Virgil

Ok, here’s an update on the offer to become a Branch Chief that I blogged about here: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?b=9852. Let me clarify something from that blog. Nick, who was the Division Chief in the blog was only sitting in that position while a candidate was selected. Nick actually has a higher position in headquarters, but was filling in while someone was selected. That person was selected this week, one of the Branch Chiefs (not the one I work for) named Tom. I’ve known Tom for twenty-something years. He started about two years after I did, and I’ve been there over 24 years. We’ve worked together for many years. He was not great technically, but he was a very good administrator, and you can see that’s what ultimately gets promoted. It kind of pissed me off when they promoted him over me many years ago (I used to refer to him as a bean counter), but that’s the way it goes, and other than a little competitive rivalry, we’ve been pretty good friends over the years.

I’ll lay the story out into scenes. I don’t think it rises to a climax at the end here, but you might find this interesting.

Scene I: Monday, in front of Tom’s office.
Me: Hey congratulations. I just saw the news. That’s great.
Tom: Thanks.
[Shakes hands and we share some small talk about how he’ll have to refocus his outlook.]
Tom: You know, I need to really talk to you.
Me: About?
Tom: You know, my old job is now open and…
Me: Oh, I told Nick and Mo I was happy doing what I’m doing.
Tom: I need to talk to you about that. Got a moment?
Me: Oh Tom, nah.
Tom: Come on, let’s go into my office.
[We walk over and sit around his table. Tom’s office is spotless neat, not a piece of paper either on his desk or on the table, completely different than mine that has papers, reports, folders, notebooks, and briefing packages strewn across both, some places three deep.]
Tom: Look, I think you would be excellent at this. Why don’t you want this?
Me: It’s not that I don’t think I could do it, it’s that I really enjoy what I do.
[I go on to explain how I enjoy managing a major program, much in the same way I did to Nick in the previous blog.]
Tom: I understand but this has its challenges too.
Me: Oh I know that, it’s just I think I’m better suited for what I’m doing.
[Tom then goes into how the job pays more money. It’s more than I thought, but not enough to change my feelings.]
Me: It’s not the money, Tom.
Tom: I need you to do this. I have no one else to fill this.
Me: What about Stu?
Tom: Stu is going over to Systems.
Me: I thought he had nothing but hatred for those guys.
Tom: Yeah, but they’re giving him a promotion.
[Laughter]
Tom: Think about it. Dan is no supervisor. He gets distracted with all sorts of side things and loses focus. [I nod in agreement.] And then all I have is Leon.
[I sit up with the mention of Leon. People will not work for or with Leon. He’s moved up over the years through shear persistence and bull headedness, and he does work hard. But he cannot work with people.]
Me: Whoa. No way. [lowers voice] I know people that will quit and leave if they have to work for Leon.
Tom, mouthing words without voice: I know.
[Leon is a good soul, really, but he’s got a warped sense of perception and of people, and really he’s the opposite of a motivator; he’s a de-motivator. He’s got this cynical depressed streak that believes the world is out to screw everyone, and especially him.]
Tom: So I really want you, and I know you can handle people.
[Ok, so I’m thinking: he’s offering me money, he’s buttering me up, he’s going to do this, isn’t he, and I’ll be sucked in.]
Me: It’s not that I won’t be good, but I really enjoy…
Tom: Of course job satisfaction is very important, I understand. Do me this favor then. Do the job for 120 days – four months – and if you don’t like it, you can go back.
Me: Four months?
Tom: At a minimum I need you to help me out. After four months and you still don’t want it, I’ll have lined up someone else.
[I’m getting the feeling that Nick and Tom, who are buddies, plotted this out on hooking me. Money, appealing to my ego, and now appealing to my sense of duty. And that’s what really gets me, the duty part. At the bottom of it all, I’m always a good soldier and will do what’s asked of me for the good. But I have one more trick up my sleeve.]
Me: Yeah but there’s a problem there. I don’t know if you know but my wife and I are in the process of adopting, and I could be gone for up to six weeks.
[I explain how I may have to be out of the country for a significant stretch of time in the next few months.]
Tom: No I didn’t know that. That’s wonderful. Don’t worry about it. We’ll work it out. You know with me family comes first.
[It’s true. Tom is a very good family man and always accommodates personal issues.]
Me: But I may be gone almost half those four months?
Tom: I don’t care. We’ll accommodate it.
[Ok, there’s no way out of this. He’s cornered me into it. He wants me and there’s nothing but a flat out refusal that will get me out of it. We go back and forth for another ten minutes, rehashing the same issues, but it’s a fete de complete. I figured I might as well lay the groundwork for a better negotiating position.]
Me: Alright, let me talk to my wife. I’ll let you know by the end of the week?
Tom: No I need you to start next week. I need to know in a day or two.
Me: Ok, let me talk to my wife. I’ll let you know by Wednesday.
Tom: Great. [And then smiling] but you’re answer will be yes –Please.
Me, smiling: Let me talk to my wife.

You think my wife is any help that night? She’s giddy I’m getting a promotion and more money. She’s pushing me to take the job.

Scene II: So Tuesday afternoon I stop back into Tom’s office.
Me: Ok, Tom. I’ll try it for four months.
Tom: Fantastic. If you don’t like it after four months, I promise, I won’t ever bug you again about it.
Me: No promises on my part I’ll stay.
Tom: And don’t worry that time off you need to take.
Me: Ok.
[And then we discuss the transition process, backfilling my current job for the four months and picking up on his old job. I go back to my desk eventually and the thought occurs to me that my friend Kerry, who once worked in our division and went to a different division a couple of years ago, could be a good fit for the job. Maybe she could lobby for the job. So I give her a call, leave a message if she would like to go to lunch on Wednesday and that I had some gossipy news to tell her. I knew the gossip word would get her, so on Wednesday at just after ten o’clock she calls me and agrees to go to lunch. She’ll drive over and pick me up.]

Scene III: I’m waiting outside my building waiting for Kerry to drive up. Leon walks out the door and stops to talk to me.]
Leon: Any word on who’s going to get Tom’s job?
[I look into his face, and he’s not looking back into mine, and his face seems to be pallid and taunt, as if he’s trying to control every muscle. I know right away he knows. It’s not like Leon to not know the latest.]
Me: Yeah, I do. Tom asked me to sit in.
Leon, unemotional and barely letting me finish my sentence: Oh that’s good for you. I was wondering.
Me: I’m only in for a 120 days.
Leon: Oh but you’ll probably get it. But I would have thought Stu.
Me: Stu supposedly is going to Systems.
Leon: Oh I didn’t know that. Stu is leaving us? He never talks to me anymore.
[I can see the conspiracy theories swirling through his head. Kerry mercifully pulls up.]
Me: Gotta go Leon.
Leon, mumbling: Changes, changes. You getting Tom’s job, Stu leaving. Wow, wow.

Scene IV: Inside Kerry’s car.
Me: Hey. Thank God you pulled up. Leon was like an albatross.
Kerry: Oh? Panera ok?
[Panera is a soup and sandwich place, Kerry’s favorite.]
Me: Whatever you want.
Kerry: So?
Me: Tom got the division chief job.
Kerry: Oh I know that.
Me: How did you hear?
Kerry: Alison.
[Ah the women talking. They always spread the word.]
Me: That’s not the whole news. They want me to take Tom’s job.
[Then I explained the 120 days and what had transpired between Tom and me.]
Me: So maybe you should explore coming back.
[She’s driving and her face is fairly placid about what I just asked.]
Kerry: You know that’s the job I had always wanted.
Me: Why don’t you give Tom a call and see if there’s any possibilities?
Kerry: Hmm.
Me: No?
Kerry: They’re looking to split the division where I’m at and there’s going to be all sorts of possibilities.
Me: Yeah, but if you get this, what’s the difference?
Kerry: Not sure what it does for me over there.
Me: You like it better what you do now?
Kerry: I think so.
Me: Oh.
[Dead end. So she doesn’t want the job either. I may really get stuck with it.]

Scene V: I’m at my desk just after lunch typing at the computer. Leon, still wearing his jacket walks in.]
Leon: You’re going to take Tom’s job right?
Me: For the four months. I guess I have no choice. I have no idea afterward.
Leon: Who’s going to run your program?
Me: I’m going to let Phil run it, but I’ll look over his shoulder.
Leon: Phil, Phil, yeah that makes sense. Boy these young guys get all the opportunities these days.
[I just shrug, typing away, hoping he’ll just leave. Leon is at least five to ten years older than me and he’s got several degrees: engineering, accounting, MBA. He’s got close to a dozen patents. Any idea he gets, no matter how wild, he just patents. I know he feels he’s being passed over.]
Leon: Boy, why won’t you take the job?
Me: I don’t know Leon. It’s not what I really want.
Leon: Oh you’ll do great. Tom likes you. I don’t think Tom likes me.
Me: Oh I’m sure he does.
Leon: Well, he didn’t ask me. I think I isolated myself too much. I wound up working for headquarters and not running the big programs.
Me: You’ve done well.
Leon: Yeah but Tom doesn’t like me. You’re going to do great.
[He walks out the door but turns around and walks back in.]
Leon: My mistake was that I started working for headquarters and not under the branch chiefs.
Me: Who knows Leon? You might still get it. It’s only a detail for me. Why don’t you talk to Tom?
Leon: I don’t know. I don’t know.
[And finally he leaves. I'm thinking: Should i figure out a way to get Leon the job? Nah, all the guys would kill me. I couldn't do that to them. Or me. I would have to live with it too. Sigh.]