Doc's Place

Chapter 4 | Part 1

Monday, October 1, 1984

"I think Dick likes you," says a woman of fifty or so sitting at a desk outside my office. Her French accent is quite thick but her English is excellent. "You must be Jill Price, our new communications manager."

"Yes I am," I say, extending my hand.

"Annette Pernot, Jill," she says. "We are all marketing here. Lou and the girls are out visiting motels but Kevin and Carl are in. They are marketing analysts. Would you like to meet them?"

"I met Kevin and Carl over lunch but I would like to speak with them if they're available."

"So, this way," she says as she stands. She leads me to the office behind her. Inside, Carl sits in his wheelchair listening to Kevin who sits behind a desk. Kevin looks like a surfer in business casual. Annette says, "Excuse me, gentlemen. Carl Peters, Kevin McVay, you met Jill Price, our new communications manager in the empty office, which is no longer empty."

"Hello again, Jill," says Kevin, standing. "Please sit down."

Carl ogles my body, mostly my tits. "Hey there, Jill," says Carl.

"Thank you," I say to Annette, who inclines her head and returns to her desk. Sitting beside Carl, I say, "Just a few questions if you don't mind. According to Annette, you guys are marketing analysts?"

"Yes," says Kevin.

"Where do you get your data?"

"Mostly exit and man-on-the street interviews, although we do some mailers in our feeder markets."

"Feeder markets," I say, reflecting on the term. "That would be San Francisco, the Bay Area, Sacramento and the Valley?"

"Yes, mostly. Some from Canada, Oregon, Idaho and Utah but mostly California," says Kevin.

"Hmm, that means mostly buses, trains and auto traffic. Some through the airport?"

"Right," says Kevin, glancing at Carl and then cocking his head to look at me.

"Just wondering why Marketing isn't promoting the fiftieth anniversary of Doc's Place in your feeder markets," I tell him. "Doesn't your analysis reveal support for thematic events and promotions?"

The two men glance at each other and Kevin says, "Well, yes it does and we have made recommendations but current strategy doesn't include anything for Doc's fiftieth."

"Meaning Phil Garrett and Paul Manookian," I say. "How about Kerry North?"

"Well," says Kevin, "it's up to them to develop strategy, Jill."

Suddenly decide to drop it until I can corner North and Garrett. "That's the information I wanted. Thanks, guys."

"You're welcome," says Kevin.

Glance at my watch on the way to my office and notice it's almost five so I walk over to Purchasing. Sally is putting things away behind the Dutch door. The top half of the door is open. "Hi, I'm Jill Price," I tell her. When Sally just looks at me and says nothing, I ask, "May I get a packet of yellow pads, a box of pencils and an electric sharpener, please?"

"I'm just about closed up here," says Sally. "Why don't you. . . ."

"No problem," I tell her. "Drop them off in my office before nine tomorrow, please." Turn and walk away.

She leans over the bottom door and calls out to me, "I have to get approval."

Ignore her and walk around the corner. At the Personnel window, I wave at George.

He walks around his desk and hands me the ID cards. "Just show your employee ID at the gym and they'll sign you up," he says.

"You said it's over on Matley?" I ask.

"That's it," he says. "I'm heading over there now to watch your racquetball game with Carlos, Jill," he adds.

Move for the stairs, studying my IDs. This means I belong here'for a while, anyway.

Waiting at the elevator is the receptionist who challenged me after my tour with Carlos. Smile at her as I push open the door to the staircase.

"Aren't you leaving a little early on your first day?" she asks, looking at her watch. "It's only a quarter of, dear."

"Have a nice evening," I tell her and I'm on my way down the stairs. Within minutes, I'm motoring east through moderate traffic, which is not bad for rush hour.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Doc's Place Chat
© 2008, Michel Grover.
Chapter 4 | Part 1
Late Spring 2008

Mic :

In the left frame, I'm posting Doc's Place, one of my copyrighted stories. I'll post a part of a chapter, wait for a while so people may leave comments or questions and then post those I find interesting.

Suze :

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't it seem as though Jill is racing from one thing to another while everyone else is standing still?

Jill :

Any questions?

Jules :

Yeah, except I don't think Jill sees herself as racing around. She's just moving normally. Everyone else moves at a snail's pace.

Maria :

So what did Jill accomplish on her first day? She met HR, Finance and Casino Operations Managers. She ate lunch with Marketing, chatted with Liz, went on a tour of the back of the casino with Carlos, talked to Marketing about the fiftieth, pissed off Sally in purchasing, picked up her ID cards and left.

Doug :

Don't forget that she went with Dick in purchasing out to the warehouse and picked out stuff to replace everything but file cabinets in her office.

Maria :

Oh, I forgot the warehouse visit. Thank you, Doug.

Carlo :

She also scoped out the warehouse supervisor, who, by the way, tops her hit list.

Steph :

Carlo's right. Looking at Jill's hidden agenda, she evaluated Louise as flaky, got a good look at the warehouse super and pissed off Sally, as Maria said. She got a good start on 3 of the people on her hit list.

Benny :

Why does Jill care about the fiftieth anniversary of Doc's Place? The place is going to sell in 18 months.

Les :

Part of her agenda is to keep profit as a percent of revenue nominal, Benny. Jill's looking ahead for ways to increase revenue when it's down due to remodeling next year.

Benny :

Oh yeah, bro, that's a lot to remember. Can we review that list again of what she has to do?

Lucia :

Hang on, I'll paste them in from Chapter 1. Here, in Peter's words, are the two agendas: "The open objectives are to publish the employee magazine and provide executives with communication consultation. The hidden objective is to keep secret Ferro's intent to sell Doc's Place for eighteen months despite fifty percent layoffs and remodeling."

Here is Jill's response: "You want two things, Mr. Marriott," I tell him. "First, you want profit as a percent of revenue to remain steady for a year and a half while you lay off half the employees and remodel Doc's Place. Second, you want Ferro's intent to sell Doc's Place to stay out of the news media until you actually sell." Peter agrees with that statement, by the way.

And here is Jill's proposed salary and bonus schedule, which Peter ends up approving: "If I achieve both hidden objectives, then you pay me periodic bonuses. As you mentioned, my salary for eighteen months is forty-five. The bonus is three payments of thirty each, payable at six, twelve and eighteen months."

Benny :

I'm scratching my head over how to keep all this straight.

Lucia :

Wait, Benny, there's more. Don't forget the hit list we were just discussing.

Here's the segment from Chapter 1, Part 10:

Holding his hand, which is cool and dry, I say, "Relentless pressure, Mr. Marriott. Doc's Place executives must not have a moment's respite for idle conjecture about your intentions."

"Usually, I insist that everyone in the workplace except Stephanie and my peers address me as Mr. Marriott," says Peter, openly smiling now, "however, I extend that exception to you, Jill. Call me Peter, but don't tell anyone that I said you could."

"As you wish." Still holding his hand, I say, "May as well start the pressure when my feet hit the ground, Peter. Expect a call my second day."

Glancing at Stephanie, Peter leans forward, pulling me closer. Softly, he says, "You're a Viet Nam vet. When can I expect casualty reports and body counts, Jill?"

Giving him a little smile, I ask, "What are the most critical targets, Peter?"

"Warehouse for one," he whispers.

"First week," I say softly. "Warehouse have any sympathizers?"

"The new purchasing coordinator," he says. "Her younger brother works there. She might object."

Nodding, I ask, "How about our four expensive executives? Can the second string handle their responsibilities?" When he raises both eyebrows, I say, "Give them a month. And Louise?" He shrugs so I say, "Soon as you bring in a hired gun to do the RIFs, she's gone."

"Delightful," says Peter, giving my hand an extra squeeze. "Those are most of my potential headaches."

"Who else?"

"Restaurant Manager has a little empire," Peter says softly.

"If he attracts attention to himself, he serves our purpose, so keep him," I say with a shrug. When Peter frowns slightly, I add, "Cut him when he's no longer useful."

Benny :

So here's the hit list schedule: warehouse in 1wk, purchasing coordinator no schedule, the four executives in 1mo, Louise as soon as her replacement arrives and the restaurant manager when he's no longer useful.

Lucia :

I didn't notice it before, but Peter tells her to call him by his given name but forbids her to tell anyone that he granted permission. That's another hidden agenda item.

Benny :

Alice, did you have to keep a bunch of stuff like this straight before you retired?

Alice :

No, Benny. My open and hidden agendas were identical: place bullet in target's brain. The only hidden agenda I had to remember was not to tell people my real job.

Benny :

What did you tell people you did for a living?

Alice :

Executive headhunter.

Marcus :

Cute.

Alice :

Thank you, Marcus. That means a great deal coming from a former executive.

Benny :

Does anyone else have to keep this many things straight every day in their job?

Les :

I've been an executive for years, and I have to keep a lot in my head. As Henry Mintzberg said, managing is "much work at an unrelenting pace." It makes for a lot of stress in my job. Marcus, you presided over 4 companies. You must know what this is like.

Marcus :

As a CEO, my work was never really done. Sometimes I would read but not often; I preferred discussion. I spent almost all of my time listening and talking with people both outside and inside the company. Inside, I delegated almost everything. Jill can delegate some items from her open agenda but none from her hidden agenda.

Maria :

I agree with Marcus' first sentence. As the owner of my company, my work was never really done either. I recently sold it, which meant that I had an open and hidden agenda during that process as Jill does here. I slipped once while I was discussing things with the buyer's lawyer but she missed it because she was also talking on the cell phone. She asked me to repeat what I'd said but luckily for me, she was interrupted and forgot. You're right in imagining that it's difficult to keep it straight in your head all the time, Benny.

Benny :

Jill, how do you keep things straight in your head?

Jill :

Remember what I told you about compartmentalizing information in our discussion on chapter 3, part 7, Benny?

Benny :

Sure. You said we all do something similar when we talk to children without cussing or talk to Jesus freaks without offending them.

Amalie :

Jesus freaks?

Marcus :

Yeah, Benny's talking about you and me, Amalie.

Jill :

Imagine a mansion, Benny. It has staircases leading to multiple floors with hallways leading to many doors, some with locks and some without; it has big and little rooms, some with closets; and it has an attic and a basement, each with many rooms. Now imagine that the mansion also has hidden entrances to secret passages and rooms that only you know exist. Some of the entrances are locked and only you have the keys. Got all that?

Benny :

Got it.

Jill :

Put everything you know inside the front door and then start carrying things you know into different rooms. Do you have anything that you want to secure behind one of the locking doors? Do you have anything that you want to hide down a secret passage in a closet only you know exists? Are there rooms where you'll put things you want everyone who visits you to see? Got all that too?

Benny :

Yo, I got it.

Jill :

Now, when you're talking to some people, you don't even show them the secret passages. Others, you may show them. It's entirely up to you. Remember, however, that once you reveal what's behind a locked door or what's hidden in a secret closet, not only may that person know it's there, but they may tell your secret location and treasure to someone else. Now, you may be having a conversation with a friend as you stand right next to the entrance to one of your secret passages but you don't even let yourself glance at the entrance. Why?

Benny :

I don't want em to see my glance and guess that it's a secret passage. Hell, I won't even think about it for fear they might read my thoughts and figure it out.

Thanks, Jill. Mind if I ask a question? How long you had that mansion in your mind?

Jill :

Actually, I don't use a mansion. That was just a crude example. I use a forest where everything looks the same, no matter where you look, even if you're flying: same trees, underbrush, hills, streams, mountains and so on. Anybody but me gets lost in seconds. I've lived in that forest since I was 6yrs old.

Benny :

How do you find anything?

Jill :

Close your eyes and imagine you're in a forest. What do you hear?

Benny :

Wind in the trees, birds, animals, water running

Jill :

Smell? Taste? Touch?

Benny :

Plants, flowers, animals, water

Jill :

Beyond that, you feel things. What are they?

Benny :

things that . . . things that were here before and people too, small things, something big over there

Benny :

I been in the city all my life. I like colors better, especially the colors that no one sees but me. Think I'll paint the inside of my brain with colors only I can see and hide things there.

Jill :

Suggestion: don't paint; just look. Soon, you'll see colors already there, just never noticed them before. Everybody else sees gray, black or white.

Amalie :

You know, Jill, for an atheist and a realist, you certainly are mystical.

Jules :

I told her that too.

Jill :

Told Jules I don't believe in that stuff.

Amalie :

Right, but you live it every day.