by Mel Walker
"I'll do it, I trust you." She paused, "Where are you? Are you near?"
"I'm in a cab; now for the second thing."
She let his non-answer fly, "go ahead."
"You're going to need to go home, pretty yourself up and get to the workshop and set up the webcam."
"For what reason?"
"Ok. You're going to get a call from Peter in about fifteen minutes."
"Peter? What is going on Justin?"
"It's ok. Trust me,." Justin took a deep breath, "I'm in a cab returning from Indianapolis, I had a chat with Peter."
"You were in Indianapolis?"
"I came out to be with you for your presentation."
Justin heard the pause and recognized the shift in her breathing, "you did?"
"Of course, there was no way I was going to let you go to the most important presentation of your career without a proper hug and kiss."
Justin heard the full on cry, "I left Indianapolis to race home to you. I realized too late that I had been so involved in my business that I hadn't heard you ask for help. I knew if you asked for help it had to be pretty serious."
"Thank you,, that means so much."
"What a pair we are."
"A perfect pair," Justin let the moment marinade for a moment then returned, "oh Peter."
"Yes."
"For the record, he's not the brightest bulb in the closet."
"Now Justin.."
"Kidding dear, but there is no way he will be able to pull off that presentation without you. I've walked him through some modifications to the presentation, but there is no way it will work without your input."
"But there is no way I can make it back to Indianapolis in time."
"Webcam dear," he kidded, "I did just mention that didn't I?"
"Yeah but I ...."
"Yep. Peter is going to call in ten minutes now, I’ve walked him through how to configure it, and you'll be able to participate remotely. You will need to head home right away though as he needs to walk you through the changes to the presentation."
The line went quiet.
"Dear are you still there?" Justin asked.
"I love you."
"I know."
"Justin? Marcus told us about what is going on in the office."
"I was going to ..."
She cut him off, " I know. Not like I’ve been around to hear it but Justin your presentation is today, in a couple of hours."
"I suppose so."
"Yet you've used your last night to work up this scheme for Marcus and then drove to Indianapolis for my presentation. What are you going to do for your presentation?"
Justin for the first time all night thought of his presentation and came up empty, "I haven't the foggiest."
***
Timing is everything was the initial thought Justin had as the cab pulled up to the doors of General Modification. Over the last few hours, he had bonded with Charlie Parker, cabbie extraordinaire as Charlie not only got him back to town in time, the pair had just enough time to stop at Max’s for the extra large black coffee Justin knew he would need to make it through the day.
As he pushed through the turnstile and nodded at security Justin tried to savor the moment as depending on how things went this morning he knew it was possibly his last time coming through those doors.
As he stepped off the elevator, Justin took his time working his way to his office. The genuine sense that this could be his last day at General Modification began to weigh on him. He attempted to push the thoughts from his mind as he knew he would need complete focus for the next few hours if he stood any chance of surviving.
As he turned the corner toward his office, he immediately noticed Marcus and Violet standing by at the door chatting. Violet held a cup of coffee while Marcus stood there shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
"Morning all," Justin said approaching. "What’s up?"
"We're screwed," Marcus blurted out, guilt written across his face.
Justin pulled him by his elbow, turned and pushed him through the door. Violet followed.
"Marcus is shitting his pants over this presentation," it was Violet, "I’ve tried to get him to relax, told him to wait for you to arrive, that you'd have a better perspective." She turned toward Marcus, "don't fall for their games Marcus; they are going to do what they want to do regardless of what you do. Jump through the hoops or don't jump through the hoops, doesn't matter. So relax."
Justin smiled as he sipped his coffee; the lack of sleep had calmed him down considerably now that he was here.
"You don't understand. Justin will..." Marcus began. "The top floor has been abuzz all morning. The CEO received an email and is pretty pissed."
Justin took another sip. "Really?" he tried to play along for Violet's sake. "Any idea what it may have been that set him off?"
Marcus nearly jumped, "he's coming to our presentation."
"Who?"
"The CEO"
"Jacob Evans is coming to our presentation?"
Marcus nodded, "that's what I’m trying to tell you. Barry just issued an update to the invite. They've moved the presentations up; they start in fifteen minutes. He added a note that said Evans and two other executives from the top floor are joining and that we should be on point."
Justin rubbed his chin and digested the information. Jacob Evans was a notorious negotiator, hard boiled and old school there had been stories of him running roughshod over meetings. He was known as a brilliant engineer and a very short-tempered man.
"Doesn't change a thing," he finally stated.
"Like hell it doesn't," Marcus replied.
"What the hell is going on here?" The group turned to a late arriving Everett Cooper, "Can you take this party elsewhere I have a presentation to queue up. Just found out I'm up first and I only have fifteen minutes to prep, I thought we were on for this afternoon."
"Ok kiddies, let's give Three his space. You know it may very well be his last day working here and all." Justin nodded toward the door, "I can't wait to have my office back to myself."
The annoyed and distracted Everett Cooper scowled and plopped down onto his seat, flipping open his laptop he immediately got lost in his work and ignored the group.
Marcus tapped Justin on the elbow. “You going to grab a white-collared shirt? Maybe change the slacks too? ” He nodded toward the grey khaki and black polo shirt Justin wore.
“Nope, I’m good.” Justin turned toward Violet. "Violet, thanks for trying to calm him down. We'll catch up later." They nodded, and Violet disappeared after a whisper of luck to both of them. "Marcus," Justin began in a near whisper as well, "nothing changes, stick to the plan, and we'll make it out of this, both of us."
"I wish I had your confidence," Marcus muttered as he walked away.
Justin shook his head, "it’s not confidence, it’s lack of sleep."
***
Justin knew it wasn't physically possible, but it appeared as if Everett Cooper the Third was shrinking in front of his eyes. The bolster of his initial opening had been long forgotten as either the last minute change in timing, or the presence of Jacob Evans and his two top executives in the room appeared to have disrupted Everett Cooper the Third.
Jacob Evans was the alpha dog in the room. After promising to sit quietly and observe, he jumped in a mere thirty seconds into the presentations. He had peppered three with a series of questions so pointed and direct that Justin believed they drew blood.
Justin had never seen Barry so subservient either; it was as if the Queen of England had arrived unexpectedly and the minions were scrambling to accommodate her.
Justin had expected at least an entertaining and well-executed performance from Everett. More flash than substance. However, within the first three minutes, he knew even that low bar would not be achieved. His lack of experience and depth were more apparent by the moment as his approach was doomed from the start.
Every guideline for the scenario presented he supposedly m
et. He met their expense reduction targets through straight cuts. When challenged as to how he would deal with union guidelines and penalty clauses by Jacob Evans, he showed no knowledge of the instructions. He cut the production lines across the globe, closed facilities but didn't account for the additional shipping costs of covering extended territories or factoring in the costs of closing a plant. These decisions triggered security and hazardous waste disposal procedures. Depending on the facility and the materials produced, the years of toxic cleanup required could easily outstrip the cost of operating the plant.
Everett found himself ensnarled in every rabbit hole and trick laid out in the scenario.
If he weren't so concerned with the email, Justin would have enjoyed watching him go up in flames.
"That has to be one of the most irresponsible corporate decisions I could ever imagine. Hell, Barry where did you get this kid from? I have non-paid interns on my floor better equipped than this guy here. If this is the type of skill, we are looking at ..." Jacob Evans looked around the room, "... all I have to say is god help us."
Barry attempted to jump in, "sir, as I mentioned at the outset the team had under twenty-four hours to prepare ..."
"No excuses Barry. You think our competition will give us twenty-four hours? Hell, you'd be lucky to get twenty-four minutes. No excuses Barry. I've seen enough, let's move on to the next one."
Barry nodded to Jacob and shook his head to the side.
An agitated and disappointed Everett to his credit exited the podium and took his seat without a note of verbal protest.
"Why don't we take a quick break as Justin Grant prepares at the front of the room."
"Fine." Jacob said as he leaned toward two of the executives, "did the security team come up with any additional information yet?"
Justin's heart raced as he heard the words. He knew the clock was ticking.
Justin stepped to the front of the room to connect his laptop to the projector. He glanced up, remembering words from his mentor, to take the mood of a room. Is it where it needs to be? If not, what must you do to get it there? If your script doesn’t account for it, toss out the script.
Justin had used all of his time working on problems for others. First Marcus’ and then Leslie’s. Out of options and without a script, Justin stepped toward the podium realizing he had about thirty seconds to think up a presentation so dazzling that he could salvage his thirty-year career.
The issue was his mind was blank.
***
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Leslie shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she paced back in forth in her basement workshop. She stared out once again at the large second monitor attached to the laptop as she took another step. She bent down and marked in chalk a little x. She glanced down at the marks, reminders as to the boundary of the field of view for the camera. Anything outside the marks wouldn’t be seen on the web conference. The second monitor displayed her talking points, like a cheap version of the network teleprompter she had seen on her visit to CNN in Atlanta two summers ago.
Peter had texted her five minutes ago informing her that Java was scrambling in the conference room to connect to the web conference and get last minute approval from legal to allow a web camera into the session. He felt it would be only minutes.
Satisfied that she had comfortably nailed her boundaries, she glanced at the first slide once again. Her eyes, however, drifted up past the monitor at the wedding portrait which hung on the wall. Somehow in the middle of doing everything in the last few days, Justin had somehow found time to wipe down the portrait and hang it in the workshop.
She thought of the presentation, and the instructions he had left with Peter and her sense of awe and respect for her husband grew even further.
As her thoughts drifted to her wedding day, her thoughts were interrupted as the laptop came to life, and an image of the conference room at Java appeared on the screen. Peter stood in the background behind the Artisan executives and held up his hand, pinkie to his lips, thumb to his ear, phone.
She dialed the conference room. Peter pressed a button on the intercom.
"Can you hear us?"
"Yes, Peter and I have video as well. How's my feed?"
"Perfect."
She noticed Peter stand erect and walk toward the front of the room and the podium; he spoke the entire time. "Once again Leslie and I would like to thank Java for their flexibility and this last minute change in logistics. I think by the end of this presentation you will understand and agree that this was a necessary and a productive use of technology."
Leslie stood in the center of her boundary box and put on a smile as Peter went into full salesman's mode. He quickly recapped the prior meeting with Java.
As per their rehearsal, Leslie jumped in and spoke of the unique combination of the smart desks and Leslie's customs frames and the work they had done at My Workplace and Max's Diner. How this unique combination aligned perfectly with the strategic plans of the Java bakery. She dripped in enough additional information to show the executives that she was not just a pretty face but had done a fair amount of research on Java's goals, plans, and approach to expanding in the marketplace.
Peter did a quick walkthrough of the technology and how the new combined company would be able to produce a repeatable installation and implementation guide for facilities across the country. Per Justin's pointers, Peter highlighted that the team could move as slowly or quickly as Java desired. He expanded on this to indicate that there was a network of pre-certified manufacturing facilities which Peter had at his fingertips who would follow protocol and procedures down to the letter and allow for simultaneous build-out of desks across the country. The pre-certification had been a stretch, as Peter did have initial conversations with several companies, but none were formally signed.
Leslie appreciated at that moment the angle of the webcam. She wasn't sure if she were in the room she would have noticed the nodding of heads and quiet smiles shared among the executives otherwise. It was a big hit.
It was now Leslie's' turn.
"Wow how can I keep up with that Peter, way to set the bar." she joked as the attention shifted back to her. “I know after that you have no concerns that we can handle the build-out of the technology portion of our proposal. In this next section, I will walk you through what we have in mind for the artwork and frames." Leslie took a deep breath.
She pulled up a frame; it was the same frame fragment she had shown to the Java executives at the initial meeting. "This is a classic Leslie Custom Frame." she held it out in front of her toward the camera, "you will notice the craftsmanship, the personal touches, the intricate design work." She placed the frame down on the table, "oh I’m sorry of course you can't see that on the webcam. Peter?"
Peter pulled out a frame and passed it around the room.
Leslie waited as it circulated. "Mr. Morito?" she queried the room, a man leaned forward.
"Yes."
"Thanks, you were at our initial meeting correct?"
His deep voice flowed over the speaker, "yes I was. Impressive design work. I said it that day and am glad to share this with my colleagues today. It is just as fine as I remember."
"Thank you." She waited for the piece to return to Peter. "That piece in front of you, however, is not the one we showed you at the initial meeting. In fact, it is a piece that was built right here in this workshop last evening. It was driven out to Indianapolis for this meeting. Peter?"
Peter then sent the same piece back around the room.
"Look over the piece, and if you look in the upper right corner you will notice that etched in the design is the Java logo, on the bottom right is the date and time of the meeting and in the lower left an outline of the Indianapolis cityscape."
Leslie held for the oohs and ahhs to die down.
"I know what you are saying is ok it's a different design. You could have built this when the meeting was set up, which by the way was a mere day ago." She wat
ched the nods go around the room.
"What you now see in front of you," she directed them toward Peter who was now holding up the device Justin delivered, "is a state of the art, proprietary, one of a kind, pat pending device is known as the LesFrame-a-tronic. And yes, before you ask, I’m not married to that name.”
The line produced the expected laughs. She exhaled as her blood pressure continued to lower, “It is the only one on the entire planet, or should I say only one of only two." Leslie held up a similar device in the workshop.
"With this device, we will be able to not only create customized frames for whatever rollout approach you have, but we will not skimp on the quality and craftsmanship of a custom frame." Leslie continued to speak of the virtues of the device as she shifted over to the table and loaded the equipment into the drill mechanism of the workshop. She put on her safety goggles and gloves.
"As I tell my husband all the time, actions speak louder than words." She turned on the machine as a quiet buzz whipped through the room and over the speaker. "Let's say you are expanding in the St. Louis area, well now you can adjust your frames to be one hundred percent customized.” She raised her eyes back toward the monitor, directing her next question to the Java team, “anyone call out a name, a fictitious name for a diner in St. Louis."
A hand rose to the right of the screen followed by the voice, "Jerry's dinner and diner." The room burst into laughter.
"Let me take a wild guess, would your name happen to be Jerry?" the room filled with laughter confirming the assumption. "Ok, quick anyone, name any landmark which you may want to highlight on a Java frame,"
"Golden Arches," came one cry.
"Beker's oven," came another
"Wheat stalk," came a third.
Leslie quickly wrote down each suggestion and typed them into the laptop. As the group threw out ideas, Leslie's hands became a blur of activity. Typing, sorting and categorizing the information the drill machine came alive as it began to drill, the large block of wood shrinking it down. It swung side to side as the drill made it marks and worked its magic. Leslie filled in the time, "obviously there is a lot of preplanning and additional work involved, but I wanted to show that in moments a fully customized frame could be produced. The final product from the machine will still require final cleanup, brushing, and intricate work by hand but it can take a block of wood from zero to the eighty-five and in some cases ninety-five percent point in under thirty minutes."