Engineering a Perfect Solution

I nodded and said, "You will do fine here. Have fun, Jerry."

Heather grinned at me while Jerry scowled. I went back to my area and then into the storage room. We didn't keep a lot of things after they went into production or were turned down. Usually the parts were recycled. For some unknown reason, this particular prototype had survived. I took it down and put it on one of the work benches. The air gun blew eight years of dust off of it quickly and then I looked closely at it. Honestly, I felt that this might have been the best engineering work I ever did by myself. It was my project and I worked long and hard to complete it. I still remembered searching through catalogs and on line to find bearings that met the spec, but which were thinner and stronger than the standards. I had to fit a fairly complex bunch of parts into a small box and have them work. As I had told Heather, the only thing I couldn't do was find a half an inch for the cable connectors.

I carried it back to my office and set it on the side table for when Heather was available to look at it. Then I opened my e-mail and looked at a week's worth of gossip, news, and a few important messages. Among the important ones were two from Reynolds. The first was to everyone in the Engineering Department. All it said was to introduce the newest member of the Engineering Department and to give her a welcome and support her as she got acclimated. The other one was to me only. It read, "Allen, our newest employee is really special. She has been sent down here by corporate to get her feet wet for a year or two. For now, I want you and Altiori to work with her, but she will report to me. Try to keep the testosterone level down in the trenches. You would not believe her resume; she makes all of us look like graduates of a trade school. We might all be reporting to her in a few years. I want you to be her primary mentor. You have a spare office in your area; have her set up shop there. Let me know if you have any problems or resistance. This is priority one." He signed it "Bill" which he only did on very rare occasions. I printed out a copy and then deleted the message.

I sat back and realized that the eyeful who had walked into my office was a lot more than a pretty face and a great body. Bill Reynolds had personally asked me to keep an eye on her. I also realized that there was a lot more at stake than a new employee who was going to attract a lot of attention. I was also put on the hot seat because Bill still didn't trust Jerry about anything except work projects.

I sighed and began to look at the weekly reports from my lead engineers. There was nothing to get excited about except for one. It was a small project, but one that had potential. I frowned as I read their report. There were a number of problems that weren't getting resolved and I wasn't sure why. A phone call later and we had a meeting scheduled for 1:30 to talk about it.

It was now 11:30 and I began to think about what to do for lunch. I didn't get far in my thoughts when there was a knock on my door again. "Come in."

Heather walked back into my life. This time, she simply went to the chair and sat down. "Hi." She said with her smile still in place.

I grinned, "Did you survive Jerry?"

"Yes, I did; thank you for asking. I even got him to cooperate on reviving that project." I pointed to the side table."Oh good; you found it." She rose and went to the table and looked the device over carefully. I had the feeling that she really did understand what she was looking at. After several minutes, she turned back and took her seat again.

"You were right; there really isn't any room for anything. I didn't realize that the box was so small."

"That was the issue from Day One. It had to fit in that box. All of the gears and bearings in there are special order items from custom vendors. I couldn't use standard items. Then I had to have the linkages specially made in our shop to make them fit. We had a couple of machinists in our shop that could hold a really tight tolerance. Without that, we would have just assembled a bunch of useless parts."

"I sense that you had more invested in this than in most projects."

"You are very perceptive." I left it at that. "Now, it is almost lunch time. Are you up for the cafeteria or would you prefer to go outside and get some real food?"

"Why Mr. Culbertson, I just turned Jerry down for an outside lunch; why should I go out to lunch with you?"

"Because we need to talk. We can do it here; in the cafeteria; or at the diner down the street. Your choice."

"Why do we need to talk?"

"Because I read my e-mail." I slid a cope of Reynolds e-mail across the table to her.

She read it quickly and then looked at me without the flirt in her eye. "How about outside, but not at the diner? I ate there last week and I would prefer something else."

"Is there anything else that you don't like?"

"No; your choice."

"Then let's go eat." I rose and she followed. The smile was still on her face, but I could see a certain wariness in her look. I assumed that she wasn't exactly sure what was about to happen, but then I didn't either. I was just trying to find out what I needed to do next.

We drove quietly to a small, Greek restaurant that I liked and I helped her out of the car and inside. Once we placed our orders, she looked at me and her smile returned, "So, what do we need to talk about?"

"Heather, may I call you Heather?"

"Yes, of course. I work for you. You can call me anything you want."

"Heather, I have worked here for almost thirteen years and for all of them, I have reported to Bill Reynolds. I can read between his lines. I know enough to know that you are here for a reason. What that reason is, I don't have a clue; that knowledge is well above my pay grade. I also expect that you may not know exactly why you are here and if you do, you probably can't tell me. That's fine; I probably don't need to know. What I do know is that Bill asked me to mentor you and keep the wolves at bay. That tells me that I need to know what you want to see and know and that it is up to me to keep you happy. So now, I need to know what you want. It is that simple really."

She was looking closely at me as I spoke and I could tell that she had listened to every word I had said.

Instead of the reply I expected, she asked, "Just how smart are you, Allen Culbertson?" She was smiling again.

"I guess that I am just smart enough to do what I need to do."

"I think that you underestimate yourself."

I toyed with the spoon in my iced tea and replied, "Heather, I wasn't jock or a socialite in high school. I was more of a math and science geek. In college, I roomed with Jerry and some of his outgoingness rubbed off on me, but not that much. I majored in engineering because I like to have a clear set of specs to work from and an idea of what the outcome needs to be. Then I can do what I do best which is to figure out how to make things work. I am not as much of a people person as Jerry is; although don't underestimate him; he is a first class engineer and will probably have a better future than I do because of his personality. I will probably never be considered for Bill Reynolds job, but I will probably always have a job though because I do good work and get the job done. Now I don't know how that fits with what you need to know, but that is what I have to offer you."

She frowned for a moment and then brightened back up. "Thank you for being honest with me. Now it is my turn to be honest with you." She took a deep breath and then began. "Here are my specs. I am five foot eight inches tall and weigh 130 lbs. Ever since I turned 16, I have been hit on by guys my age and older; sometimes a lot older. In college, every year I was approached about running for Miss Texas. This morning, I wasn't bragging about the football team. I have continually been reminded that I am a beautiful and desirable woman. I guess that is so; I have heard it most of my life. I am what I am physically. I was granted a photogenic face, a nice figure, well rounded tits, and an ass that most guys would like to sink their fingers or their teeth into. But all of this only focuses on the surface stuff. On the inside, I want to make a difference. I want to be recognized for what I can do. I graduated from UT Magna Cum Laud. I was pursued by a dozen major corporations. Half of them wanted me because I was eye candy. I chose this company because the head of corporate development and engineering actually read my resume and talked to my professors at school. The other reason was that they promised me that I could come back to Texas after their training program," She paused as our meals were put in front of us.

"I was sent here with instructions to learn all I could about how our products were developed and to look for ways to improve the integration between disciplines. They told me to start with that project. If they have other plans or intentions for me, they didn't share them with me. I am starting my first professional job in a strange city where I only know a couple of people and I am terrified that I will screw everything up. As I told you this morning, I started Wednesday. By Wednesday night, I had been asked out by four men and two women. You were out of town and I was told to talk to you first and let you introduce me around. So for three days, I wandered the halls and tried to be nice to people. I didn't have an office to sit in or a computer to work on. That isn't much of a specification for you to work with, but that is the best I have to give you. Now what else do you want to know?"

"I want to know how I can apologize to you and go back an hour and start over again. I stand by my assessment that there are plans for you, but I assumed that you knew more than you do."

She took my hand and replied, "You have nothing to apologize for. You didn't know any of this and this morning, you made me feel very comfortable. Thank you."

"Ok, then I'll apologize for others who should have known and treated you better. I will also apologize for not realizing the position you are in. I am human and I saw a beautiful, confident, and posed woman walk into my office this morning. I forgot what it was like on the first day in a new place in a new job. So now, I know what I have to do. We will solve some of those problems today and get to work on the other things. Let's eat our lunch. I have a 1:30 meeting and I think you should be involved in it."

I watched her eat her lunch with a new set of eyes and what I saw, I didn't envy. She was indeed a beautiful and posed woman and I had no doubts that most people she came in contact with never saw beyond the obvious. But I could now also see her vulnerability. She was poised enough to handle most social situations, but still needed to develop the feeling that she fit into her career. I didn't have a clear plan on how to do that, but I did know a few things that would help. The first thing was to get her a space to call her own and then get her something to sink her teeth into. After that, I would work on how to blend her into the system.

A lot of the earlier tension disappeared and our drive back to the office. I felt that she had been able to relax a little as we both laid our cards on the table. When we got back to my office, I led her next door and opened the door. "Heather, this will be your office for the time being, but be aware that they can and do move walls and offices around as needs change. Make it as comfortable as you want, it is your workspace. After our meeting, I will show you the log-in procedures for the computer. We have never had a problem in our area, but I would suggest that you lock your purse and any valuables in the small cabinet over there to be safe. There is no sense in encouraging temptation. Now let's go to the meeting and see if we can move this project along." I started to leave when her hand stopped me.

"Allen, thank you. Even this has made a difference. I will look to you for support and guidance until I can get my feet wet. I have never been shy about asking questions. I will do the very best I can for you."

I turned back to look at her, "Heather, you don't owe me anything; you owe it to yourself. I will do my best to show you the opportunities and the pitfalls, but you will have to earn the respect you want on your own. I seldom close my office door, but something is wrong with it and it keeps closing on its own. I'll try to remember to bring a jam to keep it open. If you need something from me, just walk in. You don't need to knock. For now, I will be including you in any technical meeting where I think you can make a contribution. You said that you were supposed to split time between Jerry and I. I think that the three of us will have a meeting tomorrow morning and work out the mechanics of that. How does that sound?"

"I like the sound of that just fine and I appreciate what you said. Let's go to the meeting and see what we will see." She was smiling at me and had the twinkle in her eye again.

I led her to the engineering conference room where we were met by four sets of bulging eyes. "Good afternoon guys. Before we begin, put your eyeballs back in their sockets and Brad, you are drooling. This is Heather Harlowe; I assume that you read the e-mail from Reynolds. It clearly said that we are to offer her our support. That does not include offering to father her children or to fulfill your most extreme sexual fantasies. In fact, you might want to find your manners; I suspect that she will be able to teach all of us things...about engineering. Heather, do you want to say anything?"

"Thank you Allen." Then she went right to the heart of the matter "Guys, I don't mind you looking; I am used to it and can shrug it off. Right now, I need to earn your respect as a peer and that will take time I am sure. For the record, during breaks I would prefer that we talk about baseball or fishing than what I am wearing. I am here to learn and offer any expertise I have to offer. So let's get down to what is going on."

I could see that several guys got the message while one still had visions of orgies in his mind. I replied, "To bring Heather up to speed, this project is to find a way to reduce the size of a process controller by 50%. The current ones are big and heavy and are hard to work on during maintenance shutdowns. We have several ideas on how to do that, but seem to be bogging down on each approach. That is what we want to try to hammer out today. Here is a drawing and the specs that we need to achieve. We basically have a clean slate to work with as long as we can meet the operating spec. Brad, show us what you are doing."

Brad began describing the approach he was working on and almost immediately, Heather took out her tablet computer and starting taking notes. An hour later, we went back to my office and Heather looked like she was on a high. We picked up a cup of coffee on the way.

"Allen, that was a perfect start. I understand what each of them is facing and I think I can offer some suggestions, but I want to study it some more tonight. How should I present my suggestions to them?"

"We could hold another meeting, but I think that for your sake, you should talk to each guy individually. That will show them that you know what you are talking about and start the respect process." She nodded. "After you talk to them and get their feedback, write up a report and send it to me and copy all of the others. Let me show you the log in process on the computer."

We spent thirty minutes going over the basic and secondary log ins and then I excused myself to go to the restroom. As I neared the door, Jerry appeared next to me and asked, "What happened to you? I thought that we were going to have lunch and you were going to tell me that I was wrong about Heather." He was showing that grin that I knew well.

"A couple of things came up. First, you weren't wrong; but if you try to act on what you are thinking, you will be making a huge mistake. There is a lot more to her than what you see."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know for sure, but she is here for a reason and that comes from corporate. Next, she is supposed to split her time between our two departments and we need to get her up to speed quickly. She will also be making a contribution as she can. Don't take that lightly. Finally, do you remember your first day and week when we started here?"

"Sure; like it was yesterday. Everyone ignored me and then they put me in the library to review about a hundred drawings and plans. I was ready to quit at the end of the first month."

"Exactly; and that is what she is feeling except that she isn't being ignored. The problem is that she is being recognized for all of the wrong reasons. Let's meet in my office in the morning at 9:00 and work out how we can utilize her to our best advantage."

"Good move. How did you figure this out?"

"I had lunch with her and we talked."

"She turned me down for lunch." His nostrils flared a little. I knew what that meant also.

"Don't take it personally. Reynolds told her to look to me to mentor her and get her started. We needed to talk and it was lunchtime."

"He did, huh? I may have to talk to that old fart. I have twenty minute seniority on you, you know."

"And he knew that you would be thinking with your little head rather than you big one. Give her a month to get her feet wet before you turn on the charm."

"A month? I can do that. Nine at your casa."

I finally made it to the restroom and resolved my problem. When I returned, Heather was sitting in my office again.

I looked at her with surprise. "A problem already?"

She smiled, "Just a little one. Explain your file numbering system. I tried to find the drawings on the old project and I see that you use some identifiers that we didn't talk about during my training."

"I should have thought about that; sorry. It is our local system that has been around since before I got here. We were a separate company back then and were bought out about twenty years ago. They integrated all of the drawing procedures, but left us some latitude for local needs. The numbering system is what you were taught. What we do is to add some alpha abbreviations in front to tell us more about the project without having to read a lot of stuff. We get projects from three sources; internal development, customer specs, and other sources. So the first letter is an 'I', a 'C', or an 'O'. That is all there is until we have an approved design; then we add an 'A' as the second letter. After that, we do the detail and final engineering to make final drawings and specs for production and add an 'R' to it. When it is approved and released for production, we add another 'R.' You will hear people talk about a double R and that means that you can't alter anything without approval. If the project doesn't go forward or is cancelled before production, they put and 'X' at the end and those are filed as dead. So you are looking for a 'CX' with the project number. That design never got final approval and died. If you bring it back to life, the X will still stay there, but we will add the other letters as appropriate. Once you get familiar with it, you can just look at the drawing or file and know exactly what its current status is."

"That makes perfect sense and is a lot simpler than a twelve digit number with four dots in it."

"I agree; like I said, it is an old system, but it still works very nicely. Anything else?"

"I hate to ask this, but I have a little problem today that you might be able to help me with."

"Ask and if it is within my power, I will do it."

She took a deep breath and then started, "For the next couple of months, I am staying at my aunt's apartment since she will be traveling. Like I said, my things are being shipped in and should be here today. But my car has been at my parents' house. My brother drove it up today and left it at the airport for me. My aunt has a meeting tonight; so I don't have a ride to her apartment. If I can get there, I can call a cab to take me to the airport to pick up my car and then I will be able to get around. Can you give me a lift to my aunt's place after work?"