“Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.” – Earl Grollman
The person who was going with me to meet the ICL folks in Toronto was Ray Tam. He was relatively young and he was working for Molson’s as a programmer when Gerry hired him. He had never been involved in any computer acquisition projects throughout his career and he didn’t know anything about the Cheque Processing machines like me. But Gerry always had a vision and he thought Ray would be the right fit for the systems area. From that point of view it only made sense to get Ray involved in the process and I had no problem with that approach. In my humble opinion, Ray had an aggressive personality and he was rubbing people the wrong way but I knew how to handle him.
I had an opportunity in the office to chat with Ray about ICL. He was totally against the idea of entertaining any notion about getting any other vendors other than IBM involved in the process. He told me that he knew the IBM representative very well who had been working with ATB as well as with the government of Alberta for years. Without question, he said, the IBM representative was well respected. I said how come you know somebody that well when you just arrived in Alberta. He said Peter, the IBM Representative, is also Chinese. That explained it as I knew that it’s Chinese culture to trust each other.
Ray also told me that even if we thought that ICL is the right vendor, the possibilities of ICL being accepted by the senior management’s totally unimaginable. He said trust me Mir Peter had an excellent understanding of the overall process in the government of Alberta. In order to acquire any computer devices, ATB had to go through the government of Alberta, specifically, the computer department. Ray said why would you do something which wasn’t going to be accepted regardless the quality of their products and services. He also said Mir you are personally risking your own reputation by initiating and continuing this process.
I said to Ray, I don’t have any reputation with ATB to risk, like you. I am struggling to determine what the right approach is. Now it appeared to me that there’s more politics involved with the acquisition of the Cheque Processing machines in ATB than what I had foreseen and it’s a shame.
Ray said you seem to be totally consumed with the operations tribulations, I don’t know if you are aware that Gerry had introduced me to the president of the consulting company who has been working with Gerry since he got the job with ATB. This guy had an excellent reputation with ATB executives. Gerry asked Ray to spend some time every week to develop a strategy for migrating systems from IBM Computer Centre in Toronto to Calgary as there’s an agreement in place that it will become a part of Roy Haur’s responsibilities. I said I had no clue what he was talking about. I guess I need to get out more. Ray said the point I am trying to make Mir is that the president of the consulting company is totally convinced that IBM Cheque Processing machines are the way to go which he believed is the safest move.
It was hard for me to say something when I didn’t fundamentally believe it. My way of thinking was that the price of those machines should play a significant part in the overall process. I also believed that you cannot try to save money by jeopardizing the quality, consistency, and integrity. The cost of the ICL machines was much less than IBM’s. The question was whether ICL would be able to provide the necessary support services for those machines here in Calgary, not in Toronto or London, England, where their machines come from.
I said to Ray that I am glad that we are having this conversation but let me ask this if you were not convinced that ICL had nothing to offer ATB, why the heck did you agree to come with me to the meeting? He said it was just politics, Mir. I wanted to come with you to pretend that I am interested but I personally believe that IBM’s the right way to go. I made it loud and clear to Ray that I didn’t want to be part of any conspiracy, even though at that stage I also was not sure if ICL had the right solution for ATB. I was interested in exploring the possibilities before I made up my mind.
Once I finished my conversation with Ray, Gerry popped in my office and asked if everything was lined up for the meeting in Toronto and the other things in Fredericton. I said I am definitely looking forward to the meeting in Toronto but I am excited to see my family back in Fredericton. I also said that I was hoping that we could finalize the sale of our house while I was there. Gerry said everything’s going to work out just fine, Mir.
On Wednesday morning, I met Ray in a restaurant not too far from the ICL building in Toronto and we had breakfast. He was curious if I had discussed with Gerry anything about our Calgary conversation. At the same time he wanted to know my opinion about the ICL equipment. He also wanted to know if Gerry had given me any guidelines or tips about this meeting.
I was only sorry that I had agreed to meet with Ray before we met the ICL folks as he was driving me crazy. I thought the best way to deal with him was to tell him to hold his thoughts on everything until we had an opportunity to ask the questions to the ICL and then we could make up our minds.
When we got to the receptionist in the building, she took us to the boardroom on the top floor. As soon as we entered, Malcom stood up and almost shouted Hey Mir. He said how are you my friend and how the heck did you manage to get away from Gord? I said I had an understanding with Gord that if he wanted me to stay married to Lynda I could be in Fredericton for two years, as she was not excited about going to Fredericton to start with. The good news was that I got almost everything done for Gord within that period of time and it worked out just fine for both of us.
I didn’t like to continue to talk about Fredericton and I said Malcom meet Ray Tam he will be the systems guy at ATB. I am taking over almost all operational responsibilities including the Cheque Processing Centre.
Malcom shook hands and said it’s a pleasure meeting with you Ray. He directed us to comfortable chairs. There were a couple of senior folks there and Malcom introduced us to them. He told them that he had worked with me before at Beaver Lumber Company, where I had been instrumental in the acquisition and implementation of ICL’s series 2900 computers. It appeared to me that both of those folks were familiar with Beaver Lumber Company as they were a major client in North America. They told me that they heard my name before.
I felt bad that Ray was a kind of upset simply because Gerry didn’t tell him that I had worked with Malcom in my previous life. Ray assumed that we both were meeting with Malcom for the first time. Furthermore, to be totally honest I didn’t expect Malcom to react like that either.
Malcom made an excellent presentation about the Cheque Processing machines and encouraged both of us to ask questions. Malcom answered every single question we asked with patience and persistence. Malcom took us to their Executive Dining room for lunch where we had a nice relaxed meal and chatted about the progress they were making in Canada. After lunch he took us to their basement to show us those machines and various other banking related processing machines.
Before we left, I wanted to make arrangements with Malcom to see if it would be possible for me to send a couple of folks from our Cheque Processing area to take a look at the machines as well as the total operation at any ICL Clients centres in Toronto. He said he would make necessary arrangements and would get in touch with me ASAP.
When we were walking to our cars in their parking lot, I asked Ray how he felt about our meeting. He said he was totally upset with me that I didn’t even tell him that I had worked with Gord Scott who used to be the number one guy at Molson’s where the boss of Ray was reporting to Gord. In other words he never ever met Gord but heard all kind of stories about him. I said I am sorry Ray if I remember correctly nothing ever came up during our conversations about my previous job or my background. I asked him if it was okay for us to sit in his car for a few minutes as I wanted to talk about where we can go from here. I said to him that I needed his support regardless of which company we selected as I understood that he would be in charge of the systems area.
When we sat in his car I started the conversation by saying that I am sure Gerry would like to know ASAP how the meeting went and what we thought about the ICL Cheque Processing machines. I said to Ray that listen to me for a minute and if you disagree with what I am proposing we can always discuss it before going to Gerry. He said go ahead.
I said I think we should invite both companies, IBM and ICL, by writing an RFP (Request for Proposal) to respond to our requirements officially, rather than continuing to have private meetings with different folks in different departments and different companies. I also said that I would take responsibility of writing the RFP because although I am not an expert about the Cheque Processing machine, I did make it my business to become familiar with their functionality as well as technical issues. Nevertheless, I will get the folks in the Centre to help me with the details of the RFP.
I said it’s going to take some time but once we receive response to our RFP from IBM as well ICL, we should be in the position to analyze the whole thing in a meaningful way. Ray said I think you’re right. At present we don’t have anything in writing from either of the companies. I also said to Ray that we should wait until Monday when we will be back in our offices before talking to Gerry. Ray agreed with me and I left the parking to go to see mom and take her out for a meal. My flight to Fredericton was schedule first thing in the morning.
While driving to Brampton to pick mom up, I was thinking that what we did today was possibly a good start to the acquisition process which’s not only complicated but it’s time consuming, too. I was happy that Ray agreed to support the RFP process.
Going home was an exciting experience. Lynda came to the airport to pick me up as it was the last week of the school and the kids were in the school. I said thanks God for little mercies. We need some quality time together, don’t we babe. Lynda said don’t get cheeky with me.
She said she made an appointment with the real estate guys for this afternoon. They want us to sign some papers to accept the final offer on the house. She said the buyers are prepared to do the closing on June 30th and we don’t have to be here. I said I am so sorry that I wasn’t here to help you with everything including the real estate but I promised that we are not going to have this kind of problem in the future. Do you know why? She said because I don’t want you to buy another property. Period. We will live in a rental property as long as we decided to live in Calgary.
Talking about the rental property, I said, you will love this apartment. You will also like the surroundings as being in the south we are close to the mountains which we can see from our apartment. Furthermore, it’s close to everything. I think I will start taking the train to the office and you can have the car. Lynda said we will see how it goes.
I said I talked to the old lady about Calgary when I took her out for a meal yesterday. Lynda said I know. She called me and said now that Maxine’s not coming and she doesn’t have to share the bedroom, why cannot she come in the month of August instead of September. I said hope you said yes because she’s so excited and talking about going to Banff. She knew that Banff National Park’s located in Alberta’s Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway which’s only 120 Km from Calgary. She also talked to me about going to Lake Louse. Where the heck did she got all that information from? Lynda said she watches TV all the times. Lynda said I told her that she would organize the trip as soon as we get settled down in our apartment in Calgary. I said does it mean that she will be with us this year for five months? Lynda said you try to stop her.
We went home. Lynda had some lunch ready. After lunch we just relaxed and talked about Calgary and our plan to do things in Calgary. Around 3:00 PM we went to see the real estate folks and we got everything lined up with them for the closing. Lynda wasn’t happy that we didn’t make any money on the house again but she knew why we don’t make any profit – we buy when the market is high and sell when the market is down. The important thing was we were going to be together soon.
We picked up the kids at the school and went out for a nice supper. Adam was really excited to see me and kept talking to me how good he thought he did in the school. I asked Maxine about her decision to move out and she appeared to be motivated but didn’t like to discuss. Lynda had already warned me not to say anything else but good luck to Maxine.
Margret had invited us on Saturday to a picnic at the lake which wasn’t too far. When we got there, Gord was already getting ready to put hamburgers and steaks on the barbeque. We had a nice picnic and the kids enjoyed playing in the park.
Gord said to me bring your coffee with you I would like to chat with you for few minutes. We walked away only a few steps from where Lynda and Margret were chitchatting about the kids.
Gord said Malcom called me right after the meeting that you had with them in Toronto. I said to Gord that it was nice to see Malcom. It’s a small world. I said Malcom was in touch with ATB before I went to work for them and whenever he met with them he kept repeating Beaver Lumber Company as their major clients in Canada. My current boss, Gerry Erber, thought it might be the right time to ask if Malcom knew me. Hence, he asked Malcom if “Mir Ali” means anything to him. Of course, Malcom told them about you and me and Beaver Lumber Company and he was curious enough to ask Gerry where did he have my name from? Needless to say that Malcom was happy to learn that I was working for ATB.
I said to Gord that ICL is going to face the same problems that they did with Beaver Lumber Company as the most of the folks in ATB are totally convinced that IBM’s the right solution for them. In a way I don’t blame them as most of them have no clue about the technology we are dealing with and on top of everything else ICL to them is a no name product.
I said unfortunately, it’s much more complicated in comparison with Beaver Lumber Company as ATB has to go through the government of Alberta’s computer department for acquiring those Cheque Processing machines and they are a totally IBM shop. Plus they know nothing about the Cheque Processing machine, nor are they interested in learning anything.
I said my problem’s that I am not totally familiar with the Cheque Processing machines that ICL’s trying to sell. Nevertheless, I believe that the price is right and as far as the service is concerned, they are prepared to keep their technicians in Calgary to make sure that they meet the service demand.
I said one thing definitely is in my favour and I don’t even know why Gerry seemed to trust me. He told me before I left for Toronto, Mir do your due diligence the way you always do. He also said I should leave the politics for him to deal with. Gord said he seemed to be a smart guy.
I said how is everything here in Fredericton, Gord. He said your old department’s functioning very well. Things are not going too badly but I am not totally satisfied. He said I was talking to Margret the other day saying that most of my time’s consumed by stupid politics. The culture appeared to be totally provincial and I started wondering if I made the right decision to come down to Fredericton. He said you know that Margret used to work for me in Newfoundland. She has a very good sense about departmental politics. It always helped me to talk to her if I had a bad day.
I said to Gord I know that in spite of all kind of political inhibitors, you have accomplished several things including the Provincial Sales Tax System, Property Tax System, and perhaps more importantly you have reorganized the department with the help of Touché Ross folks which turned out to be a good thing.
He said I know, Mir, but I am looking into moving out from the department. The Department of Education is a huge department and they asked me if I would be interested in getting transferred and looking after their computing needs. He said I didn’t make any decision yet but I am trying not to relocate as it will impact Melody and Stephany and Margret’s not going to like it.
I said to Gord whatever you and Margret decide please keep us posted. He said we definitely will do.
Driving back to our house, Lynda asked me if everything was fine with Gord. I said they’re okay but Gord’s looking into making a career move. He needed a change.
I took the family out for supper to Jim’s Place and Jim was very happy to see me. He wanted to know if everything’s going as planned and I decided to give him a quick update with what was happening with us. We always enjoyed a meal at Jim’s Place. Jim said there are some people who still miss you, Mir.
Lynda said to me that my sorority sisters and their husbands wanted to have lunch with you on Sunday before you leave for Calgary. They said we can bring the kids with us.
I just wanted to have a couple of minutes with Adam alone and asked him if everything was okay with him. He said he’s just fine and he’s looking forward to coming to Calgary. I said to him that I am sorry that I had to leave you guys behind but I didn’t have any choice and your mother supported that idea. He said I know that, dad.
We ended up having a nice meal with those folks on Sunday before Lynda took me to the airport. I told Adam that it’s only a couple of weeks and we all will be together except Maxine. She was totally convinced to do what she wanted to do and I always wished her the best.
