done quickly, without fuss."

"Right, now on to other things Tony, before James passed on, we were talking about expanding the business. We held off making any decisions until you returned; You and the twins will eventually be the people running the show so it was important to get your point of view before we started to make any plans. Now is the time to discuss the expansion, James was of the opinion we should manufacturing home kits."

"Yeah Unc, Dad and I had quite a few discussions before I went on my trip, I think if we are going to be successful we need to look around for a very large building, possibly another hanger."

"It's going to cost a lot of money Wiz, can we justify the spending?"

"Look at this way Joe, over a period of time the building will pay for itself, without it we will be assembling houses out in the open. Weather will be a big problem because with kit homes we will be making a house in two halves; what I have in mind is to market these homes in various stages, some to lockup stage right through to fully fitted out, add furniture and move in."

"Great Idea Tony, you obviously have been thinking about this for a while."

"Yeah Unc, actually I thought about the fully fitted out stage when I had a five gallon bucket of shit on me head."

"What! How did that happen?"

"When I was away I worked as a tail gunner on a dunny cart for a month."

"Why on earth would you take a job like that Tony?"

"Money, they paid four times the casual rate, for four weeks, that was enough to tide me over plus a few extras. Sadly a couple of weeks later Dad died."