Michael's Search

Mike smiled and said, "I know I don't have to do this but I want to. I save a little along so I can splurge from time to time and I wanted to splurge with you tonight." They visited until after the meal was finished and Michelle was beginning to wonder if Mike had intended this to be a date or what was going on. She became even more worried when he ordered dessert and coffee.

After the waitress left with that order Mike reached for her hands and held them while he looked into her eyes. "I guess we need to talk about your problem now. I have a couple of ideas for you but I really don't want to ruin the evening with business. I've really enjoyed tonight and don't want to spoil it thinking about work.

"Shelly I think I may have an idea on what to do. Why don't you make copies of all the inventory papers that come through your desk for a while then when the next discrepancy occurs copy the changed papers too. When that happens we can take the copies to the Plant Manager and tell him what we found. We could even mail them to him anonymously."

"I guess I can do that but he'll know who had to send them if we just mail them. I mean I would be the logical person you know." Of course Mike didn't care about that because he planned on stepping in and 'dropping the hammer' before Michelle got in trouble for sending the copies. This was just the best he could come up with to keep her from reporting things before he was ready.

"I know but if you do that and keep copies for yourself too if you get in trouble you can find out who Pennington's boss is and go to him." Finally Michelle agreed to do what Mike suggested.

It was almost two weeks later when Michelle once again found a discrepancy in her numbers. She told Mike and also told him she had been making copies like he suggested. Mike smiled to himself when she told him that because he and the police were ready to move in. They had finished their preliminary investigation two days before. Warrants for the arrest of 7 people had been issued by the courts. They had decided to make the arrests before the weekend. Mike convinced Michelle to wait until the next day to report to the Plant Manager. He even convinced her to let him go with her when she made the report.

The next morning just after work began Mike, the company attorney, the Prosecuting Attorney and a task force of police descended on the company. Mike led them straight to the shop floor where he pointed out the men who were to be apprehended. Within minutes they were in custody and Mike and the attorney made their way to the Plant Manager's office. They found the Manager and his assistant already in his office. They walked into the office without knocking. They had heard the assistant telling the manager what was going on out in the shop.

When the two men walked into the office the Plant Manager turned his wrath on them. "Who the hell are you and what is the idea of just walking into my office like you own the damn place?" The Plant Manager looked more closely at Mike and said, "Hell, I know you. You're that damn dumb Gofer old man Fielding made us hire. What are you doing running around here like you own the place? You're fired. Now get out of here."

Mike looked at the attorney and said, "Tell George to stand by. It looks like we may need him here too." He turned back to the spluttering Manager and continued, "I am Michael Fielding and I DO own the place, or at least my family does. I've been here now over five months investigating the problems at this plant. Problems you should have found and rectified."

The manager blanched and began to splutter when Mike walked up to his desk. His assistant also turned white then red when Mike handed the Manager a copy of his authority to take over then continued, "This is a letter appointing me Plant Manager. If you had been doing your job instead of just sitting up here collecting your salary I wouldn't have to be here. Until a week ago I thought I might be able to keep you here in some capacity. After I went through some of your files the last several days and listened to some of the recordings I made of your meetings I have decided you are too incompetent to keep on. We can't prove you are involved in the theft going on at this plant; at least we can't prove it now but your lack of oversight, your failure to identify the problem and solve it is almost criminal by itself. I've decided you are too incompetent to keep on in any capacity."

The manager was just sitting there in shock. His mouth opened then closed. He looked around with a sick, haunted look then slumped in his chair a defeated man. Mike raised his voice and said, "George I think you need to come in here and assist Mr. Pennington. Help him pack his personal belongings. Personnel will be up shortly with his severance papers. After he has been out processed please escort him home and return with the company car he has been using."

One of Mike's security team walked into the room. He was very large and very black. He looked at Mike quickly then stood staring at Mr. Pennington. "Yes Sir. I can do that."

"I knew you could. When you get back please look me up. I may have more for you to do."

"Yessir."

Mike looked at Josie Sloan, Pennington's assistant. She was standing in shock. Her face was white. She looked scared, beaten. Mike frowned and said, "Ms. Sloan why don't we go to your desk while George takes care of Mr. Pennington. I need to begin going over correspondence and records I didn't have access to before."

After he had been there for almost three hours Mike pushed his way back from the desk he was using. He had been watching a frantic Josie scuttle around trying to find papers as he asked for them. Many times she could not find the paperwork and or could not answer questions he put to her that had a direct bearing on her job. She had tears running down her cheeks as she struggled with his requests. She was nervous and scared and it showed.

Mike sat back in his chair and watched her for a moment then he said gently, sorrowfully, "You have no idea what to do or what has been going on here do you Josie?"

Josie slumped down into her chair and began crying. She shook her head no.

"How did you get this job Josie? You don't appear to have either the education or the capability to do the work. Who was doing this job?"

Josie continued crying as she talked, "I've only been here less than a year sir. I've been trying but..." She took a deep breath and continued, "I'm Alfred's Sister in Law. When my husband lost his job Alfred hired me to help him here. He said all I had to do was answer the phone and keep appointment lists for him. If we needed anything else done we had one of the other secretaries do it. I typed some of his letters and filed some things but I guess I didn't do much more than that. I'm sorry sir."

Mike leaned back in the chair once more and sighed. "Is your husband working now?"

Josie shook her head no.

"Well I'm sure you know I can't let you stay on as my assistant. Frankly you don't seem to have the education to even work as a secretary. I really don't know what to do with you. Why don't you go home for the day while I try to figure out what to do about all this?"

"Yes Sir."

"Wait. Before you go I need you to go to the warehouse and find Michelle Howerton. Tell her to report immediately to the Plant Manager's office but DO NOT tell her my name or that I am here. You got that?"

Josie nodded her head 'yes' and departed. Just before she left the room Mike said, "Josie. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning at your regular time OK?"

Josie stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder. She quietly said, "Yes Sir" then continued on her errand.

When Josie found Michelle she was working at her desk. Most of the employees on the floor and in the warehouse were working slowly if at all. Many were just standing around talking about the arrests. No one seemed to know Mr. Pennington had been fired.

When Josie told Michelle to report to the Manager's office she said, "What? Why does he need me?" She became scared. "He doesn't think I had anything to do with the mess down here does he?"

Josie shook her head no and said, "I don't know. All I know was I was told to find you and tell you to go to the Plant Manager's office immediately."

Michelle sighed and shut down her computer. She stacked her paperwork neatly on her desk. She moved rapidly but hesitantly toward the administration section of the building. Her fear was building rapidly as she walked. She felt many eyes on her as she walked past people toward the Plant Manager's office suite. When she arrived she saw Josie had not returned yet. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she wait or should she knock on the closed door to the inner office? Why was she here? Were they going to fire her, or worse, were they going to arrest her too?

Finally Michelle decided to knock on the door. When she did she heard a familiar voice say, "Come in." She hesitated a moment. The voice sounded like Mike's but that couldn't be; could it?

Michelle pushed the door open then looked up at the desk. She stopped in shock when she saw Mike sitting behind the desk in an expensive looking suit. She then glanced at the name plate on the desk. It said Michael Fielding. Michelle felt her face heat up as she remembered all she had told Mike over the past several months. Now she was sure she was going to be fired.

Mike couldn't help it. He had to tweak her a little. He smiled and said, "Well Michelle you look surprised for some reason. Is something wrong?"

"Yes! Unh NO."

"You know you caused me a lot of problems the other night. Did you ever think you might be too smart for your own good? I had to make some decisions and we had to take some actions a little faster than I had intended to because of you. Now I'm afraid it's going to cost you."

"NO! Please Mike, uh Mr. Fielding. Don't fire me. I explained it wasn't my fault. I told you I thought someone was messing with the numbers. PLEASE!"

Mike began laughing and Michelle felt herself become angry. She started to talk once more when Mike raised his hand and said, "Whoa there Shelly. I never said anything about firing you but this DID cost you your job. I can't have someone like you working at a piddling little job like Inventory Control Clerk when they are as sharp as you. I had to fire Alfred today and I'm afraid I have to find a new Administrative Assistant now too. It seems Alfred hired his Sister in Law as his assistant and she has absolutely no idea of what to do. She's been in the job almost a year and still has no idea what to do or how to do it. I need a new Administrative Assistant and I'm afraid that's going to be you."

Mike looked at the shocked expression on Michelle's face then continued, "Well, that is if you want the job. I'm afraid it doesn't pay much right now but I'm sure it will pay more than you were making."

Michelle slowly sank into one of the chairs facing Mike's desk. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were big. She slowly nodded her head 'yes' then seemed to find her voice. She said, "Yes. I think I'd like to try that but I'm not sure I know what to do either."

"I think you'll do fine Shelly. Now, let's get down to business. First off, what do you know about Josie? I found out her husband isn't working and she needs desperately to keep working. I told her she couldn't do this job. Do you think she could do yours or is there something else in the plant she can do. I hate to just fire her if I can help it. It isn't her fault she was hired for something she was incompetent to do."

"I really don't know her too well at all Mike, uh Mr. Fielding. I've"

"Hold on their Shelly. I've been Mike to you for months and that's what I want to be. Call me Mike unless we're in a business meeting please. Then Mr. Fielding is ok. Now, what were you about to say about Josie?"

"Well, I really don't have any knowledge about her. I have spoke to her occasionally in the lunch room and I have listened to her talking there too. I don't think she has any education past high school and I got the impression she didn't do well there. She might do ok in the warehouse but I'm not sure about my job."

"Well why don't you take her down to your old workstation tomorrow and spend the day showing her what she needs to do. If she can do that job it will be easier on her than warehouse work. She doesn't look too strong to me. Besides, I think it pays a little better than she would get on the floor."

Michelle smiled at Mike and said, "OK. You know you're really a good buy aren't you? You didn't have to do that for her."

The next morning Michelle did take Josie to her desk. To her surprise Josie seemed to catch on to the requirements better than she expected. She spent the morning with her showing her what to do and made arrangements to drop by just before closing that evening to help if needed. For the rest of the week Michelle dropped by a couple times a day to check on Josie. She found very few problems and only had to correct Josie twice for a repeat error.

On Friday evening just before he left Michelle knocked on Mike's door. She entered when he told her to. "Mike how did you know Josie could do my old job?"

Mike looked at her and said, "Well, I really wasn't sure if she could or not but I wanted to give her a chance. I take it from this that she's doing ok?"

"Yeah she is. I was actually surprised. The first morning while I was trying to teach her what to do and how to do it I was sure she would be either fired or out on the floor by now. She tried to take notes and her writing is horrible, her spelling worse. I couldn't even read some of what she wrote and she asked the same question over and over. I finally just had to stand with her and tell her over and over what to do as each item came in. I've gone down two or three times a day to check on her. Each time I go down I find fewer errors so yes; I think she may work out."

"OK. Let's leave things like they are for another week. If she's still doing ok next Friday we'll drop our checks for the next week to see if she can work completely on her own. Tell her to call you if she gets into trouble then we'll do spot checks for the rest of the month."

After Josie had been in her job for a little over three weeks Mike walked past her desk while he was going through the plant checking on things. He did his walk around routinely but this was the closest he had ever come to Josie's work area. She watched him come up to her with fear on her face. She turned white when he said, "Hello Josie."

"Hello Mr. Fielding."

"Josie Ms. Howerton tells me you're doing a fine job here in inventory control. How do you like your new job now that you've learned it?"

"She does? OH! I'm sorry Sir. I like it fine."

Mike smiled and said, "Great. Glad to hear that. Just keep up the good work." He began to walk away to visit with someone else when Josie said, "Mr. Fielding."

Mike turned back to her and saw her wringing her hands. She blushed and said, "Mr. Fielding I never thanked you for keeping me on. I don't know what my husband and I would have done if I had lost my job too. You know I don't have much schooling and most of the jobs I could have gotten wouldn't have paid minimum wage even if someone had hired me. We're grateful Sir and if I can ever do something for you I will."

"Your husband is still out of work then?"

Josie nodded her head yes.

"What kind of work did her do Josie?"

"Well Mr. Fielding he was just like me. He just barely got through high school. He mostly did unskilled work. He did some construction and warehouse work and I mostly did waitress work. His last job he got promoted to forklift driver but then he got laid off."

"Josie we still have a few jobs we haven't filled after we fired the bad apples. Has he applied for work here?"

"Yes Sir, he has but they haven't called him or nothing."

"OK. Well, I'd better move on. See ya later."

When Mike got back to his office he called the Human Resources Manager. "Hey slick. This is Mike Fielding. Say, do we still have any unskilled jobs to fill in the warehouse?"

"Yes Sir we do. I have two left but I wouldn't call them really unskilled. We need a forklift driver and a loading dock foreman. I have one applicant I think may make a good foreman but I'm sort of stuck on the forklift operator. I have tried one guy off the street and he didn't last a week. We've been letting some of the parts pullers do the work as an additional duty but none of them want to do it full time."

"Check in the applicant files and see if you find an application from Seth Sloan please."

"Sure, just a moment." Mike heard some rustling and a drawer slamming closed. "Yeah, I have it Mr. Fielding. Jesus. Is this guy for real? I can hardly read his writing and I think every word is misspelled."

"Bring it up to my office would you please. Let's see what we have there."

Mike and the HR Director spent almost thirty minutes trying to decipher the application. They found where Seth had listed his past work experience. One of the jobs he listed was as a "Forker"

Mike laughed and pushed his chair back from the conference table they had been sitting at. "Hell with an application like that I'm surprised he was ever hired anywhere. You know he's Josie's husband don't you?"

"No, I didn't. Crap I thought she was as dumb as they come but he may be worse. I was sure surprised when she worked out in inventory control. I suppose she's still doing OK isn't she?"

"Yes, Michelle says she's doing fine. A little slow but her numbers are matching. If we ever have a problem like before though she'll never catch on like Michelle Did.

"Well, anyway, I like to take care of our employees if we can. She told me Seth had worked as a forklift driver at his last job. Do you suppose that's what a Forker is? Why don't you call him up and offer him the job. Put him on a month's probation. If he does the job OK make him permanent at the end of the month. Don't cut him any slack but don't make things too rough on him either."

"I can't read the phone number here. It's in the cell block and there isn't a number listed for a home phone. Would it be OK if I just have Josie tell him we want to see him when she goes home tonight or have her call him?"

Mike laughed and said, "Yeah that's fine. Just get him in here and let's give him a chance."

The next day Seth Sloan was hired when he came to work with Josie. Shortly after ten a.m. Josie ran past Michelle's desk and directly into Mike's office. She darted around his desk and wrapped her arms around him. She was crying and he felt her tears on his cheek when she gave him a kiss. She stepped back and said, "Oh, Thank you Mr. Fielding. I don't know how Seth and I will ever repay you but thank you for giving him a chance. I know he'll do a good job for you. He'd better or I'll make him regret it. Thank you so much. We were about to lose our house and how maybe we can get caught up on our bills and keep our home. Oh, thank you so much."

Michelle was standing just inside the door staring at Mike and Josie. She watched as Josie wiped her face with her hand and walked out of the office heading back to her work area.

"Mike what was that about? She was already past my desk before I could stop her. I'm sorry."

"Don't let it bother you Shelly. She told me a day or so ago that Seth was till out of work. He used to operate a forklift. We needed a forklift operator so I had HR give him a try is all."

Michelle gave Mike a strange look. As she was turning to return to her desk she muttered, "Oh, that's all huh?"

Michelle didn't know what to think about Mike. He was absolutely ruthless rooting out the thieves and incompetents in the company then he saved one of them by giving her an easier job. When he found out her husband needed work he found a job for him. She wasn't sure what to think about Mike at all.