For Every Rule There's An Exception

I had two follow-up meetings, one with Sam and Alex and then in the beginning in of 1990 with Sam, Alex and George.

George argued with Sam. Tried to explain to him how sales work, to which Sam retorted, "George, you may notice that I made a few sales over the years."

"Mr. Murray, not as much as I did."

"That may be true, but my sales didn't cost me money. Some of yours did. It doesn't make any sense that we should pay you a commission for losses."

"Mr. Murray, may I ask another question. This is a sales meeting, what is Eric doing here?"

"Eric helped the initial effort of doing a cost analysis, and since his department is directly responsible for go-live, I have asked him, from now on, to approve of each sale."

"WHAT?.

"What does he know about selling? He's just a kid. I have tried to teach him, but he doesn't get it," George barked at Sam.

"Please calm down, Mr. Thomas. This is the way it's going to be. If Eric rejects a deal, you can always appeal to Alex. If Alex is convinced that it should be allowed, he can appeal to Eric. If Eric still rejects, then Alex can always come to me, if he so desires. The same is true for all of Alex's deals."

"So basically, you are saying that my kid's food and clothes and my wife's expensive needs are all to be determined by young Mr. Shaw?"

"No, all you have to do is bring profitable clients to SM Services. You have quite a few, you also have a few bad ones for us."

George was silent. I then looked up and saw his glare at me. He was full of hate. I guess I now passed Alex as his most hated colleague at SM Services.

*****

Sandy, who was five months pregnant at the time, was aware of everything. She always showed respect for Alex and George and knew of my distaste for George, but I never told her about the personal distaste. Only the professional distaste. It was one of those decisions that I had to make to keep separate the personal and professional. I told Sandy about my new role and that I would rely on her and Pete to take up some of my work. I also mentioned to her that Sam gave me a $20,000 dollar a year raise plus stock options. She was shocked. The last thing that I mentioned to her what that we were going to hire someone new, since I would have less time available and she would be out on maternity soon.

Despite the strained relationship that I had with George, Sandy still managed to get along with him and respect him. George must have assumed that I would fill in Sandy on business issues, so he was pleased that at least one of the Shaw's at SM Services still kissed his ass.

Sandy started to get very tired and moody once she hit her ninth month. I tried to be as supportive as possible. There were times at night where she would just cry and tell me that she really missed her mother. All I could do was sympathize. She didn't have that kind of a relationship with her dad and her sister-in-law was just a bit older than she. My mother was in Florida and it wasn't a close mother-daughter relationship. The closest thing she had to an older female mentor was my sister, Evie, who lived in Colorado Springs. Evie was five years older than me, but even that relationship wasn't like her real mom.

*****

On April 28^th 1990, our son Scott was born. It was the happiest day of my life. The delivery was a bit difficult and after a very long labor. Sandy was a real trooper. She was now a stay-at-home mom, and her longing for her own mother got greater and greater, especially as she entered motherhood. I understood all this. I tried to be as supportive as possible. But, whatever I did was wrong, and now for the first time in our 18-month marriage, Sandy would yell at me.

This went on for a month or two. Scott was a sweet little boy. He was very easy. Sandy was a great mother, but I became the villain. Every time she longed for her mother, it was my fault. I thought about talking to Norm, but she would get really angry at me if I did that.

One day, I used my brand-new mobile phone during my lunch break and left the office to call my sister. Evie was really understanding. She said she would try and spend more time with Sandy, help out. Evie had three of her own kids, so she knew what motherhood was about and even though our mom was a phone call away, she was still a few thousand miles away.

That night Sandy was really nice to me and said that Evie had called and would be coming to visit the following day. When I came home the next day, Sandy was happy that Evie came. She told me that she really loved my sister. I thought that maybe we could get intimate that night. It had been three months since we were last intimate, since her 8^th month. Sandy let me kiss her, but said she wasn't ready yet. I held her as we cuddled together.

Her moodiness continued for about four months and then she said that she was ready to come back to work. Scottie (as we sometimes called him) could go to day care and her dad could help out one or two days a week, if needed.

Everyone was so excited to see Sandy back at work. Tammy, who was the new person on the team, had only worked with Sandy for a month before Sandy gave birth, and was especially excited that she wasn't the only female on the team anymore.

I think the night after Sandy's first day back was the first time we were intimate in five months. However, it wasn't the same. It was as if Sandy was just letting me have my way. It was strange. I did notice that the more responsibility that I gave her at work, the better our home life was. It was strange, Sam was concerned about us bringing our home problems to work, but it was the opposite; a more exciting work life led to a better home life. Sandy still had her moods. When Scottie flipped over, her mom wasn't there. When he started to crawl and his first tooth. Every new exciting milestone for Scott depressed Sandy and made her miss her mother.

Sandy was back at the office five months and we needed to send someone to the first trade show of 1991. I couldn't go, because I was very tied down to my latest responsibilities and I had a growing department. I asked Sandy if I should send her or send Pete. She got so angry at me. How could I even think that way? She has so much more experience than Pete. Is it because she's a woman, because she my wife, because she's a mother? I didn't know where it came from.

"I assumed that you wouldn't want to leave Scottie for two days."

"Why? You have been at two shows since he was born; nothing stopped you."

"I'm sorry, I thought that if I gave you the choice you would feel less pressure. You are much more qualified than Pete. I just didn't know how new mothers feel." With that, she screamed at me.

"And neither do I, and I have no one to discuss with, I can't believe you said that to me."

"Baby, I am sorry. Please forgive me. I am trying to manage." Again, she screamed at me.

"So, everything is my fault and poor little Eric can't deal with Sandy the Bitch."

I wanted just to hug her and took a step or two toward her. She backed up and said, "Maybe you should sleep in the guest bedroom tonight."

She turned and went upstairs to our room. That was the first night in our married life that we slept in separate bedrooms.

The following morning, she was calmer, we dropped Scottie off at day care on our way to work. Sandy asked me about the trip.

I said it was next week. She had to fly out Wednesday morning and return Friday night. She asked where was it and I said NYC. She was excited, she had never been to NY. My older sister Elizabeth, lived in Long Island, but I didn't think the scheduling would allow them to meet.

"The show is from 9 AM on Thursday and was over Friday at 3 PM. There is a 6:00 flight back to Denver, which would get you in at 7:30 local time. You could be home by 9:00."

"Who is going, Alex or George?"

"I don't know, I will let you know later, but it will be a different experience. Alex is very low-key. George becomes the life of the party."

"What do you mean?"

"After dinner, which is usually between the two of you, the attendees go to a club or bar together. Alex will sit in a booth and nurse a drink and try to get some business done. George is a roamer, laughs it up with everyone. I usually leave after about 30 minutes of watching George play the crowd; with Alex, we hang for a few hours together before he calls it a night."

"Well, it sounds like George is much more fun, I know you don't like his methods but he does bring in a lot of business for us."

"He brought it a lot less, last year. He'll probably blames me for that. He lost probably a third in salary and commission because of Sam's new policy."

"That's one way of saying it, or you can say because of Sam's deal breaker."

I didn't answer her. How could Sandy blame me for disallowing bad deals to come through? We didn't have our 1990 figures yet, but I was pretty sure that even though our revenues dropped off by 20% our profit was either two or three times as great, and that was despite the fact that my department grew in size.

Later in the day, Sandy got her wish, it was George and when George heard that Sandy was coming, you could see his smile.

"Well, lucky me, I get the prettier Shaw for this trip. I assume the hatchet man filled you in on drinking requirements."

I couldn't believe that George called me the hatchet man in front of my team. That was extremely unprofessional. I was a bit nervous to find out what else he would tell Sandy on the trip. About the only thing that I wasn't concerned about was that he was going to make a move on my wife. He told me that he never started with the married ones, he'd have to be crazy to start with her and I trusted her that she would never cheat on me. That and the fact that we've had sex maybe five times since Scottie was born and she wasn't into it at all.

*****

Sandy called me Wednesday night from her room.

"Hi, Baby, thanks for this. NY is amazing, although I didn't get to see much. We need to come her on vacation sometime. Maybe when Scottie is a bit older."

"Did you meet any clients, existing ones or perspective?"

"Yes, I met quite a few. They were all so nice. Many congratulated us on Scottie's birth. A few were surprised to see me here. I told them that my son is in very capable hands."

"How was Mr. Thomas behaving?"

"Wow! is he a player and many of the women are all swarming around him. I never noticed how good looking he is and he has the gift of gab.

"I think there were two or three women, fighting over him. I'm not sure which one he left with. I can't believe he is so open about his fooling around."

I felt a ping a jealousy.

"Just be careful, he can get too friendly."

"What, you don't trust me."

"That's not what I said; of course I do, plus he told me he doesn't start up with married women."

"Wait, you knew he was like this, why didn't you ever say anything. Wow! he was acting with me like he assumed I knew."

"I didn't want to say anything. I try to be as professional as possible."

"Eric, I am your wife. I think you should have said something to me."

"I'm sorry".

All of a sudden she got angry at me again.

"I'm tired of hearing you say I'm sorry."

I was about to apologize again but realized that would be bad so I said, "Baby, you have a big day tomorrow, I love you, get a good night sleep."

She answered in her monotone. "Okay, bye." She hung up. There was no I love you, no thanks, nothing.

*****

She didn't call Thursday night. Maybe she was still upset with me.

I waited for her Friday night. She was taking a taxi from the airport at the company's expense.

When she walked into the house there was something in her eyes, I could tell. She almost couldn't look at me.

I wanted to kiss her, but we just hugged.

"I missed you," I said.

"Me too."

"How was the show, you didn't call last night."

"The show was great, I learned so much. Even from your friend George. He explained the things that you don't like and how you make his job much more difficult. He wasn't trying to rip you, just explaining his perspective. He claims that you don't understand enough about sales to reject some prospective deals, but that is what Mr. Murray decided."

"Well, I am glad at least he understands our thinking. If Sam and Alex can do it, then so can George. How come you didn't call last night?"

We were still hugging. I felt her tense up.

"I was at the bar until very late, I was trying to drum up some business. I even kept George with me until late and then I got so tired and crashed."

At the time that sounded reasonable. I told her that Scottie will be excited to see her in the morning. That he was a very good boy. Again she tensed up. I said I would carry her bag upstairs. She said she was going to jump in the shower.

I got into bed, I had my night light on and was reading a book. I heard Sandy blow drying her hair and then a few minutes later she came out in a very sexy nightgown. It was practically see-through and I could see that she wasn't wearing anything underneath. She got into bed and from the second I turned off the light she was all over me. I don't know what got into her. She had my pajamas off in no time. I have never seen her so aggressive in our lovemaking, and that was practically nonexistent before she left and for the last ten months. She took me in her mouth, that happened only three or four times since we were married. When we dated that was a different story. She would blow me, all the time. She said so many times how much she missed me.

I tried to reflect Saturday morning. I was making breakfast for Scottie and Sandy was still sleeping. Something was very different about her. She had think look of guilt when she came in the house and last night, I am sure it was the same. I'm not sure why, but I was convinced she cheated. I wasn't sure if it was a client or a stranger. I was hoping it was a stranger. I was hoping that I was wrong.

Saturday night, again she was aggressive in her love making. This time it was more like the old Sandy, prior to her days of being pregnant. After we made love Saturday night, I said to her, "I think I should send you away more often. Wow, we haven't made love on two consecutive days since before you were pregnant."

I was just kidding around. I saw her tense up.

"You aren't happy?".

Sandy from a week ago would have yelled at me and would have said, "nothing make you happy," but this Sandy felt bad, I even saw a few tears. I held her.

"My love, I am so happy. I was just making small talk."

She fell asleep in my arms.

*****

On Monday at work, I started to act like I wasn't well. I feigned feeling sick. I told Sandy that I was going home. I took a cab. When I got home I called Mac.

"Mac, hi, it's Eric."

"Hey, Bro, what's up?"

"I need a favor, and this one is really big and I don't want to even discuss the reasons."

"What's the favor?"

"I am going to ask you for something, and I need you to keep it quiet from Jerry and Bobby and Alysha and Sandy."

"Okay, what about Laura and Juanita?"

"Them too. I just figured the guys and your and my wife would include them."

"What can I do for you?"

"How much do those home security cameras cost?"

"We have ranges from $500 up to $3,000; how many rooms do you need?"

I didn't want to say two, my bedroom and living room, so I went for the whole house.

"I want all the bedrooms, the living room and kitchen and all the entrances, I think I can leave the bathrooms alone."

"I have something for around 2K, can I ask, why don't you want Sandy to know?"

"Mac, I don't want to scare her, with the baby and all, please don't say anything."

"No problem, how can I install it without Sandy not knowing?"

"I'll be home tomorrow."

"Okay, see you at 10 AM."

"Okay, thanks."

*****

When Sandy and Scottie came home, I was sleeping in our room. I wasn't even sure of what I was doing. If she cheated on me, it would have been with some guy in NY. No one from Denver. She seemed guilty. I guess I was just paranoid and trying to cover all bases.

The following morning Sandy was dressed early

"Honey, how are you feeling?"

Truth was that I really was sick over what I was thinking, but I didn't admit that.

"Much better, but just to be safe, I'll stay home again today."

"Everyone is going to think you are on your death bed, Eric Shaw rarely missed a day of work and never in his career at SM has he missed two consecutive days due to Illness."

"So, you will reassure then that I should be 100% tomorrow, thanks".

Mac came by at 10:00, He installed the cameras. We left the base of the system in the basement along with the recorder. I was the only one that ever went down there. It had suitcases, my tools etc. I wasn't sure when I would get to view the tapes and the system only stored for a bit more than one week's data at a time. I could pay for an additional service to make automatic copies to backups. I thought that would be too complicated. I'd just have to find time to review.

*****

I was back in the office on Wednesday and about the only strange thing that I noticed was it seemed that Sandy and George were trying to avoid each other. I wanted to schedule a meeting about the trip for Thursday. This was the first show that I wasn't in attendance. I invited George and Sandy to a meeting in the conference room and asked Alex to join us. In the past, George would have been pissed at me for asking Alex to join, but he seemed to welcome it.

George had a report of all the prospective clients and the business they were looking for; we reviewed each client and occasionally I asked Sandy for her input. I was already creating a plan for each new prospective client, and at this point would already recommend to Alex and George if there were any client that would be a complete waste of time. Of the twelve new possibilities, I only nixed one at that point. That didn't mean George would be successful with the other eleven, nor did it mean that I would approve the other eleven. That all depended on the terms and conditions.

The one thing I did notice was that neither George nor Sandy could look each other in the eye. I was more convinced that Sandy fooled around and George knew with who. I, of course, couldn't get George to help me, nor would I ever get him involved in my personal business. The last person that I wanted owing favors to was George Thomas.

Sunday morning, Sandy asked if we could go visit her dad, Norm wasn't well recently, and we hadn't seen him in a while. I said that I wanted to do some work at home and that she should take Scottie and send my best. Off they went and then I went downstairs to check the tapes.

Well, the system was working fine. I was a bit embarrassed when I watched my wife making love to me from Friday's night's episode. I reset the tapes and had another week or so of taping.

*****

For the next four weeks, I usually found about an hour or so to review the tapes and there was nothing. My paranoia was dissipating. At around that time, I had to take a quick and unscheduled trip with Alex and for whatever reason, I didn't have any thoughts or concerns. This was a short trip. We left from Denver on a Tuesday afternoon to go to Dallas and would return the following evening. After meeting with some clients in Dallas Tuesday night, I started to call my house, it was 10:00 PM in Denver and the phone rang for about three rings. I didn't want to wake Scottie so I hung up. I got home late Wednesday night. Sandy was already asleep. I figured I can take a quick peek of the tapes.

I silently went down to the basement and started from the beginning of the week. Like most weeks I usually fast forward through everything, always starting from the living room. I saw us leave for work on Monday and come home Monday night, I saw us leave on Tuesday and I was carrying my overnight bag. I saw Sandy come home with Scottie Tuesday night and then a bit later I saw her run down to the door. When I watched in fast speed, I didn't hear the audio, so I couldn't hear what she was saying to the door. It looked like she was saying go away, but the person at the other end wasn't going away so she opened the door and I saw George standing there. I stopped the tape. I couldn't believe my eyes nor did I wish to continue the tape.