Taking Texas By Storm
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 44

The Blood Letting

The staff meeting was very quiet, except that I explained what was going to be happening at one o’clock.  I alerted Todd that I wanted him to be at the meeting and advised Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Taylor and Dr. Rudy to expect to be busy. 

After everyone had departed, I showed Mr. Odom the memorandum that Joe and Katie had prepared, and I thought he was going to lose his eye teeth.  “Ed, I had no idea that any of this was going on.  If news of this gets out, we’ll be the laughing stock of the oil business.”

“Sir, I don’t think so.  The other companies are going to be so paranoid that the same thing might be happening to them, that they won’t do or say anything.”

I decided, at the last minute, that we would take attendance at the one o’clock meeting, so I made arrangements for some of my major players to be available there, to sign the people in as they came into the room.  I informed Joe, Katie, Grant, Oz and Todd to separate the names of the people who were there on time from the people who were late, or no shows.”

When I walked into big the conference room at five until one, there were only a handful of people seated in the room.  I thought to myself, ‘There are definitely some people who are going to be in for a shock.’

I was watching the clock and at precisely one o’clock, I approached the podium.  “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here on time.  The people who are late, or chose not to come to this mandatory meeting are in for a rude awakening.  Shell Oil is no longer going to be a playground for malingerers and shirkers.” 

I noticed a rush of people hurrying in through the doors after one o’clock.  “We’ll give these late arrivals a chance to get settled and then we’ll get started.”

After it looked as if everyone was settled, I decided to lower the boom, “We have been keeping track of those people who were on time for this mandatory meeting, and those of you who decided to stroll in at your leisure.  For your information, those of you who were late will be docked an hour's worth of your pay.  I’ve had my time experts checking, and the people in the technical divisions are some of the last to arrive in the morning and the first to leave in the evenings.”

“That tells me that the technical divisions are overmanned.  We’ll start to remedy that problem immediately after this meeting.  The reason I called this meeting is to read a memorandum that I have received, which states that a number of you people have been selling information about Shell’s plans for the future.  I’m here to tell you that we have names to back up the memorandum, and the people involved will be prosecuted.  What bothers me most, about what has been happening, is that others of you had to have had some idea of what has been going on.  You will be released from the rolls of the people employed by Shell Oil, as well as the guilty parties.”

An older gentleman stood, “How dare a pipsqueak like you come in here and dictate what’s going to happen?  I’ve worked here at Shell for as long as you’ve probably been alive.  You are a know nothing, as far as I’m concerned, and you’re going to drag this company into bankruptcy.”

“That may will be true, sir.  But, I’ll certainly be doing it without your help.”

Mr. Odom took that opportunity to appear.  “Mr. Wilcox, President Waller was placed into his position because he gets things done and isn’t sitting around on his fat backside, like many of the people in this room do.  The Board of Directors stands behind what he has done and will be doing in the technical division.”

Mr. Odom looked at me, “Ed, I’ll be interested to see who was and wasn’t here, today.  I have the feeling that some of the major players chose not to appear.  You have my permission to terminate their employment, immediately.”

Another gentleman stood, “You have no right to call a meeting for one o’clock on the same morning as the meeting.  Some of us are busy.  We can’t drop everything and attend a stupid meeting.”

I laughed, “Sir, I can’t imagine anything in the technical divisions being so important for the good of the company, that it would require your immediate attention.  I did, after all, start working here at Shell, in the technical area.  I may be young, but I’m not blind.  Before I conclude this meeting, you should know that there is no one who is beyond scrutiny.  I think you’ve already seen that, after what has happened in the Administrative and Support Divisions.  As of this moment, you are all on notice that we will no longer tolerate people sitting back with their feet on their desks waiting for the next brainstorm to hit.  This meeting is dismissed.”

After the attendees had departed, Joe approached me, “Boss, I think you’re going to need a flak jacket.  Where do want to start.”

“Let’s start at the top of the list and work our way down.”

Mr. Odom laughed, “Ed, do you mind if I tag along to see what happens.  I haven’t had this much fun since we played duck, duck goose, in grade school.  Let’s go see how many geese we can catch.”

By the end of the afternoon, there were four people terminated and we had no idea how many resignations were taking place.  I finally left the building at five thirty fully expecting some excitement.  Myra Belle anticipated what might happen and had two of her security people escort me to my vehicle.”

When I arrived at the house, Allie was all excited.  Dad, it’s so exciting to actually start learning something new.  I’ll probably have to spend a lot of time catching up with the other students.  I’ve met some really neat people, already.  There are a couple of guys who offered to help me, if I need any help.”

“So you’re telling me that you don’t like what’s happening, are you?”

“Dad, be serious.  I feel like a new person.”

“Okay, new person.  What do I call you, and where is your brother?”

“Bra’s where he will probably be, almost every night, until the opera opens on November 10^th.”

I grimaced. “Have you heard anything from Grandpa Darryl and Uncle Tom?”

Allie nodded, “Uncle Tom called just before you arrived.  There were some minor problems during the surgery.  Uncle Tom said he was going to spend the night at the hospital with Grandpa Darryl.  He’s going to come home in the morning to change clothes.  He’s not sure when Grandpa Darryl’s going to be released.”

It was so quiet with just Allie and me eating.  It seems as if there was always someone else around.  Allie was describing in detail the classes he was going to take, and I thought to myself, ‘This is going to be one busy young man.  He was so exhilarated that I didn’t say anything.

Allie disappeared into the study and was working when Bra arrived.  He sat down, “I’m beat.  I still have some work to do for my classes.  I’ll be glad when this opera stint is over.”

I laughed, “And then you’ll be bored to tears and will be chasing me all over the house, and I’ll never to get to work on time.”

As my two guys were working on their school work, I picked up a technical journal that I had brought home and was reading about some of the advances in fuel technology.  I started to think, ‘Why isn’t Shell mentioned in any of these articles?  Are we so behind the times or is it because the technical people have been selling the information?”

Bra woke me the next morning, “Ed, you had a very restless night.  You tossed and turned all night.  You couldn’t have gotten much restful sleep.  Is there a problem that we need to talk about?”

“Bra, it has nothing to do with us.  I think I'm getting too involved in what’s happening at Shell.  I need to step back and let some of the people I trust take on more responsibility.  I’m in this thing way over my head.”

Bra hugged me and laughed, “Ed, you’ll be fine, once everything settles down.  Let’s face it, we’ve all had significant changes in our lives since you seduced me in Oran.”

“Wait a minute.  Who seduced whom?”

I heard the garage door open and went to see who was there.  I should have realized that it was Uncle Tom.  “Good morning, Uncle Tom. How’s Grandpa Darryl?”

“He’s going to be fine.  He's grousing because he wants out of the hospital.  Dr. Cochran wants to keep him the hospital another night so he won’t try to do too much.  She doesn’t want him to fly until Thursday, so she can check his eye before we leave.  I hope we aren’t going to be an imposition.”

“You’re no imposition at all.  You’re welcomed to stay as long as you want.”

We had the staff meeting at 8:30, since we wanted to get the mess cleaned up as soon as possible, and I knew that much of the afternoon would be taken up by the meeting at the Civic Auditorium.”

During the meeting, Mrs. Lawrence announced, “There were twenty seven resignations, in addition to the four terminations, yesterday.  There were a number of people in the office, waiting to fill out paperwork to resign when I was leaving to come here.  I heard one gentleman saying, ‘I figured that it would be better to resign than be terminated.  I’d never be able to get another job in this town, if I were to be terminated.  The oil business is all I know.’”

Mr. Taylor nodded, “I think everyone of those people have been a little shaken to find out that they’re requests for vacation pay and severance have not been automatically been granted.”

Dr. Rudy shook her head in agreement.  “Some of the people have been to the legal office to see what legal action needs to be taken so they can get the money they feel is owed them.  I think all four of the people you’ve terminated had the misconception that the pay would be forthcoming, automatically.” 

“You should have seen some of them hightail it out of the office when they heard that Shell was contemplating taking legal actions, charging them with industrial espionage, and was going to seek to recover the funds that they had received from the other companies.  I can hardly wait to see what happens in the next day or two.  Todd is already on top of what’s happening, and he will be the point person in this effort to rid the company of the carpetbaggers and freeloaders.”

I stood, “Unless anyone else has something to add for the good of the company, we’ll adjourn for now.  Just to let you know, Katie, Joe and Grant, I’ll be out of contact for much of the afternoon.  If there is any problem, see Tom Haller.  Eric, I want you to stick to me like glue, this morning, so you can see how I operate.”

When we walked into the first office, Eric turned white.  I looked at him, “Eric, what’s wrong?” 

“See that gentleman sitting at the desk over there, I swear he made more trips on flights that was the attendant on than anyone else.  He would always be waiting for me, when I exited the terminal.  He was good in bed and he was a way to a free meal at a very good restaurant.  He bragged that he was charging it to the company as a business expense.”

Eric, stay in the background until I ask you to come forward, I want to take that jerk down.  Joe, why don‘t you go with me.  We are going to teach someone a lesson.”

I went up to the man, “Good morning, I’m President Ed Waller.  Do you have a minute.”

“Look, Waller, I’ve done nothing wrong.  Why are you bugging me?  Can’t you see I’m busy.”

“Mr. Lazlo, I see you’re married.  I presume that your wife knows about your extracurricular activities when you go on trips for the company.”

I had the man’s undivided attention.  “What are you talking about, Waller.”

“The name is President Waller, to you.  Joe, go get Eric for me.”

When Eric appeared, Mr. Lazlo slumped down in his chair and Eric laughed, “I thought your name was Gable.  I won’t be seeing you on any more flights, Mr. Gable, or Lazlo.”

I turned to Joe, “Go get me the travel vouchers that Mr. Lazlo turned in for his little jaunts overseas.  Eric, go get his home phone number, so we can tell his wife what a good little boy her husband has been.”

“Waller, you can’t do this to me.  We have six children and my wife’s expecting the seventh.”

“Lazlo, your employment here at Shell has just been terminated.  I have no problem with you having fun on your own time, but I will not tolerate anyone taking advantage of the company’s money to pay for that fun.  We’ll be deducting any money that you owe the company for overcharges on your expense account, from your pay.”

The man was wringing his hands, “President Waller, please don’t do that.  I won’t be able to make my mortgage payments, let alone feed the family.”

“You should have thought of that before you decided to play the role of Sugar Daddy.  It was nice knowing you.  I suggest that you be out of the building in fifteen minutes, or we will have you forcefully removed.  Grant, call Myrabelle and have her people take Mr. Lazlo’s security badge, and delete his name from the list of people who are permitted in the building.”

Joe returned and handed me a listing, “President Waller, you’re not going to believe this, but Mr. Lazlo has been traveling on company money at least twice a month for the past four years.  Why no one caught up with these outrageous travel vouchers is beyond me?   Mr. Lazlo must have had some hold over the person in that office, to be able to get these payments authorized.”

“Joe and Grant, escort Mr. Lazlo out of the facility as soon as he signs his termination papers.”

“But I need to collect my personal things.”

“Mr. Lazlo, we’ll send you your personal things.  I just realized that you’re one of the people who has been selling information to our competitors.”

“Katie, find who the person is who authorized the payment of these travel expenses.  We’ve missed someone, somehow.  I'm betting the person is assigned to the finance office.  Go check with Mr. Taylor.  I want to fire the person, myself.”

If he or she was servicing Lazlo, it’s a good bet that other people have received the same favor.”

Katie was gone only a short time.  “President Waller, the person who signed these travel payments does work in the finance office.  Mr. Taylor assured me that he doesn’t think that Mrs. Tanner would do something like this.”

“Let’s just go prove him wrong.”

When we walked into the finance office there were twelve people waiting in line to be serviced.  There was one woman, whom I estimated to be about thirty five, sitting at her desk, ignoring the line of people.  I walked into Mr. Taylor’s office, “Dwight, which of the people out there is Mrs. Tanner?”

She’s the lady sitting at the desk back there handling the expense accounts.  She’s been doing that job for the last five years.”

“Thank you.  I would like for you to be standing within hearing range, while I talk to the lady.  I’m positive she’s been getting a kickback for approving outrageous travel claims.”

I walked up to the lady, “Ma’am, I was told that you would approve my inflated travel claims for a fee.”

“Sir, why would I do such a thing?”

“Probably for the money you receive from the people filing the vouchers.  Mr. Lazlo recommended you to me.  How much do you charge?”

“If Mike recommended you, then I guess you must be okay.  I get $50.00 for each of the inflated vouchers that I sign, and if you want to go to bed, it’s another $50.00.”

I turned to Mr. Taylor, “Do you still think that Mrs. Tanner isn’t the guilty party?  Let’s escort her out of here before she can tamper with any of the records.”

Mrs. Tanner said words that I had never had said to me before, as we escorted her out of the building.  I turned to Mr. Taylor, “Dwight, I want all of Mrs. Tanner’s records secured until my people have a chance to go over them, in the morning.  We need to grab some lunch before I need to be at the Civic Auditorium.”

As I was walking to get something to eat, Eric approached me, “Is everyday this hectic around here?” 

Joe heard Eric’s question, “Not everyday, Eric.  Just most of them.  You’d better get used to them.”

“Eric, I’ll meet with you when we get back from talking to the city employees.”

To be continued...

 Editor's Notes:  It certainly does seem that Shell Oil had some pretty slippery slimy so and so's working there.  Of course, I suspect that Ed and his staff will do their best to make sure that no longer work there.

I sure have a lot of respect for that eye Doctor, who wanted to make sure everything was all right with the surgery.  It is really nice to see someone who takes the trouble to check their work, and is concerned about the people in their care.  Sadly, that is not always the case, anymore.

Allie is certainly enjoying his new school, isn't he?  I am sure he is going to do very well, now that he will be learning new things, instead of being bored out of his skull.  He is a very bright young man.  He needs to be challenged to learn, and not left to rot from boredom.

I am ready for another chapter, soon!

Darryl The Radio Rancher

Posted: 09/24/10