Breaking Out Bk. 02 Ch. 09

Dave Tandemi, the Lead Engineer on PSC's pump replacement project was looking forward to a weekend of golf and fun with his wife and kids and he certainly wasn't expecting a call from the new consultants that had been called in to check on the flawed first report about the new pumps that were to be installed.

Greg's call had caught him just as he was thinking about giving himself a good head start on the weekend so he wasn't prepared to waste time on small talk... and neither was Greg.

"Dave, I'll get straight to the point," Greg sounded serious and the fact that he had skipped the usual minute or so of small talk sounded a minor alarm in Dave's head.

"One of my analysts has found what looks like a very serious safety issue with your fire suppression system that would make even the best pump on the market fail to deliver the pressure you need in your system to combat a fire.

"If you have a few minutes I'd like to get you on a Zoom meeting with the Analyst and with Cal... the lead consultant on this job... so our Analyst can show you the nature of the problem and then you and Cal can maybe work out a solution."

Dave hadn't met any of the team from HGEB Partners but even if he had, he would have still been sceptical. How could these people find a "serious" problem when they hadn't even visited the site yet? And how could there be a problem that serious in a system that had been reviewed and checked and reviewed again before it had even got close to being given the go-ahead... a system that had been in place and operating for years

He wondered if this wasn't some sort of ploy by the new consultants to make even more money out of the company with some dodgy safety issue. He was inclined to blow Greg off and leave it till the consultant was onsite but Dave was a cautious man and he decided to at least listen and see what they wanted to show him.

"Sure Greg, when do you want to do that?"

"Give me five minutes to set up a meeting room and I'll email you the link."

Ten minutes later Dave was looking at a screen divided into three that showed a tanned and fit casually dressed guy in one screen, a rather attractive older blonde women who looked very nervous in the second and a greying older man who had all the hallmarks of an engineer in the third.

"Welcome Dave, I'm Greg Weston and my colleagues are Diane Copeland, the analyst who found this problem and Cal Halburn our lead engineering consultant. It is quite possible that by the end of this meeting you will hate all three of us because I think that we might be about to destroy your weekend."

Dave snorted, "What could you possibly find that would have that effect on me Greg?" He was beginning to think that this Greg Weston was full of shit... just like most consultants.

"OK Dave, what I will do is share Diane's computer screen with you and she can explain what you are seeing and then we'll let what you see speak for itself."

For a moment Diane's feed filled the screen as she introduced herself and then the image changed to a graphic on her computer screen. It looked rather plain to Dave... just two pipes with a right-angle bend joining them.

Dave was again reminded that Diane was nervous as she spoke but gradually her voice became stronger and any sigh of nerves disappeared as she went through her presentation but as the pipes began to change colour Dave laughed and then became so angry that he forgot to be polite.

"What a load of shit! We don't use those right-angle bends... we're not stupid... we know the effect those bends would have on the pressure in those pipes."

"Dave," Cal said quietly, "take a look at some of the photos you sent over... or better yet, go and look at some of that piping that's installed in the work area... and then call me back so I can pass the phone to Ms Copeland so you can apologise... because we're not stupid either."

Dave's screen went black as Greg killed the connection and he sat back and laughed, 'Did these idiots really think that they could fool him with some pissy little demo that changed colour?'

He had the file open in the background when Greg first called and it was still there so he made some notes about the conversation and then closed it and shut his computer down. After a call like that he really needed some time off so his weekend was going to start right NOW.

But in the elevator on the way down to the carpark the first niggling doubt crept into his mind and by the time he was about to open his car door the niggling doubt had become so strong that he had to turn away and take a look for himself.

He walked into the production area and the first thing he saw was a right-angled joiner... he traced the pipe it was attached to back to the pump that was going to be replaced... 'SHIT! But maybe it's only one.'

It wasn't... it was just one of many. If there was a fire the suppression system would have automatically swung into action but then failed before it had time to put the fire out. He went to a phone on the wall and punched in the extension for his boss, Joe Pollock.

"Joe, I'm down in the production area... we have a major problem that you need to look at right now," then he walked outside and pulled out his cell phone. He realised that he was going to have some serious grovelling to do but first he needed to ring his wife and tell her that it would be some time before he got home.

"Hello Greg, long time no speak?"

"Hi Marsha, yes it's been a long two hours or so," they both laughed and Greg went on, "is now a good time to speak or..."

"Is it about business or is it about something more deliciously sinful?" he could hear the laugh in her voice.

"Sadly it's about business. I know your head is probably still spinning from all the things I said earlier but there was something else I should have told you just in case you're about to rush off and take 8,000 photos.

"When it comes to photos the biggest file size is best. You can take them with your mobile phone or a digital camera but just be sure to take them all as landscapes and while you should centre the item in the middle of the photo please give us plenty of room around the photo so we can trim it down to fit the website.

"Those are really important considerations because the quality of your photos says a lot to your customer about your products."

"So what did you mean by landscape Greg?"

"Landscape photos are longer than they are high so if you're using your cell phone make sure that you turn you phone on its side each time.

"The opposite of landscape is 'portrait' and that's where the photo is taller than it is wide."

"Try to avoid using the flash on your camera or cell phone because the light tends to reflect off the image.

"And one other thing, try to photograph your products in batches so photograph all your taps in once batch, all your baths in the next and when you have finished there then move onto something else that you can describe as being in a group.

"Thank you Greg... a good friend of mine is a photographer and he's prepared to help me... we're making a start on it tomorrow morning. My daughter will be helping to catalogue the photos and make sure that we can connect the photo to the product... so now I think we might get the process right.

"Will you be around tomorrow in case we have any questions?"

"I'm sorry Marsha, I'm going to be right out of contact with the real world till about 3pm tomorrow and Helen will be too, but I'll give you a call when I'm back just to see how you're going."

Marsha had a few more questions about other things and then the call ended with Greg again wishing that he wasn't spending his time on Saturday being a pornstar.

The Friday night pool party was an outstanding success. Not only did it give them all a chance to really get to know one another but it also gave them a chance to celebrate their wins.

Diane was praised for using her initiative and finding a serious problem that had somehow slipped under the client's radar.

Brad was applauded for admitting to having serious reservations about coming to work for a company that had almost no track record and worked out of a room over the owner's garage, but he had taken the job because it was that or some menial job that paid starvation wages.

He also admitted that he had almost pulled out of the interview when Helen made it plain that she was a pornstar with over 30 scenes and four full-length videos to her name.

He had wondered just how genuine and honest the business would be given Helen's background but he had noticed that they already listed quite a few well-known companies among their client list, so he stayed and was now pleasantly surprised at just how customer orientated they really were.

Brad had even been approached by one of the clients he had worked with at his last agency and was more than happy to suggest that they have a serious look at working with HGEB Partners.

The whole group stood and applauded Brianna and thanked her for the amazing job she was doing keeping the office going, making travel arrangements for them and taking lunch orders and fixing all their dumb mistakes with the printer.

At one point Brianna sidled up to Greg as he was cooking steaks and slipped her arm around his waist, "Don't stress boss... this is not an attempt and starting an office romance and nor is it an attempt to get my deadbeat boyfriend jealous.

"I'm just doing it to say thank you for all you have done for Mom. She really was wasted doing menial jobs like keeping house, but her lack of recent experience was really holding her back and she was beginning to feel worthless.

"She's like a whole new woman since you and Helen gave her a chance to do more than keep house for you... and she has even inspired my brother and me to aim bigger than we thought possible.

"Oh, and thanks for giving me a job too... I love it and I love you and Helen too." Her arm around his waist turned into a huge frontal hug and a lingering kiss on his cheek before she sauntered away to find her boyfriend who really did seem out of his depth in this group of achievers.

Greg was a little disappointed that Byron hadn't joined the party. He had been invited but no one really expected him to attend. Helen had told Greg that Byron would have a hard time fitting in with the group because he really struggled to relate to ordinary people.

When Greg asked why he had liked going to the bar for dinner and dancing Helen explained that he could handle that because he was comfortable with her and Greg but he would never have gone if they had not been going too.

It was a sad situation... especially sad now that Ellie had left him... but he could have at least tried to make a change but that was all too threatening for him.

At one point during the party Helen intercepted Greg as he headed towards Diane and Cal. They were standing off to one side, deep in what looked like a very serious conversation.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked sternly as she slipped her arm through Greg's and steered him back towards the main group.

"I was just going to encourage them to forget about work and join the rest of us."

"Geez Greg Weston you are so thick sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you think I teamed those two up to work on this project and then arranged for Diane to go to DFW with Cal?"

"I don't know, but it turned out to be a great decision."

"Yeah, I can pull those out of the hat sometimes Greg but there's another far more important reason than helping a bunch of blind blockhead engineers. Diane and Cal are really interested in each other and this time in DFW will be good for them".

"Oh... right..." Greg felt like a total idiot. He hadn't noticed anything like that at all... but now that she mentioned it...

By 9pm the guests had all gone and after cleaning up the five of them retired to the pool. Greg remembered the last time he had been in the pool with a bunch of women and he was remembering it fondly when Carrie swam up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Do you think that we can get back to where we were before you went away?"

"Do you want to?" He pulled her up onto his body and half stood, half floated, with her resting on him.

She kissed him softly, "I was really angry with you when you left."

"And you were right to be angry, I ran off and left you to deal with a very big mess."

"You did and for a while there I would have amputated your nuts with a blunt vegetable peeler if you had been around... but I'm over that now... and even when I was so angry, I still thought that you were pretty special.

"I've always thought you were special too Carrie... that's why I didn't try and get too close when I came back. You deserved better than me and you deserved someone who was exclusive."

Carrie smiled, "Greg, I'll settle for you over those options any day."