Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 6
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

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 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 asked, "Are you going to 
show my wife some of her job responsibilities?"

The question reminded Jerry he actually had a lot of business to 
take care of that morning. He expected Abe and Martin to show 
up for their job interviews, he had to train Karen for her job, and 
he 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 
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 ten 
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 it."

"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 that 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 hiding a smile by 
taking 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 when Karen showed up at the store. 
Stepping behind the counter, 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 who 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 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 aisle to the 
door marked office and let Mr. Smith know that I'm swamped out 
here."

Abe stood up and looked down the aisle not knowing what to do. 
Looking over at his brother, he shrugged his shoulders and 
headed down the aisle. 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 aisle 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 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 aisles," 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 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 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 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 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 it 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 lose 
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 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 time waiting 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 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 aisle, 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 overhear 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 aisle 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 pleased to be delivering good news to 
someone. 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 they had jobs. 
Martin was subdued, but Abe gave a good shout of excitement. 
Jerry laughed at the reaction of Abe 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 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 Mike will show the rest of you how 
to pull 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 them 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 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 his excursion 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. It was entertaining 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-4 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 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 his day off had turned into little 
more than half an afternoon away from the store. 

It was two hours later that he returned home with all of his 
purchases. The best purchase of the day 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 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 since 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 outdoors 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 tasks 
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 that had 
just recently opened and was owned by a local man. 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 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 those parts in 
stock. I've got to finish the car I'm 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. The 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 
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 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 was 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 at the unintended slip, 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 the newly installed 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 the same calculating 
look 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 at the unexpected 
accommodation of his special needs. He answered, "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 they 
wouldn't get the volume of calls from this place as the other 
shops in town, but this was the place he would recommend 
people to use. 
