Chapter 8

SOPHIA:

What an opportunity. I thought that Alex had outdone himself when he gave me the job at Jewels in Vegas, but now he has gone beyond all reason. He has more faith in me than I ever had in myself. The only sand in the oil was the other redhead, Muriel.

I thought I was competitive, but she writes new rules on the concept. We played miniature golf at Alex and Inez's, I can't call it a house, more like an estate, and Muriel was scheming constantly to undercut other players. Working with her will not be fun. We were going to share an apartment, but I nixed that idea. If I should find a man I am interested in, I don't need her insulting him. Muriel is a hard-core lesbian and would prefer that she not have to see men at all. I hope she can get past that enough to do her job because Alex needs our help.

After looking around on Google, Muriel and I decided to base our office out of Texarkana. It was as depressed as the rest of Texas and Arkansas and we should be able to set up there with little effort. We had planned to set up in a business park, but Alex told us to buy or lease a building in the old downtown area instead. His idea was that we could get more square footage for less, and the owners would be ecstatic at the offer and help us a lot more than the office park would. He also liked the idea of revitalizing towns and restoring some dignity to the city centers. The other advantage to Texarkana was that it was within a short helicopter ride to the main factory. We were supposed to use Grier's technicians when we investigated prospects, and this way it would be easy to get them. Alex's last admonition before we left was that quality was more important than production. If a company could not give us good products, then they couldn't work for us at all. That is why the tech's had to go with us before a contract could be signed.

It only took two days to find a building on Broad Street that could be remodeled to our needs and it would be ready for us to work out of within a week. Muriel and I found apartments just around the corner from the new office and had already moved in. Within the lease agreement for the office was the stipulation that A&C wind turbines would be set up on the building. There would also be a sales office on the first floor with the electric meter for the building as a prime advertisement. The tech's from the factory were supposed to set them up. They were also going to put a camera and monitor to show the meter on the building next door. That building had the same owner, and was vacant. Our usage was expected to be less than that of the vacant building. If it got a tenant the difference would be even more dramatic.

Muriel and I were about to be immersed in the hunt to find personnel. We would need a minimum of five people each, and three more to man the store. We each would need a PA, and one other to go along on our trips to the plants. Add in the technician and we would have four people on every trip. We each needed three people to man our offices while we were out on the trips. Just because we were out of the office, didn't mean the search for more companies would stop. They might be able to find more places in the areas we would be in to look at. One of those three would need to be a manager type, and two technically able people to man the phones. The store would also need a manager and two tech folks for sales. Once we hired this workforce, they would all need to go to the factory for orientation, so we needed to find them quickly.

Muriel set up shop in an employment agency just down the street from our office to look for the PA and managers. I was going to work from the government employment office to find the worker bees. We didn't want to put ads in the paper or online unless it was necessary, although I put in one on Craig's for my PA without telling Muriel. The other managers, okay, but I don't think I trusted the dyke to find me a good PA. I needed someone I could work closely with, not another feminazi like Muriel. She was so lezbo that she didn't even get hot for Alex, now that is warped.

The Employment Commission was very helpful and gave me a room to use to sort through applications. Their computers were ancient by current standards, but they were able to match my criteria to some degree. What distressed me was the huge number of single mothers looking for work. They were distributed pretty evenly between white and black, and I was tilted toward hiring at least two of them for the office. Obviously they would not be able to travel with me.

One young woman caught my eye. She had worked as a machinist in a small job shop in Arkansas. She was twenty-two, black, and had two small girls. I put her folder to the side as a good possibility. The next one I found was just about to graduate from a vocational high school as an electrician. He would prefer not to relocate, but didn't mind travel.

I decided to interview both of these, and see if they knew anyone with the same interests who needed work.

I called the woman, Loretta Swan, first. She said that she would not be able to see me today because there was no one to watch her children. I asked their ages, and when she said 3 and 4, I told her to bring them along. It would still take her an hour to get here. While I waited, I called the young man and got his voice mail. It explained that he was in classes and would call me back after 3.

While I waited for Loretta, I checked my email and saw that I had several replies to my ad already. I had just posted it last night. One was an older man living in the Atlanta area. His resume said that he had managed an auto parts store that had been bought out. He was now working in another store in sales and wanted something better. I considered him for the management of my office while I was gone, but I needed to check with Muriel before I answered him. She was supposed to be finding managers. After all, that was what she did in New York. The other was a 40 year-old woman working in Shreveport. Her resume was interesting. She had worked at so many different jobs that I had to wonder what she was really looking for. From her records she had been a secretary, court recorder, personnel manager, and her current profession was listed as real estate agent. It gave a daytime phone number for her, so I decided to try it.

"Delancey and associates, may I help you?"

Susan Chatham please."

"This is she, Ma'am. How may I help you?"

"That's pretty risky isn't it? Giving your present bosses office number on a job application?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds, Ma'am. Delancey is my father and he's only keeping this place open until I find something better. As soon as I move on he'll close down. Real estate in this economy will get you broke real quick. Dad rode the boom and is now going to retire on the bust. Is this Miss Morgan?"

"Yes it is. You answered my ad for a personal assistant. From your job record I can see that you have quite a bit of diversity, is there a good reason why you can't seem to keep a job?"

"That's a fair question I guess. Out of college I worked as a secretary and committed the ultimate sin. Tom Chatham was a smooth talker and my boss. I married him and left my job. When he started the affair with the new secretary two years later I saw the writing on the wall and divorced him. I then got a job as a court recorder, but budget cuts and computers took that job away. I was working in personnel for a medium sized company after that, until the boss got too friendly. I didn't think his wife would like it and informed her of it. His name wasn't on the pink slip, but it should have been. Since then I have been trying to keep dad's place afloat. I almost made a profit last month."

"I would like to meet you Susan, can you make a trip to Texarkana? The company would take care of expenses. I like your voice and your sense of humor, and I think we could do well together."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I can catch a flight to Dallas and a commuter plane from there. How soon do you want me there?"

"Tomorrow would be great, but whenever you can make a connection will do. If you work out at all we can fly you back to home from Johnson Creek, you'll have to see the factory. Call or text me with the connection time and I'll have you met at the airport."

As I clicked the phone off, I heard children's voices in the hallway. I got up to make sure that Loretta could find the right room. I saw them walking down the hall and the children were speaking without being loud and rowdy. Loretta looked like a beach ball with legs. Her face was pleasant though, and she was wearing a loose dress and brown loafers. The girls had a much lighter complexion than their mother. One was a small version of her, and the other was almost as tall as her mother and slender.

"Hello. You must be Loretta. Come on in to this room, my name is Sophia."

"Thank you, Ma'am. These are my daughters, Lonnie, pointing at the tall girl, and Lana. My family always gives girls names starting with L. My mama Lawanda says I should be thankful she didn't go with the African names like her mama did." She turned to Lonnie, "You girls sit over here with the colorin' book and be quiet for a bit." She turned back to me, "Will that be okay, Ma'am?"

"Yes, that will do fine. Please call me Sophia, I've never been a madam, although I did work in a strip club."

"Ooh, I bet the men paid good to see you dance, Sophia. How did you get this job?" She obviously expected me to have slept my way to the position.

"It's a long story, and I will tell you sometime if you work out. I wasn't hired to dance at jewels though, I was the accountant. This company is called A&C Genitech. Do you have any idea what we do?"

"No, I've never heard ... wait a minute. Aren't they the folks that came up with the new wind generators?"

"That's us. I am setting up an office here in Texarkana. My main focus will be to find companies to make the components for the generators. The factory cannot keep up with the orders and we need help. The job I have in mind for you is either as counter help in the store, or as help on the phone locating companies to make parts. Your resume says that you worked as a machinist."

"No Sophia, I worked as a machinist's helper. The machinist set up the machine, and I watched it work. I kept the bar stock going and cleaned up when it was done. I also had to keep an eye out for bad parts and problems with the machine. I liked the job and wanted to work up to being a machinist, but the shop had to cut back on personnel so they let me go. Does your company need anyone for that kind of job?"

"Oh, here it is, machinist's helper, and no, as far as I know the factory is full up on people right now. There is expansion going on though, so in 6 months or so there should be openings. If you could do that job, you should be able to handle this one. What I had in mind for you was to man the counter in the store. You won't have to handle any money. Since the factory is so far behind, all you will be doing is taking orders. Home Depot is taking care of the money, delivery, and installation. Your main job will be to answer questions. We will train you and give you a booklet to work out of. I expect there to be a lot of questions as people learn about us. I want you to have some technical background so you can understand the explanations."

"That sounds easy enough. Would I be able to trade over to something else when there are openings?"

"Yes, you can. If you want to go to school for a better job, that can be taken care of as well. Do you have someone to watch your children while you are at work?"

"My neighbor and I trade off right now, but she wouldn't be able to watch them full time."

"Would you be willing to use a day-care facility, or would you rather hire a relative or something like that? We would help you afford it whichever you choose. They are such beautiful girls, and so well behaved."

"I have a sister who could use the money, and she would take good care of them. What kind of salary are you talking about for counter help?"

"Right now we are looking at $25,000 plus medical, dental, and partial childcare benefit. All we ask is that your sister write you out a weekly or monthly receipt, we will pay half of it as long as it is reasonable. Are you interested?"

"I'd be crazy if'n I wasn't. When could I start?"

"You will start on salary tomorrow. I'll need you to come in to the office and fill out the paperwork as well as get used to the place. Does your sister watch any other children?"

"Just her baby boy, that's why she needs the money. Why?"

"We were thinking of turning the third floor of the building into apartments for me and my partner, Muriel, but I don't think I want to live that close. What if we turned the third floor into a childcare facility, do you think your sister would be willing to run it for us?"

"How many kids we talkin' about?"

"I'm not sure. It just seems to me that if a facility is available, more single moms could work for us. If there aren't enough kids to justify the facility, she might be able to take in kids from workers nearby. I think we would look for a maximum of ten kids. Any more than that would be too much to deal with."

"She'll do it or tell me why not. When would this start?"

"Not for a couple of weeks at least. I have get the third floor converted first, and get the legal team doing the paperwork to get it approved. In the mean time I have more people to interview and hire. Next week I'll take you and the other new hires down to Johnson creek to see the factory. I wish you could meet Alex, but he and his family are taking a vacation in San Francisco. Maybe I can get him to come up after we get in operation. Thank you for coming in Loretta, I'll see you tomorrow at 314 Broad Street, let's say at ten. Will you be there?"

"Hell yeah. I'm looking forward to it."

No sooner had I walked Loretta and her children out than my phone rang. It was the young boy I had left the voice mail with. He said that he could not make it to an interview this afternoon, but as long as I was willing to fill out some paperwork for the school, he could be here tomorrow. I thought about it for a bit, then told him to show up at the new office at nine in the morning. I should have time to talk to him before Loretta showed up.

After taking care of that, I said the hell with it and headed out to my rental car. On the way home I called Muriel to see how she was doing.

"Muriel, how goes it?"

"Damn, Girl. We should have settled for someplace with more to offer than beer drinking rednecks. I've already had to drop three prospects for flirting with me. I think I may have an office manager for me and a possible store manager. There are a couple of girls I like for PA. I'll get them down here and let you take your choice. How did your day go?"

"I interviewed a good possible for the store and another who might travel with me. I think I found my own PA though. I know you were supposed to be looking for one, but I put an ad in Craig's list before we had decided that. I got a couple of good prospects from it and one will be coming up for an interview. I was thinking of the other as my manager, but I'll take a look at what you have before I talk to him."

"That's okay, they have to match with you not me anyway. I'll just take the best of the two for my PA. Are you going to go anywhere to eat dinner?"

"I liked that steak house we went to the other day, I'll probably just go there and then on to home."

"Okay, I'll meet you there in a bit."

I headed on over to the steak house. My phone rang just as I was getting out of my car. "Hello?"

"Miss Morgan? This is Susan Chatham. I can be at Texarkana Regional at about eleven, tomorrow morning. Will that be okay?"

"That will be fine Susan. I'll make sure that someone is there to meet you. I have a couple of interviews to do in the morning, but if I can make it I'll be the one there. I really look forward to meeting you, Susan."

"As do I wish to meet you, Miss Morgan. Until tomorrow then."

I saw Muriel drive into the lot as I got to the door. We had identical Ford Focuses ... Foci? From the rental agency, but mine was blue while hers was red. I waited for her in the lobby.

Five minutes later Muriel swept in like a conquering queen. Her body was no larger than mine, how the f$%k did she pack so much attitude in there? On my own I was confident enough, but around her I felt like a shrinking violet. I know that Alex wants us to work together, but I'm just as glad that when we get this thing organized I'll probably be dealing with her no more than once or twice a month. She didn't say anything until after we were seated and looking at the menu.

"Tell me about this PA you think you found, Sophia."

"Middle aged divorcee with a varied work experience. I was attracted to her sense of humor and easy open manner. She sounds like an aunt I used to like a lot. She'll be here tomorrow morning at about eleven."

"Why would you want someone that old? We need energetic young people to work for us. She'll probably try to take charge after a couple of weeks. She'll think she knows more than you."

"Come on, Muriel. She probably does know more than I do about this shit. I have no idea why Alex chose me to do this, but the last thing I am going to do is to prove him wrong. I need someone working with me to get the job done. That is all that matters."

"Oh get real, Sophia. Alex Andrews is a scab living on my cousin's brilliance. He chose you so he could get you into his bed. You don't have any special skills. He probably expects you to fail and come begging to him for another chance. He's no different than any other d$%k with legs."

I was shocked at the level of disgust I heard from this woman. Alex had given her a chance to become very successful based upon the recommendation of her relatives, and she talked about him like that.

"What is wrong with you, Muriel? If Alex wanted me in his bed all he would have had to do is ask. He could have had any of us while he was in Vegas, but he didn't. I was very happy for Inez, but I was envious of her too."

"Well, then. If the guy is such a saint, why is he boffing that other girl?"