09-02-2020, 01:19 PM
Again I pulled out my phone and texted Michael, "We need to talk! When will you be home?" I had no idea if he was busy or not, but I knew he would get back to me as soon as he could.
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Pete Fleming tried mightily not to let his frustrations show to Dave and Michael, but he was not succeeding. As soon as the trio returned to the car he tried calling David Abernathy on his cell phone, only to receive a voice mail message saying he was involved in meetings throughout the day and was unable to answer his phone. "The only meeting he has on his schedule is with the electronics guy from Electromotive. That is all we sent him out here for. Dave, I want you to touch base with somebody in IT and see if there is something else happening out here that I don't know about. It is possible something came up yesterday."
Dave quickly pulled out his laptop, connected an aircard, and shot off a couple of emails while Pete drove toward Elk Grove Village. It took only a couple of minutes before he received two replies, one from Abernathy's secretary back in Omaha and the other from Abernathy's assistant in Omaha. Neither professed to know of anything pressing other than the Electromotive meeting.
"Dave," Pete said, "Please give a call back to the office in Northbrook, office 113, and see what that secretary was working on that had her so frazzled. I'm beginning to smell something that doesn't smell just right. I'd rather not call while driving in this Chicagoland traffic."
Dave was on the phone only for a couple of minutes before hanging up and saying, "Abernathy has her typing up the requirement for those engines we have on order. I don't know what's going on. He was supposed to have them done before coming out here, and it is his job, not hers. She is afraid she won't be able to complete them in time, and he has already written her up for poor performance yesterday."
Pete just nodded and continued his drive in silence. Michael thought it wise to stay out of the situation totally, and said nothing. Pete's mood was not enhanced by the backed up traffic on the Tri-State Expressway, which as so frequently happens around Chicago was totally backed up from construction.
Finally after an hour of crawling up the expressway instead of the normal thirty minute drive Pete pulled the car into the Elk Grove Village offices of the UP. There was no sign of a Lincoln Continental in the parking lot. Pete glanced at the clock on the car radio and grunted. "It's ten thirty already. Bear with me. I'm going to make a quick run and check something, and then we'll come back." He pulled back onto Pratt Ave. and drove east just a couple of blocks to the end of the street and turned left on Elmhurst Road, paralleling the end of O'Hare Airport and drove less than a mile to Heavenly Bodies, a well-known strip joint, and turned in. "They aren't open yet for another twenty minutes or so, and I hope I'm wrong, but... dammit, I'm not. There's his car, hiding out of sight from the road. He won't be expecting to see us, but don't look over there, Dave. Michael, he doesn't know you, so see if you see him in the car."
"There is someone in the driver's seat, slumped down so as to be inconspicuous. He's not looking at us, though."
Pete drove on through the parking lot and pulled back out onto Touhy Drive east to the corner and turned back south on Elmhurst Rd for half a mile or so, and then turned right onto Pratt Ave. again and drove slowly to the offices. "This is not going to be pretty. Dave, you have the meeting this afternoon with the Electromotive people. Michael, I'm sorry, but you won't be going home this evening. You and I will be going to Omaha and talking with the IT department there. I probably should have just had you go there next week, but I wanted to nip things in the bud with Abernathy. On the other hand, had we not come out here we wouldn't have found out what is going on. I really didn't understand what was so important about this meeting that he needed to take half the week for it, but now I can see why he wanted the extra time. I'm afraid there won't be a lot for you to do this afternoon, although I want you with me when I confront Abernathy. What he is doing at this moment is secondary to his insubordination, and it will be the insubordination we will be dealing with, and this will be just an add-on."
"Pete, when you are through with Michael, do you think I could have him in the meeting with me? IT isn't my strong suit, and he could provide me with some backup if I need it."
"Michael, would you mind? It isn't what I brought you out here for, but it falls within the consulting category we are paying you for."
"No, Sir. I don't mind at all. Actually, I think it might be good for me as well. I have absolutely no experience in business at all, and Mr. Abernathy was right about that. I'd like to see how things work in that regard."
"OK, thanks. By the way, if you can call me Pete and call Dave, Dave, I see no reason you should call Abernathy 'Mister'. Just because he is a horse's ass doesn't mean you have to treat him better than anyone else. Our CEO goes by Ben, so I don't see where the head of the IT department needs to be afforded any greater respect. We don't tend to be all that punctilious about things. When we meet with him I don't want you calling him Mister. Let's burst that balloon first. His name is David, so use it. If he gets huffy I'll take care of him. Got it?"
Michael grinned and said, "Yes, Sir, Mr. Fleming, Sir! Right away, Sir!"
"Impertinent whelp, aren't you?" but he laughed as he glanced back in the mirror. "I've got to get back to calling you Mike before I forget and blow our little charade, right, Mike?" Michael just wrinkled his nose and Dave and Pete both laughed.
"Excuse me, please, Pete. I've got to respond to this text since we aren't going to be meeting just yet. Give me a minute, please?"
"Sure. Then let's get you signed in and see what we can do about getting ready for both meetings."
He wrote,"I don't know when yet for certain. It will be tomorrow night sometime."
"K. Let me know, and I'll pick you up at the airport. We need to meet with you by yourself. Sorry, but it is quite important."
"K U can tell Susie. I don't have the guts. ;-) J/K I'll call tonight. Must run."
"Thank you, sir. That was Justin, and something important has come up that I needed to know about, but we will handle it tomorrow night. I'm all yours."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pete Fleming tried mightily not to let his frustrations show to Dave and Michael, but he was not succeeding. As soon as the trio returned to the car he tried calling David Abernathy on his cell phone, only to receive a voice mail message saying he was involved in meetings throughout the day and was unable to answer his phone. "The only meeting he has on his schedule is with the electronics guy from Electromotive. That is all we sent him out here for. Dave, I want you to touch base with somebody in IT and see if there is something else happening out here that I don't know about. It is possible something came up yesterday."
Dave quickly pulled out his laptop, connected an aircard, and shot off a couple of emails while Pete drove toward Elk Grove Village. It took only a couple of minutes before he received two replies, one from Abernathy's secretary back in Omaha and the other from Abernathy's assistant in Omaha. Neither professed to know of anything pressing other than the Electromotive meeting.
"Dave," Pete said, "Please give a call back to the office in Northbrook, office 113, and see what that secretary was working on that had her so frazzled. I'm beginning to smell something that doesn't smell just right. I'd rather not call while driving in this Chicagoland traffic."
Dave was on the phone only for a couple of minutes before hanging up and saying, "Abernathy has her typing up the requirement for those engines we have on order. I don't know what's going on. He was supposed to have them done before coming out here, and it is his job, not hers. She is afraid she won't be able to complete them in time, and he has already written her up for poor performance yesterday."
Pete just nodded and continued his drive in silence. Michael thought it wise to stay out of the situation totally, and said nothing. Pete's mood was not enhanced by the backed up traffic on the Tri-State Expressway, which as so frequently happens around Chicago was totally backed up from construction.
Finally after an hour of crawling up the expressway instead of the normal thirty minute drive Pete pulled the car into the Elk Grove Village offices of the UP. There was no sign of a Lincoln Continental in the parking lot. Pete glanced at the clock on the car radio and grunted. "It's ten thirty already. Bear with me. I'm going to make a quick run and check something, and then we'll come back." He pulled back onto Pratt Ave. and drove east just a couple of blocks to the end of the street and turned left on Elmhurst Road, paralleling the end of O'Hare Airport and drove less than a mile to Heavenly Bodies, a well-known strip joint, and turned in. "They aren't open yet for another twenty minutes or so, and I hope I'm wrong, but... dammit, I'm not. There's his car, hiding out of sight from the road. He won't be expecting to see us, but don't look over there, Dave. Michael, he doesn't know you, so see if you see him in the car."
"There is someone in the driver's seat, slumped down so as to be inconspicuous. He's not looking at us, though."
Pete drove on through the parking lot and pulled back out onto Touhy Drive east to the corner and turned back south on Elmhurst Rd for half a mile or so, and then turned right onto Pratt Ave. again and drove slowly to the offices. "This is not going to be pretty. Dave, you have the meeting this afternoon with the Electromotive people. Michael, I'm sorry, but you won't be going home this evening. You and I will be going to Omaha and talking with the IT department there. I probably should have just had you go there next week, but I wanted to nip things in the bud with Abernathy. On the other hand, had we not come out here we wouldn't have found out what is going on. I really didn't understand what was so important about this meeting that he needed to take half the week for it, but now I can see why he wanted the extra time. I'm afraid there won't be a lot for you to do this afternoon, although I want you with me when I confront Abernathy. What he is doing at this moment is secondary to his insubordination, and it will be the insubordination we will be dealing with, and this will be just an add-on."
"Pete, when you are through with Michael, do you think I could have him in the meeting with me? IT isn't my strong suit, and he could provide me with some backup if I need it."
"Michael, would you mind? It isn't what I brought you out here for, but it falls within the consulting category we are paying you for."
"No, Sir. I don't mind at all. Actually, I think it might be good for me as well. I have absolutely no experience in business at all, and Mr. Abernathy was right about that. I'd like to see how things work in that regard."
"OK, thanks. By the way, if you can call me Pete and call Dave, Dave, I see no reason you should call Abernathy 'Mister'. Just because he is a horse's ass doesn't mean you have to treat him better than anyone else. Our CEO goes by Ben, so I don't see where the head of the IT department needs to be afforded any greater respect. We don't tend to be all that punctilious about things. When we meet with him I don't want you calling him Mister. Let's burst that balloon first. His name is David, so use it. If he gets huffy I'll take care of him. Got it?"
Michael grinned and said, "Yes, Sir, Mr. Fleming, Sir! Right away, Sir!"
"Impertinent whelp, aren't you?" but he laughed as he glanced back in the mirror. "I've got to get back to calling you Mike before I forget and blow our little charade, right, Mike?" Michael just wrinkled his nose and Dave and Pete both laughed.
"Excuse me, please, Pete. I've got to respond to this text since we aren't going to be meeting just yet. Give me a minute, please?"
"Sure. Then let's get you signed in and see what we can do about getting ready for both meetings."
He wrote,"I don't know when yet for certain. It will be tomorrow night sometime."
"K. Let me know, and I'll pick you up at the airport. We need to meet with you by yourself. Sorry, but it is quite important."
"K U can tell Susie. I don't have the guts. ;-) J/K I'll call tonight. Must run."
"Thank you, sir. That was Justin, and something important has come up that I needed to know about, but we will handle it tomorrow night. I'm all yours."
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