Day Forty-three - Monday
Sue and I woke at the exact same moment, opening our eyes to look into each other's. She smiled so gently, so sweetly, at me that my heart melted. Kissing was the only appropriate response. We did, we kissed and kissed until we had to do more. We did more, so much more, that we didn't finish with the shower until six-fifteen.
Good thing the coffee maker works fast. As soon as we turned on the light to plug in the other coffee maker on the bar, Tiny and Ruth came in. The rest followed quickly, energized in anticipation of another exciting day. Charlie, Jim, and Tiny felt left out as it would be same old, same old, for them.
Ruth said she was going to take Glenda with her so she would have a second opinion as she shopped for furniture. She wanted to know how many offices I wanted to furnish. I told her to furnish the fancy office and the one next to it, but not the other two upstairs. The office next to the big one was going to be hers. We could use the big office for big shots that visited for the impression factor.
Downstairs I asked her to find a double desk for my office so Sue could sit on one side and me the other. We would put the desk so we could both look out into the shop to our right or to our left, depending who sat where. The other office should probably have something similar, a double desk, a small table with chairs, and a file cabinet. Team leaders might use that office in the future as we built teams. The big instruction was to have the furniture sellers deliver it, with enough people who could get some of the stuff upstairs. We would need a table and chairs in the lunchroom.
For decorating, the outside windows upstairs needed blinds. Perhaps the corner office should have drapes to pull across the shop windows, as well as blinds and curtains for the outside window.
I wanted the big plate glass windows on the showroom to be tinted. That would keep down the heat in there. There was a six-foot overhang that acted like a porch, but it would not provide shade for very long during the day.
That was all I could think of.
Abe said he was going to move the two big benches and put one in each of the two big shops as his area already had a very long bench to use for various projects. I cautioned him about physically doing too much himself and to let the four young guys do the heavy lifting. He was there to direct them.
They took off early to go get the big truck and a fork lift. I told them how I had done things before so he would know how to drive the big lift up on the truck.
Just the man I wanted to see. The contractor stopped at the house to talk to me about the new addition. He had a drawing with him that he had worked out. It would have to be good enough to pull a permit.
I told him that one, I wanted the whole area paved right away, and also the 100-foot long shed we talked about. Next, I explained that I wanted the side of the building, where the paint booths were going to be built, pushed out twelve to fifteen feet, whichever would work out best architecturally. Then I said I wanted a shop about the size of Abe's existing shop on the other side.
He thought for a minute then suggested. Why not keep the one side the way it is and add the paint addition. We can leave space for the future but why not build the bigger unit on the other side of the building. Let your man move to the other side to the new area. We can duplicate what's on the other side, but just make it larger.
I agreed. That was a good idea and it would free him up to pull separate permits for the different projects. Sue gave him her attorney's name and phone number, who would be issuing checks as they were needed. All he had to do is call him. The contractor thanked us profusely, saying his asphalt guys were going to be ecstatic. I told him that, as it was needed, my guys would move the various junk out of the way. If he needed a forklift while he was there, he could use any he wished.
I called a fuel supply place for a propane delivery for the forklift trucks, giving them both the new shop and the storage place, as the big lift would be over there today.
Next was the insurance lady. After I went over everything we were doing, she said she would have the building surveyed for fire insurance, but would but a binder on it now for our purchase price. I told her we were doing some major additions, so if their surveyor wanted to come by and make suggestions, to please do so.
She said she would deliver the insurance cards for the four trucks and the Mustang in a half-hour.
She also said she loved me and wanted to marry me this very second. We both laughed at that, as she had already met Sue and knew how much we were in love.
I called the telephone company to order the lines relocated and to add two more. Three should be fine for the business, but we would need a fax now that we were a big time operation.
Next was the list of phone companies I dug out of the phone book. I made appointments an hour apart, starting at one this afternoon. They all knew I did not know anything about what was available, but I knew I needed multiple phones and a reliable public address system.
I called the steel supply house and ordered ten sets of the tubing, and five sets of the sheet metal. The lady at the factory said there were trucks waiting for loads and mine would be on the way today and would probably be delivered tomorrow. I gave her the new shipping address, saying it was our new building.
I realized I had not considered where to store the materials. The rear wall could be racked with heavy steel shelves. If I had the steel we could weld it in place ourselves. I called the supply house back and ordered the steel necessary to create the needed racks.
Sue had an adjuster on the other side of the house. He had already gone by the sheriff's office to get a police report. Everything was coming together. My ear was getting tired, but we were making progress.
The insurance lady drove up. She came into the patio area, looking around, stunned at the changes in just a couple of weeks.
"This is amazing, how did you do all this so fast?" she asked.
"There is a little contractor that needed the work. The result is what you see. He's doing some expansion at the new shop too. He is very good and very reasonable. I'll give you his card if you have work for him."
"Please give it to me, my husband and I would like to build an addition on to our house, along with a big screen porch. Not as big as this one though. My goodness, you have a seventy foot long home and the patio is the full length. What is it about thirty feet wide?"
"That's right it is thirty by seventy. Nice size don't you think?"
"It is unbelievable. Anyway, here are your insurance cards, you seem to be acquiring vehicles at an alarming rate. Are you going to keep your original pickup?"
"I'm not sure, probably not, there is no need right now for another pickup."
"Let me know if you sell it so I can cancel the insurance and get you a refund. I've changed all your policies to reflect Steve Sharp, Inc. I have an endorsement for your S&S Enterprises d.b.a.," she said then showing me an invoice, "If you can get me a check for this amount, I will be out of your hair so you can go register the vehicles."
I went in to write the check and ran into Sue putting a check from the adjuster into her purse. She said a tow truck was going to be here in a few minutes to take the car to the dealer to be repaired.
Sue came out to the patio with me to greet the insurance lady and had a few words with her as the lady wrote a receipt. I asked Sue if she wanted me to wait for her or would she mind if I ran up and got the registration stuff taken care of. She thought I should go while it was still early before that office got busy after lunch.
I was back in less than forty-five minutes with the tags. Sue rode with me to the storage place where the two big trucks were. I put the new tags on the two trucks and heard how this was going to be a second load already. We drove over to the new place to find Shawna inside painting the second pickup truck. She said she would add more stuff later but the S&S Enterprises on the doors was a good start. She asked Sue when she wanted her to do the Mustang.
"Let's make some drawings and see what all we want on it," Sue was saying, thinking of what she wanted. "I want the car to look like one of the NASCAR models, but a convertible. I'm going to get Steve to make me a padded roll bar and install it in the car so it will really look like a race car. So let's get some pictures of the different race cars then we'll design what we want."
Shawna said that when the guys took a lunch break or came back with a load, she would do the new big truck. Also they were supposed to bring over the custom welding truck this trip, so she would do that one too.
The contractor was finishing up forms on both sides of the building. Today he had fourteen men working on the project, as well as himself. He was using the surveying tool to get all the posts for grade in place. He had a couple of guys doing the rebar and mesh to hold the concrete together. He asked me if I thought he could put all of the used mobile generators and compressors on the outside of the fence that night and would it okay to park everything else either inside the shop or in the front parking lot. I told him we would put the forklifts inside and everything else in the front parking lot.
I put the tags on the two pickups. Sue said for me to choose one of them for myself so Shawna could paint my name over the door. Both were exactly the same and both had about the same miles. The bodies were both very clean, with no marks on either one. I pointed at one and Sue put a note on that one for me and the other one for Abe.
Alice drove up to the front of building. We walked through the shop then through the showroom to meet her. She had lunch for Abe and Shawna and the other men. She didn't know Sue and I would be there. I told her we were getting ready to leave soon.
Sue and I drove down to the Greek restaurant so she could cause her usual stir there. The owner was eyeball locked on her, as usual, the whole time we were there.
I had someplace to take Sue after lunch, saying it wouldn't take long but we needed to do it. We drove to Kennedy Boulevard almost to downtown Tampa to my attorney's office. When we walked in he greeted us like a politician with an arm out to welcome us and his right hand stuck out to shake mine. He stuttered a little during Sue's introduction, but recovered his eyes and speech very professionally.
He had us go into his conference room where he spread out a whole bunch of fancy documents. He briefly explained to Sue that I had asked that she be on the corporate structure of the company and these were the documents to amend the corporation. When Sue looked at me funny, I said, "I didn't make this a minority owned business as I'm assigning each of us fifty percent ownership with a buy and sell agreement should anything happen to either of us. Let's get this done, I have appointments pretty soon."
Everything, including a real live "last will and testament" was signed, ready to be recorded, in under ten minutes. We left, heading back to the shop to start meeting the telephone guys.
I had Sue drive the truck home, saying I would drive one of the new pickups home as soon as I was done with the telephone guys. The contractor had installed pillars along where the new walls were going to be and was pouring concrete on both sides at the same time.
The first telephone guy was a know-it-all that told me what I had to have for a business like mine. He ran his mouth till I finally asked if he was able to give me a quote for what I wanted. He said yes and left saying he would have it ready for me by next Wednesday or Thursday. I planned on calling him and blowing him off Monday.
The second guy was already there and waiting for me a while as the blowhard was getting on my nerves. This guy asked me dozens of questions that I felt were good ones. He drew a floor plan of the shop, the offices, and showroom, then drew the two new annexes, as he called them. We walked throughout the entire building while he asked what kind of activity was going to be done in each area.
He asked if he could use the conference room for a few minutes so that he could get a quote ready for me.
The time for the third guy came and went. I guess a new guy like me can't get all that much attention. The second guy came out of the conference room and said he had all the information and now wanted to give me a proposal. We went back into the conference room where he went over each area of the building, confirmed what activity was proposed to be done there, then went over the new areas, as well as the outside lot and storage area, very thoroughly.
First he gave me a price for all used equipment for the telephones, but new equipment for the paging. Then he gave me a price for all new equipment. We went back over his drawing with the marks for each location he proposed to have a phone and how he was going to wire it so we could add onto the new areas easily.
His numbers for all new equipment seemed high, but what did I know. He was planning on twenty-five phones to start so that was a lot more than I had thought. He explained why I would want a phone in the showroom, two phones in each of the shops. He said I probably would want four in each of the big areas one day so I wouldn't have to walk so far to answer a phone. Each of the two offices between the showroom and the shop would have two phones, the lunch room and conference room each would have one. Then each of the upstairs offices would have two. He said he was not putting any phones in the paint booths, but one outside of the booths near an outside door. There would be explosion proof horns inside the paint booths, however.
"If we agree on a price, when would you want this installed. If get this signed up, we could start installing the system in the morning."
That did it for me. He was talking my language. When it seemed I was hesitating, he said, "If you will sign right now and advance me fifty percent of the total, I will install data network wiring throughout the building at all of your phone locations and in the new shops."
Shit, he already had me. I was wondering if I kept my mouth shut would the deal get any better. I thought I should let him off the hook. "That's a great deal. Let me write a check while you put all that in your contract so you can start tomorrow."
He was really prepared, he had a contract made out already, with the corporate name and the d.b.a. He even had the data wiring on the agreement. We signed it, I gave him a check, and he gave me a copy of the contract and left.
While we had been in the conference room, there had been a lot of activity out in the offices. As I came out of the conference room, I could see a table and chairs in the break room. I walked down the hallway to see a desk and chair, even in the offices that I wasn't planning to occupy yet. Ruth's office was done with a very nice desk and a tall credenza. She had a small table with only two chairs at it.
The big corner office was a knockout. Ruth and Glenda were hanging curtains. There was a very large curved desk with a very tall chair behind it. It front of the desk were two very comfortable, leather looking, chairs. On the one wall was a full-size matching couch and in the middle of the room was a nice sized round table, and four matching chairs with casters. The back room, about the size of the conference room at the other end of the hall was empty, but I couldn't imagine what to put there.
Ruth said to go downstairs and look at Sue's and my office. There was a large desk that had leg holes and drawers on each side, an actual double desk. Behind each chair was a large matching credenza with bookshelves. I looked closely at the credenza and realized it had a keyboard drawer to be pulled out. The thing was also a PC desk. It was then that I noticed that on the side of the big window there was a door that led out to the shop. I could just get up from my desk and enter the shop directly, instead of going out my door into the showroom the back down the hall to the shop.
I walked next door on the other side of the hallway to the shop to the other office. It had a double desk and credenza that doubled as a PC desk too. The quality was good, but not near what mine was. They had three chairs for visitors, while my office had a table about the size of the one in the big office and four chairs with casters.
I went back upstairs as the girls were finishing the drapes for the big corner window. They showed me how to use a rod and just pull the drape down the rod for privacy.
The outside window now had blinds and nice set of drapes, giving the office a very professional appearance. Too bad it was so far away from the floor of the shop. It would make a great place to impress new clients when it was needed.
Ruth said the last thing she needed to do was make a trip to Staples for some office machines and paper supplies. She said she would do that on the way home. She would pick up a fax and a couple of adding machines.
Abe came to mind. He didn't have a place to organize or keep track of what he was doing. If he were going to head a team, he would need an office. I went to find the contractor. He was watching a bulldozer level the lot. There were two big trucks dumping dirt to fill in a couple low spots.
The first thing I asked him was if he could design in an office area in Abe's new shop. The second thing I asked was, the place was going to look pretty barren being completely paved. He suggested that I get a landscaper to add some shrubbery or trees in strategic spots.
He was saying the lot would be complete and ready to use about five in the morning. When I asked him why he was pressing so hard with the paving, he said the asphalt folks wanted the work, but they had won a couple of bids that would take them pretty far away for a couple of weeks to a month.
I gave him a key to the building, saying he could use the facilities and the lunchroom if he or his crew needed to. Abe was standing in what he had thought was going to be his shop.
"Abe, don't get carried away setting this side up too much. I'm building you a much bigger area on the other side," I said while walking him through the two shops to the other side of the building. There was a big overhead door already cut out and being installed between the new and existing shop areas. There were also two other wide doors that led into it. We went to the drawing on the contractor's table to find he now had blueprints of the buildings. An office area was already drawn in at the front of the new space.
"What do you think, is the office where you would want it?" I asked.
"Either end is good." Abe said studying the drawings for the first time. "If it were in the middle it might be good too, but the big door to the shop is going to be in the middle so either end is best. If it were on the back end, I would possibly be closer to the lot, but this shows a big overhead door on each end and in the middle across from the main shop. The front is better because then I would be closer to come to see you or customers if I needed too."
Abe looked out the back over through the middle big door, "I can park all of my equipment before it is built right there on the side. If you build this covered area, I can park completed work under there. Looks good to me. Will there be a phone out there too?"
"One in the office, one in the middle and one down near the rear. If we need more, we'll get them."
"That's great. With this big shop, I can work on three projects at the same time, not counting any little jobs I might pick up. If you can find the equipment to rebuild, I could use as many as three good mechanics and three helpers. The only thing I'll be able to do is to keep tabs on three projects at a time."
"What is this along the inside wall?" Abe pointed. "That's your parts bins. You will have about sixty feet of parts bins so you will have all the space you could want, I hope."
"Wow, how will I ever keep track of that?" Abe asked looking a little overwhelmed.
"Easy, we will have an inventory program that will keep track for you. When you use a part, you enter the item number or the bin number you took it from and confirm it was the right item, then check it out to a job. We'll be able to keep an exact cost on each project."
"You already have this?"
I grinned and laughed, "Not yet, I just thought of it and what we would really need. I'll tell Sue to get her PC guru on it right away."
"Abe looked on and said, "Damn, I wish I was twenty years younger doing this. I'm so excited about having my own shops, I can't tell you. I'll just do what I can and train as best as possible."
"That's the way successful companies do it. They train their people to be their best and to do perfect work." I said hoping to be able to do just that.
"You know Steve, you're always talking about perfect work, that should be this companies motto, 'We strive to do perfect work' or something like that."
"Think about it Abe and let the others help, make us a motto and we will paint it above all the doors to remind us to try a little harder."
Abe went out to his new truck to leave, while I checked with the contractor one last time. He said he was satisfied with the first day. He said that after they finished, he might have to reheat and roll the asphalt again to smooth it out but that wouldn't be a big deal. He said he would see me for coffee at my house around six thirty in the morning.
I drove my new truck home. It was very nice with power windows and a fancy dash with a CD player. Who had time for that, I needed something that I could dictate notes into. This truck wasn't as cozy as the old pickup as it had split seats with a console between them. Sue couldn't sit up next to me.
At home, the patio was full of excited people. Tom and Al were telling Tiny, Charlie, and Jim about how they were almost finished moving all the equipment from the storage place. Shawna was sitting smugly pointing at the S&S logo on the door of my new pickup, explaining that she had two coats of clear on it too. Ruth was talking about the great deals on furniture she had been able to find. Glenda was talking about how well the decorating was going.
Sue was preparing spaghetti and meatball with hot rolls. While I helped make salads and dressing, we discussed a few things. When it was my turn, "I need you to get your computer whiz kid to install a network for us. We will need an inventory program and some kind of project software so we can track jobs. We will need PCs in all the offices, including Abe's new office. There is a small room off the main shop that should work for a telephone and network room."
"Let me give him a call real quick, put the spaghetti through the strainer in about three minutes. The sauce is almost hot and the meatballs are done. When the timer goes off take the rolls out of the oven."
Betty and Joan came in to get the salad and dishes to set the table. I said the food would be on its way out in about five minutes.
By the time I had the mixed vegetables in a bowl, the spaghetti, meatballs, and sauce mixed together, opened three bottles of wine, and put the hot rolls into a big basket, Sue was off the phone. We carried the rest of the food out and joined the throng to eat our salads.
While we ate Sue said the guy would come over tomorrow and check out the network cabling and tell us about a couple of programs he had that should work for us.
Supper was good, or at least good enough that there wasn't any food left. I couldn't believe the massive amount of spaghetti that had been consumed. The three bottles of wine were plenty but were augmented my frequent trips to the beer tap. With everyone's bellies full, the lethargic feelings came over all of us. The table and dishes were cleaned up while the rest of the folks watched TV.
Sue said it was time for our walk, so we put on our swimsuits, Sue's under a pair of shorts, and took a walk. Ruth and Tiny came with us to walk off the food. We walked for over a half-hour and ended at the swimming pool. All four of us swam for half an hour then we sat in the bubbly hot tub in our suits.
As we sat chatting about nothing of importance, Sue and I could tell Ruth was up to something. Her hands had been busy at Tiny's waist and then at hers. She got up on Tiny's lap and was obviously working herself down onto him. When she was firmly planted, Ruth leaned back on Tiny with his arms around her and kissed his neck. We could see Ruth moving herself up and down on her husband, enjoying the intimate contact.
Sue wasn't going to let Ruth have all the fun. She soon had my suit pulled down and her bottoms hanging onto one foot, trying to force herself onto me. It took a while but Sue's oily nature won out. The two girls were facing each other while pleasuring their husbands. As Sue's movements became more rapid and erratic, I could not hold back another second hosing of her insides with semen while she quivered and gasped.
We put ourselves back together and exited the spa. I think a couple of the couples may have guessed what we had been up to as they snickered at us on our way out.
All the folks were either on their way to bed or had already gone when we came back. Tiny and Ruth said goodnight, leaving Sue and I relaxing at the bar.
Sue wanted a rum and Coke so I made up two and we sat, sipping our drinks and enjoying each other's presence on the dark patio. Ten minutes later we were cuddled under the covers slipping off to sleep.