Breaking Out Bk. 02 Ch. 09

"Good morning Marsha, it's good to see you face to face," Marsha Granic was a surprise. He had formed a mental image of a middle-aged woman who had probably been quite good looking once but now age was creeping up on her.

Perhaps that image had been helped along by the support image he had formed of her grumpy and unpleasant husband, but the reality was that Marsha had a timeless beauty about her face that attracted Greg instantly.

He hadn't done any research to find out about her but he would definitely be looking for photos of her once this Zoom meeting was over.

"Good morning Greg, it's good to see you face to face too. So am I what you were expecting? She asked shyly.

"Not at all Marsha... definitely you're nothing like what I was expecting. So tell me about your plumbing supply business." Greg was happy to compliment Marsha but he didn't want to go further than that so it was time to steer the conversation towards something less personal.

"Granic Plumbing Supplies has been part of my husband's family for four generations. It has grown from a very small storefront business to where it is today... and that is with a small warehouse and four stores in Fresno, Bakersfield, Victorville and Santa Clarita

"All those centres were doing quite well for a number of years but now, with the advent of the Internet, huge companies that we can't compete with and aren't even in the same state as us are taking great chunks of business away from us.

"About ten years ago my husband finally decided, after much badgering from me, that the business should open an online store so he went about finding someone to build the store for him. I don't know what criteria he used to assess potential website builders, but we ended up with something that is very hard to update, loads slower than a snail moves and generates sales like a dead body.

"We have around 8000 SKU's so it was quite an effort to get them all online but at great cost, over $10,000, we got there and now have an online shop that sort of works.

"At the same time we decided that we needed to do something about bringing our warehouse and stock inventory into the 21st Century and my husband found another person who could build a database that would keep track of all the stock... just so long as someone entered every sale and every piece of replacement stock into the database by hand.

The online shop was supposed to be integrated into the database too but it never worked properly so our stock control is an absolute mess and we are losing sales... a lot of sales... because we have no idea if we have something in stock or not... unless it is sitting right there in front of us on the showroom floor.

"So if someone comes in and needs to order something it can take a couple of days to find out if we have it in the warehouse or out in one of our other stores and then a couple more days to get it delivered to the warehouse and a few more days to get it shipped out to the store that ordered it.

"Amazon can get it delivered next day while we take two weeks. I'm sure you can see where that's all going."

"OK that's not good... so please give me an outline of what you want me to achieve?"

"A miracle?" and then she smiled and laughed. She won him with her smile and teased him with her laugh.

"Sorry... I'll try to be serious... it's just that if I don't make a joke about it then I will probably start crying. I want you to bring our online shop up to date... it's terribly old and clunky and we want something that looks very professional and very appealing and works.

"We need you to train us in how to use the shop and how to set our prices so that we're at least vaguely competitive.

"We want you to show us what we need to do to become the knowledge leaders for plumbing supples so that people will come to us because we can sell them the item and tell them how to fit it or use it.

"We want you to fix our stock system so that the stock levels are updated automatically at the point of sale, and we want the online shop to be tied into the system so that sales there automatically adjust the stock levels.

"And we want you to have a look at our retail stores to see what we can do to improve them.

"That's quite a list you've got there Marsha but the good thing is that the online shop and the stock control are all doable with off-the-shelve software or software as a service so the financial outlay is not going to be huge... but the big problem is that you will need at least one good, clear, photo of every one of your products.

"Those photos will be used in your online shop and in your stock control software so, while it is time-consuming to get it done the first time keeping it up to date is quite easy and it will clear up some of the problems that you have at the moment.

"Apart from those things the biggest cost will be the labour involved in setting up your online shop and your stock control system.

"We can handle everything for you from start to finish or we can work with service providers of your choice."

"What sort of timeframe would we be looking at Greg?"

"The biggest delay in projects of this size is always caused by the client who is simply overwhelmed by thought of taking 8000 photos and unfortunately a lot of the work in your stock control system and your online store can't really be started until we have the photos.

"Having said that, if you handed me a work order today along with a check for the deposit and 8000 photos I would say that we might be looking at 6 weeks to get the job done, tested and going live.

"Other things on your list will take longer and requires visits and inspections and things like that and, when it comes to the changes to your retail stores, I would need some details before I could even quote on those.

"Marsha this is not a project that you can measure on immediate value. You're not going to start making money the moment we turn your new online store on... it will take time for the sales to start happening because what we are talking about here is almost on a par with starting a new business So why don't I come up to Sacramento on Monday and sit down and talk to you about it.

"I'll have some figures for you, and we can even have a look at the Sacramento store to see what changes might need to be made there so I have some idea of what might need to be done across all five stores."

Greg was pleased to see a soft smile, "That sounds like a great idea Greg but instead of you coming to me why don't you and I meet in Bakersfield on the Monday morning. I'll book a suite at one of the hotels and we can use it for our discussions.

"Will we need it for just the one day or should I book it for two?"

"I think we will be all done in a day and a half... and Marsha, I hope you will join me for dinner at the end of the first day."

Marsha smiled and Greg knew he was hooked, "I would really enjoy that Greg... it's been a long time since I had a handsome man invite me out to dinner... and..."

Greg could see that she was rather embarrassed about something so he smiled to encourage her, "... I think I read somewhere that you and your wife have an open marriage..."

"Yes," he said guardedly, "we do."

"Then you won't be offended if I set out to seduce you and encourage you to stay two nights?"

Marsha almost held her breath as she waited for Greg to shut her down but she relaxed when she saw his smile.

"I won't be offended in the least... and you may not have to try real hard. Marsha, you're a beautiful woman with a beautiful smile and I'm a sucker for beautiful women with beautiful smiles.

He could see the colour rise in her face as she started to blush and then the screen went black and a little message popped up to say that Marsha had left the meeting.

"Damn she's gone," he muttered.

That's when the sniggering and giggling started, "You are such a... such a... I don't know what you are but you're it Greg Weston."

"You had Ellie and me sitting out of sight but listening to every word and you're chatting her up and getting her set for some hot sex?" Helen laughed, "I bet you even stay the Wednesday night as well so you can play hide the sausage with her for two nights instead of one.

"Hey, I just thought of something; the accountant will really love him for looking after the business's bottom line Ellie 'cause he won't have to book a room... Marsha will want him to sleep with her."

"A pornstar said in an interview the other day that sex was very conversational... and I'm sure she's right so why can't I do business and have some fun at the same time?"

Helen didn't bother trying to answer that question, she and Ellie just bundled him out of Helen's office but she followed him into the hallway and out of Ellie's view.

"God I missed you so much last night, "she whispered, "I had a lot of fun but it would have been even better if you had been there. Here, feel this..."

She took his hand and guided it under her dress and pressed it against her panties. The front of her panties was soaked.

"I am so full of another man's cum that it has soaked my panties and it's about to start running down my legs... god I wish you could reclaim me," she kept his hand pressed against her as she pushed him up against the wall and kissed him.

"Oh so do I," he groaned, "I wish I wasn't doing this thing with you tomorrow."

"Oh you will change your mind when you're part of the train I'm pulling... and I really want you there with me."

They kissed again and before Greg let Helen go he recounted what had happened with Ellie the night before, "Ellie wanted to confirm that we really want her as an equal in our relationship but she was quite clear that she was going to divorce Byron regardless of what you and I said."

"I know, I told her that she was as much a part of my life as you were, and I meant it... so now we just have to help them both come to terms with what a divorce means for them personally."

She pressed herself back into his arms and kissed him again, "We dodged that bullet and I never want to go back to a situation that will bring us to that point again.

"Agreed my love," he murmured as he nuzzled her neck and teased her earlobe with his tongue.

Helen giggled as she pushed him away, "You have to get back to work and I have got to go and get cleaned up... or maybe I'll just scoot over for a quickie seeing you can't give me what I need.

She wiggled her ass at him and he gave it a playful pat. She squealed and pulled him into a wild kiss before giving him another feel of her wet panties, "I love you Greg... but please... go to work before I lose control and the new housekeeper walks in and finds us fucking on the floor."

By the time he got up to the main office he had a text message from Marsha, 'Sorry I left the meeting so quickly but you made me blush so much.'

'I really am sorry that I embarrassed you Marsha... that was not my intent.'

'I know it wasn't but being told that I was attractive after being told that I was almost certainly going to be taken to bed by the same man was a bit much for me for me to handle.'

'It has certainly given me something to look forward to next week and you had better get used to compliments because you deserve lots and I'm going to give them to you.'

'God, I'm blushing again, I better go.'

'Before you do, I forgot to ask you whether you wanted us to quote using our own trusted contractors to do all the work for you or you wanted to use your own people?'

'Just do it all for me... and you can take that any way you like.'

Greg looked around the office and was pleased to see everyone's head down working. Four of them would be flying out to various places on Sunday or Monday and everyone had something to do to get ready.

Greg would probably be spending a lot of time next week working with Helen to organise the move into the new premises but preparing for that would have to wait till they had the keys. Right now, he now had a few things to do to prepare himself for Thursday.

He planned to recommend the same stock control software that he had used in the lumber yard. It was easy to set up and simple to use and it could handle inputs from the online shop plus almost any number of remote stores... and it updated in real time so the clients would always know exactly how many units of any one product that had in stock.

That was the easy part, the next part was a little harder because he had to find the name of the web design company who had built a website for their lumber yard. A search for what he thought the was the name of the business, Straight Up Web Design, quickly produced results and a quick scan of their website jogged his memory about who he had dealt with.

He rang the number and was put through to his contact from back in the days of the lumber yard. Ron Ticell was pleased to hear from him and after a brief catch up Greg gave him a run down on what he was looking for.

"Ron, it will need to integrate with Vendor Stock Control, have you ever worked with them before?"

Ron had not worked with them before but after a quick scan of Vendor's website he was fairly sure that his team would be able to integrate a WooCommerce online shop with Vendor.

"It should be fairly straight forward... there's plenty of helpful documentation on the Vendor website plus there's a number to call if you need help. I won't say that it will be a piece of cake, but it should all go smoothly."

Ron's confidence and competence was reassuring and after giving him a rundown of everything that would be required... and leaving the precise number of SKU's to the very end... Greg ended the call.

He had asked Ron if he knew of anyone who could handle adding 8,000 SKU's to an online shop and Ron had come up with a few names and numbers but he wasn't sure that they would be able to help. Entering SKUs was an absolutely boring job that required patience and accuracy and finding people to do that for him was going to be a problem.

Finally he sent Diane a message outlining what he was looking for and asking her to call them and see if anyone was available for a large amount of work in about three weeks' time.

He was about to go onto the next thing on his list when Diane came over and pulled up a seat beside him, "Hello handsome."

Greg chuckled, "OK so what does a beautiful, sexy, and obviously blind woman like you want with me?"

"There is something I need to give you and something I need to show you."

Greg was very tempted to say something but he refrained.... but that didn't stop his sex-deprived brain from sliding into a world of fantasy for a few moments.

Diane handed him a folder, "I looked at the two businesses you asked me to look at and I found two more that might have some potential and there are brief overviews in the folder of each of those businesses.

"My suggestion is that FarView... a business that was not on your original list looks very interesting. It started off with three guys and their wives in partnership. Two couples were killed in a four-car pileup about a month ago and the one who is left is just about ready to get out because he is getting old and he's more of a worker than a manager.

"Their specialty is engineering and there are 15 staff are located here in LA so no one is going to have to relocate. I'll let you read the rest of the information for yourself.

"The other thing is what I have to show you. I wanted to show this to Cal but he's out at the moment and I think that this could be very urgent. Our client was definitely told to buy the wrong pumps... there is no doubt about that... but there is also another major problem that they don't seem to know about and I need to give you a little demo of it on my laptop.

They rolled their chairs over to Diane's desk and she brought up a screen that showed a length of pipe that consisted of a straight piece... a 90-degree angle bend and another straight piece.

"I contacted the manufacturer of the pumps we will recommend when I found a reference to an online tool that they have on their website that I wanted to have a little play with.

"It's critical for a number of their customers that a uniform pressure be maintained... within some tolerances... right through every pipe in their system and this tool lets their customers play with things like pipe diameters etc. so that their customers can see if they are going to be using the right pipe for the pressures they need.

"A very nice young man, who obviously appreciates older women, gave me access to the tool and walked me through setting it up for a virtual version of the system our client uses. I remembered that the diameter of the pipes was clearly set out in the specifications that were drawn up when they first started looking for a consultant to handle this work for them, so I set up a small section of pipe in the program.

"I set the diameters to the specification and then I went to include a bend in the pipe to take it around an imaginary corner, but I didn't know what they were like, whether they were just curved or a sharp right-hand bend.

"But I remembered that there were some photos of the piping in the background of several images the client had included in the specs they sent to the original consultant and Cal.

"90- degree angle pipes are clearly visible in the background in several photos... so I put them in and started to run the test and right from the start this happened..."

As Greg watched the "pipe" to the left of the bend... the place that the fluid in the pipe was coming from... glowed green but the colour of the pipe on the other side of the 90-degree angle began to change from green to orange and then to red. Then the right-angle pipe changed to red as well. And then, few moments later, the colour of the pipe to the left began to change colour too.

"The manufacturer for the pipes clearly states in his published information that, when the pipe is carrying a fluid of the same type and viscosity as runs through our client's pipes, a right-angled pipe should never be used to change direction.

"They recommend a range of angles depending on different variables but none of the recommendations are for bends sharper than 120 degrees."

Greg looked at Diane, "How much are we paying you an hour to waste your time on things like this?"

Diane looked startled, "I don't know what my hourly rate is... I've never worked it out," she was about to apologise for wasting her time, but Greg ignored her as he called Helen.

"Could you come up here please... I need you to decide whether you want to let Ms Copeland go for wasting time... or give her a substantial raise for almost guaranteeing us a lot more business from a very large company."

"You bastard," Diane said softly as she rubbed her eyes. 'You almost had me in tears and now I want to cry for an entirely different reason."

Office protocols probably should have prevented him from hugging Diane but he really couldn't care less... he jumped up, pulled her to her feet and gave her a huge hug.

She squealed and told him to put her down but he ignored that too... he might have even kissed her cheek more than what was an appropriate number of times but neither of them bothered to count.

While they waited for Helen Greg got hold of Cal and asked him to come back to the office immediately and they arrived within moments of each other.

"Now it's time to give PetroSafeChemicals the bad news," Greg said once Helen had hugged and praised Diane.

"OK, I'll get back to work then," Diane smiled thinking that she could scuttle away and hide.

"Oh no you don't, you get Zoom installed on this laptop while I call the head guy you two are seeing on Monday to show him what you just showed me. This is a really serious problem and they need to know about it right now so you and Cal are going to be the ones to let them know how big a mess they're in."