The Corporate Ladder

Joel reached into his jacket pocket and handed her a crisp typed piece of paper. "I've used a secret code of sorts which I need to explain. That's my top fifty and it was pretty hard to cut off the other twenty or so with promise. The list is in order with the top employee at the top of the list. Those of us in management knew the plant closing was inevitable; it just happened sooner than we expected. My counterparts---as well as Simon and Mike Bowman---are aware of this list and we didn't throw it together this morning. We've kept it updated for the last year...my idea."

"The codes?"

"'S" means ought to be a supervisor, 'M' means front line management potential, 'H' means probably higher level potential assuming more education and 'PWM' means, 'probably won't move'... they're damn good but no one thinks they'll move---yet it's worth a try."

"If I told you to cut it down to twenty and then we would make the final cut...?"

"I'd walk up to the 'won't moves' and ask them point blank if they would move. Sadly several of them---as you can see---are very near the top of the list. So if we're negotiating here, draw the line under number thirty. There are ten above that point that sadly probably aren't willing to move and it won't take your team five minutes to discern that fact. Then you'll have your twenty plus or minus."

"Fair enough. You obviously care about your people a great deal, Joel...more than the typical young manager grasping for the next rung on the corporate ladder."

"Frankly Ms. Stanton---and feel free to jot this down---as I sat out in the hallway a few minutes ago I wasn't sure I really cared to 'grasp at the next rung' as you put it...at least not with this company. I won't get my fifty---never thought I would---would have been tickled with twenty but I can live with ten and I'm gratified that you'll at least give Mike Bowman a shot.

"I've worked here for a year and a half; I don't have any family to take care of and I've got savings. I'll put my credentials up against anyone. Even if the company became vindictive, I'm confident Simon would write me a strong recommendation. Landing on my feet somewhere else was never an issue. I was prepared to be gracious and thank you for any offer made. I'd sleep on it, ensure that the plant closing went as well as could be expected and then say, 'on second thought...no thanks'. Grasping for things has never been my forte; settling for things has gotten dangerously too easy to do in this delightful little corner of God's green earth. I need a change."

"Can we move on to your career now?" Melissa said with a smile that bordered on a smirk.

"What? I still have one after what I've told you? Imagine that!"

The smile morphed into something else...a hint of respect.

"Your cohorts are moving on to become assistant plant managers. You've already done that here albeit for a shorter time than is normally expected. In spite of the fact that Simon is moving on to consider other opportunities, his personnel opinions have always been respected...even by those who don't seem to feel he is a 'fit' any longer. You are being promoted to Director of Plant Operations-East, reporting directly to the Senior VP, Brett Davidson. In my memory, it is the quickest promotion from Manager to Director on record. Congratulations!"

"I hate to be dense---but where is that exactly?"

"Dublin, Ohio...ever been there?"

"Never been to Ohio but I've lived in the midwest."

"It feels midwestern but is technically eastern US. The winters, while often arduous, probably pale in comparison to this part of the country. I moved there from southern California a year ago with some trepidation; I've since fallen in love with the Columbus area. Dublin is new, growing...prosperous."

"Dare I ask when?"

"We need to talk about that. Brett is coming up on Wednesday to personally drop the hammer. He wants the lights out within two weeks....is that realistic?"

"I suppose it will have to be; once they know the truth, the best thing is to close it out as soon as possible. I've never met Mr. Davidson...any insights?"

Melissa paused as if collecting her thoughts. "He's moved up the ladder very quickly and would appear to be highly regarded at the top. I've no sense that he is difficult to work with for someone like yourself . He has a persona, an aura maybe? A little bigger than life but it seems to fit with what senior management wants and expects."

Joel did his best to stifle too much of a smile. Ms. Stanton was not that impressed with Brett Davidson but was quite probably too junior and too HR to do anything about it.

"Excellent! Any thing else we need to discuss, Ms. Stanton?"

"Melissa...call me Melissa. Can you help me get some time with Mike Bowman---off site?"

"Today---this afternoon?"

"If we can swing it."

"We're ten minutes from the plant; give me a phone number and I'll go back and talk to him. We don't like to both be out of the facility at the same time...moot point I guess. An hour from now or on the hour?"

"On the hour---that'll work," Melissa said coming to her feet to indicate that their meeting was over.

Joel had hustled Mike Bowman into Simon's office since Simon wasn't occupying it.

"Mike, don't screw this up and make me look bad. This doesn't leave this room. The hammer falls in two days---Wednesday. The plant will be shut down in two weeks. I fought to get some consideration for a few people---you know the list we put together. I didn't get what I would have hoped for but I got something. The most important thing I got was a one shot chance for you to show your stuff. Be cool; I know you're hurting right now but I've fought the battle—as has Simon---as far as anyone could. You'll gain nothing by continuing the fight. Be yourself, be respectful and don't look at her tits...she's cute but she's okay. You've got about forty minutes to get your game face on. You've got a wife and three kids."

"Okay."

"Mike, we both served in the military albeit in different branches. The day comes when your lieutenant, captain or whatever is responsible to stand up for his people. You know me well enough to know that I did that. At the top of the hour---you take care of Mike Bowman, his wife and his babies---are we clear, First Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir! Are you going to come out okay in all of this?"

"I suppose; I'd pretty much decided that I didn't care one way or the other. I ain't got no family at home; I don't have a mortgage or a car payment. I would have landed on my feet. Yes, I'll be fine; they promoted me. I'll take the promotion...if for no other reason than to try to finish something Simon started a few years ago."

"Huh?"

"Never mind...I'm thinking out loud; go clean up and don't be late."

Joel called Melissa and brought her up to speed. He was sitting in Simon's chair with his feet on his desk when Simon returned.

"Well! The cats away and the mice..."

"Fuck you, soon-to-not-be-my-boss any longer!" Joel said with a grin, making no effort to vacate the chair that Simon hardly ever sat in anyway. "You never leave the plant during the day. I've got news---but I'm betting you do too...talk to me, Simon."

"Brett Davidson will be here Wednesday morning to personally drop the axe; he does not want to see me on the premises. I'm not even going to get a personal exit interview; no one even looked me in the eye when they canned me. I'm to clean out my desk and be gone permanently by close of business Tuesday---tomorrow. Effective immediately you are the acting plant manager so you might as well enjoy that broken old chair while you can."

"The financials?"

"Far more generous than I had expected; someone's guilt came to the surface. With vacation, sick days and severance I'll have a year of paychecks---even if I accept a job with another company. No non-compete clause...I guess they really don't think I'm a threat. I keep my stock options and they vest normally. Six months of benefits. You?"

"I'm going to be the new Eastern Zone Director of Operations reporting to..."

"Brett Davidson!"

"You got it! Listen, before we discuss that---and we need to---let me fill you in on the miniscule concession I was able to negotiate." Joel brought Simon up to speed.

"Good boy...damn nice job! I didn't have much to say about it; if you hadn't gone to bat for them, no one else would have. I've met Melissa Stanton on a few occasions; I think she gets it...she's young but good people. I'm pretty damn sure she has Brett's number."

"Let's talk about that, Simon. I guess I'm going to be around for another two weeks---how about you?"

"Not much longer than that; I negotiated a paid move back to our home in Ohio—not Columbus...Dayton."

"How far away is that from Dublin?"

"Not more than a long hour."

"People say it all the time Simon...I mean...we're going to keep in touch."

"I hoped you'd feel that way, Joel."

"You've got two weeks to tell me everything you know about Brett Davidson---and I mean everything."

"It well help you to work with him if you understand his idiosyncrasies...and peccadilloes."

"I'm sure it will...but I'm more interested in finishing the job you started."

"He's a snake; you are treading on very dangerous ground if you try to take him down from below. I don't recommend it."

"I'm a few years younger than you were when you took your shot...no wife, no kids, no debts. I have nothing to lose and I'm very patient."

"Well, on that note, I've already got a job prospect with one of this company's smaller competitors."

"Talk to me!"

"It's in Dayton; I actually worked for them before I came to this outfit but they were very small in those days and I'd gone about as far as I was going to go in what was then an unincorporated family affair. VP of all plant operations. They're far more regional than this company is; there's no east and west but they've hammered this company in the markets they are strong in which is primarily east of the Rockies, west of the eastern mountain range and north of Texas. Hell, if truth be told, this company barely competes in their best markets. There's been talk over the years of a merger; it would make nothing but sense---so if you're going to 'get' Davidson, please do it before it happens---and he gets to fire me again!"

"How soon before you start?"

"A couple of months and I'll look at other opportunities in case that one falls through. The guy I'd be replacing is old and almost an icon. They need to ease him out gently."

"Money?"

"I can live with it; cost of living there is reasonable, I like the area and the people and if it happens in the next few months I'll still be getting paid by this company. We'll be fine."

"Go home and kiss your wife and kids, Simon. I would expect that they're going to be happy to be moving. I'll hold down the fort."

"You're damned right you will! I don't work here anymore!" Simon said with a grin.

"Ass hole."

"That's unemployed ass hole to you! Later."

Joel hung around longer than he really need to hoping that either Mike would come back and let him know how things had gone or Melissa Stanton would call with her impressions. The latter occurred first.

"Joel, your instincts are impressive; I agree. We need to find a place for Mike Bowman. It's going to take a few days to work it out but I let him know that I was at least hopeful we could find a place for him---but nothing was in concrete. I've since talked to my boss and he's on board but please don't tell Mike it's a done deal until...it's a done deal."

"You got it. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mike; it would be a tragedy to lose him. You didn't have much time...how much coaching did you do?"

"I simply told him to be himself, not try to fight the battle for his people that I'd already fought and be respectful without being shy."

"He did just fine. On another note, it would appear that I'm stuck here for the night; at least, I'll be able to start screening people first thing in the morning. How's the food here at the Holiday Inn?"

"Dreadful, awful and there are occasionally food poisoning issues. The best restaurant in town is Micky D's. Across the border, there is a decent place---a dive really---with two one pound lobsters, slaw and respectable fries for $12.99."

"I've got a rental car...how do I get there?"

"You have to dodge the rotting mountains of potatoes to get to the actually crossing point and your rental contract may include a prohibition on driving in Canada. Look, I eat there at least once a week; I'd be glad to pick you up."

"Do you want to meet in the bar?"

"Melissa, don't even think of going in there...trust me. I'll meet you in the lobby or what passes for one. I'm done here; I was going to wait for Mike but I just remembered he coaches girl's soccer on Monday. When will you be ready? The early bird catches the worm or at least get the better lobster."

"I need to change....thirty minutes?"

"I'll see you then."

Joel had not planned to change but thirty minutes meant he had time to. A quick shower, a change into distinctly LL Bean casual duds and the short drive to the Holiday Inn occupied exactly thirty minutes. Pulling up to the front door he walked inside to find Melissa. She had seen him pull up and walked toward him.

I need to digress here; you can keep your skin magazines or even the more risqué women's mags. The LL Bean catalogue---if I knew where they found their models I'd move there tomorrow. Regardless of your age these women or girls are the kind you take home to meet your mamma. They also have a scrubbed, squeaky clean sexuality that transcends jeans, turtle necks, long underwear and ski parkas.

It was immediately obvious to Joel that Melissa, at least when it came to casual attire, shopped at LL Bean. If the owners of that old line establishment had seen her at that moment, they'd have hired her on the spot to model their duds.

"Hi, Joel. Thanks for..."

"Turn around for just a sec, Melissa."

She wasn't sure why she did so...was something hanging out?

"I thought so...the double LL logo. I didn't realize the Bean market extended to Ohio," he said, turning to display the leather patch on his own jeans. "Excellent choice right down to the shoes...it's still a little slushy in places."

It had not been flirtatious but it took the business tone out of their first dinner together. A half hour later watching Melissa consume lobster with fingers in her cute little bib, it occurred to Joel that it was damn near an erotic vision. When she smiled easily, she was beyond cute...she was adorable. She brought the conversation back to a business footing.

"I admire your candor and openness today...the way you stuck up for your people. A friendly word of advice...be very cautious about being too candid and open...with the wrong people."

"You're not the first one to express that warning. Duly noted."

"Do you play golf?"

"Actually I do; I was a scratch golfer; I played on my college team and golf was a cheap pastime in the service. I'm not addicted to the game; I don't hate it or love it but it doesn't frame my life."

"Smoke cigars...drink brandy?"

"I've been known to do both but again..."

"Enjoy late night bull sessions following over-priced dinners on the company tab with the guys?"

"I don't have much experience with over-priced dinners and I get sleepy after eleven...and I'd much rather be with an attractive member of the opposite sex than out with the guys."

"Enjoy gossiping about your...conquests?"

Melissa had strayed over the line and she knew it the second the words came out of her mouth but it was too late.

"That would not be the way my mom and dad raised their little boy."

Again, Melissa was not sure what made her do it. Brett Davidson was a sexist, misogynistic, lazy, lying piece of shit. He was also a Senior Vice President apparently adored by those on high.

"Check out every woman's tits and ass and make lewd comments?"

"I'd refer you back to my previous answer."

"For both of our sakes, please forget you even heard my last two questions."

"Not a problem...although you are the one who opened up Pandora's box."

"Joel, you and Simon are close; I'm sure he's told you his story and it's not a pretty one."

"I don't have all the details but I do have the gist."

"Okay...not remotely professional of me and, if it ever leaves this table, I'm probably toast. Brett Davidson is every bit as bad and dangerous as Simon may have told you. From a female perspective, he is even worse. He is a pathological liar and cheat---and while I sense that Joel has far too much class to ask the question---no, he's never gotten in my pants and never will but it's not for a lack of trying. He is demeaning and often inappropriate and that extends to touching. Somehow it never comes back to haunt him.

"He actually had the nerve to hire the girl who drives the beer cart at his country club, set her up with a $50,000 a year job over HR's objections---and then wanted to fire her six months later when she wouldn't put out. She still works for the company and still makes over fifty grand although she has been transferred to another department. She has zero job skills but she's not a dumb little cookie---and she has us by the short hairs.

"He is power mad and goes after and destroys anyone who gets in his way---particularly a woman. He hires losers that can't get the job done then goes out and robs an effective department of their best people to cover his ass. He takes credit for projects that aren't remotely under his control---and the guys upstairs are so oblivious to who does what and so baffled by his bullshit that they seem to buy it. With each new victory he is more emboldened. I'm the Eastern Zone Director of HR, for Christ's sake, and he has slid his greasy little hands along my butt on more than one occasion."

"How did you handle it?"

"Extricated myself, glared, got away from him and told the VP of HR who technically is who I work for."

"And?"

"Nice guy, good family man and as spineless as they come. He essentially told me to just deal with it. Evidently he has raised the issue before with the big boys and gotten slapped down. Five kids and a wife that doesn't work and a good job with a top company...not willing to risk it. I deal with at least one complaint a day from women---VPs to admins---for something he has done or said. I document it...'he says, she says'...don't know why I bother.

"Good women quit; he just eliminated the job of the only female VP on his side of the business; fortunately she found a job elsewhere in the company. What did he do when I reminded him that he now had not a single female VP? Promoted an incompetent director that should have been fired years ago to VP---again over HR objections. According to a very straight and honest young admin...said new VP gives him his daily blow job every day at the same time like clockwork."

Melissa paused to collect her thoughts. "Joel, I am so far over the line here it scares me; I have no idea why I'm telling you this stuff. Maybe your openness rubbed off on me. I guess I figured that Simon had given you fair warning and, frankly, I've run out of people I can rant to about this prick. If you ever repeated a word of this to anyone...if Brett Davidson ever found out...he would destroy me...and he has that kind of power."

Joel's military tour of duty was in a field not remotely related to the business curriculum he had pursued. Looking back, he could not recall how he had ended up in the Inspector General's office but evidently he had shown a flare for it and remained in that field for all four years. He had begun working for the IG at the installation level; he had spent his final year reporting directly to the one star general who was the IG for his entire service branch.