Authors Note: These chapters will make almost no sense if not read in order. If you haven't, I strongly suggest you go back to the introduction and chapter 1.
A bit of a slow start to this chapter, hang in there, once I get some background out of the way it gets better. Enjoy.
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Life was good for Jill and Bob since Clair had gone off to college. Clair's weight was under control thanks to regular walks and rejoining her tennis team. Bob was also building a reputation at work as an outstanding salesperson, and one who went out of his way to help others. Bob never hesitated to coach or help younger or less experienced salespersons. It was obvious to both management and his coworkers that Bob was more concerned with the company's success than his own.
It was still a surprise when Bob was called to the Chairman of the Board's office. Mrs. Wainwright's family had founded Chain Manufacturing and still owned the majority of the stock. As a result, her word was law. And Mrs. Wainwright was an imposing woman, Bob had heard many stories. So it was with some trepidation that Bob made his way to the top floor and into the Chairman's reception area.
"Go right in Bob, she and Mr. Wilson are expecting you!" the assistant said smiling.
"Oh shit," thought Bob, "the President of the Company is here too."
Pleasantries were exchanged and Bob was surprised when Mrs. Wainwright seemed to know all about him and his family. She asked how Clair was doing at State, She asked how Jill's tennis team was doing, and she talked about Bob's golf game, which was abysmal.
Shortly, she got down to business.
"Bob," She said, "We've been watching you. You've exceeded quotas consistently for years in one of our historically toughest territories. Yet you still find time to coach and council with your co-workers, and that coaching makes your division one of the best in the company."
"Thank you, but I'm just doing my job."
"Well now you're going to do it as a part of our executive team as V.P. of Sales," She said.
Bob was in shock. He thought there were at least two people above him in line for the retiring V.P.s job, one of them was his boss who was gonna be pissed!"
Mr. Wilson continued, "You'll report directly to me Bob, you'll get the V.P.s corner office of course, an assistant of your choice, roughly double your current salary and a small percentage of all your divisions sales as a commission."
"And" Mrs. Wainwright added, "you'll receive stock options. We like our executives to own a part of the company. Assuming you accept of course."
Bob was in such shock he could hardly stammer out "Yes, Of course!" which he later thought wasn't very professional, but Mrs. Wainwright and Mr. Wilson looked at each other and smiled.
When he got home Bob found Jill in the kitchen, he picked her up by the waist and spun her around saying "Your husband is the new V.P. of Sales!"
After celebrating, Bob announced that he was putting an order down on an Audi EV and asked Jill what celebratory purchase she wanted to make. She thought for a minute and said, "To replace that old wood fence around the back yard."
"Seriously?", Bob was surprised, "I mean I agree we want to stay here. This house is perfect for us, and I wouldn't want to buy some McMansion just because we're rich. But I thought you would at least want a car or some jewelry or maybe to hire a maid to clean this place."
"My car's just fine," Jill exclaimed, "and I have more Jewelry that I ever wear. And why would I want a maid. I get off on service, cleaning the house naked and in chains turns me on. But that damn broken-down fence bugs me every time I walk out in the back yard. I don't just want to replace it with more Home Depot wood sections, I want a nice, custom-made Iron fence and gate."
Bob had no words. His wife could be unpredictable but a fence? He just smiled and nodded his head.
Later that week, Jill found herself entering through an impressive decorative double gate into the junkiest work yard she had ever seen. It was so junky with piles of iron rod, sheets, and beams, that she almost didn't drive through the gates. In the back of the yard, she found a large industrial building that wasn't much better, it was rusted and had weeds growing up the side. But Schwartz Iron Art, a division of Schwartz Iron Works, had been recommended to her as THE place to get her fence.
When she walked into the building everything changed. There was every type of metal working equipment, and it was all clean and neat. All the iron inside the building was neatly stored in racks. Several young women were hard at work bending, shaping, and welding. Clair was surprised, she didn't see a single man in the shop. One of the workers looked up, noticed her, and called out "Jenni".
In a few minutes Clair saw a woman walk out of a door in the back of the shop smiling. "You must be Jill, I'm Jenni, come on back to the office it's a little quieter. Jenni was wearing blue jean overalls and there was obviously nothing under the top. Her hair was orange, and the left side of her head was shaved, she was obviously the artist behind Schwartz better work.
Over the next hour, Jenni showed Jill some of their work. They built gates, burglar bars, art installations, iron fences, and much more. Jill was impressed with the artistic quality and the mechanical quality of their work. Back in the office, Jill watched as Jenni sketched out some ideas and they made plans to come to the house to take measurements.
At one point, one of the employees came through the office and entered a door in the back. Jill just got a glimpse of what she was sure were cell bars. When the employee came back out, Jill was sure she saw cell bars. As they were wrapping up Jill decided to indulge her curiosity. She liked Jenni and didn't think she would mind.
"I noticed that all your employees are female, that's kind of unusual for a business like this so I'm impressed."
"Well, we try to recruit women interns from the local technical college but there aren't many that enjoy this type of work. We also recruit women studying metal art at the University. I think Women have a better sense of design." Said Jenni.
Jill decided to go all in, "I couldn't help noticing that you have what looks like a jail cell in the back?"
Jenni didn't say anything for a while and Jill expected her to deny it or claim it was art or something. All Jenni said was "The employees aren't supposed to go back there when we have customers in the office."
