Nefarious - Part 10: Denouement

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, June 7 & 21, July 4 & 22, August 22, September 6, and October 24, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation: \ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Latin nefarius, from nefas = crime, from ne = not + fas = right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late.

- - - - - - - - - -

I worked from the company's HQ for the next week or so. One woman and one man in the Agency Settlements Department were assigned to work closely with me. Their goal was to contact every Agent with whom we held a contract. Once the initial phone contact and brief interview was completed, the agent was advised a call would be coming from the Vice President of Agency Development: me.

The net result of all these calls was for me to schedule face-to-face meetings with the agents which seemed to hold out the most promise for fast short-term gains. The next month was lived out of my car. I traveled from city to city meeting with these agents. One big 2-week loop started in Detroit, proceeded through northern OH into western PA, thence to eastern PA then down the east-coast through VA and NC and SC, then to GA and AL and TN and KY and IN. Another subsequent loop took me through southern MI and northern IN, then north-eastern IL and south-eastern WI, to MO and back through central IL.

We were gaining a lot of new business revenue from already existing agents. Everyone was happy.

- - - - -

Just before I left on my 2-week trip through the east, the Vice President of Sales for the Western Region took me out to lunch. My new position as the Vice President of Agency Development was removing me from his area of responsibility. He said he wanted to thank me for all the help I had been to him. He also wanted to let me know that he was going to be leaving the company soon - and that it was a secret he expected me to keep. He was sharing with me because he 'really liked me' and thought me to be an honest and upright person - he didn't want to see me get hurt.

At that point I had no idea of what he might be inferring.

He gave me one very specific piece of advice. He said that before I left town on this business trip, I was to go into the accounting department and tell them that my personal Credit Cards were maxed-out and that I needed 'cash' to make this trip. "DO NOT use your personal credit cards," he said. "Make them give you the money up front - do you understand what I'm telling you?"

The reality was that my naivety did not allow me to clearly read into the words the seriousness of his message. While I intended to do as he told me, I had never had any problems in almost 20 years. I was busy getting everything lined-up for the trip. I failed to follow through with his advise.

- - - - -

Upon my return I started hearing rumors of some driver payroll checks 'bouncing'. I was hearing of vendors denying us services due to unpaid bills. I noticed that my Travel Expense Reports were not being processed in a timely manner. On, payday, people were running to the bank on their lunch hour to be sure their checks would clear. Some did and some did not. It seemed that there was some money available, and when that ran out, the bank stopped accepting the checks. People who lived out of the immediate Detroit area and received their checks by mail were having the checks accepted by their home-town bank, only to get them back in a day or two marked NSF.

Things were getting ugly. The official word was that things were tight but everything was being worked out. "Don't panic", they said. Some believed that, some didn't.

My 20 year anniversary with the company was coming up in about a month. At 20 years you were entitled to 3-weeks paid vacation. For years 2-5 of employment we were given 1-week of paid vacation - there was no paid vacation during the 1st year. For years 6 through 20 we received 2 weeks of paid vacation. With number 20 on the very near horizon, I turned in a 'Vacation Request' for 2 weeks combined time off starting on the Monday one day after my 20th anniversary on a Sunday. I was relieved when I received notice that it had been approved. It left me with one additional week I could take later.

- - - - -

All of these things were taking place in a very face-paced and frantic environment. In the weeks before my first big trips to get new agent business, the company had changed banks for some of the company's accounts. They also had engaged a 'Payroll Processing' company to handle the issuance of all checks for accounts that dealt with driver payroll and Agency business. No one, including me thought much about it.

- - - - -

About a week to 10-days before my vacation was to begin, I was part of a very heated and hostile meeting with our company CEO - you know the one I'm referring to. There were a lot of department heads and other manager types in the meeting.

The main issue was getting revenue flows moving faster from our customers - get our Accounts Receivables down to a very tight time frame ... really go after anyone who was overdue on any monies due us.

Various people were given their orders and dismissed from the meeting to get the ball rolling. Various other peoples in Operations, Sales, and Accounting were told to stay put for another discussion. Because of my experience in various areas of the company over the years, I became the target of the next round of discussion.

It seems that the Holding Company that owned our company also owned a number of other trucking companies around the country. We were advised that there were several of those companies that were being targeted by the 'owners' to be closed and bankrupted in the foreseeable future. They wanted us to come up with ways to immediately divert freight and revenues away from those companies and into ours.

What they were proposing was going to be a challenge. When I explained what we'd have to do to accomplish this, I was met with a very threatening response that that approach was not good enough. We needed to do it some way that would allow the money to flow in much sooner that what I was describing.

Without getting into all the details, just let me say that what they were wanting done, I kept telling them couldn't be done that way - at least not legally. Our CEO, after much heated discussion with all of us, left the room in a serious 'huff'.

That was the last time I ever saw him.

- - - - -

The next day I left for my home base in Indiana. My 2-week vacation was scheduled to start in another week. I made face-to-face appointments to see Agents in and around my home area. I wanted to be able to get things in order for taking my first ever 2-week vacation.

My travel expense reimbursement checks were now 4 weeks behind. I was now wondering what it was my former Vice President of Sales for the Western Region was trying to warn me. I was counting on that money, along with current pay, to fund our vacation. We had planned to go to the San Antonio TX area. We had reservations to visit a large Texas Longhorn cattle ranch; attend an old-fashioned Barn Dance; visit the Alamo; hang-out on the River-walk; and just enjoy the weather. January there was going to be a lot different than in Indiana and Michigan.

- - - - -

It was Thursday. My vacation was going to start on Saturday - bags were mostly packed and tickets were in hand. I was at one of our company's freight terminal offices when I received the phone call.

"Lock the doors, send the people home. The company is closed!"

- - - - -

NOTICE OF SEIZURE:
All properties and material items in or on the attached premises are
here-by declared to be the property of the United States of America.


All claims to remove any such property are to be made at the local IRS office.

- - - - - - - - - -

It seems that since 8 months ago when the new owners took over, no money for any Federal taxes owed were ever sent in. All those with-holdings from all of our payroll checks never found their way into U S Government coffers. The IRS was mad.

- - - - - - - - - -

[to be continued as time allows]

Nefarious - Part 9

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, June 7 & 21, July 4 & 22, August 22, September 6, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas = crime, from ne = not + fas = right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.

- - - - - - - - - -

Mr. Bxxxxxxxx was waiting for us as we entered his office. He seemed to be in one of his regular 'agitated' states...like he was on a caffeine high [only it probably wasn't caffeine].

Mr. 'X' sat in one of the chairs across from Mr. Bxxxxxxxx. I guess he wanted his presence to be known to us.

As he points at me, Mr. Bxxxxxxx asks my VP, "So, what's this great idea of yours? ...and what's he got to do with it?"

My VP shoots right back with, "Jimmy here is the guy who's gonna help us pull this off."

It now seems I play a role in it, even though I haven't heard the plan yet. Now if it fails, its my fault. These guys are pros at covering their backsides in case things go wrong.

He continued speaking to Mr. Bxxxxxxxx, "Remember when I called you last week and asked if your people could get me some names in the Chicago area?"

Pointing to the guy who normally sets in the corner of the room, he says "Txxx called me back with the names I needed: Jimmy gumshoe and Manny the rat.

Yesterday, we made house-calls on four contract Agents in the Chicago / Gary area. I dropped the names and struck gold at two of them. These guys don't want any trouble like the kind Jimmy gumshoe and Manny the rat can cause them. I told them I needed to know why they don't throw more business our way. Seems we're slow payers and our commission rates aren't the best.

We gotta get someone in our company to work with these guys ... you know, face-to-face. We gotta schmooze them a little. We need to pay faster and we need to pay better. If we want revenue from them we gotta treat them better. What we're doing now isn't throwing much revenue onto our books."

Mr. Bxxxxxxxx is listening and figeting in his chair.

"So, that's what you're saying we gotta do? Pay them faster and pay them more commission?", Mr. Bxxxxxxxx asks.

My VP comes right back with, "...and we gotta get the right person getting the word out that we're gonna do just that. We have over a hundred of these contract agents . I'm saying we gotta have somebody with the title and the power to make things happen."

The quiet guy in the chair next to us butts in: "Are you saying Jimmy here is the guy?"

"Absolutely!" says my companion.

"How much is it gonna cost us?" asks Mr. Bxxxxxxxx. "...and what're you gonna call him?"

"It'll cost a 'big one' ... and he needs new business cards - fast. We can call him: Vice President of Agency Development."

"Well, can you do it?", Mr. Bxxxxxxxx asks as he glowers at me?

"If I've got front-office support and the expressed authority to do what needs to be done, then, 'Yes!', I can do it." That's about the best I can come up with on the spur of the moment.

Mr. Bxxxxxxxx stares at my VP then looks over at the guy setting next to us. Mr. 'X' nods one time affirmatively. Mr. Bxxxxxxxx returns his gaze to our Vice President of Sales for the Western Region.

"Let's do it!" he declares.

Mr. Bxxxxxxxx then looks to me. In one of the few almost normal comments I've ever had from him, he asks, "What do you need from me?"

I have several folders in my lap. Each contain records for one of the four contract agents we visited the day before. I'm keenly aware of the weaknesses in our Agency program.

"I need the Manager in the Settlements Department answering to me. I need to be able to implement changes in the way we process Agency business. I need to adjust payment levels as needed to get business from our agents. Commission rates don't have to be the same to all agents. We only have to be higher than what they get from other carriers. And I need you to speak personally to our VP of Operations and to the Settlements Department Manager - let them know of the changes." There! I had said it. Unplanned and unrehearsed.

Mr. Bxxxxxxxx raised himself from behind his desk. "Let's go see them right now." He looked to my VP and told him to go to payroll and get the pay thing squared away ... and get my business cards ordered 'rush'. I had no idea about this. We hadn't discussed anything.
- - - - -
An hour later, the conversations had been concluded. I was given a small office outside the Operations Department. I would be making a lot of phone contact with our agents. After that I'd be on the road a lot, seeing them face-to-face.

I went to dinner with my Vice President of Sales for the Western Region. I heard it again: "You do for me - I owe you. I do for you - you owe me." I wondered who owed at this point. I asked about the pay thing. "Remember when he asked what it would cost? I told him 'a big one'. Well that was your raise ... a big one ... a grand a month."

I was now a Vice President, and I had a thousand dollar a month raise. This was a few years back - a grand was very nice. I told him I needed to go home for a couple of days. He suggested I stay there in HQ for a day. Get things set up in the Settlements Department. Make some phone calls. Then go home. After that, get on the road. Make something happen quick. We both knew they didn't like negative reports at sales meetings.
- - - - -
I called home and gave my wife the news. She was thrilled about the money, but I think she had a sense of what it was going to cost us. I was only beginning to imagine what was happening in the company. As long as what I was to do wasn't illegal or immoral, I'd give it my my best shot.
- - - - -
Out of the chute, the agents were thrilled to hear the news. I didn't know how long-lived the euphoria would be. Increased commission checks are great ... if the checks don't bounce.
- - - - - - - - - -
[to be continued as time allows]

Nefarious - Part 8

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, June 7 & 21, July 4 & 22, August 22, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas = crime, from ne = not + fas = right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.
- - - - - - - - - -

Today was on my mind. We had made the rounds of 4 different Agent offices in the Chicago area. My Vice President of Sales for the Western Region asked questions after questions.

What was nagging me was some of the conversations I heard while with him. It reminded me of a Sales Rep that worked for us a number of years before. He had come to us after having been the Vice President of Sales for a small regional LTL trucking company that had recently folded.

When that former sales rep and I were making a joint sales call on potential new customers, someone he didn't know before, he would have some sort of banter that determined if they were a member of the Masons. It seemed to be some sort of coded talk. If they determined they were both brother Masons, it seemed almost automatic that we were going to be getting new business from them.

Well, my Vice President of Sales for the Western Region was doing something similar ... but it had to do with 'name dropping'. Some of these agents knew some of the same people that he knew. At some point he would ask if they knew "Jimmy gumshoe" or "Manny the rat". If their response said 'no', the conversation seemed to continue in more of a business tone. If their response said 'yes' [yeh], or if they asked a question about how he knew them, the conversation went a different direction. The net result of those who said 'yes' seemed more positive - we could work out our problems and start doing more business together. We got a 'yes' from two of the four.

I had no idea who 'Jimmy gumshoe' or 'Manny the rat' were ... and I never asked.

How this was going to play out in our meeting with Mr. Bxxxxxxxx I had no idea - but I was certain I would find out.
- - - - -
It was late when I arrived in Detroit. I stayed at that same famous hotel I've mentioned before - the one where I had been awakened at 3am in the morning and told to be in the Conference Room in 1-hour for a sales meeting. This trip I slept in, had a late breakfast, and checked in at Company Headquarters about 10:30am. Our Meeting with Mr. Bxxxxxxxx was scheduled for 2:30pm.

I went directly to the Department that handled the 'settlements' for the Agency offices. The number one complaint we heard was about delays encountered in being paid for freight handled in our behalf. Most other complaints were about paperwork requirements.

I had the names of the agents we had visited and I asked to see their files. At that time I was a Regional Manager. The woman I was talking to wasn't sure whether she could show those to me - she'd have to get someone's OK. I said that was fine, but I was asking for them for Mr. Bxxxxxxxx [that was not entirely untrue].

She was back with the files in minutes.

I asked for a desk to use. She pointed me to one in the corner out of the way. I went through the paperwork and documentation. I made notes and went back to the same lady with my questions. Then I called each agent to tell them that I was now in Detroit and working on the pay problems they told us about the day before. Boy did that impress them.

The lunch hour for the people in that department came and they all left. I stayed and continued making my notes and a few more phone calls. On their return I had more questions. This time we were joined by the department head, whom I had known for years. I had worked in Headquarters before as the head of Intermodal Operations. I had explained to him that I was meeting with Mr. Bxxxxxxxx at 2:30pm.

The reality was that there were approximately a hundred agents who held contracts with us nationwide. We had visited with four in the Chicago area. If these four had complaints, I was certain that the others did too.
- - - - -
After 2pm I informed the Department Manager that I'd like to take the files to my meeting with Mr. Bxxxxxxxx. On the condition that I return with the paperwork when I was done in the Executive wing, I left with files in-hand.

I went to the Reception Area for the Executive

Offices and asked if our Vice President of Sales for the Western Region had arrived. She informed me he was in the building and that she would locate him for me. At 2:25pm he showed up in the Reception Area. I told him what I had been doing - he seemed sort of surprised and impressed.

He asked the receptionist to let Mr. Bxxxxxxxx know we were here for our 2:30pm meeting.
- - - - -
[to be continued as time becomes available]

Nefarious - Part 7

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, June 7 & 21, July 4 & 22, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas = crime, from ne = not + fas = right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.

- - - - - - - - - -

The NW Indiana terminal had not been on my itinerary much in the past month or so. Much of my time had been on the road and at the company headquarters in Detroit.

The people there were good hard working people. I had been their Regional Manager for the past year. During one part earlier in my career I had been the local Terminal Manager there. The people there were old friends. I left there with a promotion to company headquarters. I had been asked to run a new Division within the company which was called "Intermodal Operations".

But that was then and this was now. My task at hand was to meet our Vice President of Sales for the Western region. He had an idea that he hoped would interject a good strong flow of new business into the company. If it was successful, he'd get a feather in his hat. As goes the saying, "You help me, I owe you - I help you, you owe me." It was always a two way exchange - I'm not sure what happened to those who did not help him.

Promptness was measured on his time piece, not mine. So, while I got to visit with old friends, he got to take his time getting to his 9am appointment with me. Time was often only an illusion any way - the nature of getting things done sometimes ignores time pieces.

Around 10:10am he made his appearance. He "had some business to take care of" was always his response to the unasked question. Today he was all business. Undoubtedly, at least in my mind, he was really getting some heavy pressure from above.

Questions started filling the conversation - questions about the company's network of Agents. How many did we have? How much revenue did they produce? How did we acquire them? How do we pay them? Did they really control a lot of business? Did we have any in the area with whom he could meet and talk? Who in the company controlled them or to whom did they report? And on and on and on...

By the time we covered these questions to some degree, it was time to go to lunch and continue the discussion. Unlike most working lunches with him, this was not going to be at some nice place on the south side of Chicago. He wanted to go someplace where we would be close to some local Agents. When we were finished talking over lunch, he wanted to visit Agents.

The vast majority of these freight brokerage agencies are located in proximity to major truck-stops. This is where you find the Independent Owner-Operator trucks drivers that are the bread & butter of these agents. In the greater Chicago area, there are many, many truck-stops ... and many, many, many freight brokers and agents. Many of them specialize in the types of freight they handle.

NW Indiana, especially back then, was the home of a dozen or more major steel mills. Those steel mills needed hundreds of trucks a day to transport their freshly made products. I took him to a truck-stop that catered to the steel hauling, flat-bed operating owner-operators the steel mills needed.

We ate in the drivers dining area of the truck-stop. It was a new experience for him. For me, I'd done it hundreds of times. My family used to get tired of eating at truck-stops when we were on vacation, or traveling - I knew them all and knew where the best, and least expensive, meals could be found.

The next stop was with some agents that had agreements with our company. He wanted to know the "what, why, when, where and how" of their business ... and what did we have to do to get more of it?

Later that afternoon we returned to the company terminal. He was sure we could achieve the goals for which we were shooting. ALL it would take is to get someone in our company, somebody higher-up, to focus on this segment of our business, someone of title [he felt agents liked to be catered to by higher -ups ... kind of an ego thing - it made them feel more important], someone who would have the authority to correct the weaknesses and short-comings in our agent program, which several agents made clear to us were significant.

Shortly after talking this through with me, he was on the phone to Mr. Bxxxxxxxx in Detroit. He made an appointment to see him the next day to make his pitch. He felt he now knew enough about how the agency network worked.

Of course, he needed me to go with him ... absolutely the person highest on my list of people I wanted to meet with - our CEO, Mr. Bxxxxxxxx. This whole concept of "you help me - I owe you; I help you - you owe me" - was beginning to take me into stranger territories.

Experience taught me that when I leave home, even for a one-day out-and-back trip, pack for at least 3 days. I was now headed for Detroit. Get a hotel room, sleep a little, meet my Vice President of Sales for the Western Region at headquarters at 2:30pm the next day.

For his part, he was going home for the night. He would drive to Detroit in the morning.
- - - - -

Nefarious - Part 6

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, June 7 & 21, and July 4, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas = crime, from ne = not + fas = right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was somewhere in the 3rd - 4th month after the take-over of the company - or should I have said the purchase of the company. The original announcement stated the company had been sold, so we'll stick with the original terminology. Eventually I came to view it otherwise.

I met with our Vice-President of Sales for the Western Region at our company terminal office in northwest IN as requested. Our discussions quickly turned to efforts to increase revenues. He told me he was impressed with the efforts to reclaim business from various government entities. Many of our company's terminals were starting to get calls from various government agents asking us to transport freight for them.

That was the good news.

The other news was that he was getting pressure to produce more in his efforts to help to make additional acquisitions. I was not privy to what was going on in the acquisition area.

I was soon going to know a little more than I was comfortable with knowing. He had an idea he wanted to explore with me ... over a nice lunch someplace.

We drove to a nice restaurant in a south Chicago suburb.

Conversation continued on many different topics. Part of it helped clear up, for me at least, what some of the miscellaneous meetings he often had with non-trucking related businesses were about. He explained that the parent holding company that had acquired our company was involved in a lot of different types of holdings, including other trucking companies. Part of his responsibility was to help in the acquisition of companies that were in financial difficulty.

Our parent company had teams of lawyers and accountants who spent their time and energies identifying medium sized companies who were in trouble with various lenders. Once those companies were identified, they sent in people to talk to those businesses about helping them get out of the financial trouble in which they found themselves. My impression is that the tactics used were definitely strong-arm tactics.

That helped make sense of some of the experiences I had with him - like the guy who came out of his office screaming and cussing and calling me a 'goon'.

That was part of my VP's job - to convince these distressed business owners to sell now, while they still could. Of course the offers were for very low prices. He wasn't scoring too often lately and he needed to make some kind of headway soon.

In the short time with our company, he was learning a bit about our industry. He thought he noticed an area that was ripe for growing, and he thought I could help make it happen. The old adage, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" came to mind. In his words, "You help me, I owe you - I help you, you owe me."

There is a segment of the trucking business that is not controlled by the trucking companies. It is controlled by Independent Agents ... similar to the Independent Agents in the insurance business. An Independent Agent represents a number of different trucking companies. It is his job to find the best company with which to place the business for his customer, the shipper. Agents have access to additional trucks that are not in the employ of the one specific trucking company. They also have access to many shippers of freight that don't rely solely on specific trucking companies.

Our Vice President of Sales for the Western Region wanted to explore the possibility of growing the segment of our business that is controlled by these agents. Like many trucking companies, we had a network of agents that carried us as one of the choices they had available to them. We needed to find a way to get them to tender more freight to us.

How were we going to do that?

=============
[to be continued as I make the time - stay tuned]

Nefarious - Part 5

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, and June 7 & 21, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas crime, from ne- not + fas right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.

- - - - - - - - - -

The next two weeks were spent living in our Detroit Headquarters. I was constantly on the phone trying to resurrect expired Government contracts. It was no easy matter. Most were either expired by a seeming 'lack of interest' on our part, or canceled 'for cause'. 'For Cause' meant we screwed-up somehow. I was now trying to convince rigid government underlings that we would do a very good job the next time - if there was a next time. Part of my spiel was that we had new owners who were very interested in, and committed to, serving our government.

My job also involved convincing our operations people that this was priority freight. If any of our branch locations was tendered freight by any government entity, it must be handled, and must be handled efficiently and expeditiously. They already had their hands full trying to meet other expectations of various sales managers from around the company. All of them were under the gun from headquarters to generate more revenue by soliciting and moving more freight.

Everyone was getting a lot of pressure and 'intimidation' by the new guys. It was beginning to take its toll on a lot of people. Long hours, and long days on the road away from home were becoming the norm for most of us.

Two weeks after the meeting at which I was given the charge to reestablish the 'lost' government business of our company, we had another meeting. This one was attended by all the players from that previous gathering. We each had to report on our successes. The higher ups seemed to have little tolerance for non-success reports. Individuals presenting reports with little to show for the past two weeks were summarily castigated in front of everyone present. The message spread quickly through-out the ranks: succeed, or lie real good.

For my part, while we were not actually handling any government freight, yet, I reported on the successful reestablishment of a number of government contracts. I also reported on my efforts with operations people in various of our branches. I reported how they were gearing-up to handle this renewed and soon to be tendered business.

I concluded, waiting for the shoe to fall and the screaming to start - yes, I said screaming. Our CEO had developed a reputation for 'screaming fits'. Instead, I felt the grip of this strong hand on my left shoulder. I looked up and saw the face of the man from the corner. He bent low and spoke in my ear. In those few seconds between feeling the grip of his hand on my left shoulder and looking up and seeing his face, I swear I broke into a sweat. He said something like, "Nice report ... keep up the good work." He returned to his seat in the corner...and I filled my drawers. Well, not really, but I could have.

Oh, the screaming fits. The first one I experienced was during that time I was 'living' in our Detroit Headquarters. They had a group of us who were from out of town holed-up in a hotel nearby. One night, a little after 3am, my room phone rang. The voice on the other end was Mr. B. himself. The words he spoke were distinct and certain. "There will be a sales meeting in the Conference Room in one hour - be there!"

As I struggled to make some sense of this nightmare I was sure I was having, I suddenly realized it was the real thing. I brushed my teeth, combed my hair, put on my suit and tie and headed out to find someplace between the hotel and the office to grab a strong cup of coffee. As I came through the hotel lobby I met several compatriots. They were all comparing stories of similar nightmares.

We all made it to the Headquarters Conference Room on time. We were all a little on edge as to what was about to happen. It didn't take long to find out.

He entered the room, followed by the guy who always sat in the corner. He began a tirade about how slowly our company revenues were increasing. He was almost literally having a fit. He appeared to be, quite honestly, 'stoned'. When he started throwing things across the room, the man in the corner rose, moved to him, took him by the arm and quickly escorted him from the room. The man in the room who bore the title of President of Operations rose. He said he was 'sorry' for what had happened. He also suggested that what had happened here not be talked about ... among ourselves or with others.

He said we were all to leave ... go home, or back to the hotel ... get some sleep. Then he said we needed to be back on our job, whatever capacity that was, by 11am. If we were people who normally had appointments with customers or vendors, we should be sure to keep any appointments we had already made for that day. Also, we were to take Mr. B.'s comments seriously. We needed to increase company revenues more quickly.

The pressure continued. Some few weeks after the report meeting mentioned above - the one where Mr. Corner Guy gave me a passing grade, we all received word about one of the local sales reps - Timmy O'Reilly. A real leprecaun of a guy. Well liked by everyone. Well known around the trucking business in southeastern Michigan.

He apparently was taking a lot of 'heat' from the new cadre. On this particular morning he was getting ready to make scheduled sales calls across the river in Windsor, Ontario. He was at a gas station refueling his company owned car, when he had a heart attack, and died there on the ground next to his car. His wife and family all immediately began blaming the stress he had been experiencing at work...and so were a lot of other people in our company. The lines were beginning to form in opposition to the intimidation and pressure everyone was feeling. Some quit and went elsewhere. Some thought they could fight back some way. Some of us just kept doing our job as best we could in hopes that this nightmare would soon end.

It had been long enough that some of us were starting to notice some irregularities in the way things were being done. Some people in our accounting department were whispering about new 53-foot semi trailers that had been ordered. They had seen the purchase orders. They had seen the checks go out to pay for this new equipment. No one could find where any new trailers were being delivered to any of our branches anywhere. We were becoming guarded in our conversations. We were becoming watchful in the goings on of the company.

In the mean time, our Vice President of Sales for the Western Region called me and said he had an idea. He asked me to meet him tomorrow at our terminal in northwest INdiana. Dutifully, I left home early [home was a place where I did actually get to go occasionally], and appeared at our northwest INdiana terminal at 9am, as requested.

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[to be continued as I make the time - stay tuned]

Nefarious - Part 4

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, and June 7, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas crime, from ne- not + fas right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.

- - - - - - - - - -

Time to back-up a little.

I had taken on my new side-kick at about the 2 month mark of the new regime's ownership of the company. During that time, they had been very actively meeting with all the constituents of the business: customers, unions, drivers, operations and sales people, office personnel, equipment suppliers, government agencies, freight brokerage agents, et al. The message was pretty much the same. "We're putting millions of dollars into this company to bring it back to life and grow it. We need your help." For many of us, we had no clue it was in deep financial distress.

Feedback scuttle-but from the drivers was that the company was asking for deep cuts and concessions from the Teamsters Union, which represented them. Translated, it probably meant they would be coming to the rest of us shortly. The difference being that they would have to negotiate with the union. With us, they would just tell us how it was going to be.

At about month 3, they backed-up our current pay date by one week. In the past, we were paid one week behind - the work week ended on Friday, and we were paid the following Friday. Now it was going to be 2 Fridays after the end of a work week. Multiply that by 400 employees, and that was a chunk of money not being paid out. They said it would be used to purchase some badly needed new 53' semi-trailers. Seemed reasonable to me. We were all going to have to sacrifice to make the company grow.

In the same general time period, I was a participant in a sales meeting in our Corporate Headquarters Conference Room. Other Sale Reps and Regional Managers were also present. One of the ideas that was seized upon by the new regime was that we needed to recapture some portion of Government Business which, for various reasons, we had lost in the past year.

Who here should be assigned that task? Government Agencies have all kinds of special requirements to meet re bidding and pricing and various other red-tape issues. Somehow, because of my very diverse experience in various aspects of our company, my name got offered for the sacrifice. Once others got someone other than themselves in the spot-light they were, symbolically at least, off the hook - for now.

I forgot to mention one special person who was also in the room. He was present in most of our meetings. He always sat back in a corner and observed. He never said anything. He always accompanied the CEO. He was younger ... had a muscular build ... his last name ended in a vowel ... and he had a noticeable bulge under the left arm-pit area his suit coat.

After I had been duly acknowledged for taking on this new task, I felt this very strong hand grasping me by the left shoulder from behind. I looked up and over my left shoulder. It was the mysterious and somewhat frightening stranger from the corner of the room. He bent over and whispered in my ear, "We're sure you'll do a good job ... won't you?" And he returned to his corner.

============
[to be continued as time is available]

Nefarious - Part 3

a bit part in a TV gangsta pilot

meet the family -
I mean "THE" family

[continued from posts of May 3 & 26, 2009]
- - - - - - - - - -
NEFARIOUS

Pronunciation:

\ni-ˈfer-ē-əs\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin nefarius, from nefas crime, from ne- not + fas right

There were a lot of things that were not right in the unfolding of these vignettes. Like many things, though, you sometimes don't spot them except with hindsight. Then it is usually too late to change things.

- - - - - - - - - -

My new friend, side-kick, and boss [the new Vice President of Sales for the Western Region] was gone about 20 minutes. I waited and had another drink. I didn't know, or suspect, that this would be only the first of many similar meal interruptions. I had the opportunity to eat at many fine establishments over the course of the next 6 months.

"Just had a little business to tend to." That was pretty much the normal reply when he returned to the table. I use the term "reply" although that suggests there was a question; I never asked any questions. I suspected his "reply" was all I needed to know.

Not all these places had curtains to pass through. Sometimes it was just a table or booth back in a corner someplace out of sight and hearing. Although, I do admit there were a few occasions when loud, agitated voices could be heard ... and while the conversation itself was not understood, the heat of the discussions could be sensed.

There were some occasional meetings where he had "...a little business to tend to" at someplace other than a nice restaurant or bar. Those gave me the opportunity to set and wait in the reception area of several businesses in the Chicago area. I would wait while he met with someone in an office elsewhere on the premise.

On one such occasion, the office in which he was meeting was very nearby the reception area. The loud voices could be heard by everyone. Suddenly the door to the office in which he was meeting flew open. He was exiting, with an older, very irate man close behind him shouting obscenities and calling him names. As he passed me, on his way out, he motioned for me to follow. The older guy continued his tirade, adding, "Don't you and your goon ever step foot in MY business again."

First time I'd ever been called a 'goon'.

Then there was another time I remember with almost a sense of awe. It was middle afternoon - between the regular lunch hour and dinner-service time. We went to a very modest, but nice, restaurant. It was bright and cheery and well lit - many places we went were dimly lit. I always found those places to be a little difficult to see people clearly, unless you were relatively close to them. I now suspect that was more by design - for reasons that were for other than ambiance only.

He said he had someone to meet and had me set at a table fairly near the entrance. He then went to another vacant table across the room. Apparently his 'client' had not yet arrived. I ordered a drink, and told the waitress I needed to get something from my car, but I'd be right back. I figured that if I was going to be waiting a while, I may as well go through some paper-work in my briefcase.

I left the establishment and headed down a sloped sidewalk to the parking area. Coming from the other direction I encountered a very attractive woman. She was a little taller than average; slender; light-brown hair; lightly tanned; red lipstick which complemented her bright red form fitting knee-length dress; medium height high-heeled shoes; shapely - by almost anyone's standards: very attractive.

We nodded a quaint 'hello' to each other as we passed.

I retrieved a couple of folders from my briefcase and returned to my table in the restaurant. I looked over at my friend's table to see if his 'client' had yet arrived.

There she was - the lady of my sidewalk encounter - at his table. I almost choked in disbelief.

This gal had people turning heads, and she was seated with my boss, the Vice President of Sales for the Western Region of the company.

I ordered another drink.

I never knew how long these meetings of his were going to last - 20 minutes, an hour? This one was not too long - less than half an hour. I noticed him stand and she rose right after he. They started coming across the room. I was near the entrance, and they'd have to come past me on the way out. I was riding with him, so I was fairly confident that he wasn't leaving without me - at least not for any length of time.

They were along side my table very quickly. They stopped. I stood. He spoke.

"Jimmy, I'd like you to meet my wife."

You just had to be there to appreciate this moment - I was in a state of shock and awe. I have no recollection of what I might have said - although I probably slobbered as I spoke. He said he'd walk her to her car and then be back in.

I look back at that event and the word that comes to mind is something like:

moll
n. Slang.

1. A woman companion of a gunman or gangster [usually very attractive].

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[to be continued as I make the time - stay tuned]