Frankly Speaking, Jean and Morris
I guess I’ve been a bit lax in writing entries to the blogs lately. I can’t explain why but it just seems to be the case. No reason and no excuses.
I promised in the previous post to continue the Jean story. Here it is:
The growth we were experiencing was tremendous. Having THE hot box in the world of office automation and productivity was, and I assume still is exhilarating. I was responsible for the service activities in Kansas, western Missouri, southwestern Iowa, Nebraska and any other God forsaken environs the Regional Manager felt compelled to send me. Jerry was in St. Louis doing the same in a bit smaller geography. Our business was growing at a rate of 6% per month. Compound that for six years. It is impressive. We needed help! Enter Morris.
Morris was hired to work out of St. Louis and be an additional resource for both Jerry and myself. His very first service call was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; where he diagnosed the problem, replaced the defective part, got on an airplane and went back to St. Louis. One problem- He didn’t diagnose the failure that was causing the failure he diagnosed. The next day the unit failed again. So my phone rang and the voice on the other end said, “Frank how fast can you get to the Kansas City airport, I need you in Cedar Rapids.” So off I went. It was a very straight forward, easy fix. But it did require an overnight stay in beautiful Cedar Rapids while I waited for a power supply (the original undiagnosed culprit) to be flown in.
Little did I know that while I was lounging in my hotel room Jean had called the Communication Center ranting and raving about the failure of her fax. Larry reacted to her tirade by dispatching Morris from St. Louis to Kansas City to resolve the difficulty. But before he left he got a warning from the girls in the Comm. Center, “Be careful, Jean is a real !@#$%.
Morris caught a flight to KC, rented a car, drove to the customer’s site, walked in to the administration area and calmly announced, “OK, which one of you is the !@#$% ?” Fortunately, Jean was not in the office at that moment. Unfortunately Morris was unable to resolve the problem. So Jean called the Comm. Center again.
I finished the service call in Cedar Rapids and caught a flight back to KC, The next morning I was informed of Jean’s problem and made aware of the fact that Morris had been in town to, “back me up” but that he was unsuccessful in doing so.
I got to Jean’s office, put my tail between my legs and began the process of fixing the machine. While I worked on the unit Jean decided to take a break. So I was left alone. A broken fax machine and I in an office with 4 attractive women seemed innocent. As if it were on cue they simultaneously began walking toward me. They didn’t stop till they completely surrounded me and the supervisor was standing directly in front of me, and I will admit she was way too close. She said, “OK, which one of us is the !@#$% ?”
The women in the office were all too aware of Jean’s reputation, and they thought I had warned Morris about Jean. So they decided to have a little fun with me.
Morris’ first paycheck was his last!
I promised in the previous post to continue the Jean story. Here it is:
The growth we were experiencing was tremendous. Having THE hot box in the world of office automation and productivity was, and I assume still is exhilarating. I was responsible for the service activities in Kansas, western Missouri, southwestern Iowa, Nebraska and any other God forsaken environs the Regional Manager felt compelled to send me. Jerry was in St. Louis doing the same in a bit smaller geography. Our business was growing at a rate of 6% per month. Compound that for six years. It is impressive. We needed help! Enter Morris.
Morris was hired to work out of St. Louis and be an additional resource for both Jerry and myself. His very first service call was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; where he diagnosed the problem, replaced the defective part, got on an airplane and went back to St. Louis. One problem- He didn’t diagnose the failure that was causing the failure he diagnosed. The next day the unit failed again. So my phone rang and the voice on the other end said, “Frank how fast can you get to the Kansas City airport, I need you in Cedar Rapids.” So off I went. It was a very straight forward, easy fix. But it did require an overnight stay in beautiful Cedar Rapids while I waited for a power supply (the original undiagnosed culprit) to be flown in.
Little did I know that while I was lounging in my hotel room Jean had called the Communication Center ranting and raving about the failure of her fax. Larry reacted to her tirade by dispatching Morris from St. Louis to Kansas City to resolve the difficulty. But before he left he got a warning from the girls in the Comm. Center, “Be careful, Jean is a real !@#$%.
Morris caught a flight to KC, rented a car, drove to the customer’s site, walked in to the administration area and calmly announced, “OK, which one of you is the !@#$% ?” Fortunately, Jean was not in the office at that moment. Unfortunately Morris was unable to resolve the problem. So Jean called the Comm. Center again.
I finished the service call in Cedar Rapids and caught a flight back to KC, The next morning I was informed of Jean’s problem and made aware of the fact that Morris had been in town to, “back me up” but that he was unsuccessful in doing so.
I got to Jean’s office, put my tail between my legs and began the process of fixing the machine. While I worked on the unit Jean decided to take a break. So I was left alone. A broken fax machine and I in an office with 4 attractive women seemed innocent. As if it were on cue they simultaneously began walking toward me. They didn’t stop till they completely surrounded me and the supervisor was standing directly in front of me, and I will admit she was way too close. She said, “OK, which one of us is the !@#$% ?”
The women in the office were all too aware of Jean’s reputation, and they thought I had warned Morris about Jean. So they decided to have a little fun with me.
Morris’ first paycheck was his last!
posted by Frank at 11:18 AM
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