“Oo-kay.” Lilene jotted it on her pad with a bewildered look.
“And take all of those employees off the work schedule for the rest of the week. I’ll be assigning them special projects.”
Lilene flipped the piece of paper in her hand, and propped a hand on her hip. “What kind of projects?”
“I’ll discuss that with them. What I need from you today is to contact each of these people and let them know about the reassignment.”
“Is it temporary?”
All of this is temporary.“Is there a problem with you being able to complete this task?”
“No,” she said quietly. “But John here on the list, he takes his daughter to school every morning. She fell off the bus last year. Bless her heart, she won’t ride that thing anymore. She’s terrified. He won’t be able to make it at seven. And there’s Lewis. I don’t know what you need him to do, but he doesn’t much like change. He can be a little hard to talk to. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an excellent worker. He can fix anything, but he—”
“That’s precisely why I need him on this project.”
“Oo-ka-ay.”
Thankfully, Vanessa’s phone interrupted the conversation. She took the call and Lilene left the room.
Since her big meeting was now on-the-fly because of the local football game, she had plenty of time to get a few things done before she met with the employees tonight.
Lilene had left for lunch, thankfully, when Vanessa pickedup the huge wad of keys they’d given her to go do a quick inspection of the factory floor.
She walked to the end of the hall, then followed the yellow line to where each worker swiped their badge to clock in and out. They’d implemented several mistake-proofing processes. Impressive. Blue arrows led her to a catwalk above the kitchen area. Everyone wore white, and there wasn’t one person out of compliance from what she could see. Things seemed to be moving like a well-oiled machine. Too bad this would all be gone in a few weeks.
She did a quick count from up here of all the equipment on the floor. She typed notes in her phone and took a few pictures to reference back later.
She took the stairs back down to the main level, grabbed her coat from her office, and then walked back out to the parking lot. A large truck rumbled down the road.
She crossed the street to the former factory. It took up practically the whole next block of Porter House Road. There was more than enough space for the warehouse project to not disrupt Porter’s. She noted the wooden doors would need to be updated to metal and glass. Dry leaves had piled in one corner of the stoop.
Not a single key on the huge ring she’d been given fit the door. She walked around to the back. The doors at the docks were in pretty shabby shape. She pulled a tape on them, noting the measurements. Easy enough to put in some good commercial metal rolling doors. The same contractor could probably handle all of that work. She’d just have to wait until the maintenance manager could help her get inside tomorrow morning when they all met at seven.
She hated being in a holding pattern, but she could at least get some bids working on the doors today.
A few hours later she’d garnered a list of reputable companies who could do the work, and called with the requirements for bids. It was always faster to pick up the phone, rather than wait for a response on an emailed RFP.
By the end of the day, she was weary of having to hang around town until after the football game. If she went to the apartment, she’d have to arrange a ride back. She gathered her things to explore the restaurant choices while she had some time on her hands.
As she stepped outside, her phone rang. Seeing Anna’s name on the display pushed her frustration down a notch. “Hi, Anna.”
“How’s it going?”
“All settled in. Although folks around here don’t seem to have much sense of urgency.” She walked across Porter House Road on Main.
Anna’s giggle came across the line. “Perhaps, Vanessa, that’s a sign you should reduce yours a little. It is practically Thanksgiving, after all.”
“Yes, but you’ll never believe this. They rescheduled my meeting with all the workers to introduce myself and let them know what I’m here to do to accommodate their local football game.”
“That sounds okay. What’s so bad about taking an evening to have a nice dinner and join in the festivities around the football game? Relive those cheerleader days. You were pretty good as I remember.”
“Oh my gosh. Don’t remind me.”
“I won’t keep you. I know you’re busy. I just wanted to know you got settled in and were doing okay. Call me at the end of the week when you get the chance. Have some fun.”
Why not?Vanessa disconnected the call. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the butcher shop on Main Street, she raised a fist in the air, pretending it was a pom-pom. “Go!” She kicked one heel up behind her then headed to find out the details about tonight’s big game. “This one’s for you, Anna.”
CHAPTERTEN
