Jerry Sinclair frantically ran through the field office of Snow Inc., critically inspecting each workstation. He usually had at least a day's notice before one of Phyllis Snow's visits, but for this one he had received only a phone call from her car...While she was on the way there from the airport. She had just returned from a meeting in New York with their biggest client, and she did not sound happy. She wanted to talk to Jerry and talk to him NOW. If nothing else, Jerry knew Phyllis would expect the office to be spotless, a mean, lean, sales-generating machine where the employees were kept away from any distractions that might hamper them in their efforts to move more product and make her richer.
Jerry made his way to the reception desk just on time. Right after inspecting the girl on the phones and ensuring that not one hair was out of place, Jerry heard the front door open. He snapped to attention as Phyllis strode in, trailed by her harried assistant. "Good morning, Ms. Snow," Jerry said, but received only a nod of acknowledgement. He followed Phyllis and her secretary through the office as Phyllis checked each workstation, one by one, all the while barking out orders that her secretary patiently scribbled down. The employees hunched over their phones and computer terminals, fearful of making eye contact with the brash, muscular Amazon woman who at 6' dwarfed Jerry's thin, 5'7" frame. Finally, Phyllis commanded her secretary to find an empty workstation and begin making the many phone calls and setting up the meetings she had demanded; the girl quickly scurried off. Then Jerry led Phyllis into his own office and closed the door.
He sat down at his desk as Phyllis turned her attention to the many video terminals lining one wall. Each was trained on a different part of the office...salespeople, data entry, accounting, file room, section managers. Not one employee was spared the electronic invasion, not even Jerry, the third man in charge. Phyllis' partner in the next office had a terminal where she could observe Jerry through the camera mounted, in plain sight, on the ceiling. "I had a meeting with Stephen McCallin this morning," Phyllis snapped.
"Yes, Ms. Snow?"
"It was not a happy meeting."
"Mr. McCallin isn't happy with all of the product we've been moving for him?" Jerry was sorry as soon as the words left his mouth. Phyllis turned around slowly, giving him a look that he feared more than death itself. He gulped when she brandished a remote control from her briefcase and aimed it at the ceiling, shutting the camera off.
"If Mr. McCallin had been happy," Phyllis growled, motioning for Jerry to come to her, "I WOULDN'T FUCKING BE HERE RIGHT NOW."