Honestly, I spent today missing you and that is probably how I will spend tomorrow and the day after that – Unknown.
The phone rang around 5:00 in the morning on Saturday. Lynda grabbed it thinking it might be Mom, that she might need our help. As soon as she answered the phone, I knew that was Saleh on the phone. He was asking what the time was in Toronto. I took the phone and apologized to him for not calling back last night.
He said he was sorry to disturb me that early, but he needed to talk to me.
I said what’s up, Saleh?
He said the good news is that my boss liked your resumé a lot. He never stopped asking about you. The bad news is that he wants to see you in San Francisco, which cannot possibly be good news for you.
I said does he know that I live in Toronto?
Saleh said his boss knew that we lived in Toronto, but he’s in San Francisco for a course and was wondering if it was possible for me to meet him there.
I said do you know if he’s going to make me an offer?
Saleh said, no, he’s not going to make you any offer as he is not sure about anything until he has spoken to you.
I said why can he not speak to me on the phone?
Saleh said he had suggested speaking on the phone but his boss rejected the idea.
I said you know that I am working for Citibank. I would have to miss a couple of days of work, and spend money to travel to San Francisco.
Saleh said his boss was prepared to cover all my expenses.
I said to Saleh, can I get back to you about this. I need to discuss the whole matter with Lynda.
Saleh said, no problem, as long as you get back to me by the end of the day.
I said leave it with me, and we hung up.
I knew that Lynda was pretending to sleep, but she heard all our telephone conversation.
I pretended to go back to sleep. Then she said “Well”?
I said we will talk about that later.
She said don’t get smart with me, buster. She continued: I will go down and make coffee for us and I expect you to be there in 7 minutes. She said you need to explain to me everything you spoke about on the phone with Saleh.
When I got to the kitchen with my dressing gown on, she said I overheard you saying that you would get back to Saleh after discussing the matter with me.
She said were you trying to use me as an excuse to turn down whatever you were discussing on the phone.
I said, not at all. It’s not very exciting news and I am not sure if I want to go along with the suggestion.
Lynda said what is the suggestion. Stop speaking to me in riddles.
I explained to Lynda everything about our telephone conversation and waited for her to say something.
I remember saying to her what are your words of wisdom?
She said it’s an interesting situation.
I said you can say that again.
She said this is indeed a challenge and if we didn’t respond correctly, we may end up blaming ourselves. She continued, as far as she was concerned, it was worth giving it a shot.
I went to San Francisco. I met with Saleh’s boss for 45 minutes during his lunch break for the course he was taking. It was in a hotel very close to the Golden Gate Bridge.
He said he appreciated that I had to travel to meet him. He said he hadn’t realized that San Francisco was that far from Toronto.
I said most of the people who don’t live in North America have no idea about the distances between major cities.
In any case, we went over some of the aspects of my resumé in order to answer his specific questions. He asked me if it was okay to chat with the Executive Vice President in the bank where I worked before I started my consulting practice in Toronto. I said please feel free.
At the end of our meeting, he said please send me your expenses. I am so sorry to put you through this process. He said he wished he had known how far San Francisco was from Toronto.
By the time I came back, I was really tired. I managed to pick up a couple of gifts for Lynda and Adam at the San Francisco airport. Lynda adored the painting of John Wayne that I bought for her there.
Lynda asked me how it went.
I said nothing particularly impressive to report except he appeared to be a nice person to work with. He said he was interested in my background and trouble-shooting capabilities but never mentioned any particular position. I think we will have to write it off.
Lynda asked if I had to give him any references.
I said I had included in my resumé Les Belon’s name and contact information.
Lynda said even though Les was a couple of levels higher in the organization you worked very closely with him, didn’t you?
I said, yes, I did. I am sure Les will give me a good reference if anybody gets in touch with him.
Monday I went back to work. I was surprised to learn that I had been missed.
Chris asked me if we could have lunch; we ended up at the club.
He talked to me quite bit about what bothered him regarding the organization. Indirectly he was making points about Ron. I stayed away from making any comments on the subject.
In the end he said I understand from Ron that you are not interested in continuing your contract with us after completing the operational planning?
I said, yes, I had a conversation with Ron and was completely flattered that you folks were interested in extending my contract. Unfortunately, I want to travel and take some time to decide what I really want to do.
Chris said I remember you mentioning to me more than once that you were not interested in seeking employment with us.
I said at this stage of my life, I am not looking for a long relationship with any organization. If anything changes, I may have to revisit my decision.
He asked me if I had already lined something up.
I said, not really. You gave me an opportunity to work here without having any background in strategic planning. That has made my resumé more attractive and I am grateful that everything worked out okay.
Chris said it’s more than just okay, Mir. I always appreciated you being honest and frank about your skills and background and you have helped us a lot. He said I don’t know about anybody else but I learned a great deal about the process of strategic planning and operational planning with you. He said I am not going to push you into something you don’t want to do, but please feel free to use me as your reference for the excellent work you have done for us.
I thanked him very much and we walked back to the office.
When I got home that night, I talked to Lynda about my conversation with Chris.
She said he seems to be a decent bloke.
I said he’s okay as long as you agree with him.
Lynda said, can I bring up something that is bothering me.
I said, shoot.
Knowing that you didn’t have a very meaningful interview in San Francisco, is it wise for you to turn down opportunities?
I am glad that you asked that question. No, it doesn’t make sense to discourage Ron from renewing my contract. However I believe that bank politics are going to get worse. Chris seems to be determined to get rid of Ron. I don’t expect you to understand, but this is the first time ever I have had a choice whether to be a part of dirty office politics. This kind of politics is not only counter-productive but it is also demoralizing.
Lynda said please don’t get me wrong. I am not doubting your ability to find another contract but I thought having a contract for a long time with any company is a positive thing.
I said not really. It doesn’t matter where you work, there’s always senseless politics and some people really enjoy that–but not me.
She said now I am changing the topic. How come your friend from Saudi Arabia is not on the phone to let you know what’s going on?
I said maybe he doesn’t have anything to share with us, babe.
Finally my friend Saleh from Saudi Arabia called on Saturday, only to apologize and explain why he didn’t call earlier. I said never mind, it was always nice to hear from him.
He said the reason he didn’t call was simply because he had nothing to tell me. His boss was still in the States. Apparently his boss took his family with him to San Francisco, planning to spend some time in the States right after his course. Saleh didn’t know anything else.
Anyhow, Saleh wanted to know how the interview went. I said nothing extraordinary to report as he had only 45 minutes for his lunch break. As a matter of fact we spent more time discussing the course he was taking than my background. Nevertheless, he had some very specific and explicit questions about my trouble-shooting experience. I answered them very briefly because I didn’t know if he had enough technical knowledge to understand and appreciate how critical the technical environment was that I was dealing with.
Saleh asked if he said anything about the next step in the process. I said the answer was no.
I said to Saleh that as far as I was concerned, that interview was nothing but a chit chat.
Saleh said I am so sorry for putting you through this in the middle of an important project that you are doing with Citibank. I said not to worry. There are no guarantees in this business and I had to give it a try. We hung up.
Things were going smoothly at Citibank. We were making progress every single day. Sometimes I did feel guilty for not continuing to work there, but I had made up my mind.
One Friday in October 1988, when I got home around 6:00 PM, Lynda told me that she called me at the office only to find out that I had just left for the day.
I said was there anything important?
She said I don’t know but here’s an envelope from the Saudi Electricity Company in Jeddah. It was delivered by DHL courier just before 5:00 PM.
I said it couldn’t possibly be a cheque as I didn’t get around to mailing my expense report to them yet. Furthermore, Saleh told me that his boss wasn’t expected to be back in the office until next week.
Lynda said stop talking and just open the damn envelope, please.
I gave the envelope to her and said why don’t you open it and read it while I go get changed. I am starving.
It didn’t take her too long to rush into the bedroom and disturb me in the middle of getting changed. I said, excuse me, I am in the process of putting my pants on.
She said I can’t even remember how many times I have seen you without anything on.
I said I love you, too.
She said are you interested in knowing what is in this envelope.
I said not really, but I guess it must be a letter of rejection for the job. She said, guess again.
I said please don’t make a big deal of it.
She said it’s a job offer with a visa.
I said, no way. I didn’t think that our conversation or interview was comprehensive enough to lead to a job offer. Plus how could he do that when he’s on his holidays. There must be something wrong.
Lynda said I don’t have answers to those questions but I do have a question.
I said, shoot.
She said how come the visa is only for you?
I said, I can explain that. I remember him asking me if I would like to come to Saudi Arabia first by myself before arranging for the family to join me at a later date. I think I said I prefer that simply because Adam’s in high school and relocating in the middle of the school calendar wouldn’t work for us.
I said I take it Adam’s working this evening. She said, yes. I said let’s go to the restaurant, I am starving.
We ordered our food and started sipping coffee.
I remember Lynda asking – Where can we go from here?
I said it’s indeed a shock to my system as I never expected it. I guess we need to decide whether we are ready to accept this job offer.
Lynda said you know that I will go anywhere with you but the question is how are we going to deal with Adam.
I said I know you don’t like the idea of separating from Adam but we do have the option of finding a suitable boarding school. I don’t care how much that’s going to cost us. Furthermore, there’s a possibility that they may subsidize those expenses.
She said I don’t want you to miss this opportunity but at the same time I am worried about Adam. I said why don’t you find some boarding schools here in Toronto before we start looking somewhere else.
She said alright. I will start looking into it right away. The next thing we need to discuss is that we got a written notice from our landlord who wants us to move out by the end of December.
I said, I didn’t see that coming.
She said his parents are going to move in and we can’t dispute that.
I said that’s fine. There’s always a reason for the things that happen to us.
Lynda said now you’re being philosophical.
I said, let me ask you this – Do you want me to pursue this Saudi opportunity or you are relatively comfortable with the idea of finding another consulting opportunity here in Canada?
She said I am as adventurous as you and I am prepared to give it a try.
How about this – if I tell Citibank that the operational planning will be done and dusted by the end of November, and tell Saudi Arabia that I will be in Jeddah on the 14th of November which happens to be a Monday.
She said it makes sense. However, we need to make a list of things that have to be done.
I said I agree with you. By the way, I also think that we should get rid of one of our cars. The question is would you like to keep the van or your car?
She said she would prefer to keep her own car.
She said – What do we do next?
I said they are 8 hours ahead of us and Friday being a holiday there, they should be back in the office around midnight our time which is Saturday there. So to start with I stay up and get in touch with Saleh. I would like to know what really happened with his boss. Then I will proceed with informing their office about my arrival plan.
She said would you like me to stay up too.
I said there’s no need to. Beside I have some work to do which will keep me busy.
We came home and Lynda made a pot of coffee for me before she decided to retire.
The next thing I remember was that Lynda woke me up early in the morning with a cup of coffee in her hands. I was sleeping on the sofa in our living room.
She said why didn’t you come to bed. I said I didn’t like to disturb you.
She said how did it go?
I said everything is just fine. Saleh said his boss’s still on holidays in the States. Apparently his boss did speak with Les at the bank and decided not to delay the process. He called his office and told them to send me an offer ASAP.
Lynda asked how Saleh took it.
I said he’s just excited and said that this never happened before. In other words, his boss never made an offer to anybody like that.
Lynda said I know why his boss rushed because he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to hire you.
I said that could be a wishful thinking, babe. He didn’t know me from Adam.
She said aren’t you forgetting something. I said what?
She said he must have spoken to Les and Les must have recommended you highly for the job.
I said let’s not keep going on and on.
Who did you talk to in the office about letting them know when you would get there?
I said somebody in the personnel department. I guess they were expecting my call. They also told me that the boss would be out of town again but there will be somebody at the airport to meet me. They made a reservation at the Four Seasons in Jeddah for a couple of weeks, just to give them enough time to arrange my accommodation.
Lynda said they seem to be efficient enough to take care of those things well in advance. I agreed with her.
I asked Lynda if we should tell Adam about what’s going on.
Lynda said he works on the weekend. However, she said she would check his schedule and probably we should take him for brunch on Sunday. We did that and briefed him about everything we knew at that point.
Going back to work on Monday, I was feeling guilty for leaving Citibank even though we had some difficulties initially to get the project going. I got used to leaving home around 5:00 in the morning to catch the LRT downtown where I went to the club. Every morning I exercised and used the sauna and swimming pool. Needless to say I enjoyed my mornings in the gym. But I should have known that nothing great would last forever.
While I had Lynda’s undeniable indisputable support to go ahead and pursue my dream of going to Saudi Arabia, I was kind of nervous about potentially jeopardizing our future by jumping to catch up with my dream. For instance:
- I wasn’t sure if it was a brilliant idea to go to Saudi Arabia with Lynda. I was aware of the existence of irrational, eccentric or foolish Muslims everywhere who might harm us simply because Lynda was Jewish; and
- I kept questioning myself if this move to Saudi Arabia could or would lead us to leaving Adam in a boarding school when he was only 14 years old.
I didn’t like to express my concerns to Lynda at this stage.
On one Friday when I got home, Lynda said she made an appointment on Saturday to go to Oakville, Ontario, where she found a boarding school called: Appleby College/CAIS Boarding School. She said she spoke to the Administrator and he was very cooperative in providing answers to the questions that she had. She continued – He told me that they have an excellent reputation for taking care of the kids whose parents are working abroad. As a matter of fact some of the parents of the kids in the school were working in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
I said that’s indeed good news, babe.
On Saturday, we went to Appleby College which was only 65 Km from Scarborough. On our way, we kept telling Adam that we were just exploring the possibilities and no final decision was made yet. We also told Adam that it would be his decision as we were planning to look into other boarding schools as well.
Adam wasn’t excited about the idea but he was smart enough to know that mom and dad were doing their best under the circumstances and he appeared to be accommodating.
The campus was located on a huge property. They acknowledged that these lands on the shores of Lake Ontario were steeped in Indigenous history. For thousands of years it had been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg peoples. Most recently, it has been part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississauga’s of the Credit First Nation.
They believed that the boarding program prepared students well for university life. The program promoted understanding, empathy and inclusion, while encouraging meaningful relationships with a diverse group of students from across the globe. The friendships, connections and memories made were sure to stay with the students forever.
They explained that the courses they offered focused on the three core areas:
- Culture;
- People & Community; and
- Business Model & Impact.
They professed that at the centre of each was an unwavering commitment to helping students better understand themselves and equip them with the skills, attitudes and confidence that would help them positively influence the rapidly changing world around them.
We visited the classes and buildings in which students were provided with accommodations.
We encouraged Adam to go ahead and speak to students, which he did for a little while.
We asked Adam when we got back if he liked the place. He replied unenthusiastically, it’s alright.
Lynda said now we know there’s a place for Adam. Before exploring some other places, in her opinion it would be better to wait until I went to Saudi Arabia to check everything out and decide whether it would be worthwhile to go there. I accepted her suggestion unreservedly.
