“Tears are the silent language of grief.” – Voltaire
We moved into our apartment as planned. It was our 7th move since Lynda and I started living together. It took some time for Lynda to organize our apartment. She bought some drapes and some pieces of new furniture to go with the apartment and we were very happy with the size of the apartment. It had a nice sized kitchen which Lynda liked. Lynda had decorated the third bedroom as our guest bedroom, keeping a corner of it for my desk and my filing cabinet.
Adam started attending school and he was quite happy with his classmates. This was his fifth school. He was already 8 years old and was totally excited with the idea of starting to play hockey.
Things were running relatively smoothly at the office as our banking systems were migrated from IBM Toronto to Calgary, and we were getting close to implementing the new Cheque Processing machines.
Gerry was busy with the consultants who were advising him regarding the re-organization of the department and hiring people to fill those positions. My focus was the Cheque Processing Centre and I was keeping in touch with Roy Haur to make sure that the computer operation was meeting our expected deadlines. I was also visiting Edmonton quite frequently to meet with the people who were directly or indirectly involved in making strategic decisions. I also started attending the National Clearing Committee meetings conducted in different cities hosted by chartered banks. I visited the Bank of Canada in Ottawa and spent some time with their senior management to make them understand that ATB’s ready to become as independent as possible under the current charter of the bank.
Danny, the guy who was managing the Cheque Processing Centre, decided to go back to Edmonton. Ken Annette was working in Personnel. He was one of the three folks whom I met in Montreal when they interviewed me for the job. He wanted to make a change and I thought he was a reasonable young man.
While I was busy with all kinds of banking as well as technical activities, I was trying my best to maintain good relationships with the people I was working with at the office in Calgary. More specifically with Scott, as he had been a great help for me to discuss banking issues to understand the logic before I went out and tried to promote the idea to senior executives in Edmonton that we are totally focused to improve the operational banking efficiencies in Calgary.
One day Gerry asked me for lunch and I was wondering what’s up. Nevertheless, I showed up for lunch in our favourite restaurant. We ordered our food and drinks and then Gerry took a piece of paper from his pocket and put it on the table. It showed some kind of organizational chart. He said this is the proposed re-organization for our department. He wanted me to take a look at the chart and tell him what I thought. After reviewing it for a couple of minutes, I said it appeared to be a typical organizational chart for a mid-sized computer department.
He said Mir I got to tell you that I knew when we interviewed you in Montreal that you were going to be an asset to the bank. Your performance for the last few months proved that I was right. He explained to me that the top position in the proposed re-organization of General Manager, Computer Services, was offered to him and he had accepted it. In this capacity, he would be reporting to the same executive who directly reports to the president of the bank. At the same time he pointed out on the chart that the two positions, Asst. General Manager, Systems Development, and Asst. General Manager, Computer Operations, directly reporting to him would have specific functions to perform with the help of assigned managers reporting to them.
We had to pause for a few minutes as the waiter had just popped in with our food and drinks.
Gerry continued by saying that I need you to take a close look at the chart for Assistant General Manager, Computer Operations. While eating my steak sandwich, I picked up the chart again and started reviewing. The chart illustrated five managers reporting to Assistant General Manager, Computer Operations for the following functions:
- Logistics;
- Technical Support;
- Network Support;
- Cheque Processing Centre; and
- Computer Operations.
Gerry said the Computer Operations referred to Roy Haur’s area. Even though it was not physically attached to our organization, yet Roy Haur directly or indirectly would be responsible in this position in our proposed organization chart.
Gerry said the number of people reporting to this position represents 85 percent of the total number of employees in our department simply because there are a lot of people working in the Cheque Processing Centre.
We were almost finished eating and I asked for more coffee just in case Gerry would like to continue talking about the re-organization. He was just sipping his coffee and indeed he was ready to continue.
He asked me what do I think about this position, Mir. I said it seemed to be the most challenging position, not to mention the most demanding. Apparently it was designed to support around-the-clock operations, with the focus on controlling the float; and I understood that the overall performance of our department would be measured based on the magnitude of the float on a daily basis. While I was commenting on the re-organization chart, I was thinking perhaps Jerry is going to appoint Scott for that position because I was told that Scott was promised the top second position when he left the Royal Bank.
Gerry said Let me ask you this – what would you say if I told you that this position’s designed with you in mind and I am going to make it official by offering you this position in our new organization right this minute. It took a couple of minutes for me to understand what Gerry was talking about. I said I am flattered that you think I could do that job. Nevertheless, I never ever had that kind of responsibility before and I hope I am not going to disappoint you.
I said I knew that you were working on the re-organization for a while. I also believed that with an aggressive plan in place to change the total infrastructure of the bank in order to deliver quality services to our clients on time and within budget, we definitely needed competent people in the right positions to help us accomplish these objectives. But I am hesitant regarding whether I would be able to live up to your expectations, Gerry.
Gerry said don’t worry about that. If I ever thought that you were not capable of handling those responsibilities, I would have never considered you for the position. Gerry also said that unfortunately I am still discussing the salary scales with Ross (His boss). I should be in a position to let you know the salary to go with those responsibilities before too long.
I said to Gerry that I can only guess that you will be offering the other Assistant General Manager’s position to Ray Tam but how about Scott? He said that’s a real challenge. He said when we both were hired from the Royal Bank, our plan was to get Scott the second position in the bank. However, from a realistic point of view, Scott doesn’t have the qualifications to do the job I am offering you. I know initially you were reporting to Scott but it appears that things changed as our requirements for each function is different than we initially thought. He said I discussed this matter with the consultants who helped me put together this organizational chart. Therefore, I am creating a senior position for Scott to report to me directly but there will not be any staff assigned to that position to report to him. This is an advisory position.
I said it’s too bad and I hope he doesn’t get disappointed and leaves the bank. Gerry said I had to take that chance, Mir.
I remember when I went home that day and spoke to Lynda about the proposed organizational changes, she was happy that I was getting recognized for the efforts I put into this job but at the same time she was sad about Scott. Scott was a very nice man regardless whether or not he was qualified for my job but I also understood Gerry’s position as he was charged with the total responsibilities of running the department. Initially I suspected that Scott might hold a grudge against me but he was very generous and congratulated me.
It so happened that within a couple of weeks, Scott went back to working for the Royal Bank as a branch manager.
Re-organization was reasonably smooth. I was assigned a floor in a new building to accommodate my staff, including the Network Centre. Each of my managers was assigned a decent office and I was given a fair-sized corner office. Additionally, I had an office in the other building where the Cheque Processing Centre was located. Because of my frequent visits to the Edmonton office, they also were kind enough to assign a small office to me in Edmonton. It was a hectic process to get approval for purchasing or leasing the Cheque Processing machines from a company other than IBM. IBM indeed used everything they could not to lose the bid. Gerry had organized a committee in Edmonton which was based on five senior executives, including Gerry.
At the time the final decision was supposed to be made by the committee, Gerry was on holidays. I was acting as General Manager, Computer Services, for him. He called me from wherever he was holidaying with his family and reminded me about the meeting. I asked him if he had any words of wisdom for handling the meeting tomorrow. He said do what you think is best for the bank. Knowing you for a while, I know you will do the right thing. And whatever you do, I will support you.
I had a meeting with the managers in the Cheque Processing Centre and I told them that they don’t have to support ICL simply because I do. I also told them that I don’t like to micro-manage and I always wanted them to be honest with me as well as with the bank.
I explained to them that tomorrow I had a committee meeting scheduled to attend in Edmonton, representing Gerry. The chances were that the end result might not be what we wanted; just in case we ended up getting IBM machines, did they think they could work with them.
They assured me that there’s nothing wrong with the IBM machines except that they are very expensive in comparison with the ICL machines.
I explained to them that at this stage of the game I will not worry too much about the cost simply because I had already submitted a cost comparison report to the committee a while ago. If they understood the justification for recommending ICL, I was sure they would be fair.
Typically, I used to drive to Edmonton but this time I decided to fly and be back the same day as I had some other meetings to attend in Calgary.
I showed up at the meeting on the executive floor in Edmonton in the afternoon and everybody else was already there. The secretary served coffee for everybody and we grilled every aspect of the proposals from IBM and ICL. It took more than two hours and then we took a break for 10 minutes.
As soon as we came back from the break, the chairman of the committee summarized the discussion that we had and asked us if we had any comments or questions. Everybody said they understood the process and said they are ready to vote.
The chairman went around one by one asking IBM or ICL. There were three folks before me and two of them had expressed their support for IBM and one for ICL. I expressed my support for ICL and when it came to the chairman, he took a couple of minutes to look at everybody one by one and sat back and said – I support ICL.
Everybody was looking at me and the chairman said to me, here we go Mir. You got what you wanted. I hope that it works out the way you explained to us. He thanked everybody for participating and those two folks who supported IBM came and shook hands and said “No hard feelings, Mir.” I said of course not, gentlemen.
As soon as I got out of the meeting, I called Gerry to let him know the result of the committee meeting. He was genially happy with the news and said to me “You did it, Mir.” I said thanks for the support Gerry. I will do my best not to let you down. He said not to worry about that; I am sure you will make it happen.
I asked Gerry if he would have some time to let Malcom know about the decision. He asked me if I would like to do that, but I said it should come from you, boss. He said he would call Malcom tomorrow first thing in the morning.
I reminded Gerry that I would be away on a course to San Francisco when he got back. I also told him that I am taking Lynda and Adam with me as Spring Vacation was starting on Monday. Gerry said not to worry he would be back in the office on Monday. He also said if you want to take a couple of days off to prolong the course in San Francisco, don’t hesitate.
I said I will have too many things waiting for me here in Calgary; I should be back on the following Monday.
I spent the next day in the office with my managers explaining what I expected them to do while I was away. More specifically, I spoke about the interface with the ICL folks as they would start working with us right away.
In the afternoon, I heard from Malcom. He wanted to thank me for the support. I told him that I hoped everything would work out as we planned. He assured me that he will do anything and everything to make it work. I didn’t expect anything more than that.
I took Lynda and Adam out for supper and asked Lynda if we should consider starting to drive tonight or wait for the early morning. She said I am too tired for tonight; we will be better off starting first thing in the morning.
I knew that San Francisco was 2,100 Km from Calgary. We were starting on Friday and I felt that we had enough time to drive without rushing and could be in San Francisco late morning on Sunday. My secretary had made reservations from Sunday to Thursday in the same hotel where the course was being offered.
There wasn’t any “Internet” those days, so I decided to ask my secretary to do some digging to find out about San Francisco and she never disappointed me. Accordingly:
- Located in sunny California, the most populous state in the US, the city of San Francisco was known for its iconic Golden Bridge. A city built on a hill, it is also known for Alcatraz Island which’s right across the bay, and the city’s busiest tourist area.
- Other iconic tourist attractions include: Union Square, Lombard Street, as well as Chinatown, which’s one of the oldest Chinatowns in the US and a major popular tourist attraction.
- San Francisco is one of the more popular cities in the state, along with Los Angeles and San Diego. There was so much to see and do in this amazing and picturesque city.
We arrived in San Francisco around noon. Weather was beautiful and we checked in before we went for lunch.
When we came back from our lunch, Lynda went to the lobby to find out about the local tours for her and Adam while I would be doing the course. I also found out about the room where I would be meeting around 9:00 AM.
We rested for a little while before we decided to go out and explore the city.
We also did some shopping including a home computer for Adam, called the Commodore 64.
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas).
It had been listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 12.5 and 17 million units. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$595 (equivalent to $1,800 in 2022). Preceded by the VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM. With support for multicolor sprites and a custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware.
The C64 dominated the low-end computer market (except in the UK and Japan, lasting only about six months in Japan) for most of the later years of the 1980s. For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30 percent and 40 percent share of the US market and two million units sold per year, outselling IBM PC compatibles, Apple computers, and the Atari 8-bit family of computers.
Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore’s founder, said in a 1989 interview:
- “When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years.”
Adam knew that I had been working on mainframe computers for a long time but I was totally fascinated with the portability of C64 which also attracted Adam.
We decided to have supper in the hotel as I wanted to get back a little early so that I could prepare myself for the next day.
