“Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything” – C.S. Lewis
I wasn’t looking forward to the next day. I thought giving Gord a call but I changed my mind as I didn’t want him to feel responsible directly or indirectly for what was happening to me. It was entirely my doing and I was big enough and ugly enough to face the music.
Like Lynda said it seems to be the local culture. Basically they were faced with the fact that all of a sudden a foreigner walks into their lives and tries to change everything overnight. The dilemma I was faced with was that I cannot possibly work in an environment where ignoring responsibilities appeared to be a trendy thing. At the same time when I looked at the things we had accomplished in a short period of time since I became responsible for this function, we didn’t do too badly. But the credit belongs to who worked hard, not me. I was there just to navigate them towards a meaningful return on their investment of time and energy. The changes I thought needed to be made were in the interest of overall improvement and doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results wasn’t a clever thing to do.
As soon as I got back from the meeting, I hardly had time to grab a cup of coffee before my phone rang. It was no other than the Deputy Minister. I said good morning, sir. He said good morning to you too, Mir. He said I just wanted you to know that I thought about the conversation that we had yesterday. Initially, I was incensed but then I realized that what you are trying to do in your department is commendable. Even Les and Jack were convinced that you are making real progress. He said I have to admit that I was wrong in the first place to invite Les and Jack to party on a weekday. On Gord’s recommendation, I placed both Les and Jack in a different department as user representatives which they seem to like. The Deputy Minister said if you need any help with anything else, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I said thank you and he hung up.
I sat in my office for few moments just to go over in my mind the telephone conversation that I just had with the Deputy Minister. Then the phone rang again and it was Gord on the phone. He said did Glen speak to you yet. I said we just finished talking. Gord asked me if I was happy with the conversation and I said he appeared to be a different person on the phone altogether. He changed the topic and asked about Lynda and the kids before he hung up.
I called Lynda and asked her what was she doing for lunch? She said she had no plans. I said to her how about if I picked her up within 15 minutes and we go somewhere nice for lunch. She said she would love it. As soon as she got into the car, she asked me if there was any progress about the Deputy Minister. I said he called this morning and spoke to me for a few minutes. He almost apologized for his behaviour and asked me to give him a call if I needed any help in the future. Lynda said, does it mean we are not packing our bags yet? I said there’s no need to now.
Nevertheless, I said I want to talk to you about something different. She said what? I said did you know that your birthday this year is on a Saturday? She said no, I didn’t know. I said we are invited to the IBM conference in Saint Andrew from August 28th to 30th and I was wondering if we should head over there on Thursday after work and come back on Sunday. Do you think it’s okay for the kids to miss one day school on Friday? She said that shouldn’t be a problem. They would love to spend a couple of days on the beach. She said where in Saint Andrew? I wondered if she would consider a call Margret to find out if they were coming, too.
I went back to the office and asked my secretary to let the IBM representative Mr. Makenzie know that we would be there on the long weekend.
Everything in the office seemed to be normalized or close to. The first thing in the morning I used to check the report from the night staff to see how the night operation had gone. It appeared everything was smoother nowadays thanks to the control mechanism that we had implemented recently. As far as Les and Jack were concerned, people were curious but nobody liked to ask me directly about them. However, I felt obligated to call a brief meeting and explain the situation.
I took off a little early on Thursday afternoon. Went home, got changed into casuals and we took off to Saint Andrew. Saint Andrew was only 130 km from Fredericton. I figured it shouldn’t take more than two hours to drive there.
Saint Andrews is a town in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada. The town is a national historic site of Canada, bearing many characteristics of a typical 18th century British colonial settlement, including the original grid layout with its market square, and the classical architecture. The site was settled in 1783 by Penobscot Loyalists. The town’s street grid was designed by Charles Morris and was laid out at that time and persists today. Except for the shoreline Water Street, street names have royal or colonial associations.
Between 1820 and 1860, the port of Saint Andrews welcomed Irish immigrants. They were first quarantined at Hospital Island, in Passamaquoddy Bay. At the 1851 census, more than 50 percent of the town’s population had been born in Ireland.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, St. Andrews became a seaside resort for people from Montreal and Boston who were seeking to escape the summer heat. The town’s first seaside hotel, the Argyll, opened in 1881. It was followed in 1889 by The Algonquin, a resort on a hill overlooking the town, which became Canada’s first seaside resort.
The Algonquin Resort was constructed during the historic reign of the United Kingdom’s famed Queen Victoria, who sat on the British throne from 1837 to 1901.
The Algonquin Resort opened in 1889 in St. Andrews, which was New Brunswick’s first seaside resort community. The cost of a room at the time was between $3 and $5 per day. Five years later, The Algonquin Golf Course opened, bringing the prestigious sport to the quiet resort town. Katy’s Cove, a gated beach, opened for resort guests in 1907 and quickly became one of the most popular attractions in St. Andrews.
The Painter Wing was completed in 1908, and marked a series of renovation that would impact the resort. By 1912, another addition to the resort—a six-story Kitchen Wing—brought new guestrooms and updated kitchens. The Casino opened a year later, which featured a bowling alley, billiards and a grand ballroom. Most of the structure collapsed in 1914, with only the Painter Wing, the Kitchen Wing, and the two being spared. After a year of rebuilding, The Algonquin Resort reopened. It featured a new Tudor Revival-style façade and red-brick roof. The price of a room increased to between $4 and $7 per day due to the introduction of a telephone system and electricity in each guestroom.
By the time we arrived at the Algonquin Resort, there were a number of folks lined up to check in. After just a couple of minutes in the line, somebody called Lynda. When we turned around to see who that was, Lynda shouted Karen. Obviously they knew each other. Karen came along and hugged Lynda and said hello to me and the kids. Lynda said this is my husband Mir and these are our kids – Maxine and Adam. Lynda also said Karen’s my sorority sister. Lynda said what the heck you are doing here. Karen said Doug works for IBM and we are here for the conference. I said I know Doug Mackenzie. He’s our representative. Right that minute Doug appeared from somewhere and said hello to us. Karen said I thought Mir worked in the system area. Doug said he got a big promotion recently and he’s in the computer operations now with the responsibility to run the show. Lynda asked Karen if she brought their kids with them. She said they are at her parents. Doug asked if we would like to meet for a drink later. I said sounds good, give us a call.
Once Lynda organized the hotel room the way she wanted, we came down to mooch around in the beautiful lobby. There were so many nice things to look at. It was indeed a busy place, too.
It was a very impressive building with elegant guess rooms, contemporary dining venues, indoor and outdoor pools, a full service spa, indoor waterslide, manicured gardens, and a legendary golf course. We decided to walk through Canada’s oldest seaside resort village to see wonderful shopping and dining facilities.
I asked the kids if they would like to dine in one of those beautiful restaurants or rather eat in the hotel. They decided to eat out. We had a relaxed meal and kept saying to each other how come we didn’t know anything about this beautiful place.
When we got back, there was a message from Doug. I called him back to let him know that we would be there in a few minutes. Lynda organized the kids and they didn’t have any problem watching the TV and waiting for us to get back. We promised not to be too late.
I was busy with the conference on Friday but Lynda and the kids had a wonderful time. On Saturday morning we sang happy birthday to our beloved Lynda on her 38th birthday and we went down in the lobby to have breakfast in one of those restaurants. Before I left for the conference, Lynda told me that they were meeting with Margret and the kids as Gord also will be in the conference.
We all were planning to meet after supper tonight to listen to the Irish Rovers in the basement of the hotel. Lynda always liked them and she was looking forward to listening to them. We found out that Robert Plan, David Coverdale, David Byron, RJD, Sammy Hangar, and Kenny Loggins were performing.
It was a busy Saturday for us while I was in the conference, Lynda and the kids had a nice time. The wonderful surprise was that when we went to listen to the Irish Rovers in the evening, in the middle of their program before their break, one of the Rovers took the mike and said – we have a special message for Lynda Ali who’s here somewhere. Lynda was shocked to hear that. She shouted load enough to let him know that she was right there. He said here’s the message and they sang happy birthday to Lynda. Lynda was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed every second. At the end, she stood up and thanked the Rovers as well as the person who arranged that message. Unfortunately, we never did find out who that was but we suspected that it was Karen.
Mom came to stay with us in the month of November with the plan to go back after the holidays which was just great as Adam was getting very fond of his nana. There wasn’t much in Fredericton to show her around as she had been there before and had seen almost everything. Hence we decided to take her to Saint Andrews. There was some kind of festival on the weekend where a parade was involved which she enjoyed very much.
Every single day at work I felt that we were making immense progress and the magic of empowerment was working wonderfully. Almost everybody was feeling that they were given the autonomy, resources, and support they needed to act independently and be held responsible for the decisions they were making to continue to run the show without any interruptions.
It was hard to describe the significant impact on employee satisfaction, productivity, and engagement as I interviewed almost everybody in my department as a part of the annual performance reviews.
Regrettably, there was no mechanism in the government structure to reward them but I did my best to give them some time off whenever I could and they appreciated it very much.
One night when we were alone, I explained to Lynda the situation at work. She listened to me keenly as she always did. She said you are outperforming as usual without realizing that as a result you could be out of a job. I said that’s the whole idea. Gord will never do it to me but my point is I wanted to prove to him that I have already done the job that he hired me for. It took perhaps less time than he had anticipated. Nevertheless, he can’t possibly be unhappy with me. I said I think I should initiate a conversation with Gord about job-hunting. I don’t want to do it without his knowledge.
Lynda took a couple of minutes to appreciate what I was getting at and then she said perhaps the best time for this kind of conversation would be when they come here for the New Year’s meal as we were invited to go their place for Christmas this year. I said, if everything works out with Gord, this will provide me with plenty time to find a job somewhere else with new challenges.
Lynda took another minute and looked at me penetratingly and said you’re not bored at work, are you? I said, no. As a matter of fact I am enjoying every minute. I still hold meetings every single day but the difference is that I very seldom say anything. I let them argue and convince each other rather than me interfering with them. From time to time I play devil’s advocate just to guide them in a different direction but I am sure pretty soon they will stop noticing my existence which is my ultimate goal.
Lynda said I am not sure how this is going to work out with the moving expenses as it requires you to be employed with the government for two years. I said it may take longer than six months for me to find a job as job searching from a remote area’s not the ideal situation. However, we need to give it a try. I am sure Gord will understand it.
I asked Lynda if she would like me to focus on Toronto for job searching. She said I am prepared to go wherever you find a challenging job because I know you and I am with you on that. She also said, mom always can come and stay with us for three months every year which she would love to do.
Finally, I said another consideration for the timing that needs to be included is school. We don’t want to change their school in the middle of the academic year, if we can help it. She said, if worse comes to worst, I don’t mind staying behind for them to finish their school year but this is probably premature to discuss. On that note, we decided to go to bed.
The first month of winter, December, was very cold, sub-zero cold month in Fredericton with temperatures ranging from an average of low of -7.5 degrees Celsius to an average high of -1.3 degrees Celsius. The around-the-clock kids really enjoyed getting anticipated snow days off, as snow falls for 10.1 days there. Snow regularly accumulate up to 176 mm (43.19 inches). Mom wasn’t too impressed with the winter weather in Fredericton. However, we did go to the Scotts for Christmas dinner which was very pleasant. Margret was an excellent cook and she was known for preparing excellent desserts, too.
There weren’t too many new business activities between Christmas and New Year’s but the around-the-clock computer operation had to be supported regardless.
Everybody enjoyed enthusiastically the meal and everything else to go with it for the New Year’s party. As soon as we finished with our meal, Lynda said why don’t you and Gord go in the family room and chat and I will bring you coffee in a minute. That was the signal for me to proceed with my plan.
As soon as we got our coffee, Gord said it looks like the operation is running very smoothly nowadays and I appreciate your efforts, Mir. I said you don’t have to thank me, Gord. I did what I was hired for. However, I wanted to talk to you about if this is the right time for me to start looking for another job. He said I am not surprised and thanks for bringing it up with me. Gord said I am quite happy with your accomplishments and if you feel like making a move, I will support your plans. I said it’s going to take some time but I will look into it right away. I also want you to know that my job-hunting efforts will never have any negative impact on my current responsibilities. He said you don’t have to tell me that. He said I want you to know that Lynda and Margret have become good friends. Even my mother’s so fond of Lynda that she always says good things about her. While we are all going to miss you guys, I understand you need to do what’s best for your family. Furthermore, he said there are two things we can do to help you out:
- You can leave Adam and Maxine with us if you have to go on a job-hunting trip; and
- I will do my best to waive the moving expenses if it happened earlier than the term.
I was totally blown away with his offer and didn’t know how to thank him. Luckily, Lynda walked in and said how are you two doing. I said we just finished our conversation and would like to join you for more coffee.
