Thunder and Lightening: Chapter 6Home « Thunder and Lightening Index « Previous

- Chapter 6

Posted: November 18, 2004 - 12:38:21 am

Sleeping on the couch was getting old and Jerry swore that last night would be

the last time he would do it. It was later than usual when he finally climbed

out of the bed. In ten minutes, Mike would be showing up to work. He dressed,

but not in business clothes. He had decided that he would start taking Mondays

off since Mike would be free Saturdays.

He had just gotten the store ready to open when Mike arrived. Stepping in, Mike

said, "Taking the day off?"

"I was thinking about it."

Mike was silent for a moment and then said, "Are you going to show my wife some

of her job responsibilities?"

The question reminded Jerry that he actually had a lot of business to take care

of this morning. He expected Abe and Martin to show up for their job interviews,

had to train Karen for her job, and needed to show Mike some of the duties of

being an assistant manager. He answered, "I'll be right back."

Going into his office, he changed into business casual dress. He accepted that

he was going to have to work at least the morning, but he needed the afternoon

off to accomplish his other chores so that he could move into the house that

night. Coming out of his office, he called to Mike, "I'm going to get some

donuts. I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Jerry went out of the store and over to the donut shop. It was five minutes

before he returned with a pair of chocolate covered donuts and a cup of coffee.

He set them on the counter as he took a seat on the chair. Looking over at Mike,

he said, "After I'm done eating, I'll go over some the responsibilities of being

an assistant manager with you."

"Pardon?" asked Mike confused.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?"

"What?"

"That you're getting promoted to assistant manager."

"Yes, you did forget to mention that."

"Well, I figured it was about time. You're going to be taking on a lot of

responsibilities training people and running more of the store," replied Jerry.

"When is it effective?"

"Today."

"Oh."

A silenced descended on the pair. Jerry considered what was going to happen this

morning. He turned to Mike and said, "This morning, two black kids are going to

come into the store to apply for jobs. One is fifteen and the other is over

eighteen. Give them job applications and then interview them. Expect a little

attitude from the older one. He doesn't quite believe it is for real."

Mike examined Jerry closely and asked, "Why aren't you interviewing them?"

"Because I already know them and I want them to go through a formal interview

with a stranger in a real business environment. They have to convince someone

other than me that they want the job."

"So what will you be doing?"

"Oh, I'll be training your wife," replied Jerry with a smile.

A similar smile broke over Mike's face. He said, "Now that I've gotten a

promotion and a raise, she doesn't need to work anymore."

"Consider yourself demoted," replied Jerry as he took a bite out of one of the

donuts.

"Okay, she'll stay."

Jerry took another bite of donut and nodded his head unable to answer with the

food in his mouth. The telephone rang and Mike answered it. For the next few

minutes, Mike was busy on the phone taking down an order. While he was busy,

Jerry finished his donuts and drank most of his coffee.

When Mike hung up, Jerry said, "I'll pull orders and you take the calls."

It was about an hour later that Karen showed up at the store. Stepping in, she

whispered to Mike, "Mom didn't want to take the kids today."

"We'll figure out what to do. Don't worry."

Jerry came out and said, "I just found out that school hasn't started yet. Who's

watching your kids?"

Nervous, Karen answered, "My mother."

"When does school start?"

"Next week," replied Mike wondering if this was going to be a problem.

"Well, why don't you work today, Wednesday, and Friday. If your mother can't

take care of the kids one of those days, bring them in here. We'll concentrate

on the ordering procedure until the kids are in school," replied Jerry as he

thought through the work that would have to be done over the course of the next

week.

Mike and Karen looked at each other in surprise. The word 'reasonable' had never

been applied to describe Jerry. He had always been a tough boss and didn't allow

other people's problems to interfere with them doing their job. After a moment,

Karen replied, "That would be great."

"Good. Let's get to work," replied Jerry. He took a final sip of his coffee and

dropped the cup in the trashcan.

Karen followed him to the office and sat in the chair across from him. For the

next hour, Jerry explained the procedure for submitting orders. She wrote down

everything he said and double- checked that she understood all of the

instructions.

In the front of the store, Mike took care of all the calls and pulling orders.

It kept him busy and when Martin and Abe showed up he was a little less than

attentive. Rushed, he handed them the applications, pointed to a couple of

chairs and told them to fill out the applications. The two kids felt like they

were being given the bum's rush and glanced at each other with a little anger.

Mike finished pulling an order as another call came in. He set the order on the

counter and answered the phone. The two had finished filling out the application

before he was finished with his call. Taking the applications to the counter,

they set them on the counter in front of Mike. They stood at the counter

expecting Mike to acknowledge them, but he continued to take the order. When he

hung up, he looked up and said, "Take a seat. I'll be right back. I've got to

pull the order and get it ready for the runner."

Mike disappeared into the back of the store without waiting for an answer.

Martin turned to Abe and said, "We're getting fucked over."

"Shit and I thought Jerry was an okay guy," replied Abe.

"He's white and doesn't give a shit about us blacks," answered Martin.

The two of them returned to the chairs and waited, getting angrier by the

minute. After five minutes, Mike came out of the back of the store with a box

and set it on the counter. He had just set the box down and picked up the

applications when the runner came into the store. Mike set the applications down

and dealt with Howard.

Martin felt like Howard had cut in line and that he should have been taken care

of before the guy that had just walked into the store. He walked to stand behind

Howard glaring at him as he took in the guy's appearance. Howard was blond

haired, blue-eyed, and well built; he looked like a California Surfer from a

television commercial. Martin frowned and shook his head getting even angrier.

When Howard left the store with items from the counter, Martin said, "You

bigoted bastard. You took care of the white guy when we were here before he

was."

It was lucky that Jerry had warned him that Martin would probably have a little

attitude or else Mike would have kicked him out of the store without a second's

hesitation. Instead, he pointed to a sign on the wall next to the cash register

and asked, "What does that say?"

Martin looked at the sign and answered, "Customers come first."

"Are you a customer?"

"No. I'm here for a job," replied Martin.

"The guy that was in here represents about fifty of our customers."

Martin looked at Mike for a minute with a frown and then said, "Oh, I didn't

know."

The telephone rang and Mike said, "Customers come first."

Mike picked up the telephone and started writing down the order. Martin stood

there for a full minute and then went back to the chair. Looking over at Martin,

Abe said, "I guess he showed us."

Martin shot his brother a glare and sat there quietly. When Mike got off the

phone, he picked up an application and read the name off as he said, "Abraham,

would you go down that isle to the door marked office and let Mr. Smith know

that I'm swamped out here."

Abe stood up and looked down the isle not knowing what to do. Looking over at

his brother, he shrugged his shoulders and headed down the isle. As he went, he

looked at the shelves amazed at how much stuff there was on them. The store

looked small from the front, but it went back a long way. The isle ended and he

found the office to his left. Knocking on the door, he waited until he heard

Jerry's gruff voice shout, "Come in."

Opening the door, he stepped inside the office surprised to find Jerry and an

attractive woman in the office. When the guy up front had referred to Mr. Smith,

he hadn't connected that with Jerry. Seeing his neighbor standing at the door,

Jerry asked, "What is it?"

"The guy out front told me to tell you that he's swamped."

Nodding, Jerry said, "Thanks. Tell Mike I'll be out in a few minutes."

Abe stood there for a moment as if he wanted to say something. Noticing that he

hadn't moved, Jerry said, "Go on."

Abe stepped out and closed the door behind him. Pausing to consider Jerry's

behavior, he didn't know what to make of him. He was a lot colder here than he

was around the house. Puzzled, he returned to the front of the store. Mike was

nowhere to be seen. Turning to his brother, he asked, "Where did he go?"

"Went down one of the isles," replied Martin.

"What do you think?"

"I think I ruined any chance of getting a job here," answered Martin. He had

taken the fact that Mike had called on Abe as a sign that his brother still had

a chance at getting a job, but that he didn't.

Jerry came up to the counter with the woman following behind him. The telephone

rang and Jerry answered it. For the next few minutes, he took the order. When he

was finished, he handed the order to Karen and said, "Pull this order. If you

see Mike, let him know I'm covering the counter and he can use his new desk to

interview the candidates."

Abe and Martin looked at Jerry with wide eyes. They had both figured that since

he was the manager that he would be interviewing them. Martin became even more

convinced that he had blown the interview and was ready to leave. About that

time, Mike came up to the front of the store with a box full of parts. He set

them on the counter and said, "Karen is pulling your order. Might take her some

time to find everything."

Jerry said, "I'll have to sic the assistant manager on her if she screws up. For

now, I'll check her to make sure that she got all of the right parts."

"Right," answered Mike as he envisioned interesting ways in which he could

punish her if she made a mistake. He picked up the applications from the counter

and asked, "Which of you two should I talk with first?"

Martin said, "Take Abe."

Mike led Abe to the office and interviewed him for the job of stock boy. It was

a relatively simple job and Abe answered his questions with candor. It was easy

to tell that the young man was rather surprised by the process of being

interviewed. He sent him out with instructions to send his brother to the

office.

A very subdued Martin entered the office and looked around, taking in the sparse

décor. There was only a single decoration on the wall and that was a tool

calendar with a very attractive scantily dressed woman holding up a wrench in a

suggestive fashion. Mike said, "Have a seat."

Martin sat down in the chair and looked at Mike. After the episode in the front,

Mike understood how easy it was to loose one's temper at an employee. In this

case, it was a prospective employee. He leaned across the desk and said, "If you

ever call me a racist ever again, I will shove my foot so far up your ass that

you'll be able to bite my big toe off. Do you understand me?"

The anger in with which Mike had delivered his threat shocked Martin. He

answered, "Yes, sir."

"Now that the little matter in the front is taken care of, convince me that you

want to work here," Mike said as he leaned back in his chair.

Martin replied, "I figured after that episode out front that I didn't have a

chance at having a job here."

"So why are you still here?" asked Mike with a smile.

"The hope that I still had a chance."

"What do you know about the job of being a salesman here?"

While he had been angry for most of his sit in the front, he had taken the

opportunity to watch what Mike and then Jerry had been doing. It looked simple

enough. Answer the phone, look up the parts in a book, write down the order, and

then pull the parts. He was about to say that, when he thought better of it.

With a smile, he answered, "The customer comes first."

At the answer, Mike laughed and nodded his head. Leaning forward, he said, "We

are the largest auto supply store in the city and have over fifty auto repair

shops that order parts from us. They will call four or five times a day to order

parts for cars that they are repairing. It can cost them fifty dollars an hour

to have a car sitting in a bay waiting for a part. We pride ourselves on

delivering parts in the shortest time possible. That is why we are the biggest

auto supply store in the city."

Martin sat back and did some mental math. He whistled and said, "That's

two-hundred to two-hundred and fifty orders a day."

"You've got the idea. That means that we work our asses off around here and when

we are short-handed, we work even harder."

Martin was quiet and then smiled broadly. With a grin, he said, "If you hire me,

then you won't be so short-handed."

Mike laughed and said, "I have to talk to Mr. Smith and we'll get back to you to

let you know our decision."

Standing, Martin went to the door. He stopped as his hand reached for the

doorknob and said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here until you and he

make up your minds."

"Why?"

"Because I can start working today," answered Martin. He knew he was taking a

chance, but he had nothing else to do. Going home to sit on the curb swapping

stories with the other guys didn't seem all that attractive to him.

"Okay. Go out and sit in the chair. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to talk

to Mr. Smith, but we'll try to get around to it as soon as possible," replied

Mike.

"Thank you," replied Martin as he left the office. As he walked down the isle,

he realized that he hadn't blown the job and there was still a chance. He felt

that Jerry liked him enough to send him here and that the interview went well

with Mike.

Entering the front of the store, Martin saw that his brother was waiting by the

door ready to leave. Taking a seat, he said, "Abe, you can go home without me.

I'm waiting here to find out if I'm hired. If so, I'll start work."

Jerry had hung up the phone just in time to over hear what Martin had said to

Abe. The kid had surprised him, demonstrating a real desire to work here that he

hadn't realized was present. Abe said, "Hey, I'll wait with you."

Mike came out from the back of the store and stood next to Jerry at the counter.

The phone was quiet, so the two men went down the isle to talk. Jerry asked, "So

what did you think of Martin?"

"He's got nerve and wants the job."

"Think he'll work out?"

"Going to be tough, but he learns quickly," answered Mike with a smile. "It only

took him one experience to discover that the customer comes first."

"Are you willing to train him?"

"Yes, I am."

Nodding, Jerry said, "What about Abe?"

"That's a no brainer. He looks like a good kid."

"That's what I thought, too," replied Jerry relieved that he wasn't alone in his

impression of the two kids. He asked, "Do you want to tell them?"

"Sure," replied Mike. He went to the front of the store and gave the news to the

two kids.

Jerry went to the counter and waited for the telephone to ring. He watched how

Martin and Abe took the news that they had jobs. Martin was subdued, but Abe

gave a good shout of excitement. Jerry laughed at the reaction of Abe to the

news and was about to say something when the phone rang. He answered the phone

and went to work.

After hanging up, Jerry looked around to discover that Mike, Abe, Martin, and

Karen surrounded him. Smiling, he said, "I'll stay here until after Mike and

Karen get back from lunch. Until they go, I'll answer the phone and all of you

will pull the orders."

For the next two hours, Mike taught the new employees about the inventory as he

watched over them while they pulled orders. Jerry took orders and passed the

orders back to the others. Howard came and went several times. Finally, it was

lunchtime and Mike brought his troop of followers up to the front of the store.

Jerry said, "Mike, why don't you and Karen go to lunch. When you get back, I'll

take my day off."

While Mike was gone, Jerry continued to take orders and used Martin and Abe to

pull orders. After they pulled an order, he checked it carefully to make sure

that they had pulled everything ordered and each thing was the correct product.

It took them far longer than was acceptable and there were a few errors, but

that was to be expected. With the two of them, he was able to give each one of

them half of the incoming orders so the delay was not significant.

After about thirty minutes, he called out to Martin, "Why don't you go out for

lunch? Come back in half an hour so that you're available when Mike returns."

Rather embarrassed, Martin answered, "I'll have to walk home to eat and then

walk back. The walk alone would take about forty minutes."

Jerry pulled out a ten and handed it to Martin. He said, "There's a taco shop

across the street. Run over there and get something to eat. Bring something back

for Abe."

Looking at the ten, Martin said, "Okay. I'll pay you back on payday."

There was nothing to do except nod his acceptance of those terms. Jerry said,

"See you in half an hour."

Looking over at his brother, Abe said, "I'll take three tacos."

When Martin had left, Abe was alone with Jerry for the first time that day. He

asked, "Why did you have the other guy interview us?"

"He's the assistant manager and will be dealing with you guys as your immediate

supervisor. If he had felt that he couldn't work with you, then we wouldn't have

hired you."

The ringing of the telephone interrupted the discussion. Jerry answered the

phone and took down the order. Understanding what was going to happen next, Abe

waited for him to hand over the order so that he could pull it from the stock.

Martin returned from lunch within just a few minutes carrying a bag full of

tacos. He and his brother took turns eating and pulling orders. Jerry watched

them, as they would occasionally take the few free minutes to whisper with each

other, trying to determine what was going through their heads.

A little less than an hour after Mike had left for lunch, he returned. Jerry had

just hung up the phone and had an order in his hand. Gesturing for everyone to

gather, he said, "I want to go over what everyone needs to do for this

afternoon."

Mike nodded as the two kids watched Jerry carefully.

Assured that he had everyone's attention, Jerry said, "Mike, you are in charge

and will close up. I know you know the procedure. Before they go, make sure they

fill out the W-2 forms. Since Martin is going to be a salesman, he needs to

learn to pull orders, so keep him doing that for the rest of the day. The store

is a mess, so I think that Abe should sweep it down, take out the trash, and

straighten the displays. Sammy should be here by the time the truck arrives this

afternoon, so have him train Abe with the stocking duties."

The suggestions made sense to Mike. He replied, "No problem. Have a nice day

off."

"Right," replied Jerry realizing that his day off had turned into little more

than half an afternoon away from the store.

It was two hours later than he returned home with all of his purchases. The best

purchase was a free standing air conditioning unit that had a small exhaust pipe

that could be vented to the outside. It was on wheels so that he could move it

from room to room as needed. He had purchased a plate of glass to fix the broken

windows. He had also purchased linen, lots of sheets to use as curtains and on

the futon.

His first order of business was to get the air conditioner set up and working.

The house was insufferably hot. The air conditioner was amazingly simple, all he

had to do was remove it from the box and plug it in. He ran the vent hose out of

the window through one of the broken panes. Turning it on, it took a minute for

cool air to start pouring forth. He closed all of the doors to other rooms so

that the living room would cool down as fast as possible.

Locking the front door behind him, he sat on the porch cooling off. The

mid-nineties temperature felt cool compared to the temperature in the house. He

pulled the yellow folded paper from his pocket and, after opening it, examined

the list of items that he needed to do for the day. There was still the new

muffler and the oil change for the truck on the list. In addition, he needed to

do some grocery shopping and stop by the auto parts store to pick up his clothes

from the office there.

Heading out to his truck, he drove off to perform those errands. It would give

him time for the house to cool down before he went to work on the broken

windows. The first stop would be the muffler shop, since the truck was actually

in need of repair. He still had the muffler parts in the rear of the truck,

knowing that none of the muffler shops would carry mufflers compatible with this

old truck.

The interesting question was where he should take the truck to be repaired.

Should he take it to a place that did a lot of business with his store or to a

place that didn't do any business with his store? He decided to select a place

that didn't do business with his store. At least this way, he could turn it into

a business call in the hope of getting another customer for his store.

Jerry pulled into the drive of the Happy Muffler, a shop owned by a local man

that had just recently opened. Getting out of the truck, he walked up to the

garage and stepped in to look around. The place was clean, far cleaner than any

professional garage that he had ever visited in the past. There was a guy about

twenty standing under a car working on the muffler. Walking over to the tool

bench, he examined it with a trained eye that knew tools. Although every tool on

it was clean and gleamed, he could tell that none of them were new.

The kid noticed him and came over to where Jerry was standing. Clearing his

throat, he asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'd like to talk to the owner," answered Jerry. He looked at the kid and

noticed that he wore latex gloves on his hands.

"You're talking to him," replied the kid.

"My name is Jerry Smith. I'm the manager over at the Auto Supply House on Main

Street."

"If I want to do business with you, I'll call you," replied the kid as he

returned to the car on the lift.

Laughing, Jerry said, "Actually, I brought my truck over here to get a muffler

repaired. I had to bring the parts because I'm sure that you don't have them in

stock."

The kid turned around and came over to Jerry. With a calculating look on his

face, he asked, "So you are a customer?"

"Yes I am," replied Jerry.

"Thought you'd turn this into a sales call and kill two birds with one stone. I

can accept that. Let me see your truck."

Jerry led the kid out of the garage to where his truck was parked. The kid

looked over the truck and saw the muffler parts in the back. Nodding, he said,

"You're right. I don't have that in stock. I've got to finish the car on working

on now and then I'll get to yours. It'll be about an hour before I'm done with

your car."

An hour was a little more than Jerry had expected, but he said, "Sure. Go

ahead."

The kid returned to the garage and returned to work. Jerry followed him and

watched him work. They way the kid worked was strange. Every movement was

precise, deliberate, and considered. Setting a tool down was accomplished only

after wiping it off and the placement was precise, even if he picked the tool up

a minute later.

The work the kid did was first-class though and Jerry recognized that the guy

wasn't in this to make money. He watched as the guy rolled the table with his

tools over to the workbench and replaced each one where it belonged. For each

tool, he took the precaution of wiping it off before he replacing it. After all

of his tools were back in their place, he lowered the car and backed it off the

lift.

Rather than driving his truck to the same ramp, the kid drove the truck to

another lift at the far end of the garage. Getting out, he went over to the lift

and raised the car. Jerry watched him work, puzzled with what he was doing. He

raised an eyebrow when the kid started washing the undercarriage of his car with

a power washer. The kid was very thorough in how he cleaned the undercarriage.

After cleaning it, he drove the truck to the other lift and removed the parts.

For several minutes, it was as though he were very confused by what to do with

them. Finally, he laid them out on the floor in the order in which they would be

installed.

For the next thirty minutes, Jerry watched in amazement as the kid removed the

old muffler and installed the new one. He had seen hundreds of mechanics at

work, but never one that approached the job in this fashion. It was almost a

relief when the guy finished. However, before lowering the truck, the kid called

out, "Would you come over here for a moment?"

Puzzled, Jerry went over to where the kid was waiting for him. The kid pointed

out some rust on the frame and said, "You have some rust damage here and here.

This panel needs to be replaced. Your bed is rotten and needs to be replaced.

There's some damage to the frame, here, here, and here."

Jerry looked at each spot where the kid pointed. The amount of damage on the

undercarriage was pretty small compared to what he expected to find. He said,

"That's not too bad."

Shuddering at the characterization that the damage wasn't too bad, the kid said,

"I can fix that for you, but it would take two days. I'd have to work on it over

the weekend when the shop is closed."

"I plan to do most of the work myself," replied Jerry. Seeing the relief on the

kid's face, he added, "That's why I bought it. I need a project to get my mind

off my other problems."

Smiling, the kid nodded and said, "I can understand that. I opened this place

for therapy."

"Therapy?"

Frowning, the kid said, "I have an obsessive compulsive disorder. I use it to

help repair cars, since I can't stand things out of place."

"Ah, that explains it. I've never seen such a clean garage," replied Jerry. He

looked over at the muffler and examined every weld, discovering that each was

textbook perfect. Nodding his satisfaction at what he found, he said, "You do

excellent work. It's good when you can turn a liability into an advantage."

The kid looked at Jerry for a minute with that same calculating look that he had

given him previously. As he peeled his latex gloves off his hands, he asked, "So

it doesn't bother you that I'm crazy?"

"Crazy? I wouldn't call it that."

Accepting the answer, the kid lowered the truck and backed it out of the garage.

He parked it in front of the office, perfectly between the lines. Entering the

front office, he sat down at a clean desk to calculate the bill. Jerry wandered

over there, realizing the kid wasn't going to come back to the garage until the

paperwork was finished.

After he had paid for the work, the kid said, "My name is Eddie. I'll give you a

call if you leave your business card."

Jerry pulled out one of his cards and set it on the desk. Eddie picked it up and

carefully put it into his rolodex. Jerry asked, "Any special needs when my

runner delivers any parts?"

The question surprised Eddie and he smiled, "Yes. I'd prefer if he handed the

parts to me one at a time. No one can store them to my satisfaction except me."

"I'll be sure to tell Howard that," replied Jerry. He knew that they wouldn't

get the volume of calls from this place as the other shops in town, but this was

the place that he would recommend people to use.

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