Day Fifty-two - Wednesday
My eyes were being kissed. It's a good thing my eyes were closed or the kisser would have been kissing my eyeballs, how gross.
Now the kisser is kissing and licking my lips. That tickles.
I opened my eyes to see a smiling Sue.
"I love you so very much. You make me so complete. I love you."
With a kiss to thank her for that wonderful proclamation, I said, "I love you back, you wonderful apparition. You must be from my imagination, you're too beautiful to be real."
That just got me more kisses.
My lower extremity was getting pretty interested in all this loving and poked outward to get some attention.
Sue said, "Quick, into the shower, I need you in me right now."
We spent a wonderful twenty minutes in the shower, expressing our love and giving pleasure to each other. As the hot water grew cool, we hurriedly finished washing and got out to get ready for the day.
I put a couple of pots of coffee on and called Phil to ask him to stop by Macdonald's to get about forty egg McMuffin's and Biscuit sandwiches. He said he was on his way.
Glenda was first this morning, telling Sue that she would be late to do the cleaning today, as she had a doctor's appointment this morning. She told us not to worry, it was just her regular appointment.
So that's how Sue was keeping the place so nice. I'm sure Glenda felt like she was helping Sue out while making a few bucks. It was nice to know all of our crew was involved with each other in some way.
Hanna wanted to talk to Sue this morning, so they went back to the office, while the rest of us sat on the porch eating the stuff Phil had brought and talking about the day to come.
Tom and Al reminded me that I had promised to teach everyone how to work with the stainless steel. I told them we would get right on it this morning, as soon as they had the frames they were working on cleaned up and ready to paint.
Sue came out with Hanna to announce that Hanna was going to work with her from today on. Sue told me later that Hanna's boss was hitting on her everyday, and she just couldn't handle it any longer and had quit. Sue said there was more than enough work for everyone. She was surprised Hanna didn't talk to Phil or Tiny, but was happy to have her work for her growing company.
At work, Shawna had Tom and Al take the newly painted car and hang it in the showroom, next to the bare painted frame. The car really looked good with the big S&S logo on the front and back. She had painted the number thirteen on the top and sides. All of the usual decals were not decals, but her airbrush painting. Over the drivers window was 'Steve "Speedy" Sharp.' She even had a Marine insignia on both sides. It was very classy, and should excite anyone visiting.
Debbie thanked me for selling my old pickup to Hank. She said he felt that he got the best end of the deal, as he thought the truck was worth a lot more than he had paid us. They were planning a quick trip up to Georgia to pick up his bike this weekend.
Four guys showed up, saying they were acquaintances of Dan, and said they wanted to apply for welding jobs if I would have them. I took them upstairs and listened to each of them tell me what had gotten them into prison. Three had been jailed for selling dope. One guy said he had tried to rob a convenience store, but was caught by a sheriff's deputy while faking he had a gun. All of them said they had learned their lesson and would give anyone who hired them an honest day's work.
I told them that our insurance carrier had said we going to have to give all employees regular drug tests in order to keep our rates down. I gave them my talk on workmanship and why it was so important to me. I had them fill out applications.
While they were busy with that, I told Ruth we should make sure we followed the insurance company's drug free workplace plan. She said she would get right on it and advise everyone what would be coming up.
I took the four men down to the welding area and found some scrap. I showed them a finished product and a finished test piece that was perfect. After showing them all the tools available to make their samples the same way, I jotted down the time then joined the other welders to begin our lessons on stainless steel.
The bending was the most difficult because it took more heat to bend these tubes that it did regular steel. The stainless also had some spring in it, so when you heated and bent it, you had to over-bend it then let it spring back into the correct angle. If the bend was too much then you could heat it up a little then beat it with a rubber or wooden mallet.
We cut a few pieces then I showed them how to bend it.
Tim showed me a stack of numbered wooden forms. Bob and Tim had built forms to match the bent pieces of tubing. When the bends and angles were correct, the piece would fit into the form perfectly, touching along the straight lengths. Every bent piece of tubing could be tested within the form. It wouldn't save much time but would be a great way to insure quality.
The first man to finish his test piece came up and handed me test sample. It looked very nice and appeared to have been put together professionally. He had completed the task rapidly, as well.
Before I could go back to teaching, the other three guys came up with their samples. I handed them around to my welders to let them look at them. All four of the welders had done a good job.
Tom groaned, as this meant he had four more guys to train and watch, along with trying to learn how to work with a new metal.
With the four new guys watching, I took two pieces of scrap and showed them that cleaning the stainless pieces before welding was easier with this metal as it filed smoother faster. Using the wire feed with some different type wire, I tacked two sides to show them that the arc handled the metal fine but you had to use a lighter touch to keep the bead low.
Next, I drew the bead completely around the connection, with it barely raising a where the contact was. Now was the more difficult part, as we would go through grinders like water with the stainless steel. It was a tougher metal, harder to grind, but easier to file. I finished off with coarse, then fine sandpaper to show how I wanted them to look.
My men were impressed that I really was a good welder.
I had noticed on the apps that all four new guys had some sheet metal experience and training. When Al found out about it he assured me that he would keep them busy on both sides. The four guys were thanking Dan for getting them an interview, and now a job.
I wanted Tim and Bob to work on the stainless frames while every one else worked on regular steel today. Tomorrow they could all try out working with the stainless.
In the motor shop, the four new people had unloaded some impressive toolboxes and were already set up to work, with a crate engine already on a stand in front of them. I welcomed them into our company family, and said I would have Ruth come down so they could fill out applications that would also be the apps for their health insurance. I told everyone that we were going to have to start drug tests coming up soon. If anyone thought they might have a problem with a test, they should let me know so there would be no embarrassment.
I made sure that Kurt and Carl, as well as Sandy and Mandy, would check over the new folks' work as they went along, to make sure that it was perfect. Robert said he didn't mind at all as he was proud of the work he and Roberta did.
I said, "Let's make it a contest. When you all finish your next motor, let's test and record all of the measurements, including the vibration and dyno readings. That's one way to compare. The winner get this." I held up a hundred-dollar bill.
Everyone one of them said that I might as well give it to them now, as they were the winners. I love the confidence. I also thought it might he a neat part of a finished motor to have a record of the tests to send along with the product. When I suggested that to the group, they thought it was a great idea.
Shawna was busily putting the axle back together for the Servicar. She had the frame put aside, saying it needed to be cleaned up before she could paint it. It was going to take some heavy duty filing and grinding to make it clean.
While there, I asked her about the powder coating electrostatic equipment. She said it should be delivered today or tomorrow. She would set it up and test it as soon as it arrived. She thought that if we were good with it, we could get a lot of business from the biker community, as it was popular to paint frames and cases that way.
Debbie said this morning was not as heavy with orders. She said she still didn't have a material order yet with the orders she had received. Perhaps we would get a breather and get caught up a little.
We were discussing orders when a group of men in suits came in the front door of the showroom. They were looking at the race car and frame hanging from the ceiling, as well as the bike frame and my old shovel. Then they went over to the generator and were looking it over very thoroughly.
I went out to greet them and asked how I could help them. A man who appeared to be the spokesman for the group said in a very authoritative voice, "We are from the Onan manufacturing home office. We have come to see Steve Sharp."
Curious, I asked, "Did Mr. Sharp know you were coming, did you have an appointment."
The man looked at me very disdainfully and said, "Just go get him, sonny, he'll see us, don't you worry about that."
"Please, come upstairs to the offices, and let me get you coffee while I see about Mr. Sharp."
I led them up to the big office and had them sit in the comfortable chairs in front of the big desk. Knowing they would be curious, I opened the curtains and raised the blinds so they could look out onto the welding and sheet metal areas.
I asked Ruth to help me, got four coffees for the men, and asked them if they had cards. The only one to have a card was the mouthy one. A Mr. Robert Bigalow. Aha, Mr. Big I laughing thought. He didn't have a title on his card.
I went to see Phil to ask him if he knew the guy. Phil said he was the national sales manager. The one who canned him a short while ago. I asked him why he would be here, and he said it was probably to see if he could steal some prospects or your customer list.
I got Tiny to come with me and introduced him as our CFO. Mr. Big was a little rude, even to giant Tiny. "I've already told this boy that I'm here to see Steve Sharp. How many times do I have to ask the same question?"
Tiny smiled and said, "My goodness you are a rude person. Do you get much accomplished acting like that?"
"I don't have to take this kind of abuse from you now go get this Steve Sharp guy right now. We have important business to discuss."
"May I ask who these other gentlemen are?" I asked, seeing if I could distract him a little.
Mr. Big huffed and puffed a little then said, "These men are from the accounting department of the company and are here to audit the business you have been submitting."
"I see, Tiny would you get a copy of the contract we have with Onan and bring it in," I asked, ready to call this guy's bluff.
As Tiny left to get what I asked for Mr. Bigalow asked, "What do you need that for, why would you want that?"
I didn't say anything but waited for Tiny to come in. "This is a copy right?" I asked, with the emphasis on the copy part.
"Mr. Bigalow, I have to step out for a second. Would you show Tiny where it says you have the right to audit our orders that we have submitted to you?"
I went to find Phil and asked him to call Onan legal and ask him if they knew they had this Bigalow guy here along with three people who said they were auditors. Phil said he was still a good friend with most everyone in the home office, except this guy. I told him to call me in the big office when he had the legal counsel on the line.
Back in the big office, Mr. Bigalow was steaming. "I have repeatedly asked to see Steve Sharp and all you people are doing is pissing me off. I don't need to show you anything within that contract for what I want to do."
The phone rang and I answered to hear Phil say, "The legal counsel is conferenced in on the line, and said they didn't know Robert Bigalow was coming down to see you. He also said that he didn't think the guys with him were auditors."
"I see, perhaps Mr. Bigalow can explain a little more," I said thinking he would get more confrontational.
"God damn it," Mr. Big yelled, "I'm not explaining a fucking thing to anyone. Now get me Steve Sharp right now, or I'm going to pull your dealership so fucking fast, you won't know what hit you."
I had been holding the handset so it would pick up the tirade from the asshole.
When I put the phone to my ear I heard the legal counsel say, "Can you put Mr. Bigalow on the phone?"
I handed the phone to the sputtering Mr. Big. "Who in the hell are you to interrupt my meeting and where is this Steve Sharp?"
Robert Bigalow's eye got real big. His mouth was wide open in a big "O." He looked directly at me and said, "You're Steve Sharp?"
Mr. Big then spoke three names into the phone. He said, "Yes sir," continuously, then handed the phone back to me.
The voice on the other end was a different one, "Mr. Sharp, I'm sorry for what has occurred today. I'm sure it will never happen again. My name is David Owens, the President of Onan, U.S.A. I can assure you that we want your business and appreciate that you are promoting our company and product. I will contact you again later today. Please escort the gentlemen out of your building as they have a plane to catch."
When I hung up I said, "You know the way out gentlemen, seems you need to get home real fast."
The four men left quickly, getting into the rental car and driving away.
When I turned from the door, I saw Phil standing on the balcony giving the departing men the bird. Once they were gone, he turned to Tiny and they high fived each other.
Back upstairs Tiny said, "You are really sneaky. How come you didn't tell them who you were when they came in?"
"The guy was obnoxious from the second he came in, demanding to see Steve Sharp, whoever that is," I said smiling about the deception.
"Now that asshole can find out how it feels to lose his job. The difference is that I was thirty percent over budget when he canned me," Phil said, still upset the guy had invaded his territory.
I told him that David Owens was going to call me later today. I didn't have any idea what he would talk to me about, just that he had said he would call me.
Phil felt he would probably apologize again, and offer some kind of deal that would be a bonus to us.
"What would be a bonus for us, Phil?" I asked thinking he had something in mind.
"Ask him for the mid-Atlantic area, in addition to the southeast region. That area includes a lot of ports all the way through Maryland, which includes Washington, DC, where the Pentagon is. It's like taking candy from babies. Onan has never taken advantage of that market. Instead of letting others get the bid and order through us, we can bid on the items as well. We wouldn't be hurting our customers as they are going to get their share anyway. The feds spread the wealth around by ordering from different firms every order. Major orders are always from factory direct dealers, though. That's where we would clean up."
That means more road customer service guys and more road techs. Poor Abe, he'll need an assistant to keep up with everything.
Ding! The bell went off in my head.
I turned to Ruth and Judy who were standing together. "Find Abe an assistant that will keep track of everything for him, order supplies, parts, and equipment for him, so all he has to do is help out on the floor the way he likes."
They nodded, saying his office was huge and would accommodate an assistant just fine. Ruth said she was going to call Alice to find out what kind of assistant they should get.
Out on the floor, Tom was working with the new guys going through the steps of measuring, cutting, measuring, bending, measuring, cleaning, measuring, tacking, measuring, welding, measuring, cleaning, then measuring one last time.
One of the new men and Bob were missing. I found the new man at a forming machine with a blueprint in front of him. Al said, "I needed some quick help to get this order out real quick. I'll go over and help Tom catch up in a few minutes."
When I walked into the motor shop, I found Bob. He was grinding away on the trike frame. Since it was all from the same pocket, I didn't mind that Shawna borrowed him. I wondered how she got what she wanted across to him.
Kurt and Carl were testing an engine, focused totally on the gauges and monitors in front of them, recording the output. They were both nodding their heads, agreeing on something. After they revved the engine on the dyno and getting the numbers, they shut it down and did the oil test for shavings.
Sandy and Mandy fired theirs up at that moment, disturbing the quiet that had come over the shop for a couple of seconds. Carl waved me over then showed me their readouts. Most of it was Greek to me until Carl's finger pointed to a number that read eleven hundred fifty nine. Kurt was standing on the other side of me saying, "Now that's a lot of horses."
The girls continued to test their motor, then finally shut it down. They went over their numbers again then walked over to show Kurt and Carl. Sandy said, "Read 'em and weep, sucker," while handing her clipboard to Kurt and reaching for his.
I looked at the girl's numbers and was astounded that the numbers seemed to almost match. The horsepower listed was eleven fifty nine, exactly the same.
Both teams looked at each other and burst out laughing. Sandy said, "We'll have to see whose engine wins a race."
Robert hollered, "Wait till our numbers come, we can use the hundred."
Kurt said in a low voice, "If he gets more horses than us, he deserves the c note."
I love competition with productivity. As I turned to look at Shawna, she was signing something to Bob. He was nodding and pointing out some bad spots on the welds. She apparently told him to go fix them, as he carried the frame off to the welding area.
"Shawna, am I the only one in the company that doesn't sign?" I asked, as I came up to her.
"I had a neighborhood friend that was deaf, so I grew up signing. I'm glad I learned and remembered. Bob loves the idea that so many can talk to him."
"Guess I better learn," I said, heading back up front.
Debbie was heading upstairs with some orders and told me everything was under control. I told her I was going home for lunch and should be back around three.
I called home and asked Sue if she was up for lunch, the gym, and maybe even a little sun. She said she was ready anytime I got there and would fix us lunch.
We ate lunch on the patio with Sue's crew. Hanna had the most contented smile that I had seen her with for a long time. Sue gave some instructions then changed for the gym.
When we came back, Sue checked with her folks, and I called Debbie. She said there was no calls or questions for me yet, so I said I would see her in a little while.
Sue and I lay in the sun, well oiled. I told her about Mr. Big and she told me how well her crew was working together. She said it seemed they were spending more and more time creating new fashions rather than marketing. She said the sales were increasing with every new item.
We cooked for a little over a half-hour total for both sides, then swam some laps to cool off. We took a shower and went back to our tasks.
Abe was unloading a truck load of used equipment, with four big mobile units ready to be loaded and shipped to the same dealer. Looks like we were moving enough of his rebuilt product to keep him happy. There was a very large girl with glasses working at a new desk in Abe's office. Whoever it was, she seemed to know what she was doing already.
Abe saw me looking at her and came over to me. "Thanks boss, just what I needed, a keeper. That little girl is a dream. She's Alice's great niece and has a personality as sweet as Alice. She's also as smart as a whip. She's taking care of a lot. I hope you will let Debbie work with her as well."
"Glad you have help, Abe, now you can play out on the floor a little more."
I went upstairs through the break room, picking up a cup of coffee on the way by. Phil was in Tiny's office talking about some new orders that had come in. Phil said to me, "The new road sales, or customer service guys, as you like to call them, have already sent in enough orders to pay for themselves for the quarter. The real surprise is that your road field tech guys have almost matched my road salesmen for orders. After tomorrow we'll see if the visits are productive. Customers should start calling in new orders after our visits. That's how you know the visit was a success."
Tiny said, "With these numbers, it justifies more road sales guys, as well as road techs. I'll get Abe to begin looking for more techs. Phil can hunt for a few more road sales people."
Phil left to make some calls, and Tiny asked me to stay. "I've gone over what I think is every dime you spent since you went on vacation. I think I have the receipt and records for all of the expenses you went through with the company, right up through today. I have transferred money back into your personal account as reimbursement for your expenses. You don't have to pay taxes because this is only a return of expenses, not investment. You might want to send some of that money to your Fidelity account or put some in an interest bearing account. I've also set you up with a moderate salary that will be direct deposited in your checking account. And finally, since you entertain most of the company every night and morning, I'm trying to find out how much of the expense of the patio and keeping it up can be deducted or reimbursed."
"Tiny, thanks for reimbursing me for the original set up expenses, but I want to keep the house stuff as my personal direct cost. The company doesn't need to pay for it. So far it's working fine, I want to keep it that way, okay?"
"You're too honest, but I'll do as you say. Since Sue is part of the company, how should I pay her?"
"For right now, just pay her whatever I make, that ought to be fair."
"Consider it done."
Tiny said, "You know we may do more this week than last week. Go ask Phil about his latest brainchild."
When I asked Phil what his latest idea to become a national icon in sales was, he said, "Since we sell mobile generators I thought I would try to market our fixed installation generators to federal agencies, to large corporations, and to hospitals. All I did was make four calls and I received four requests to bid on immediate product. I'll hear by Friday. These can be really big orders."
"That's really good news. You're very good at developing markets, thanks for coming with us."
"Thank you for picking a guy up who needed picking up. Judy and I were down to our last few bucks when your opportunity came along. Sure glad you did. You're going to make us very happy, and very well off."
I smiled and left to ask Ruth if she thought everything was moving along okay. She thought so, but said if I kept on hiring that she was going to have to have someone for personnel.
"When you need one, get one. You don't even need permission from the CFO," I laughed. "Oh yeah, you did good getting Abe someone he really likes. Make sure you have her come by the house and visit with Sue and Joan, she can get some nice stuff from them."
Back downstairs with Debbie, I went over our new orders finding out that she still didn't have to order equipment yet, a definite breather.
I made another trip back to the motor department. All eight were in a loud vocal discussion, claiming false numbers of each other. All four teams had come in together. Robert and Roberta had eleven fifty eight, but one horsepower could be an interpretation of the monitor. The recordings were too close to see a difference. I lined them up and said, "you eight folks did exactly what I wanted. I'm willing to bet that almost eleven hundred sixty horsepower is probably more than almost any builder around. That you all were right there means that you all tried hard to do your best."
I took out eight one hundred-dollar bills and gave each of them a bill. "You each deserve that. Now build some more tomorrow. One thing, keep recording your test results, I want to send a packet with the motors that will include our test results. Make a note of what type of test equipment you used at the bottom and put your names as builders. You deserve the recognition. Make sure you all go by Tiny and sign a petty cash slip for the c-note. Thanks again."
They all left to go see Tiny as I stopped to see how Shawna was doing.
"I'll need a few things from Jan and Dell but I should be able to have this ready by Thursday morning. I'm going to paint the body and tanks tonight. I want to do it while I have what to do in my mind."
"Don't kill yourself, but Gene will appreciate it. Are you going to need Hank?"
"Not really," Shawna said, "My ole' man said he was coming by to work on this thing with me tonight. Come look at the frame, I used the new electrostatic equipment on it. I also redid the cases, jugs, heads, tranny, and rear end in the dark blue, the same as the car on his brochure. So the entire bike will be the blue, with some chrome here and there to brighten it up. I'm going to paint pictures of all of his cars on the box, along with his main sponsors. The tanks are going to be the cars and names of his big winners, plus his name. It's going to look really nice."
"Don't work too hard, I'll make sure your cousin brings you guys something to eat."
The sheet metal area was sparkling, as was the welding area. A couple of guys were still putting tools away, but all the work areas were straight, ready for tomorrow. Abe's shop was spotless, as always. This is the way a shop is supposed to look.
Up front, Debbie was ready to go. The upstairs folks were coming down the stairs, obviously tired from a grueling day. It should start to smooth out soon.
At home, the crew was winding up for some serious drinking. Tiny was in a gregarious mood, handing me eight one hundred-dollar bills as soon as he saw me, saying, "You're a smart man. You gave away two hundred dollars on an over sixty-five hundred-dollar profit item. Your crews back there turned over a twenty-six thousand-dollar profit today. Not bad for a manufacturing group!"
With the units that Abe shipped today, not counting the frame and sheet metal units, your shops brought in over eighty-two grand, net. The new equipment folks wrote almost two million, the two road guys did four hundred thousand at the last count, and Abe's field guys did almost a million. How do you figure we'll ever slow down? We just keep picking up momentum.
When Phil showed up, he said that David Owens had called about five-thirty, saying he was sorry he didn't call back earlier, but had been busy with legal over the threat of us suing the company for contractual default. He said he wasn't really supposed to call me because it could be admission of guilt on the company's behalf but he had to anyway. Phil and Dave had a long conversation, with Phil telling him how to make us life-long buddies.
I laughed at the life-long buddies' thing. Phil knew how to sell, and he obviously had been selling Dave.
Phil said the company should award us the mid-Atlantic region as a non-exclusive dealer. Non-exclusive, because there was no way we could do justice to all of the potential customers in the region.
Apparently Dave did him a couple of kicks better. He said he would allow us a non-exclusive dealership throughout the entire United States, with the Southeast region our exclusive territory. He was also going to give us the additional five percent discount within our area because we were going to handle all customer service and most warranty claims. He was also going to make us the primary dealer for the mid-Atlantic, what Phil wanted in the first place.
Dave had said he was extremely happy with our numbers and was very excited about our field people. He wanted to schedule a visit to our facility as soon as possible, and meet the infamous Steve Sharp.
"Pretty nice, Phil," I said, thinking that I would not have been able to speak intelligently with Dave Owens. "I'm glad I wasn't there. You know more about what's happening than I ever will. All I can say is, bring it home, guy, bring it home."
Tiny said, "I think we are going to have the accounting firm audit me now so I don't forget anything. We're moving so fast, it's scary. I think I've got all the bases covered, including investing income till we need it for inventory and payroll, but there is so much money coming in and going out, I'm going to get a back-up opinion."
"Do what makes things right, Tiny. When you feel comfortable, I'll be comfortable. Make sure you keep our attorney happy so he can answer questions for us as we go."
All of us ate well then went off to do our things. Sue and I went for a long ride up highway 41 all the way to hwy 50, back down I-75 to 275, then over to Florida Avenue and home.
Sue and I sat out on the patio for a while, and were joined by Charlie and Shawna getting back from the shop. Shawna said the bike was painted and mostly put together. She would finish early tomorrow, and we could either ride it over to Gene's or put it on my big trailer to haul it over. I told her that she should test it out around the shop then we would take it over to Gene's on the trailer. I think he would like it better that way. We needed a cover so we could do the blanket trick with him, like Charlie did with me. Sue wanted to come to watch Gene unwrap his toy.
After a few drinks, we went to bed kissing and hugging, with Sue saying that tomorrow she should be plug free for the next ten to eleven months.
"How do you mean plug free?" Dummy me asked.
"You know, I won't need a tampon because I will be pregnant or at least trying to be pregnant. If I'm pregnant, I won't need a plug for over nine months. The only plug I'm gonna need is this thing," as she fondled my semi-firm dick.
There is no way she can touch me without it getting as hard as can be. She kept fooling with my, now very hard, dick while kissing me and rubbing her nipples against my chest.
"Sit on me and put it in between them. Fuck my tits, come on them, come on me, come on, fuck my tits."
Sue grabbed some lotion from the built-in headboard and slicked up her tits and me. As I slid between them, she held her breasts tight against me. Every time I pushed forward my dick would stick out from between her tits, where she would then lick it, or try to swallow everything she could. As I was getting closer, I reached behind me and diddled her clit while my other hand lightly rubbed and pinched her nipples. I began coming just as her mouth covered the head. She released her tits and held my butt to keep me in her mouth while sucking, pulling the juice out of me. Sue was coming as hard as I was while continuing to suck me, until I collapsed to the side with my dick still captured by her mouth.
"That was pretty hot there, guy. You got worked up pretty fast tonight. We'll make up for it in the morning that's for sure."
We kissed lovingly then cuddled up to fall asleep instantly.