This is part 29 of my continuing story and I recommend you read the prior stories (especially Part 28) in order before reading this one.
All characters are well over the age of consent.
This is a work of fiction.
Any typos are mine as I create and edit my own work.
Please vote and leave a nice comment or two.
Enjoy!
*******
The next morning, tired but happy after a long night of unbridled sex, Paige and I rode down the elevator to the meeting room and I noticed she had on the same lipstick as when we first met at Lake Tahoe.
I complimented her on how great she looked and shared with her how hard she got me that morning in Lake Tahoe wearing that shade of lipstick while she was sipping her coffee.
Paige smiled and replied, "I'll make sure I have it on tonight before I blow you."
I gave her a frown and asked, "I have to wait until tonight?"
She kissed my cheek and said "Maybe I'll have you for lunch. But my ass is off limits."
"Already closing the back door on me?" I teased her.
"Only until tonight lover, only until tonight."
The elevator door opened, and we walked side by side to the room for our meeting with the owners of the printing companies.
I held the door open for her and Paige whispered to me as she walked by, "You'll be dripping out of me for the next week!"
That got us both smiling.
*******
Our opening session with the owners of the printing companies went well, better than I expected.
After introductions around the room, I reviewed the agenda that had previously been sent out and advised everyone of a notable change: we would be having cocktails and dinner at the American Consulate that evening. I told everyone "This is your opportunity to make friends with people in Washington DC."
On that high note, I shared the numbers and the trend lines, and they all nodded at what they knew to be the truth, they were all in a sales decline, but the printing industry overall was growing.
On the bright side, I highlighted specific segments that were growing and detailed out several opportunities for volume and profitable revenue.
I explained how we were going to capitalize on these growing markets and shared where each side was going to make sacrifices, financially and otherwise, so we could start making the conversion to better, higher margin business.
I discussed the heavy overhead at HQ and the immediate steps we were taking to reduce those costs.
There were some frowns and some note taking but no one said anything.
When I got to the slide where we were going to let all the young people go, there was some verbal pushback, but I was able to keep the noise down to a dull roar and just a few sidebars until I could get the people who would be hiring from our little job fair into the room to take some questions.
Assured that their children would all be soon working and not returning home to be a further burden on their families, the opposition turned into approval.
When I got to the subject of growth, I had a slide on each of the four new salespeople and was able to answer questions as they came up.
All this time Paige had been silent, sitting in the back, gauging the mood, taking notes for follow-up.
At the end of the presentation, probably because her name had not appeared on any of the org chart slides, someone in the audience asked about Tia and her role; would it change or stay the same.
I was ready for this, I had spent a lot of time preparing for this, and at my signal, Paige left the meeting room.
It was now an all-male session.
*******
"We have a new role in mind for Tia. For the past couple of years, she has overseen what we call account management, visiting each of you on a regular basis, making sure that you are getting properly paid, and in some cases, hand delivering payments in cash to you. While this is something that she has done an exceptionally excellent job at, we believe that she has more abilities, and we would like to leverage those so that she becomes a profit center for each of you and not a cost to the cooperative. Now, before I go into details, I need each of you to share with me your thoughts on Tia. I want you to vote one time and you have three choices. Okay?"
They all nodded.
I continued, "When you have voted, I want you to leave the room and take a bathroom break, get a cup of coffee, or make a phone call. Okay?"
Heads nodded again.
"All those who want to see Tia in a new role, please raise your hands."
Nine hands went up. I politely thanked those gentlemen and excused them.
Once they left, I said "All those who do not have an opinion one way or another, please raise your hands."
Four hands went up and they departed.
Which left me with three gentlemen, the ones that I had expected to want to keep Tia in her role.
They were all older, either widowed, divorced or in unhappy marriages.
"Please share with me why specifically you want to keep Tia in her current role."
They weren't expecting this, and I got a lot of blustering and vague answers, which frankly was masking the real reason they wanted Tia to keep visiting them.
When Tia visited these three guys, she was fucking them. And getting extra cash for it, along with three allies who would fight on her behalf should anyone threaten her job. And the expenses for these trysts were showing up on Tia's company credit card.
Expensive hotels, outrageous food, and bar bills, even entertainment at gentleman's clubs and of course, green and cart fees at the country clubs.
Paige and Tia would argue about the spending and ended up hating each other for it. Paige was responsible for the profit and loss and Tia didn't care what she spent if her clients were happy.
I had noticed the whole story early on after reviewing one of the briefing binders. In a series of text messages with Marie, I learned all about Tia, more than I wanted to know, but I ended up with what I wanted: Tia now worked for me, she just didn't know it yet.
I simply told the three gentlemen that Tia would no longer be available for visiting with them and that as of today, their relations would be solely professional with every member of Paige's team. If I heard about any behavior issues they would be terminated as a member of the printer's group.
*******
After our meeting break, I brought the printers and Paige back into the room and shared the grand strategy, discussing everything including Paige's new expanded role (supervising the US based sales team along with HQ).
Following a quick buffet lunch, I got all the printers and Paige on a bus to visit a printer in Hong Kong. We wanted this prospect in the printers' group and thought that a visit with his peers might push him over the edge to sign up.
Everyone had to be back at the hotel in time to change clothes and get cleaned up for the cocktail party and dinner at the US Consulate. We would be spending time with a group of travelling Congresspeople, a few Senators and some folks from the Department of Commerce.
While they were gone, I had a one-on-one session with Tia. The problem child. She was going to be on a plane that evening to Singapore.