Evelyn, the Electrician

Gabe stared at Mack for a few seconds before he said anything. He was smiling, but I've known Gabe for a long time. Under the surface he was fuming.

"Well, I did think about it. Like you say, the riser location could have been an honest mistake and it was an easy fix so I chalked it up to Evelyn being new on the job. That was until Mark here told me there was ink on the drawing Evelyn used to layout the locations. Those drawings were sent to you, not to Evelyn and she had no reason to alter them, and it's beyond belief that somebody happened to accidentally put that ink in exactly the right place to change the dimension.

"After the cable thing, Mark talked to Mid-South and they told him you changed the cable order by phone right before they cut and shipped the feeder cable. I called them back and they confirmed that. Care to explain why you changed the order?"

Mack just shrugged.

"I checked the numbers Evelyn came up with and they looked wrong. I figured I'd save her the embarrassment of making the mistake by fixing it for her. The three hundred-foot runs would have worked if we hadn't had to move the risers to fix her first fuck-up. It would have been tight, but that would have just saved you some money. I always try to save money on a job."

Gabe smiled.

"I see. The only thing is, those risers were already in the right place when Evelyn ordered the feeder cables. You had to know that when she figured out how much feeder cable you needed, but you still changed to order to a length that was too short.

"Mark suggested I call Square D and confirm that order too. I compared the order we sent to Square D with Evelyn's purchase order and they matched Mark's electrical drawings. When I called Square D, I found out the order had been changed by somebody. This morning I had Square D fax me a copy of the change order. It was one of our old, paper purchase orders and it was signed by Don Morgan, the buyer, but it wasn't Don's signature. I don't know who sent them the change order, but I know it wasn't Don. He would have done it electronically and he'd have saved electronic copies of the purchase requisition and the change order.

"It's odd that there have been so many errors on this job. There haven't been any on the past jobs where you've worked as lead electrician. It's just this job that's been having trouble and the only difference is Evelyn. You don't seem to like her being there and it looks like you've been trying to get her fired since we started the project. You have anything to say about that?'

Mack looked mad.

"Gabe, hiring that woman was a mistake. All she's done is fuck up everything she's done. She needs to go. You gonna fire me for trying to make that happen? I think the union might have something to say about that. It'll be just me, an electrician with twenty years of experience against a business owner and a pretty young engineer. The union likes that kind of case because you can't prove I did anything wrong. You can't even prove anything we said here today."

That's when I grinned and pulled the voice recorder from my pocket. I didn't shut it off though. I just showed it to Mack.

"Well, there is this little voice recorder that's recorded our whole conversation. That ought to be proof enough that you've been trying to get Evelyn fired."

Gabe stood up and walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and then came back.

"Mack, here's your notice of termination and a check for this week's pay and next week's pay. Don't go back to the site. I'll have Evelyn go through your job box and take out anything that belongs to my company. Then I'll have her send it to your home address."

Mack grabbed the papers and then looked up at Gabe.

"Fuck you and fuck your fucking company. You still lost thirty grand on the cable and you'll lose your early completion bonus. I'll find another job while you're filing for bankruptcy."

Gabe smiled.

"Well, actually, I'm in good shape. Mark here took care of the cable thing. Mid-south is going to ship what Evelyn ordered and take back everything except the three short reels. I'll just use them to make the feeder runs from the main switchgear to the transformer switches on the next job.

"The right transformers only extended the lead time by a month, and the rest of the switchgear will be on time. We'll just set the breaker panels and start wiring the building from there. When the transformers come in, we'll set them and then pull the feeders from the main switchgear to the transformer switches. In case you forgot, I worked as an electrician for a long time before I started this company. I've done this before and it's no big deal."

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I didn't hear anything about the incident until Gabe called me a week later.

"Well, Mack went to the union just like he said he would. A couple days after I fired Mack, the local IBEW union steward came by. He wanted Mack reinstated with full back pay.

I sat down with the steward and explained everything that had led up to Mack getting fired. I showed him the stack of our old, paper purchase orders Evelyn found when she cleaned out his job box and how they were identical to the change order Square D sent me and the number on that change order was in the series of the rest. I told him what Mack did was considered fraud and I was seriously thinking of swearing out a complaint against him. Then I played the recording you made of our conversation. I also reminded him that attracting more women into the ranks of the unions was a pretty big deal to the union bosses. I said it wouldn't fit what they're saying if it was known one of their own was trying to get a female electrician fired just because she was female. It was after that the steward said he was willing to negotiate.

"What we agreed to was that I wouldn't make the fraud complaint and I wouldn't give Mack a bad recommendation if he asked for one. One of the other electricians said Mack already got job in Montana, so he probably won't be asking me for a recommendation anyway.

"I promoted Jimmy Ray to lead technician and things are humming along. The first thing he did was tell Evelyn that he expected her to pull her share of the load instead of sitting at her desk all day. He said she told him it was about time."

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I didn't go to the site again until the switchgear was delivered. I wanted to be there when they set the breaker panels so I'd know they were in the right place. When I got there, they were getting ready to put the first section of breaker panels in place and it looked like everything was going to be fine. The concrete housekeeping pads the switchgear would sit on were all marked for where the corners of each enclosure would sit.

I found Evelyn measuring everything with a tape measure. I walked up and said, "Hi Evelyn. This looks pretty good."

She grinned.

"It's gonna work fine. I've checked everything four times. Oh, by the way, they cut a week off the transformer delivery so we'll be able to set them and their switches right after we get the breaker panels set and bolted down."

The main switchgear went in exactly as I designed it. That took half a day. After lunch, they started setting the breaker panels. There were four with a crossover switch in the middle. The crossover switch was there so if one transformer went down for some reason, they could feed both sides of the breaker panels from one transformer. That would mean they'd have to reduce the combined load to the capacity of just one transformer, but it's rare that all the equipment connected to a transformer is running at the same time. The crossover switch installation didn't go so well.

When they set the crossover switch down, it didn't fit inside Evelyn's marks. I saw her measuring the enclosure and then measuring her marks. She did that three times and then walked up to me with a frown on her face.

"Something's wrong. The crossover switch is an inch too narrow. It's the switch, not the layout. I've checked both three times. The dimension on your drawing is wrong."

Well, nothing is impossible so I called the local Square D sales rep and asked him to come to the site. He got there about an hour later, looked at my drawing and then at the catalog he'd brought with him. He was shaking his head when he looked at me and Evelyn.

"Mark, I don't know what happened, but she's right. The enclosure for the crossover switch is an inch narrower than the catalogue dimension. That shouldn't matter to your setup. All you need to do is move both sides half an inch closer to the crossover switch. The buss bars will still line up like they should."

Evelyn shook her head.

"No they won't. I already checked. The holes in the buss bars of the switch won't line up with the holes in the buss bars of the breaker panel. They'll overlap by about a quarter of an inch, but that won't let the bolts go through.

The Square D rep smiled. Can't you just ream out both holes so the bolts will fit?"

Evelyn looked at me and shook her head.

"Per code, anything like that would have to be tested and certified by Square D. We can't do it."

I looked at the sales rep then.

"Looks to me like you need to talk to Square D and have them come here and make the modifications. You need to hurry too. We're on schedule, but just."

The guy used his cell phone to call Square D and after half an hour of conversation, he came back to Evelyn and me.

"OK, what happened is they made a change that hasn't made the catalogues yet, so Mark, you didn't make a mistake. The problem with the buss bars is a factory mistake. Your breaker panels were made three months ago to the old design revision. Your crossover switch was made later. Nobody realized they wouldn't fit together.

"Square D is making new buss bars for the switch that will work. They'll make them today and FedEx them to the site so they should be here by about eleven tomorrow. They're also sending two technicians to change out the bus bars. That will qualify it as a factory modification and you'll be good to go by tomorrow night."

I asked him if he'd be there when we started just in case something else didn't work out right. He said he'd be on site by ten.

After he left, I grinned at Evelyn.

"I thought field modifications were OK as long as the modification didn't involve the switching apparatus itself. I've drilled and tapped buss bars before."

Evelyn smiled.

"That's true, but if something had gone wrong, you can bet Square D would have tried to weasel out of any responsibility because we modified their equipment. We'd be the one's liable. This way, they have to warranty the equipment because they installed the change."

I smiled.

"That deserves another cup of coffee. Same coffee shop, tonight after we get done?"

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Evelyn seemed to be a lot more relaxed when we walked into the coffee shop. She wasn't looking around to see if anybody was looking at her like the other time. After we got our coffee, I asked her how things had been going. She smiled.

"A lot better since Mack left. The rumor is you got him fired. Is that true?"

I shrugged.

"Well, I helped because at first, I was concerned about my project. I thought Mack was doing things he thought would get you fired, and if he'd continued, something he did would put the project in jeopardy. As it turned out, it almost did.

"I figured the only real catastrophe would be if something went wrong with the switchgear because of the lead time, so I asked your boss to check on the order. Somebody had changed it and I figured it was Mack. I guess you proved it when you found the old purchase orders in his job box.

"The only thing is, I still can't figure out what he had against you. I mean, he told Gabe that no woman would ever be able to do a man's job, but I know there are other female electricians and a couple female electrical engineers in the area. He's had to work with at least a couple."

Evelyn sipped her coffee and then frowned.

"I know what it was. I wouldn't sleep with him."

"He asked you to have sex with him?"

Evelyn shook her head.

"No, he told me if I did he'd assign me to jobs that didn't require a lot of lifting and overhead work."

She grinned then.

"You should have seen the look on his face with I told him I didn't do that sort of thing. After that is when it started."

"Why didn't you report it to Gabe? That's sexual harassment and he'd have had to do something about it."

Evelyn shrugged.

"This is the first job I've had since I was an apprentice, but I've heard all the stories already. Say something to a woman and she'll accuse you of sexual harassment in order to get a big settlement. Just look at her funny and you'll get fired. I didn't want that said about me, and Mack never asked me again."

"Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore. I heard Mack is working in Montana."

Evelyn nodded.

"That's what I heard too. Rick told me. After he left, the rest of the crew all came up to me at one time or another and said they thought Mack was wrong but they didn't want to make him mad. Apparently he has a reputation for getting even if you say something he doesn't like.

"The guys treat me like just another electrician now...well, they always offer to help me if I have to pick something up, but they don't question what I do anymore than they would any other electrician. They even joke with me once in a while now. The other day during our lunch break, they were talking about playing golf. Jimmy asked if I ever played golf and I said I didn't. Then he said I'd probably be good. When I asked him why, he grinned and said his problem was he kept putting his elbows too close together when he swung a club, but women golfers can't put their elbows close together so they don't have that problem. I knew he was talking about my boobs, so I laughed too."

I said that could be considered sexual harassment too, but Evelyn just smiled.

"I didn't think it was. What I thought is it was the first time any of them said anything good about me being a woman. When you dress like I have to dress, it's pretty hard to feel very feminine. It felt pretty good to know Jimmy was looking at me that way. Your wife or girlfriend probably wouldn't be caught dead in the clothes I wear every day."

I shrugged.

"Clothes don't make a woman a woman. I don't have a wife or a girlfriend, but I've dated several woman who looked great in their clothes. They weren't so great once I was alone with them. They were a lot more concerned about how they looked than about our relationship. It was stuff like they couldn't do this or that because it would mess up their hair or they'd get fat or something else. I like a woman who looks good and feels good about how she looks, but not at the expense of enjoying my time with her. What else would be a reason to date a woman except because you like being with her no matter how she looks?"

Evelyn chuckled then.

"Where were you when I married my ex? All Ron thought about was how I could look sexier. I'm not sexy. I'm just a normal woman, well, except when I'm working. Then I sort of have to be one of the guys."

I said I didn't know she'd been married, and Evelyn waved her hand.

"Believe me, you don't want to know about that. Let's just say the only thing I got out of a year of marriage was Theresa, my daughter, and the beat-up car I'm driving. That was all Ron had to give me when I divorced him."

I said I was sorry, but Evelyn shook her head.

"Don't be. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was going to be just a stay at home wife and keep house for Ron and our kids. Once I got pregnant with Theresa, Ron stopped...well, he said he didn't want to hurt the baby, but I knew what the real reason was. A girl I went to school with told me he was sleeping with another woman. I followed him one day and found out that was true, so I divorced him. Funny thing is, he didn't seem to care.

After that, I decided I had to have a way to support myself and Theresa. I didn't have money for college, but my dad was an electrician and he'd already taught me a lot. I kind of liked wiring things and I wouldn't need a college degree to do that. After Theresa was born, I started trade school and Mom took care of Theresa. Now that I'm a journeyman electrician, I don't have to worry about money. I'm renting an apartment right now and Mom still takes care of Theresa, but I'm saving my money for a house when Theresa gets old enough to start school. I have some time yet. Theresa is only four."

Well, I'd been sitting there listening to Evelyn, and as I listened, my opinion of her was changing. I knew she was a good electrician and also a nice person to be around. After hearing that she was divorced with a young daughter, I started to feel a little sorry for her. When she told me not to feel sorry for her and then explained why, I decided she was a lot more woman than any I'd ever dated before. She did care about herself, but she cared more about her daughter and what kind of life they were going to live in the future. Both of those things made me interested in Evelyn as more than an electrician working on one of my jobs.

"Evelyn, I've been thinking. A cup of coffee isn't nearly enough for all that you've put up with on this job. Could I interest you in having dinner with me sometime...like maybe this Saturday night?"

Evelyn stared at me for a few seconds. She sounded a little like she didn't believe me when she answered.

"You mean like a real dinner, not a burger place or IHOP?"

I smiled.

"I hear the Stockyard Grill has really good steaks. If you don't like steak, I'm told they have chicken and seafood too."

Evelyn still sounded wary.

"You're not asking me because you think I'll do something else, are you? If you are, the answer is no."

I grinned.

"All I'm asking is if you'll have friendly dinner with me, nothing more and nothing less. If you're nervous about me picking you up, I'll just meet you there."

"You're sure about this?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. If I wasn't sure I wouldn't have asked."

"This Saturday? What time?"

"How about we say seven? Should I pick you up at six thirty or do you want to drive yourself?"

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To tell the truth, I was surprised that Evelyn accepted at all, let alone that she'd say I could pick her up, but she did. At six thirty on Saturday I parked in the visitor's lot of her apartment complex, found her door and knocked.

I was even more surprised when Evelyn answered my knock. In her work clothes with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, Evelyn had looked a little too much like a small man. In the black dress, black stockings and heels, and with her red hair cascading over her shoulders, she was so far from looking like a man that all I could do was stare.

She said, "I just have to get my purse and then we can go", and left me standing in her doorway. When she came back with her purse, she looked at me and asked if she looked all right. I had to grin.

"Evelyn, you look a lot more than just all right. I'll be fighting off other guys all night long."

She blushed then.

"Well, I did try. Thank you for noticing."

Dinner with Evelyn was great. It was like she'd changed personalities when she changed clothes. On the job, she was pretty direct and at times, more than a little aggressive. In that black dress, she was calm and poised. This side of Evelyn that I was seeing told me she was a woman I really needed to know better.

When I pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex again, I got out, walked around my car to open Evelyn's door for her, but she'd already opened it and gotten out. I grinned then.

"You know, I was always taught that a man opens a lady's car door for her. You'll have to wait for me to do that the next time."

Evelyn put her hand on her breasts.

"The next time? Is there going to be a next time? I thought this was just because you felt sorry for me."