Here We Go Again Ch 03

Two years after striking my deal with Hank Marsha, Hank's secretary, called me in a panic. She had gone into Hank's office and found him face down on his desk and she couldn't get him to respond. I told her to call 911 and I rushed over to his office. I felt for a pulse, but couldn't find one and I got him on the floor and started doing CPR on him and I kept it up until the paramedics arrived, but it was no use. He was gone.

Knowing that Michelle and Ronnie didn't get along all that well and figuring that I would break the news a little more gently than Michelle would I called Ronnie first and let her know what happened and where the paramedics were taking Hank. And then I called Michelle who was in a meeting at the Hilton. I was a little shocked at her response to the news.

"He's dead? You are sure about that?"

"I am."

"Well if he's dead there is nothing I can do so I might just as well stay here and finish the meeting."

I didn't even say goodbye; I just hung up the phone on her.

I got together with Marsha and reviewed Hank's calendar and then got on the phone and cancelled several appointments that he had. Then I went down on the plant floor and informed the rank and file that Hank was gone. While I was performing that sad chore Marsha paged me and said that I was needed back in the office as soon as possible. I hurried back to the office and she said:

"Halsey on line two."

I picked up the phone and said, "Good morning Bart. What can I do for you?"

"I just called Hank to verify our lunch date and found out what happened to Hank. Who is in charge now that Hank is gone?"

"I'm not certain, but my guess is that his daughter will pick up the reins. Why?"

"We were supposed to meet for lunch at two and sign our renewal contract. I need that contract in place before the bank will release the funds I have to have for the expansion and retooling I need and I'm under some deadlines as far as locking in the contractors. I've got till end of business tomorrow to lock them in or they will be taking other jobs and I will have to get back in line until they can get the time to get back to me."

"Let me make some calls and I'll get back to you."

I called Avery Collins who was Hank's attorney and filled him in on what had happened. Then I told him of Halsey's call and asked him who could act for the company in the absence of Hank. He surprised the hell out of me when he said:

"You can."

"I can?"

"You are an owner of the company and right at this moment you are the only official owner by virtue of your ten percent holdings. The other owners are not really official until the will is read and even then who is going to be in charge is not cast in stone."

"You are sure about this?"

"Absolutely."

"I'm not sure how his daughter is going to take it."

"Don't sweat it. You have legal standing."

I called Halsey back and told him I would meet him for lunch and we would get the contract signed. Then I asked Marsha if she knew where the contract was so I could look it over before meeting Halsey. She went into Hank's office and came back with his briefcase.

"Everything you need is in there" she said as she handed it to me. I went back to my office, opened the brief case, found the Halsey contract and went through it. It was a straight forward renewal with nothing changed except it was extended for three years.

Once I knew where I was on Halsey I called Ronnie and asked her if there was anything I could do for her and she told me not at the moment, but in a couple of days she might need my help. I told her not to hesitate to call if she needed anything at all.

Once I got off the phone I went back into Hank's briefcase to see if there was anything else that needed urgent attention. I found a couple of contracts with sticky notes on them outlining changes that Hank had intended to make and I decided to review them when I got back from lunch.

I met Halsey at Mario's and we signed the contract and then I went back to the office. I got on the phone and made some calls to people whom I thought should know about Hank's passing and then spent the rest of the afternoon reviewing the contents of Hank's brief case. There was nothing out of the ordinary with them and I gave Marsha the rough drafts of the contracts with the changes that Hank wanted and asked her to type them up.

I stopped for a beer or two on the way home and as I worked on them I wondered what the morning was going to bring and if I was up to it. One thing I knew for sure is that I would be facing Michelle and I was not looking forward to it.

++++++++++++++++++++

I arrived at the office at eight and at eight ten Marsha called me and told me that Mrs. Haight (Michelle) wanted to see me in her office.

"Tell her I'm too busy right now to run down to the Sales department."

"She isn't in her office in Sales. She has moved into Hank's office."

"Well I'm still too busy right now. Tell her I'll give her a call when things clear up here."

Three minutes later my door opened and Michelle stormed into my office.

"What the hell do you mean that you are too busy to see me? If you value your job you had better get your head out of your ass if you expect me to keep you on here. I want to know where the hell you get off signing contracts on behalf of this company. I did not authorize you to sign anything and that goes for the contracts that Marsha says she is typing up for you now. You do not commit my company to anything without my approval. Do you understand that? And when I call you to my office you had better get off your ass and get there. Are we clear on that?"

"Actually I'm quite clear on a couple of things. One of them is that your father's attorney has assured me that I can sign contracts on behalf of the company. I called him and cleared it before my meeting with Halsey. Another thing I'm quite clear on is that until your father's will is read and we see how he distributed his assets and who gets control of the company I am a vice president and you are only the manager of a department. My advice to you is to get back to Sales and do what you are supposed to be doing there.

"And there is one more thing I am absolutely clear on. Your father gave me a ten year employment contract when I told him I was going to look for another job rather than end up working for you. You can buy me out of the contract, but you can't fire me or lay me off. Now get out of here and let me get back to work."

"You haven't heard the last of this" she snarled.

"Get out Mrs. Haight before I call security and have you removed.

"You wouldn't dare!"

I reached for the phone and she turned and stormed out of the office. I called Marsha and asked her to come to my office. When she got there I described my meeting with Michelle and told her until such time as Hank's will was read and we determined who would be running the company that she should take her direction from me.

"Don't sweat pissing off Mrs. Haight. If it gets down to it I will have personnel assign you to me and Mrs. Haight will not be able to let you go."

"But why wouldn't Mrs. Haight take over the company?"

"Maybe Hank left the business to his wife. Maybe he left half to his wife and half to his daughter or maybe he had a favorite cousin that he left part of the business to. Maybe he didn't even have a will and his wife and Mrs. Haight will have to fight it out in court. The only thing I am sure of is that I am untouchable unless whoever takes over wants to buy me out of my contract which still has eight years to go and as long as I am untouchable so are you.

"I'm not saying to openly antagonize her; I'm just saying that you should quietly check with me if she asks you to do anything that will have an impact on the company or the people who work here. Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not asking you to take sides. You have worked here for over ten years and you were with Hank for over three and I am also assuming that you have become attached to the company and would like to see it prosper. All I'm asking is that you keep the best interests of the company in mind. Can you do that?"

She nodded a yes and I asked her to get back to the contracts I'd asked her to type up.

Marsha was no sooner out of my office than I got a call from Ronnie asking me to meet her for lunch. I told her I could and we set it up for twelve-thirty at Tricocci's.

She was already there sitting in a booth in the back and she stood up and gave me a hug when I got there. Jared took our order and then Ronnie said:

"You are no doubt curious about why I wanted to meet you for lunch."

"It did cross my mind."

"I'm getting a jump on the competition."

"Competition? You will need to explain that one to me."

"Please don't think bad of me for bringing it up when poor Hank isn't even in the ground yet, but to me this is extremely important. It was his heart by the way. What they told me is that his heart just quit. Anyway. With Hank gone my sole source of income is going to be what I get from the company. His insurance will pay off the house, the cars and all the credit card balances and I will have some left over, but not much. There is little in savings. Hank put all the money back into the company.

"I'm going to have to go back to work and my only work experience is as a secretary and it won't pay enough for me to pay my taxes, utilities and the like unless I live very frugally. I'm going to need the money I can get from the company and that is where my problem lies. To be quite blunt about it Michelle and I don't get along. She was never very happy that her father married someone only six years older than her. She also blames me for the breakup between her dad and her mother even though it was her mother getting caught with her lover that caused the divorce."

"I still don't understand the bit about getting a jump on the competition you mentioned."

"I know what Hank's will says. The company will be split equally between me and Michelle. I'm afraid that with Michelle working there she will find a way to screw me over and that is what I am trying to prevent."

"How does having lunch with me help you?"

"If I can get you in my corner she won't be able to screw me over."

"I still don't understand where this is going."

"Michelle and I only get forty-five percent of the business each. If I have you on my side I will have fifty-five percent and control. Michelle isn't dumb and she knows that your ten percent of the company will be needed for her to control things so I decided to try and get to you first."

"Why would you want control? And what do you mean by control?"

"Together we would have fifty-five percent so we could give you the presidency instead of Michelle taking over the company. I believe the company will fare better with you running it instead of Michelle. I know that Hank always meant for her to take over from him, but I don't believe she has been there long enough to learn enough to run the company properly whereas you have been there quite a while and Hank depended on you. Hank thought highly of you and that's good enough for me. I trust you to keep the business profitable and that will be to my benefit."

"You know Michelle will fight it. She has had her heart set on taking over so she can get even with me for ending our engagement."

"You were right to do it. Her two marriages ended in divorce because of cheating. I really believe she knew she couldn't be faithful and that is why she wouldn't sign the agreement you handed her. So; can I count on your support?"

"I will consider it, but I won't commit to anything until I see how things shake out when the will is read. I would suggest that since you have a vested interest in the company as long as you are going to look for a job it might as well be at your own company."

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Can't you imagine how Michelle would lord it over me as a mere secretary?"

"Were you a good secretary?"

"Pretty good. I was Hank's secretary for six years before he married me."

"So I hire you as a secretary and then promote you to my personal assistant and as a PA you will make more than a secretary. Not only that, but you will learn about the changes that have occurred since you left and as an owner you may decide to take a more active role in the running of it."

"I'm not sure that Michelle will like that."

"Her likes and dislikes don't enter in to it. If you are right about what Hank's will says the company is as much yours as it is hers. Besides, I think the big explosion will come when she finds out that I'm a part owner and she won't be able to screw with me."

"I'm sure she knows."

"I wouldn't bet on it. She didn't know about the employment contract that Hank gave me when he gave me my shares. Also if she knew I doubt that she would have tried to get pushy with me this morning."

"She did what?"

I told Ronnie what had happened and she started laughing. "You threw her out of your office? God, but I would have loved to see that."

"Well it sure didn't do much to make my working relationship with her any easier."

"Don't worry about it. Unless Hank changed his will without telling me we will be able to keep her from making a mess of things. Now; who do I talk to about going to work?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

At four that afternoon I received a call from Ronnie.

"They released Hank's body to the funeral home. The funeral will be Friday at nine and Avery told me that the reading of the will can be at any time I select. I want to get things settled as soon as possible so I told him to set it up as soon as he could. He just called me back and said we could do it Thursday at two. By three we will know what is what."

My confrontation with Michelle caused her to step back and take a 'wait and see' attitude and she avoided me at work which didn't upset me at all. I did admit to being just a tad worried though. I hadn't been entirely truthful when I told Michelle that I had an employment contract and that she couldn't fire me. If she did somehow get control of the company she could fire me, but if she did she would have to pay me the balance of my contract. With eight years remaining and at my current salary of 100k a year it would cost her 800k to show me to the door. The question was did she dislike me enough to pay that much just to see me gone?

The reading of the will went as Ronnie had said. I wasn't there, but Ronnie filled me in. Hank left his shares in the company to be equally divided between Ronnie and Michelle. The wording was that his 'holdings' were to be split evenly between his wife and daughter. Michelle assumed that it meant that she owned fifty percent of the company and it wasn't until she told Ronnie that she would take over the running of the company that she found out she only owned forty-five percent.

When she told Ronnie that she would take over Ronnie told her that the decision as to who would be in charge would have to be decided at an ownership meeting. Ronnie told me what Michelle had to say to that.

"You and I are the owners and I'm qualified to run it and you aren't. You know nothing about running a company."

"Maybe not, but Rob does."

"What does Rob have to do with this?"

"I think he is a lot more qualified to run the business than you are."

"That's a matter of opinion. You and I own the company and you and I will run it and I'm sure that you realize that of the two of us I'm more experienced than you."

"You and I only own ninety percent of the company. That's why we need an ownership meeting."

"Nonsense. Daddy left the company to us. You were at the same will reading that I was. Daddy left it to us."

"Your father left his holdings to us. He only held ninety percent of the stock."

"Who has the other ten percent?"

"Rob."

"Rob? How in the hell did he get part of a family held company?"

"He was going to quit and the only way your dad could keep him was to give him a long term employment contract and part of the company."

"Why didn't daddy just let him go?"

"I think Rob is more important to this company than you realize. Whatever. We are going to have to have an ownership meeting to see where we go from here."

++++++++++++++++++++++

Ronnie called me and asked me if I could meet with her and Michelle to discuss the running of the company and I of course agreed to do it. We met in the conference room at work. Ronnie, as the head of the family now that Hank was gone, started out the meeting by saying:

"We need to figure out our best options for moving forward. It is my belief that you need to assume the presidency Rob. You are the only one here with the background and experience to do the job."

"I don't agree" Michelle said. "Granted, I haven't been with the company as long as Rob, but my experience here and my previous experience before I came here qualifies me for the job. In addition this is a family owned company and starting with my great grandfather who started the company only family members have headed the company."

"You have a point there as far as family members are concerned" Ronnie said, "What do you think Rob?"

"I know what Hank wanted. We talked about it often enough. He fully expected that one day Michelle would run the company and I believe that eventually she should. But I also know that as late as two weeks ago Hank thought she needed at least another three or four years before she would be ready."

I turned to Michelle and said, "His plan was to let you finish the year in sales and then move you to production for two years. After production he was going to give you a year in outside sale and then move you into Marketing as my assistant for a year. Then he was going to create the position of executive vice president and move you into it. I think it is a good plan and I think we should stick to it, but with a few minor changes."

"What changes" Ronnie asked.

"Move to production now, but only for nine months to a year and then only nine months in outside sales. Nine months should be enough to learn all our territories and meet all of our customers."

"I don't really think I need to do all of that. As far as I'm concerned I'm ready to take over now."

"I'm going to side with Rob on this. If it was what your father wanted then it should be done" Ronnie said. "I propose appointing Rob as president of the company until such time as Rob feels that you are ready."

"I am opposed to that" Michelle said. "I'm family and I believe I am ready."

"Then I guess it is up to Ronnie to decide" I said.

"How do you figure that" Michelle asked.

"Simple math. My ten percent says not you. Your forty-five percent says you. Ronnie's forty-five percent either gives you ninety percent and control or it gives me fifty-five percent. Note that my ten percent says not you. It doesn't necessarily mean it has to be me. If a member of the family being in charge is a sticking point I can throw my ten percent to Ronnie and make her the head of the company."

"You aren't making any sense here Rob. If I'm not qualified according to you how in the hell can you think she is qualified?"

"She knows the company from being your father's secretary for over six years and I can act as an advisor to her."

"Why couldn't you do that for me?"

"Because she would listen to me and you wouldn't. I know you too well Michelle. If a decision had to be made on what we should do and I said we should do A you would say no and that we would have to do B. You might take advice from some one else, but our background would have you ignoring anything I would say just out of spite."

Then Ronnie said. "I intend to get involved in the business. But not at that level – at least not for a while."

I saw Michelle's face when she heard "At least not for a while" and it was obvious that she didn't like hearing that and her face hardened a bit. When Ronnie went on to say "I'm going to throw my vote to making Rob the president of the company effective immediately" Michelle stood up, said, "This is bullshit. It is not what my father wanted" and stormed out of the room.