“It’s like I have this large black hole in my brain and it’s sucking the life out of me. The answers are in there so I sit for hours and stare. No matter how hard and long I look, I only see darkness.” ― Katie McGarry
I decided to take a week off to help Lynda with the moving. It didn’t take too long to find out that she didn’t need my help. She had amazing skills to organize and manage not to mention her ability to multi-task. She had everything under control. She got rid of the things we wouldn’t need in our new home and organized everything else the way she wanted it to be. There were only two things that were not done as planned: the drapes and painting of the house. It took another couple of weeks to get everything but the painting done. Nevertheless, Lynda was now reasonably happy with the house and she wanted me not to forget about the painting of the house. She decided to give Adam a bedroom on the same floor as our bedroom. Maxine now had more privacy as her bedroom was on a different floor. Lynda decided to use the 4th bedroom as a guest bedroom which was reserved for mom who used to visit us frequently.
Lynda put an ad in the newspaper to rent out our townhome. We rented it out to a couple from South Africa with two teen aged kids who had migrated recently to Canada. They didn’t have any references in Canada to check but they showed us their bank balance to make sure that they had enough money in the bank to keep paying the rent.
When I went back to work on Monday, my secretary brought my coffee and told me that the VP’s secretary had called Friday afternoon. She said he would like to see you on Monday morning when you have some time. I was surprised to hear that but I didn’t want my secretary to know that. Typically, all executives in the company always followed etiquette by communicating to me through my boss. In this case, he should have spoken to George who was my current boss. In any case, I finished my coffee, cleared my incoming basket, and went to the computer room to tell them that they had done an excellent job of completing everything on time without any glitches while I was away and I thanked them for not calling me while I was away.
I came back to my office, put my jacket on and told Linda, my secretary, that I am going to the executive floor to see Ron.
As soon as Ron saw me walking towards his office, he came out and shook hands and said hope everything went well with your move. I said Lynda had everything under control I was just there to pretend that I was helping her. He said that’s what happens with him, too. I said what’s up, Ron. He said, before I answer your question; let me see if the president had a few minutes to see you right after our chat. He didn’t wait for my response and went out and when he came back he said, yes he would like to see you, too. Now I was in a panic. This had to be something more important than I thought. If my memory serves me correctly, essentially Ron said:
- They had been in the market for finding somebody to replace Gord Scott and finally they selected a guy who was starting to work the following week;
- In the meanwhile, instead of firing George because he wasn’t qualified for the job, they decided to demote him to his previous position which meant my current position; and
- He wanted me to know that George was not qualified. He said we are hoping that you will continue to do what you have been doing without any interruption from George.
I was totally stupefied and didn’t know what to say.
His secretary knocked on the door and said the president is ready for Mir. I went into the president’s office. He got up from his chair to shake hands. If I remember correctly, he said:
- I never met you before Mir but I heard wonderful things about you;
- I thank you for the help you provided to Gord and George; and
- It wasn’t an easy decision for us and hope you understand it.
Essentially, I told him that I just came back after one week holiday, it’s difficult for me to comprehend everything going on and I need some time. He said no question about that Mir. Take some time and let us know how you feel. I thanked him for seeing me and went down to my office. I told my secretary not to panic. I also told her that just tell the folks on the floor that I had to go home for some personal reason and will be back first thing in the morning for sure.
I didn’t like to surprise Lynda by just showing up, therefore, I called her to let her know that there’s something wrong at work and I am coming home to discuss it with her. When I got home, Lynda had the kids playing in the basement, coffee was ready, and she was all ears. When I finished summarizing my conversations with those two, she said:
- They picked the most vulnerable time to do that;
- They knew that we just bought a house and had some additional expenses which we didn’t anticipate and they thought we will be desperate to accept their pronouncement;
- She asked me how I felt. I told her that I am not worried about our financial situation but felt insulted;
- She said I don’t blame you;
- They knew that they made a mistake getting rid of Gord and they compounded that mistake by offering that job to George; and
- Lynda said, go tell them what they can do with that job and if I have to, I will go to work as the mall is close by and there are numerous stores in the mall.
I called the kids up and asked how they would like having an early lunch today. I took them to a nice restaurant in the mall and we all enjoyed our lunch. It was a beautiful day in August of 1979.
I went to work quite early the next morning and gathered all my personal stuff from my office and packed it in a box. I drafted my resignation letter and as soon as Linda showed up I asked her to type it. I went to Ron’s office around 9:00 AM and explained to him that while I understood the reasoning behind his executive decision, nonetheless, on a personal level I was totally disillusioned. Hence here is my resignation. As soon as he started reading it, I left his office. He followed me to the elevator and wanted to talk for a minute and I said to him, it’s done and dusted, Ron.
The following morning I had breakfast with Lynda and the kids and asked the kids if they were interested in helping me with the painting of the house. They said, yes. So instead of getting a professional painter to paint our house, I decided to go with Lynda and buy some paint and brushes. Lynda had grown up in a hardware store in London where Charlie and July had a hardware store for decades. I let Lynda to pick the paint and brushes.
I was surprised that the kids didn’t even notice that I didn’t go to the office that day.
It was a big house and I knew it was going to be a challenge for us but I made it a family project. We four started painting in different areas and Lynda kept showing Adam that he missed a spot here and there. We kept going that week but on the weekend we decided that we definitely needed a professional painter to finish the job.
The next week I had focussed on re-writing my resume and making some telephone calls to find an agency which specialized in placing computer personnel. I was doing something in the basement when Lynda shouted that there is a phone call for you. When I got on the phone, I was surprised to hear John Farlick’s voice. If I remember correctly, John was a couple of years older than me with a couple of kids. He used to work for Beaver Lumber as a programmer analyst but he reported to my counterpart. He went to work for a small company last year to help them with their computer problems. They had the Singer System 10 like Beaver Lumber. After spending a few seconds on formalities essentially John said:
- He had decide to go into consulting business with Jeff, another programmer;
- He had a lot of respect for his current boss, she was very good to him;
- She would not let him go unless he found a replacement as good as him or better;
- The problem was that she’s not a strategic thinker like Gord Scott;
- She could be all over the map, sometimes, but she would listen to you if she liked you; and
- John told her all kind of lies about how wonderful I was and she wanted to meet me tomorrow at 10:00 AM.
I asked John how he knew that I was that desperate for a job without even talking to me. He said it’s not you, it was me who was desperate to find the replacement. If you don’t like the idea, I can go back and tell her more lies about somebody else. I told John that he owes me one and he said okay, I guess.
The name of the company was Eletex. Next day I went to their office. John took me into his office and I was absolutely surprised to see such a huge office with beautiful furniture and colourful carpet and drapes. I said WOW. John said this is going to be your office if you decide to work here. In other words, he had already sold me to his current boss.
When we entered Mrs. Benda’s office I was speechless to see her and her office. First, I remembered the office of the president of Beaver Lumber which could easily be fit in one corner of Mrs. Benda’s office. Second, she looked just like the Hungarian-American actress – Zsa Zsa Gabor. I found out later that Mrs. Benda was a Polish-Canadian. Right away, I realized that she had class. She must have been in her late forties or early fifties and she had very nice accent. She looked at me and said, so you’re the one John thinks can walk on water. I said if you believed that I have a bridge for sale. I said you should know that John lies a lot. She laughed and said I like you already. She said thanks John. When we are finished I will bring Mir to your office.
She offered me a chair and if my memory serves me correctly, essentially she told me that she had distribution rights for several international cosmetics companies in Canada. She explained the processes involved:
- They order cosmetics from various places for which they have the distribution rights in Canada and they store merchandise in the warehouse and keep a current inventory of those cosmetic items on the computer;
- They write cheques to pay for the cosmetics that were delivered to their warehouse;
- She has marketing staff to visit the head offices of those stores in Toronto because they order merchandise for their stores all over the country;
- They receive orders from those stores and they process those orders on the computer and print necessary information for the warehouse to pick and ship the merchandise to the respective stores;
- They print invoices on the computer for the merchandise which had been shipped; and
- When the payments come in; they apply them to the outstanding invoices.
I said now I understand your business which is in essence no different than the model I am used to, except the magnitude of orders. However what I don’t understand is why the title of the position is “Controller”. She said I am glad that you asked. She said, in addition to managing computer personnel, you will be managing the accounting department even though the Accounts Payable and Receivable are not computerized. You don’t have to worry about accounting activities too much as Helen, Accounting Supervisor, has everything under control. Every month she sends all related documents to our accountant and they enter them in their computer system to produce the annual report.
I said that sounds reasonable but would I have the right to make necessary changes I see fit to the areas I am responsible for? She said absolutely, I will support you as you will be reporting to me. Then she told me the salary and benefits associated with the job. She also told me that there are two VPs in the company – one for marketing who was her husband and one for the warehouse and administration.
She didn’t ask any specific questions about my work with my previous employer and when I ran out of questions she said let’s go see John.
When we got to John’s office she said to John I will release you the minute you get Mir’s commitment. Come and see me.
I said to John, she’s something else. He said the good thing is that she liked you otherwise you would have been kicked out within 10 minutes. I said John you are not obligated to stick around once you have already resigned. He said I know that but I feel obligated because she has been very good to me. I asked John how fast do you want to disappear from here. He said we already rented an office, already hired a couple of guys and I am dying to get it going. I said John I am grateful to you for recommending me and doing the ground work for me. I am prepared to start working here whenever you want me to. He asked can you start on Monday and I said absolutely. He said aren’t you going to discuss it with Lynda first. I said she would understand our situation, John.
We went to Mrs. Benda’s office, she was waiting for us. John said this is my last week with you and Mir’s starting on Monday. She got up and shook hands.
