Algeria Here I Come
by: E Walk
(© 2008-2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 46

I Believe We Will

On Tuesday morning, we were eating breakfast when my cell phone rang.  “Ed Waller speaking.”

“Ed, this is George Daniels.”

“Hi, Doctor Daniels, you haven’t changed your mind about selling the house to us, have you?”

Doctor Daniels was laughing.  “No, this has nothing to do with the house.  Edie and I were talking after you guys left last night, and we think it would be a good idea for you to bring the boys to the University so I can arrange some testing to determine their academic skills, since we gather that you don’t have any paperwork of their schooling.”

“Dr. Daniels, we did leave Algeria in rather a hurry.  We do have some paperwork with us that you can look at.”

“Great, have Brahim and Allie at my office at nine this morning.  That will give me time to arrange for some testing.  We’ll take them home with us this afternoon when we get finished with them.  Tell Allie that he won’t miss anything at school, since they never do anything important the first day of school anyway.”

Dr. Daniels informed me where his office was located and how to get there before we finished.  When I closed the phone, I looked at the guys, “You two need to get dressed to go to the University for some testing this morning.  I’ll take care of the cleanup.  I’ll take you to the University and then come home and get dressed for my meetings.”

As we were driving to the University, Allie asked, “Dad, what are we going to be tested for?”

Brahim turned around to look at him, “They probably need to find out how much we know or probably don’t know.  Remember, we’re from a different country, so we haven’t had the schooling that the people who have always lived here have had.”

I was able to find a visitor parking space, and we arrived at Dr. Daniels' at almost precisely nine o’clock.  The receptionist looked at us, “You must be Mr. Waller and the two Messrs Safi.  The Dean is expecting you.  Please go in.”

When we entered, there was a young lady and a young man sitting talking to Dr. Daniels.  Dr. Daniels stood, “Guys, thanks for coming.”

Dr. Daniels made the introductions.  After we were all seated, he looked at Allie, “Allie, Mrs. Allard is going to take you and give you some tests.  She will be your escort today.  She will make sure that no one beats you up.”

“Brahim, Mr. Ernst will be you host for the day.  You have a full day scheduled.”

“Ed, you can collect the guys at our/your house when you get there.”

I went to the apartment and did a quick change and headed toward the Shell headquarters.  When I arrived, I had to park in the parking garage across the street.  I made my way to Vice President Reed’s office and was met by the receptionist who showed me to a small conference room.

Mr. Reed was sitting there with several people.  He stood, “Ed, I’d like to introduce you to your interim staff, until you have a chance to hire some people of your own.  I thought you might have the Safis with you?”

After the introductions, Mr. Reed proceeded to outline the visions the company had for the new division.  He looked at me, “Ed, this a rather ambitious idea and if it you can pull it off, it will certainly put another feather in your cap.   I must warn you that there are going to be a great many important people watching your efforts after what happened in Algeria.”

I started to laugh, “Mr. Reed, when I was sent to Algeria, I’m sure no one even knew my name.  I’m sure they sent me to make a fool of myself.  With the help of some friends, we were able to resolve the problem.  I’m overwhelmed by what is happening, to say the least.”

Mr. Reed sighed, “Ed, you’re wrong about no one knowing who you were.  There were enough of us who recognized that you were very knowledgeable and shall I say for the lack of better words, ignorant of the politics of a big corporation.  We assumed that you would be willing to take some risks, and you did, and that’s why we’re here today.”

I won’t bore you with what happened the rest of the morning.  It was an exhausting morning.  One of my interim employees, who was to be my receptionist, suggested that we go to lunch. 

I looked at the young man, “Joe, I’m sorry I don’t remember your last name.”

Joe shrugged his shoulders, “That’s okay, no one can remember it because it’s Blank.”

I looked at Joe Blank, “Okay, Mr. Blank, where do you suggest we go for lunch.  Would you like to go to the cafeteria?”

“Mr. Waller, let’s go to a deli that’s not too far away.  If we stay here, the people will all be talking about the oil industry.  That gets old and the food always tastes the same.”

As we were walking, Joe surprised me, “Mr. Waller, I understand that you are one of us?”

“Joe, I’m not sure what you’re asking.  Yes, I’m one of the employees here at Shell, but I don’t think that was what you meant, since you already knew that.”

Joe stopped, “Look Mr. Waller, I’m gay and I’m not ashamed of it.  I have a partner.  All I was asking is, if the rumors about you being gay were true?”

We arrived at the deli before I could answer.  After we got our orders, we went outside to the courtyard.  “Joe, I am gay but how would you know that?”

“When Mr. Thomas came in this morning, he started complaining about you being queer.  Did you know that he was fired?”

I muttered, “What’s going to happen to his wife, Nancy, and their two sons?  They’re going to be living next door to us.”

Joe looked at me, “Then you must know my partner’s brother, Mike Strong?”

I started to laugh, “Yes, we met Mike and Dan and they invited us to stay with them until the Daniels move.”

Joe looked up, “Shit, you must be rich if you can buy the Daniel’s house.”

I shook my head, “Not at all, my parents are going to spring for the loan so I can buy it.”

I looked at my watch, “Joe, we need to head back.  I’m scheduled to meet with Ms. Lawrence of the Human Resources department.  Why don’t I meet you in the area where our offices are to be, after the meetings?”

After signing my life away, Ms. Lawrence handed me some dossiers, “Ed, these are the folders on the people you might want to consider to be in your department.  I understand that you have already met Joseph, who is to be your temporary receptionist.  Be gentle with him.  He’s had a hard life.  Thank goodness, he’s found a good partner to take care of him.”

When I arrived in the area where my office was to be, Joseph was pushing a desk.  “Joe, what are you doing?”

Joe looked at me, “I’m arranging the furniture so that the office  is functional.”

I shook my head, “Joseph, call house keeping and tell what you want.”

“Mr. Waller, it will take them two weeks to get here.  They move like snails.  It takes someone more important than a division head to get them to move their fat asses.”

I looked at the phone directory on the desk and dialed a number that said housekeeping.  “This is Ed Waller in suite 4712.  We need some help moving furniture.  I would like to have it done today, so I can do my job.”

The voice came back, “Sir, I’m sorry we we’re booked for the next week.”

“Look lady, I said now.  If someone isn’t here in fifteen minutes, I’ll call Vice President Reed and President Odom.”

Joe looked at me, “No one will be here.  Let’s just move the furniture ourselves.”

Joe and I were moving furniture when the door burst open and a burly man and two younger men walked in.  The older man challenged us, “Who the hell do you think you are talking to my secretary like that?”

I looked at the man, “Look Mr. Whoever you are, all I did was call and ask for some assistance and your person told me that you couldn’t do it until next week.”

I picked up the phone and dialed another number, “This is Ed Waller, I’d like to speak to Mr. Reed.”

Mr. Reed came on the line, “Sorry to bother you, sir, but I would like to have the housekeeping department placed under my control even though it wasn’t something we talked about earlier.  It appears that they’re growing fat doing nothing and costing the company money.  Oh good, Mr. Grump is here in the office with us two of his lackeys who haven’t started to do anything.  Okay sir, I’ll put Mr. Grump on.”

I handed the phone to Mr. Grump.  As he was talking, the color drained from his face.

When Mr. Grump hung up he glared at me, “Okay, Mr. Big Shot, what is that you would like us to do?”

“First you can forget the attitude and Joe will explain what needs to be done. When you finish, I want to see you in my office.”

I was sitting in my new office looking at the portfolios that Ms. Lawrence had given me.  I separated them into piles - good prospects, maybe and forget it.  It was four o’clock when there was a knock on the door, I looked up, “What is it, Mr. Blank?”

“Mr. Waller,  Mr. Grump said you wanted to speak to him before he left.”

I stood and walked around the desk, “Please show the gentleman in.”

I didn’t even offer Mr. Grump a seat and started, “Mr. Grump, I’ll be at your office tomorrow morning at 8:00.  I want to see a work log of all of the job requests that your office has received and when they were complete or are scheduled to be completed.  I would like to meet all of the employees who are assigned to the department.”

His jaws were getting tighter as I spoke.  He spit out,  “We have people who work shifts. I suppose you want them there also.  They’ll demand that they get paid overtime.”

An idea popped into my head, “What time do the shift people arrive?”

He took a deep breath, “They relieve the day crew at four o’clock.”

“Are you saying that day crew works from seven until four?”

Mr. Grump was backing himself into corner without realizing it. “No, we start at eight.”

“Does that mean you don’t take a break for lunch break?”

Mr. Grump looked at me as if I was stupid, “Of course we take a lunch break.”

“Mr. Grump, how are you paid, by the hour or a set salary?”

“Some of my people are paid hourly and some are salaried.  They are paid to work forty hours a week.  If we work any more hours than that, we get paid overtime.”

I looked at Mr. Grump, “Mr. Grump, I’ll meet with your department’s personnel at four tomorrow afternoon.  I still want to see the log of job requests at eight in the morning.  I also want a list of all personnel assigned to your department at that time?”

It appeared to me as if Mr. Grump had realized that he had provided too much information, “Do you want a list of the janitorial staff who are contract personnel and paid by the contractor and not the company as well?”

I had to think, “Mr. Grump, who administers the contract and checks to see that the contractor is providing the services he or she is being paid for?”

“I do.”

“Then I want to see the current contract, and I want to see your evaluations of the contractors’ performance at eight o’clock in the morning.”

I went and sat down behind my desk,  “I’ll see you in the morning.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have some things that I need to take care of.”

Mr. Grump glared at me as he departed slamming the door so hard I was sure that he was going to break the glass in the window.  After I heard the outer door to the suite close, Joe knocked.

“Joe, if I don’t have anyone in here, just come in.”

“Mr. Waller, Mr. Grump left the door open when he came in and we could hear everything that was said.  The two guys were laughing saying that Grump would eat you alive.  They were laughing their asses off until you started on him.  The older of the two guys commented, “I think the Grump has met his match.”

There was a knock on the door and Joe went to see who it was.  He returned with one of the workers who had helped move the furniture.  “Mr. Waller, Mr. Carson would like to speak with you.”

I offered Mr. Carson a chair.  He looked at Joe, “Mr. Blank, you might want to stay, because this concerns you, also.”

After Joe was seated, Mr. Carson started, “Mr. Waller, Mr. Grump is planning to totally discredit you.  You should have heard the things he spewed out of his mouth.  He told the people who were in the office when we got that there that he was going to get your ass under his control like the last jerk who tried to interfere with the housekeeping department.”

I looked at Mr. Carson, “Why would he think that he could control me like my predecessor?”

Mr. Carson took a deep breath, “He's going to start a smear campaign telling everyone that you and Mr. Blank were having sex when we arrived this afternoon.”

“Mr. Carson, do you have a first name?”

“Yes, it’s Steve.”

“Steve, I appreciate the heads up.  But aren’t you putting your job at risk by telling me this?”

“Quite frankly, Mr. Waller, I have had about all of Mr. Grump that I can take.  If I could find a decent job, I would be out of here in a minute.  I didn’t go to college to be a handyman.  But I have a family and they need to eat.”

I shook Steve’s hand, “Steve, thanks for stopping to talk to us.  I’ll be ready for Mr. Grump’s smear campaign.  Hang in there and don’t quit.”

I looked at the clock and it was almost 5:30, “Joe, let’s bust out of here.  I have no idea how long it’s going to take me to get where Brahim and Allie are, but I’m guessing it will take at least an hour at this time of day.”

Joe looked at me, “Mr. Waller, how can you be so calm after what just happened?”

I started to laugh, “Joe, when you’ve been shot at a number of times in the last thirty days as we have, this is nothing.”

When I pulled up at the Daniels’ house, Allie, Jim and John were kicking a soccer ball.  When Allie saw me, he came running and hugged me, “Hi Dad, wait until Bra and I tell you what happened today.  You’re not going to believe it.  Jim and John, I’ll see you after dinner.”

Allie practically pulled me into the house.  Brahim was helping Mrs. Daniels and Mr. Daniels was on the phone.  Mrs. Daniels looked at me, “We’re ready to eat.  If you need to go to the bathroom do so.”

As I was going to the bathroom and washing my hands, I thought to myself, ‘Why is Allie so wound up?’

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Allie being wound up is certainly not unusual, but I guess we will have to wait till next time to find out what wound him up this time.

I wonder what will happen when Ed gets to the office in the morning.  I bet he doesn't get a very good reception. Somehow, I suspect that Steve will find himself with a bit more responsibility after Ed gets finished cleaning out the cleaning staff.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 09/25/09