The Lawn Guy

Newton Industries was the single biggest employer in the area. Nearly a fourth of the local population was employed there. It had a reputation as a progressive company that really cared about their employees. The CEO was John J. Robinson, JR, to the employees. Everyone knew and loved him. He was in his mid-forties, handsome, and single. He was also very wealthy, and no one could understand why some available woman hadn't grabbed him up a long time ago.

There was a suggestion box in the company dining area and JR read each suggestion personally. He frequently forwarded the suggestions to whatever department might be best to evaluate the suggestion for feasibility. In the box today he found a suggestion that seemed to make a lot of sense to him. Mary Hanson, from human resources, suggested that since the company employed so many mothers that an onsite daycare would not only be cost effective, but it would improve productivity. He decided to follow-up on the idea. HR seemed to be the logical department to investigate it, so he decided on going right to the source of the suggestion, Mary Hanson. He walked to his secretary, Cynthia Willits.

"Cindy, will you ask Mary Hanson to come to my office. I'd like to talk to her about her daycare idea. I'd like you in the meeting too."

"Any particular time, JR?"

"Whenever you're both free. I'm just signing papers this morning."

"Yes, sir."

It was about thirty minutes later when Mary and Cindy walked in.

"Have a seat ladies. Mary, I saw your daycare suggestion this morning. Tell me what you're thinking."

"Sir, over half of our employees are women. Forty three percent of those have school age children. That means getting the kids to school or daycare for many of them. The school system doesn't provide any after school care so many of the kids have daycare or are left alone until parents get home. In the summer, when school's out, it's an even bigger problem. We have space here to create and operate a wonderful daycare. We could either run it free or at a considerably discounted price from what the parents are now paying."

"Mary, what does daycare cost?"

"Going rates in the area are about thirty dollars a day."

"Per child?"

"For the first child. The second and subsequent children are about half that."

"So, a mother of three is paying a third to half of their salary for daycare?"

"Yes, sir."

"Could we provide the same service for less?"

"Yes, JR. We could do a lot better service, including transport to and from school, and do it for less than half of that cost."

"Besides the obvious, how does that help our company?"

"Improved employee satisfaction and reduced absenteeism are the main benefits."

"Do you know anything about setting one up?"

"Not personally, but I have a friend that recently moved to the area from Dayton, Ohio that ran a successful daycare chain."

"Any idea why she doesn't still run it?"

"She got sick of the cold weather and snow."

"Do you think she'd be interested in creating one for us and getting it running?"

"It couldn't hurt to ask."

"If she's interested run a full background check on her as you would any department head. I'll need design, setup costs, number of employees in the center and salaries. Come up with an idea for the director salary too. Put that together then let me see what you've got. Comments, Cindy?"

"I think it's a wonderful idea. You might want to even include a center where the older kids can come where there can be some, lesser but present, adult supervision. Maybe even tutoring. Don't forget to figure in busses or vans for transport to and from school."

"Can you handle all that, Mary?"

"It's quite a project, but I can do this."

"I'd like to review the information on your friend before we sink any money into this so talk to her first."

"Yes, sir."

"Anything else, ladies?"

Both shook their heads and stood. JR stood also. "Thank you both," he told them.

The ladies went back to work, and JR went back to signing his papers. Mary was thrilled with the opportunity he had given her in organizing and doing a feasibility study on this project. Mary had one child that was pre-school age and another in the second grade. She would love to be able to have her children involved and close to her rather than shipping them off every day.

One of the papers on JR's desk for review included the results of a suggestion a few months ago regarding employee dress codes. An employee had suggested casual clothing for everyone in the company that wasn't involved, face to face with clients, and business or business casual for those who were. They had tested the system over the last thirty days and the response from the employees had been overwhelmingly good. After thoroughly reviewing the reports he signed the new dress code that would be effective immediately. He knew the employees were excited about hearing his decision and he took it to Cindy for immediate distribution. She looked at it and grinned.

"They're going to love you for this, JR."

"Who put in the suggestion originally?"

"Jose' Velasquez, our groundskeeper."

"When is our next monthly employee recognition lunch?"

"This Thursday."

"Let's do something really nice for him."

"How about we let him choose between an extra week pay or a paid week off?" Cindy suggested.

"I like it. If he takes the week off, I want my senior managers to each do his job for one day."

"They'll grumble about that."

"I'll take a day too. I won't ask them to do anything I won't do. I get the riding mower day. I always wanted to drive one of those things."

"You on a riding mower? Heaven help us," Cindy chuckled.

"Oh, ye of little faith," he laughed. "Let's surprise him with it on Thursday."

"He'll be thrilled."

"Good, that's what we want."

When Mary returned to her desk, she made a call to her friend Crystal who was in the middle of a remodeling project in her family room. There would be contractors in and out of her home the rest of the week, so they planned on getting together to talk about the possible daycare project on Saturday.

At the employee recognition lunch, on Thursday, Jose' was brought before the crowd to recognize him for his suggestion of changing the dress code. He was greeted with a resounding reception by his fellow employees. Jose' opted for the paid week off from work and would be off the following week. There was a small amount of complaining from the executives when they discovered they would each be taking one day next week at caring for the grounds but nothing significant. JR would be mowing on Tuesday and Jose' was more than happy to take him to his shop after the luncheon to show him how to operate the large riding mower. Jose' also put together a schedule for the execs so they would each know what needed to be done and when.

On Saturday, Mary met up with Crystal at a small restaurant on the town square.

"A few weeks ago, I made a suggestion at work that we create an onsite daycare. The CEO liked the idea and put me in charge of checking into how to do it. I told him about you, and he asked me to see if you'd be interested in being involved."

"How involved?"

"We have the space already but other than that all we have is hopes. We'd like you to take it essentially from the ground up."

"I don't know. My centers were all top of the line. From what I've seen and heard about the ones in companies they're pretty chintzy."

"This won't be. Our CEO wants something really special. He really does care about the employees and their families. He plans to put a lot into this."

"How big of a center are you looking at?"

"We have about two hundred moms working for us. About half of them have preschoolers or elementary school kids. The boss wants daycare, before and after school care and possibly tutors. He even mentioned a community youth center to give the older kids somewhere to spend time."

"Wow, that is quite a project. Where would it be?"

"When the new company building was built about three years ago, they wound up with about 20,000 square feet of unused space in one wing. My guess is we would have all or part of that."

"Mary, you're making me drool."

"Good. Come over on Monday and I can show you around."

"How about Tuesday? I have the last of the contractors finishing up at the house on Monday."

"That works. We need to run a background check and do an employee application before we can move forward. JR wants to make sure you're clean cut."

"That needs to be done on anyone working with children. I'm liking this guy already. What time Tuesday?"

"How's ten?"

"I'll be there."

On Tuesday morning JR was enjoying the morning sun riding the mower over the expansive company lawn. He was making a pass next to the sidewalk when he saw a woman approaching the building. Rather than blow the clippings in her direction he stopped and turned off the mower until she passed. When she neared him, he recognized her.

"Crys? Crystal Morton?"

She looked at him a bit perplexed. JR took off his large hat and sunglasses and smiled at her.

"JJ? Oh, my goodness! How are you?"

"I'm good, enjoying the morning sunshine. How are you?"

"I'm well. I think the last thing I ever expected was to see you on a lawn mower."

"It's a beauty, isn't it? My first time getting to ride it. What are you doing here?"

"I have an interview this morning."

"That's great. I hope you get the position. We should have dinner sometime soon and catch up."

"Uhm, well. I really need to get to my appointment. Maybe we'll run into each other again."

She walked away. They remembered each other very well. They had dated as steadies for their first three years of college and even gotten as far as discussing marriage before their breakup. Mary had always expected JJ, as she had called him, to be a big success one day. Yet here he was a groundskeeper, seemingly happy to be riding a lawn mower. 'What a disappointment, he had so much potential,' she thought. The last time they had ever spoken was at their college graduation. They had accidentally run into each other and wished each other success and happiness in the future. She had thought of him sometimes and even considered trying to locate him, but never had.

JR was a bit taken aback by her hasty retreat. Obviously, she wasn't interested in doing any catching up. He watched her enter the building as he put on his sunglasses and hat then restarted the mower and went back to work on the lawn.

Crystal went to the HR department to meet with Mary. Mary introduced her around in the office then gave her the forms she needed to complete. Once those were completed, they walked to the wing where the proposed daycare would be. Crystal was impressed with the huge two-story open space. Mary explained that Crystal would be working directly with the architect to create the space. Final approval before construction would be by the CEO but he wanted her to put it all together. While walking through the area Crystal was telling Mary some of her vision for the center. They also spoke about what Crystal's salary would be. It was well above anything Crystal had ever dreamed. The application and background check would have to be completed before they would make her an offer, but Crystal had already decided that when the offer was made, she would jump at it. They went to the CEOs office for a quick introduction.

"Good morning, Cindy. This is Crystal Morton. She's the lady I'm hoping will put together our daycare."

"Hi Crystal, welcome to Newton Enterprises."

"Thank you. I'm really looking forward to being a part of it."

"Is JR in? I'd like to introduce Crystal," Mary asked.

"No, he's out today, covering for Jose'."

"Oh, I forgot about that. I'll bet he's having a ball."

"Like a kid in a candy store. He was really looking forward to today. He'll be back in tomorrow."

"I think it can wait. Since we were here, I thought we'd give it a shot."

"It was nice to meet you, Crystal."

"You too, Cindy."

They left the office and walked back to HR. Mary continued showing her around on the way. Crystal was impressed with the casual attire and how genuinely friendly and happy everyone seemed. She really was looking forward to being a part of it all. By the time Crystal left, JR had completed the front area and was far off using an edger along the building. 'How sad,' she thought.

After finishing his lawn chores JR cleaned the equipment and put it away then went to his office.

"Did you have fun?" Cindy asked.

He grinned, "I think I've found a new calling. I had a ball."

"I knew you would. You had several calls. I left messages on your desk. Mary Hanson brought her friend by to meet you today."

"The daycare lady?"

"Yes. She's a knockout."

"I saw one of those today too. I ran into an old girlfriend."

"You have a faraway look, JR. Just an old girlfriend?" She'd never seen this look on him before.

"She was my first love, from college. She dumped me during our senior year for some rich guy."

"How long were you together?"

"Almost three years. We even talked about getting married after college. Oh well, that was a long time ago."

"Did it open some old wounds?"

"Yeah, I guess it did. She was a bit standoffish today. Surprised me a little."

"Are you sure you didn't dump her?"

"No, I was definitely the dumpee. I'm going home. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, JR."

He drove home thinking about Crystal. It had opened old wounds for him. He replayed the breakup and final meeting in his mind. The way she acted today made him wonder if he had done something that had upset her, but he had always thought they parted amicably.

The following week Crystals references, and background check were completed. Mary brought her folder to JR's office and gave it to Cindy to pass along for his review. She had placed it on his desk. After looking it over thoroughly he took it back to Cindy then sat down next to her desk to talk.

"Uh oh, when you sit down it means there's trouble." She smiled at him.

"Not trouble. I need some female guidance."

"You came to the right place. I'm female, opinionated and freely give poor advice to anyone willing to listen."

"You remember the old girlfriend I told you about last week?"

"The one that broke your heart and scarred you for life?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, that's the one. This is her." He put Crystal's folder on Cindy's desk.

"Is that a problem?"

"She's perfect for the job."

"And?"

"Oh, nothing I guess," he answered.

"And...you wonder if you'll be comfortable working together."

"Well, yes. She just acted like she couldn't get away from me fast enough last week."

"You want the daycare and she's perfect for creating it. It's not like you're going to be working side by side with her. Let her do her job and stay out of her way."

"You're right. It's about getting the job done. Thanks for the guidance. Get this back to Mary and tell her to go ahead and make the offer. Tell her not to schedule a meet and greet with me for now."

"She'll want to know why."

"I just want to give Crystal a free hand to create. I still want to oversee plans and budgets, but I'll do that quietly."

"She'll buy that."

Crystal started the next week and was working with the architect the following day. Plans were in the works within a few days for the center. The rough plans were sent to JR and he approved them. A week later, cost estimates crossed his desk and those were approved. Construction was well underway by the third week and moving quickly. Mary and Crystal had talked over staffing needs and had begun looking for staff within the company first. JR did drop in to check on the progress but always did so after hours when he was sure to be alone. Once the center was completed the state would come by for an inspection to give their official certification. There was already a list of employees who had signed up their children to attend. A bus was purchased and outfitted for transporting the school age children to and from school. The certification was given by the state and an open house was planned for the following Saturday with an employee walkthrough planned the afternoon before. On Monday, the doors would open for business for phase one, of the daycare. Phase two would be for the older kids and would open about two weeks later. Phase three was bringing in tutors and that would be about a month after that.

02 - Meeting the CEO

The daycare was all ready for the employee walk through. The staff was there, refreshments were ready, and Crystal was convinced that she and her team were about to blow everyone out of the water. As people began coming in, they were in awe. There were play areas, classroom areas, a nursery for the infants and wonderful things to be found everywhere you looked. She had met many of the staff during the last couple of months and was thrilled to see how much everyone appreciated what she had been able to put together. The daycare was full. Cindy, the CEOs secretary went to her.

"This is absolutely amazing. It's almost like mixing school and Disneyland together. I'm really impressed, Crystal."

"Thank you, Cindy. I've dreamt of doing something like this for years."

"The boss sends his apologies; he's stuck on a conference call to Asia. He said he'll come down to see it as soon as he can."

"That's fine. I know he's a busy man."

"I won't keep you from your guests. They seem to be lining up to talk to you. Congratulations! You've done an amazing job."

"Thanks, Cindy."

Cindy walked away and Crystal was literally surrounded with well-wishers. During the afternoon she took several people on tours of the facility. Every part of the walkthrough was a success. Several other parents got application forms to start their children in the daycare and a lot of people were interested in what phases two and three would bring. Parents were excited about bringing their children to the open house the following day.

Everyone had finally gone except for Crystal and two of her staff who were arranging things for tomorrow's open house. She noticed JJ wandering through and went to him.

"I'm sorry, JJ. The walk through is over. You're welcome to come back tomorrow for the open house."

"I'm sorry, I was tied up earlier."

"JJ, we really need to get our work done now and don't have time for visitors."

"Can I help with anything?"

"JJ, you really should leave," she huffed.

"Crystal, have I done something to offend you?"

"Well, no, but right now we don't have need for a gardener. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"

He nodded and left. Just after he was out of the daycare the thought struck him. 'She doesn't know who I am,' he thought. He laughed all the way back to his office. She had seen him only twice since her arrival. Once on the lawnmower and then today in jeans and a polo shirt. Everyone there called him JR, but Crystal only knew him as JJ. Still, he wondered if he had done something to offend her. He hoped he would get a chance to speak with her at the open house.

The open house began at noon. Representatives from the city were there along with many of the employees and their families. Several acts had been arranged for entertainment. There were performing dogs, a magician, two people making balloon animals, games and even a firetruck for the kids to see. It seemed like more of a carnival than anything. The children had free run of the entire facility. Lots of volunteers had joined them for safety and crowd control. There were hundreds of people. Crystal couldn't have gotten a moment alone if she had wanted to. JR had arrived and was mingling in the crowd. Today he wore slacks and a dress shirt. Seeing him in a tie was almost unheard of.

A truck had been positioned as a stage for the performers and at one o'clock Bonnie picked up the microphone to get everyone's attention.