BOOK 4: PREPARATION / CH. 27:HANDOVER
MONDAY, 18TH DECEMBER, 9.30PM
“John, I'd like to discuss something.” Sarah announced.
“I'm all ears.”
“No you're not, don't fib.”
“Very well, you have my attention, my beloved.” he said, without actually looking up from what he was reading.
“Good. Can I retract something I said to you?”
“Should I be worried?” He asked, looking up.
“Possibly.”
“Ohhhkay. Now you really have my full attention, Sarah. What is it?”
“My inheritance. I said that I'd like to give it away slowly.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I've been looking at what Frank sent me, and having second thoughts. Do you know how many people my companies employ?”
“Urm, do I want to?”
“Maybe not, but I'm going to tell you. Approximately thirty thousand people are ultimately looking to GemSmith, and thus to me, for their mortgage payments, contract renewal and the rest of it. They've been working faithfully for me and my parents over many years. GemSmith companies don't fire people easily. At least, that's the way it's been. That's a policy my parents and my grandparents before them insisted on. It means the companies don't make as much money as they could, but since they're owned by the family, that doesn't hurt anyone.”
“Except the other people you could employ if you were making more profit?”
“Yes. But if you go that route too far then you end up with wage-slaves with stress over their job security. I don't want to do that to people, and if I sell GemSmith off, then that's almost certainly what I'd be doing. Management policies would have to change to maximizing the profit for the investors.”
“You're talking about having a duty to people and being a good employer.”
“Yes. I think that's a Biblical principle, but then so is selling what you have and giving it to the poor.”
“I think that was a specific command to individuals who were ensnared by wealth. I don't think you are, love. I won't hold you to that. I agree, you can't just sell your workers to a profit-monger.”
“And you're happy for us to continuine to live on our earnings?”
“Absolutely. You're thinking of giving away the dividends?”
“Probably half to three quarters. I think I'd like keep on investing in worthy companies too, and of course to also bail out mine if they get in trouble. Actually... I'd like to do something that May almost suggested.”
“Oh?”
“When I invest in a company I normally get a better return on investment than a bank loan. I think that when I take on someone with a hardship-causing loan, I'd like to invest that much, so that the return on the investment — on average — covers the payments I'm making.”
“Any particular reason for that?”
“Yes. The money does no one except the bank any good if it's just sitting in the bank, but on the other hand, I don't want to invest everything, since that just makes more problems of what to do with the money later on. I thought that this might make a happy compromise.”
“Urm, OK.”
“You don't sound so sure.”
“Just like you said, there's not much point it sitting in the bank.”
“Yes. But I can't just invest in everything that comes my way, it'll take too much time and there aren't that many good business opportunities out there.”
“But you're investing in the stove company.”
“I hope so. I've got an idea that they're going to be important.”
“Oh?”
“Which would you rather have sitting beside you while you're camping? A big bottle of liquifuel, or a stack of wood?”
“Hmm. Liquifuel is more convenient for cooking.”
“But for heating?”
“Oh. You're thinking of post-impact?”
“Yes. I'm thinking that liquifuel heaters are scary, unless you get one of those expensive catalytic ones, which aren't so bad.”
“And they're expensive because they're hard to make, I presume?”
“Yes. And even with them we're still talking about a big bottle of stuff that if you spill it will flow a long way and start burning at the slightest spark. Wood is pretty safe in that respect. Knock down your wood pile and all you need to do is pick it back up.”
“But there used to be other sorts of fuel, some of them weren't quite as scary as liquifuel.”
“Yes, but they're not made now, that's the thing. You'd be talking new plant, new infrastructure.”
“It still might be better than cutting down forests.”
“I expect that we're only talking about a few months of heating. Or even weeks. The power grid won't take too long to get back up, I'm sure. The forests will recover.”
“OK, OK, you've convinced me. Now convince their majesties.”
“I aim to. First though, I'm going to have to wait until I hear whether this is all academic. I'm happy to invest our spare money on this sort of hunch, but not someone else's. You're really sure you don't want to be involved with any of this stuff?”
“I'm happy to help, Sarah, but really, I'm so far from being an expert, you'd be telling me what to decide all the time.”
“No, I'd be trying to teach you what I'd do. But you might have other ideas, and I expect that we'd work better together. I really would like your guidance, my husband.”
“O.K. Sarah. I promise not leave you to do this on your own.”
“Thank you, John.”
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TUESDAY, 19TH DECEMBER, 12.30PM
Frank called Sarah's wrist unit. “Hello Sarah, I know you're working, so I won't keep you. Could you come to the office tomorrow? I need you to sign lots of paperwork. The trustees have agreed. You're capable of looking after your money yourself now.”
“Urm. Wow. So now reality bites?”
“It does indeed.”
“I presume we're not just talking about an hour or so, are we?”
“A minimum of two hours, I think, but if you could arrange to be free the whole day, then that would be excellent. I'm sure you're going to have questions.”
“So am I. I'll see what my boss says.”
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TUESDAY, 19TH DECEMBER, 3.30PM
There was a knock at the door. Mike Watson, school careers advisor, looked up from the pile of papers on his desk, and said “Enter!” As expected, it was May Ngbila.
“You asked to see me, Mr Watson?”
“Yes, May, I had two pieces of paper crossing my desk about you today.”
“Two?” May asked, confused. She knew that Sarah would be asking for a reference, but hadn't expected another.
“Yes. The first, which probably arrived yesterday, was from the legal representative of a private individual asking for a reference, which is rather unusual, to say the least, and the second which came just before I sent the message to you, was from the department store we have on record as your employer, stating that they were very disappointed that you'd decided to leave them, and particularly this close to the Christmas rush, and that they took extreme dislike to the urm... I quote, 'Underhand and disrespectful manner in which this was communicated to them.' That doesn't look good on an employment record, I assure you.”
May was shocked. “I didn't communicate anything to them.”
“And this request for reference?”
“That would be from Mrs Williams?”
“Yes, she's the individual named.”
“She gave me an interview on Thursday, for an eventual job.”
“What do you mean by an 'eventual job'?”
“On Thursday she wasn't sure quite when it would start. That might have changed.”
“And what is this job, home-help?”
“Ah, no. I don't think she needs any home help.”
“So, out with it, May. What exactly is she asking you to do?”
Sarah had warned her that she needed to be careful before answering that sort of question. “Roughly speaking, secretarial. Would this interview be covered by professional confidentiality rules, Mr Watson?”
“Are you saying it's not something that you'd like to be public knowledge?”
“If it were known about, it might prove awkward in certain situations.” May said, fueling Mike's worst fears.
“May, I hope this isn't anything immoral.”
“No! My parents know about this, Mr Watson. I was more thinking about the reaction of my class-mates and even of some teachers.”
“I'm here to provide unbiased professional advice, not to fuel rumours. Yes, what you say will be in strict confidence.”
“Would you like to see the job advertisement? I've got a photo of it on this data crystal.” She handed over the crystal.
“A photograph of it? Why not a digital copy?”
“Because of the nature of the job, there isn't a digital original.”
“I can't read this crystal. It says random data or encrypted.”
“It's encrypted. Can I enter the relevant passphrases?”
“Plural?”
“Can't be too careful.”
“What on earth is this job? Nuclear weapons development?” he asked, handing over his terminal.
“No. Truth-sayer.”
“Pardon?”
“My wearing gloves is not a fashion statement, Mr Watson, it helps.”
“You're saying that you can hear thoughts?”
“Yes.”
“But what's a truth-sayer?”
“A professional thought-hearer. I'd be seeing if people were lying to me, and thorough me to her. Here's the document.”
“I've never heard of the term, but I suppose that it's not exactly a high profile job.”
“She said that she thought I might be the first privately employed one in this country, but she knows that our embassy somewhere employs one.”
“Really?”
“I'm not sure if that's public knowledge, or if she's been told it by someone with connections there.”
“And we might expect an independently wealthy individual to have connections all over the place, I suppose. What does this 'hardship loans' bit mean?”
“She's had some further thoughts, where it says hardship loans you need to understand that now as assistance with hardship-causing loans.”
“And you were handed this... piece of paper... by her directly?”
“No. By someone I've known for years.”
“And you know that she's genuine?”
“Yes.”
“What checking up have you done?”
“I know her from Church. I didn't know until I checked that she's the sole shareholder in a holding company which owns Emerald Health Insurance, among other companies.”
Mike raised his eyebrows. “But she doesn't know if the job exists yet? That sounds dubious.”
“Sorry. I simplified. The money's in trust. She's the sole heiress, but she wasn't sure whether the trustees would declare their job done at a meeting this week, of if she'd be waiting until next summer. She said that one of the trustees was convinced they should hand over control, but it wasn't just his decision.”
“It says part time, eventually full time. I presume you discussed this?”
“Yes.”
“And? I need to have some facts before I can give advice!”
“Sorry. For a six month trial period, she's offering me a monthly salary of twenty percent more than I'd normally get from the store, up to eight hours a week. My working time doesn't affect the salary, but I need to promise that any hours of those eight that she doesn't use I dedicate to non-homework study time. She's also paying for me to take some self defence classes.”
“And once the trial period is over, she wants more of your time?”
“No. She's suggested that I could stay part time until I finish university.”
“That's the first time I've heard you saying you'd consider it since the summer.”
May shrugged, “She made a convincing case, and my priorities have got back to where they should be.”
“Well. Assuming that this woman is going to raise your salary in line with your age, experience and the like, and you don't mind being used for your unusual talent, then I can't see anything particularly against this job. In fact it sounds very good. But she's obviously concerned about risks to you personally.”
“She said that some of the people might be crooks, some might be really desperate.”
“And some might be both.”
“Yes. But I've got fast reactions.”
Mike was dismissive. “That goes with the territory.”
May looked at Mike curiously, “I've just realised that I haven't heard a single decision from you, Mr Watson. You're hiding your thoughts.”
“I hope I can trust you not to spread that around.”
“Of course.”
“Personally, I wouldn't consider taking that job on for half a second. But I guess it's a brave new world out there.”
“I haven't heard of any riots in the streets.”
“No. But you're putting your head above the parapet, aren't you?”
“Someone's got to be first, I suppose. And it's not like the store will survive the impact.”
“Yes. Back to the store, you gave her their details as employer?”
“I did. Isn't that normal?”
“It is. Their reaction isn't though. This sounds more like you added an insulting note to your letter of resignation.”
“I didn't even ask anyone what notice period I'd need to give if I was going to quit.”
“Very well, can you hold on, I'll call them to find out what this is about. But you're not handing in your notice?”
“I certainly haven't done yet.”
“Before I call... I know there's a no message checking policy at the school. In the circumstances, I'm instructing you to break it. Could you check to see if you've got one from her?”
“Urm, OK.” May checked, aware of the alerts this would generate in the office. “I have one.”
“About the job?”
“Yes. It says. 'Trust dissolving. Hope it's OK: I'm going ahead with asking for a reference from store.'”
“Hmmm, so far, my only guess is that they thought you should have asked if they'd give references first.”
“I guess so. Oh. I also have a termination notice from the store, stating that as per my contract since I'm not working out my notice period I've forfeited my last two weeks pay. Can they do that?”
“Not really, not unless they've got evidence that you said that. Right, they've chosen to involve the school. I'm going to follow it up. Don't go away. Consider this part of your education.”
Mike grinned at May as he dialed. “Hello, my name is Mike Watson, Northwood school. I'd like to speak to the personnel manager please, I've just received a complaint from you about one of our pupils, employed at your store, and I'm calling in connection with that.”
“I'm afraid that he's not in at the moment.”
“Then put me through to the director.”
“Mr Watson, wouldn't it be more appropriate to connect you to the Ngbila girl's line manager? He's just next door.”
“I see. No, I think it's more appropriate that I talk to the director, if the personnel manager isn't available.”
“I'll just check, Mr Watson.” There was a click, which might have meant that she was on hold, or it might have just been the receptionist's microphone being turned off. Mike switched off his own before saying to May “I'm on hold. The receptionist knew exactly who I was calling about. She shouldn't have.”
“Hello, Mr Watson?”
“Yes?”
“It seems I was wrong and the personnel manager is in. I'll just put you through.”
“Thank you.”
Another click and a few rings later, Mike heard “Hello?”
“Hello, am I speaking to the personnel manager?”
“Yes, who's speaking?”
“My name's Mike Watson, school careers advisor, Northwood school, I've just had a communication from your company, and I presume from your office, concerning one of our students here who's one of your weekend assistants.”
“Could you give me the reference number for the communication, or name the student concerned?”
“Yes. The student is May Ngbila, and I've got the letter in front of me but interestingly it has no reference number.”
“Curious. OK, I have the young woman's file in front of me. It states that she handed in her notice by proxy this morning, with no intention of working out her notice period.”
“She states that she did no such thing, however, she's had a message saying that since she's not working out her notice, then her last two week's pay is forfeited. Would that be your normal response to a someone seeking a reference? To say that a staff member had handed in their notice by proxy and confiscate their last two weeks' pay?”
“No, not at all.”
“Because when I called the student in to discuss the communication I received from your company, she stated that while she had been given an exploratory interview with someone for a part-time position as a private secretary, no starting date had been determined except within the next year, and she had no certain plans at all to leave your employ until the city gets leveled by the impact. I fail to understand how a simple reference request from a private individual has been interpreted as a refusal to work out her notice period. The communication I received states your company is (I quote) 'very disappointed that Miss Ngbila has decided to leave our employment without notice during the Christmas rush, and we wish to express our extreme dissatisfaction with the underhand and disrespectful manner in which this was communicated to us by a third party. This is not the standard of behaviour we had expected from your glowing references for her as a conscientious worker well able to pull her weight on a team.'”
“I'm somewhat at a loss to explain this. You are certain that the reference request was indeed politely made?”
“I am not at all certain, since I've not seen it or spoken to the woman in question; but I assumed that it would be on your system. From what I understand the prospective employer is not at all likely to have given any intentional insult. I'm sure you will appreciate that to my mind this letter represents defamation of character as well as unfair dismissal, although of course it is some years since I last practiced employment law. I also find it interesting that the receptionist was aware of exactly who I was talking about, and who her line manager was, just from me stating my name. That seems evidence of unprofessional gossip.”
“I do not have any recent communication on file regarding Miss Ngbila, either incoming nor outgoing. The reference request itself should have been logged. Which is also a disciplinary matter. I would appreciate it if you could obtain and pass on to me a copy of the request for a reference.”
“I would not be at all surprised if the lady's lawyers will be contacting yours with that information.”
“I'll begin an investigation at once.”
“I thought you might like to. I'll call back in about half an hour.”
“Good bye, Mr Watson.”
“Good bye.”
May looked at Mike, curiously. “Now what happens?”
“I call Mrs William's lawyer. More education for you.”
“I'm missing my maths class.”
“I'm sure you can catch up. If you're going to be someone's personal assistant, then you're going to need to do some professional bullying.”
“Is that what you're doing?”
“Sort of.”
Mike rang the number he'd been given. “Hello, Ms Riley?”
“Yes, speaking.”
“Mike Watson here, Northwood school, you wrote concerning a reference for May Ngbila.”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“Not with her, I'll be putting the finishing touches to a glowing recommendation before the day's done. But there's a problem for her. Did you also contact her present employers this morning with a similar reference request?”
“Yes.”
“They sent me a letter, it seems they've construed your request as a resignation and refusal to serve her notice period, and I quote 'we wish to express our extreme dissatisfaction with the underhand and disrespectful manner in which this was communicated to us by a third party.' She's had a termination notice, and statement that her last two week's pay are forfeit since she's not working out her notice. It's been a while since I practiced law, but that seems to me to be defamation of both you and her and unfair dismissal.”
“Would you be able to send me that letter?”
“Of course. I have been in contact with the personnel manager. He says that he didn't write it or authorise it. He asked for a copy of your reference request, which doesn't seem to have been recorded on his system.”
“Thank you Mr Watson. I'll see if I can clear this up.”
“Thank you Ms Riley.”
Teresa read the letter the school had had from the store and re-read her request for a reference for May, just in case.
'A client of mine has instructed me to take up references for May Ngbila, who has supplied your name as a referee. I would be most grateful if you could complete the enclosed form and return it to me in the next few days. Any information you provide will be strictly confidential.
Thank you for your cooperation. Yours sincerely, Teresa Riley.'
No, nothing there that ought to give offence, or even indicate that May was intending to hand in her notice, but to describe her letter as disrespectful was over the top. She needed to call Sarah. “Hello Sarah, Teresa here. The store have decided that May has handed in her resignation by proxy, in an disrespectful manner, refusing to work out her notice period. They've therefore penalised her two weeks pay and sent her school a very angry letter. I presume you've not been in contact with them?”
“No. I left that to you.”
“All my request says is that I'm taking up her references, on behalf of a client, please could they fill out the attached form. According to the school, the store's personnel manager claims not to have a record of my request, let alone written the letter to the school. Now, I seriously doubt that two weeks of her part-time pay is going to cover the time it'll take to sort this out, but do you want me to take them on for defamation and unfair dismissal in the hope of legal fees being recovered, or just supply them with another copy of the request, bill them for the second copy, and then I'll sue them personally for defamation if I feel like I don't like their apology?”
“Sorry, you're feeling defamed, or May?”
“Both of us ought to be. They're saying that my business-like letter was underhand and disrespectful, and they've said all sorts of nasty things about May.”
“Well, I think let's not commit ourselves, maybe they've got a wonderful grovelling apology lined up.”
“I think I'd want it in writing, naming the perpetrators.”
“That sounds fair enough.” Sarah agreed. “I'll find out what May wants.”
“OK. I'll listen politely before I launch any lawsuits. I'll be in touch.”
“Bye, then Teresa.”
Sarah called May's number. May sounded bright and cheery when she answered. “Hi, Sarah. Mr Watson tells me I've been unfairly dismissed.”
“Congratulations, I've heard from Teresa. Question for you, do you want to go the whole hog and drag them through an employment tribunal, or simply get a written apology and your stopped wages back? I presume you're not too stressed about going back to work there, or are you?”
“I don't know. If I don't work out my notice period, does that convince them they were right all along?”
“It won't be a pleasant month, or however long it is. Did you say anything to anyone about working or not working?”
“On Saturday my line-manager said to everyone that he assumed we were all going to make his life easy by working every hour we could over Christmas and the new year, unless he heard otherwise. I told him that I'd prefer not to do overtime, but of I'd work my Saturday hours on Boxing day, like he'd agreed to. He grumbled a bit, but that was it.”
“OK. And you didn't call him names or anything?”
“No!”
“Just checking. Teresa's listening politely at the moment, seeing what they come up with as an excuse, apology and compensation.”
“You expect all three?”
“Don't you? Your name's been dragged through the mud.”
“I don't know what to expect, really. I'd certainly like my wages back, along with a formal retraction. But I'll be happy to start with you whenever.”
“OK. I'll pass that on to Teresa.”
“Thanks, Sarah.”
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TUESDAY, 19TH DECEMBER, 4,00PM
Bob Coal was feeling assailed by doubts. The deal on the ski lift that he'd thrashed out yesterday with William Speed had looked very reasonable then, but recognising that it was getting late and getting complex, they'd agreed to leave it until Wednesday before they did anything. William had been working on his ski-hire and ski-school business, so from his point of view there wasn't much rush either. Even with just the ATV's available for taking people up the slope, he was quite hopeful that there'd be enough custom. There certainly would have been at the weekend.
Now, Bob he was getting cold feet. They'd need a lot of cable, more than five kilometres, if they wanted to take people to the top. Plus more T-bars so people would only need to wait about twenty seconds. While it was only actually going to cost roughly the same as a new vehicle, he felt he ought to get someone's approval. So that was a part of the problem: he was director, he didn't need anyone's approval. But until the acquisition of the cabins, he'd been the director of himself, some trees, and Matthew, the forester, who mostly preferred to be out in the woods, picking which trees could be sensibly felled. As long as they had enough trees marked for the chop when Bob got what he felt was a reasonable offer, they were both happy. At that point Bob called for the men with the chainsaws and pulleys, and there was some more growing space for the other trees. It was painstaking work: they certainly weren't denuding vast swathes of hillside, like had happened in the chaos times. Woodland was still considered a scarce resource and needed to be harvested carefully. So, really, you've had it easy, Bob, he decided.
Now, this past week, he'd felt he was truly better; on top of things finally. Suddenly, though, he wondered if he was ramping up at the right speed. Was he being too cautious, or rushing ahead with something that was too little for the proper thing? Yes, he'd seen the opportunity to get a version of his dream into reality, and it looked feasible, but... did he really want to install a drag lift? It would only be any use during about two months of the winter, and they could carry on taking people up the hill by ATV, after all. If he invested more, OK, a lot more, then he could put in a chairlift instead, which could work all year long. He wanted advice. So, that was one issue.
The other issue was that he wasn't actually sure he had the moral authority to form a subsidiary company to Carbon-carbon. That seemed... empire building, he guessed. But, on the other hand, he didn't see how it could work otherwise. More advice needed. So, who did he call? Frank? Ambrose Jackson, GemSmith's investment analyser? Sarah? He buried his head in his hands. “Christine? I need advice!”
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Teresa rang the store. “Hello, Teresa Riley from Hardwick, Riley and Cooper here. Your personnel manager is waiting to hear from me, and I will be billing your company for this call.”
“Yes, Ms Riley, I'll put you through.”
“Hello, is this the personnel manager? I'm Teresa Riley from Hardwick, Riley and Cooper. I understand your staff have mislaid a reference request for May Ngbila and you would like me to reissue it. I will of course have to bill you for that service, and this call.”
“Ah, thank you Ms Riley, the staff member concerned has actually found the reference so that a reissue is not necessary.”
“And has the staff member given any reason for his or her actions?”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Not one that I expect you or the disciplinary hearing will find acceptable. On behalf of the company I would like to apologise for the fact that the staff member has overstepped their authority in this manner and carried out such an outrageous course of action.”
“You will, of course commit that statement to writing, naming the individual concerned.”
“The disciplinary hearing has that authority.”
“But you do not?”
“No, Ms Riley.”
“And do you have the authority to immediately rectify any of the actions of this individual who overstepped their authority?”
“I have the authority to re-employ Miss Ngbila.”
“And the authority to reinstate the two week's wages that have been denied her?”
“Ah, no. That would of course be the natural consequence of the disciplinary hearing determining that authority has been overstepped.”
“I'm sorry.” Teresa said, in the bright and breezy tone that those acquainted with her knew to fear, “I thought you had categorically said that the individual concerned had overstepped their authority. Did I miss-hear?”
“I said that, maam. That is my personal opinion, but it is not formally the company's opinion until the committee has made its ruling.”
“You know, I distinctly heard a verbal apology from you, in the name of the company. Are you saying that you do not actually have the authority to make such an apology?”
“Ah, it is not precisely my role in the company, no.”
“And when will this disciplinary committee meet?”
“Well, maam, it will be difficult, so close to the Christmas rush, everyone is very busy. I cannot predict when it will be able to meet. I'm sorry.”
“So if I might summarise my notes of this conversation: you gave a verbal apology on behalf of the company, which is worth less than the paper it it written on; you can offer no immediate redress for the slur on my professionalism or that of the young woman who has been deprived of her employment and her wages on what you personally feel are entirely unjustified grounds; and you have no timetable for when your internal investigation might or might not decide that some kind of remedial action is warranted. Is that correct?”
“I wouldn't like to put it that bleakly, Maam. I can reinstate the young woman.”
“I think you'll find that full reinstatement would mean she gets her full wage packet, and all record of this dismissal is removed from your system. I believe, rather, you are offering to re-hire her. Perhaps so some more of her wages can be stopped later on? You have my number. I would very much appreciate it if you could brief your director, or someone else who is able to speak with the voice of authority, concerning this case. I would very much like to hear from them, today. I'll keep the school in touch, so don't let that distract you.”
“I would like to reiterate my apologies, maam. My hands are tied.”
“Which is why you're going to put me in touch with someone whose hands are not, yes?”
“I'll try, Maam.”
“And I'll try to be patient and not submit a claim for defamation and unfair dismissal.”
“You are representing Miss Ngbila, maam?”
“Not yet, but I am very tempted to offer to take her case on for the public good. You may tell your director that.”
“I will, Maam. Good bye.”
“I hope to hear from you soon.” Teresa hung up, noted the call length, and looked at the message Sarah had just sent. Yes. May had no need to be given a new offer of employment, didn't want the hassle of an employment tribunal but she wanted her wages and a full retraction. Teresa wanted those too. She called the school.
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“So, there you have it,” Teresa told the careers tutor, “'someone clearly overstepped their authority', but 'that was just my personal opinion'; 'on behalf of the company I apologise' but he can't actually speak on behalf of the company or write anything down; he can quote 'reinstate' May, but only in the sense of hiring her again, with no guarantee that she'll get her wages back or that it won't happen to her again; and he can't tell when the internal hearing will be because of the Christmas rush.”
“And after that it'll be the new year rush and the rush of organising the evacuation, I can imagine.”
“I wouldn't be surprised if it's about to become unofficial company policy. I asked him to get the director to call me, today.”
“And if you don't get that call?”
“Then, they waste their valuable time and money in court. The question is, does May want me to take her on as a client? I'm sufficiently irked by his 'say something and then retract it' verbal dance that I'm not going to charge her anything, but I'll certainly be charging the store.”
“I'll discuss it with her and get back to you. She's trying not to eavesdrop and doing some homework. I suggested that going home now might not be the best idea.”
“Probably not, no.”
“Ms Riley, if she does get reinstated, and her line-manager is disciplined over this matter, I don't imagine her work environment will be pleasant.”
“No. But on the other hand, being moved to another department probably won't be very nice either.”
“Unless it's something she'd see as a promotion, perhaps to the cash office?”
“That would be a nice gesture by the company, wouldn't it? If the director calls I'll mention it as an idea.”
“I'll check what May thinks about that too. What's that May?” he asked, seeing her waving from the desk in the corner.
May spoke loudly “Yes, I'd love to work in the cash office while I work off my notice period, and I'd be very happy to have Miss Riley represent me. Sorry for not being better at not eavesdropping.”
“Did you hear that?” he asked Teresa.
“I did. I'll prepare a contract for her to sign. Tell her I'll bring it round later. I need to talk to her father anyway about something else.”
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5.30PM
“Hello Sarah. It's Bob Coal here. I'm very sorry to bother you with this, but I don't want to make an expensive mistake.”
“Hi Bob. How expensive?”
“Not very, in financial terms, but I guess I'm thinking that if it doesn't work out then it'll have a negative effect on the grand scheme.”
“The grand scheme being the cafe at the top of the mountain?”
“Yes.”
“Come on then, tell me about it.”
“Do you know Nigel and Eliza?”
“Eliza as in Dirk's sister?”
“Yes.”
“I know her.”
“OK, well, it turns out that she has a friend who's made a series of unfortunate investments. Not all his own fault: for example one of his latest was that he guaranteed a loan for a good friend, I actually suspect he thought of her as a romantic prospect, and she died suddenly.”
“Oh, that's sad.”
“Yes. And it got expensive when as she collapsed she knocked over something which caused a fire and burnt down the building the loan had been taken out for.”
“Insurance?”
“Dragging their feet for months, apparently, but the bank said that's your business, we want our money back now.”
“Nasty.”
“Yes, that's what we agreed too. Anyway, one of his earlier ventures was a ski school. That never worked out because the farmer decided to cancel the rental of his field, after the contract had been signed and William had gone and bought himself a bunch of skis and a drag-lift.”
“Oh, and he's offering the whole lot to you?”
“No. He's very happy to run the school himself — he's worked as a ski instructor before, but the drag lift he got ultra cheap because the idiot who'd owned it before hadn't bothered to keep the cable out of the mud. It had rusted into a single lump, apparently. So, he's got a fully functioning drag lift — he cleaned that up well and stored it properly, except that it needs a new cable, and he's run out of cash, at least until the insurance pays up. He would be entirely happy if we bought some cable for however close to the top we wanted to go, he'd chip in the rest of the lift and we would split the operating profit based on the investment, with Carbon-carbon also getting some kind of land use fee. I suggested a joint enterprise company, and that rent-free land use represents twenty percent of the stock. Carbon-carbon would also provide book-keeping services at cost. He agreed.
"He's had a proper valuation of the ski lift and all the associated bits, which comes out to roughly five thousand, and it looks like we'd be needing to spend about ten thousand on the cable, plus another fifteen hundred on extra bars.”
“So, eleven and a half thousand in exchange for a seventy-something percent of the takings minus someone's wages, and the cabins are suddenly part of a ski-resort?”
“Yes.”
“But you're worried?”
“Yes.”
“Because?”
“Because last winter was exceptional, this winter has more snow than normal, and this is just a ski-drag, not a real lift. It'll only work when there's snow on the ground. Also, I get the feeling he has a bright idea, it doesn't work out, and then he moves on. I don't want to be carried away with a bright idea which he then walks away from.”
“Which would leave you with a ski lift and no skis?”
“That's one fear, yes.”
“And the other one? Or are there more?”
“He's tested it, but hasn't been able to test it with thirty people on it all day long, of course. Maybe there's some problem with the motor or the gear box which no-one's spotted. We've no idea what return on investment we're talking about. What will people be willing to pay to take a ride up it? Maybe it'll be in use all day long for two months which means up to something like seven passengers per minute, for maybe eight hours a day, which gets into silly numbers if you work it out that way. If we actually managed to charge fifty people fifty a week, for two months, then we're in profit. But what if in the end of it's only getting used by him and his ski-class of ten people a couple of times a day, or something like that?”
“Then you add some stronger cables and see if using the motor to pull people up on a chair lift works, giving yourself six times longer to recoup the investment, plus saving the problems associated with it sitting idle for large chunks of the year?”
“If you'll permit me that experiment, after the first one fails, yes. But unless the cabins are empty in winter, then I don't really see how we're going to beat the potential ski traffic in the summer. Or, should we say this whole thing is a dead-end anyway, and go straight to a chairlift?”
“A chair lift is going to need multiple pylons and so on. Somehow, I expect this is much easier to set up.”
“Yes. Apparently it doesn't need to sit on permanent footings, even.”
“Then, Bob, go for this one. As you say, it tests your ski traffic, and ski traffic is going to have the most repeats per person. If you can move it, then it's wonderfully flexible. And in the summer I expect you could attach little carts or something for people to ride up in.” Sarah said.
“I don't like the thought of standing on something with wheels and trying not to fall over.”
“Hmm. How about something bigger, say chariot-like? Hop into the back, and away you go.”
“Extra weight. We'd need to use less per loop.” Bob pointed out.
“You said yourself that the summer traffic is going to be lower.”
“I did. Do you really think it'll work?” Bob asked “I imagine the health and safety people would have a field day, people sprinting to get onto a moving chariot.”
“It would make a funny film though. OK, it's probably not a good idea.” Sarah conceded. “But what about if you got on a moving carpet sort of thing, so it was just a case of stepping on to it?”
“I've no idea. But I expect there'd not actually be very much time to get on.”
“I agree, you can just imagine granny being left behind, can't you?” Sarah agreed “So, maybe even better, the chariot stays still, you get on, and then some clamp thing engages on the cable.”
“And then you all fall off backwards as it takes off? Not to mention what the shock does to the cables.”
“I guess there'd need to be some shock absorbers involved.”
“Or some kind of launch system, which got you up to speed a space of say ten metres and then you locked onto the cable?”
“Oh, I like it!” Sarah enthused. “But I think we actually could just use the cable.”
“Oh? How?”
“Imagine there's some kind of pinch roller thing which grabs onto the cable. That roller connects to some kind of mechanism, say like the fly-wheel from an exercise bike. You start applying the brakes to the flywheel, the carriage speeds up, you let them go, the fly-wheel speeds up and the carriage slows down. Hey presto, no need for a second motor to drive the acceleration track thing, which actually sounds a bit like a roller-coaster launch mechanism, and therefore rather scary.”
“But presumably attaching your mechanism has a cost in terms of of extra wear and tear on the cable, though not as much as direct friction breaking would involve, of course.”
“That's probably true. How about you hire an engineer to do some calculations?”
“You're serious?”
“It lets your drag lift be usable for the whole year, and makes the big dream of a cafe at the top a lot lot cheaper. I don't imagine the cost would be prohibitive. Maybe we can even patent the idea and sell them to other ski centres.”
“O.K., you're the boss.”
“No, Bob, you're the boss. I'm just the ultimate shareholder.”
“And you don't think that I'm overstepping my authority setting up this ski-lift thing as a separate company?”
“No, Bob. I think that's a very good idea. It keeps everything cleaner. You'd need to have everything audited and so on anyway. Bob, you're the man on the spot, you know what Carbon-carbon can afford, you know what sounds good on paper but wouldn't in reality, and vice-versa. I'm happy to brainstorm like this, but the decisions are yours.”
“Sarah, if I'm the boss...”
“Yes?”
“I don't think people are going to be happy with cameras in the cabins. Can I say no to your security system? Imagine, we'd got it going, and then Dirk and Eliza and the rest had come on their secret mission?”
“They'd have run a mile. OK. Point taken. But you haven't told me how the system worked with your guests over the weekend.”
“I think we could tweak the equations a little, but it worked.”
“When you say tweak the equations, what do you mean?”
“Last-minute shopping for a limited number of cabins is probably a whole different game to normal bookings. We just scrunched up the normal demand curve, but I think we probably could have had prices higher. We had two batches, an initial twenty five cabins on offer. The first five sales happend very quickly, at bargain price, and the system put up the prices but it had also let five cabins be put on hold at the initial price. That was a glitch; it should have put up the price based on holds as well as sales. Matt did see it happening though, so he turned off holds. Anyway, although the people with holds confirmed their bookings last of all, they got the price for people booking in the first ten minutes. And once we were down to the last ten cabins we realised that it ought to have been adjusting the rates every couple of cabins, but oh well. In other words, batch one sold out entirely, batch two only went on line on Friday evening. We'd thought it might so asked people to sign up if they wanted to hear about it. It did, we started prices higher than we did with batch one, Matt had fixed the hold bug, and we got seven of the eight bookings filled for Friday and Saturday night, and someone smart worked out that they'd get a far better price if they booked for Saturday and Sunday night instead.”
“So you ended up sold out again?”
“Yes.”
“What about for this week?”
“Well, we had one booking already, but they're leaving on Friday, so hopefully that stove will be serviced then. We told the system the others would be all out of action on Monday, and guessed that they'd be able to service at least six a day after that.”
“How are they doing so far?”
“We've got them doing the worst ones first — Henry had some that he didn't dare put people in after the summer, so hopefully they'll be able to speed up. But on Monday they managed just the six between them. On one of the stoves it took them about an hour to just get into the heater matrix, there was so much scale in it. They said it looked like the service guy had just been pouring a bit of descaler into the top, and scratching around with a piece of wire, whereas the proper procedure is to take the thing apart and mechanically clean off the limescale with a special tool they've got.”
“No wonder he was cheaper.”
“No wonder that stove will need new pipes next service. Either the acid or his improvised bit of wire has stripped off the zinc layer, and the pipe is showing signs of rusting. It's not an emergency, but that stove will slowly start to give people rust-coloured showers. Needless to say it's top of the list for the full service after Christmas. Lots of pictures taken.”
“So you've grounds to sue the cowboy already?”
“Yes. We're going to build a solid case, though.”
“Good. Once the court case is over then I expect E.C.Stoves will want permission to use those pictures in their advertising.”
“Oh, they've got that already.”
“Thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me? Oh, you are buying them up after all?”
“I thought of it, but no. I am going to be investing though. I don't think they need buying up, just a bit of outside advice. I'm going to talk to Frank about exactly how I should invest.”
“You mean personally, or through GemSmith?”
“That's part of it, yes. I think that some level of GemSmith involvement is going to be necessary, but whether that's through partnership or through borrowing people, I really have no idea.”
----------------------------------------
TUESDAY, 19TH DECEMBER, 5.35PM
Teresa was just about to leave the office when she got a call.
“Ms Riley? I'm calling to say that a written apology on behalf of our store will be with you shortly.” It was the personnel manager from the store.
“That sounds like a good start. I almost missed your call.”
“I'm sorry that I wasn't able to call you earlier. We just held the disciplinary committee. The individual concerned did not agree with the committee's decision that he should go on an anger management course, pay your very reasonable expenses, and personally write a full letter of apology to Miss Ngbila. Therefore, of his own free will he is no longer with the company. Poetically, since he could not avoid these sanctions any other way, he will not be working out his notice period.”
“Miss Ngbila will, I'm sure, be interested to hear that. She's also accepted my offer to represent her.”
“Would you then be able to pass on all that I said and inform her that the letter of termination has been formally revoked.”
“I will tell her, however she's aware that it would be a rather difficult working environment in her former role if it is known that the individual has left because of her, and her colleagues decide this is her fault.”
“Yes, yes, I can appreciate that.”
“So, we were wondering, by way of compensation for the actions of the store in blackening her name without any justification, might there be a vacancy in the finance office during this holiday season? I understand that this was the role she initially applied for.”
“Ah, yes. I see that on her file. But just for the holiday season, you said?”
“I cannot speak for certainty, you understand, but I believe that the reason I was asked to take up her references was that a job offer was immanent. I'm sure that Miss Ngbila will work out her notice period. Urm, for the sake of my other client, could you tell me what that period is?”
“Three weeks. Yes, I think that we coud give her a temporary posting there, just for two or three weeks, but possibly returning to her old position after then. Hmm yes it would be very helpful for that department. I will communicate that to her.”
“Thank you.”
“I'm sure you understand, we are having quite a lot of people leave us, with the uncertainty concerning the impact. We would prefer to keep as many staff as we can until we're forced to close. Getting replacement staff for just a few weeks could be very difficult, so I would not be surprised if we offer staff an incentive to stay on until that time.”
“I'll contact my client and let her know that she should indicate any flexibility in starting-dates, so that should you make such an offer to Miss Ngbila she'll have all the information she needs to decide.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, concerning restitution for the insult done to me. I'm sure you'd prefer to settle this out of court. I was thinking that as well as the formal apology, perhaps a donation to a charity of my choice might be appropriate. Since you've resolved the issue so quickly, I was thinking that perhaps if you matched the compensation for my time with a donation to a charity named by me, that would be appropriate.”
“You are most generous, Ms Riley. I'm certain that the director will agree to those terms. Could you name the charity?”
“I recently very much appreciated the services of a particular cave rescue group. I'll look up the details and send them to you with my bill.”
“Thank you, Ms Riley.”
----------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY, 20TH DECEMBER 11AM
“Sarah, I'm happy to say that that's it for now.” Frank announced, almost two hours after Sarah had started signing document after document.
“That's good. Are you going to tell me what I've just signed? Sorry, let me rephrase that. For the last half an hour I've been giving specimen manual signatures for four different banks, and each bank had I lost count how many accounts. Was it six accounts? And each account needed five signatures, and you made me write a letter beside the signature. Why?”
“OK, it goes like this. The letter is your internal account identifier. Each bank has the same account letters, you'll have noticed. That's called not keeping all your eggs in the same basket, since banks have been known to fail. You've added the letter to your signature, so that mistakes don't happen. You've given five specimens of your manual signature because manual signatures vary slightly, but are consistent in other ways. The signature device works out what is consistent and what is not. You've given your signature because in the event of digital identity theft, that, combined with your face and the sort of quick DNA-test they do at banks, gives you a very good proof of identity. Twins might look the same and have the same DNA, but they're not going to write their signatures the same way on the device, even if they've been practicing copying each other well enough to fool the eye. So, if your digital ID needs changing, you can use your manual signature to authenticate a new one, even without getting your eye scan re-done. As for why the bank can't just keep the signatures on file and combine them in one account, that's also for your safety. The bank knows you're operating each account, of course, but the accounts are not formally linked in the database structure like they would be if your accounts were linked. On the other hand, having signed so many times, the device has a very accurate model of how you sign, and it'll tell the bank to apply that improved dataset to all the samples you've given. Every time that you sign the model gets adjusted slightly, by the way, so a changing signature with age isn't going to confuse it.”
“So do I need to carry this signature device with me, or something?”
“No. We have one here, all banks have one, and like I say, it's mostly just in case of identity theft. The other reason if you're authorizing a significant expenditure. At the moment that level is set at a million, by the way, but you can change that.”
“With five signatures per account?”
“No. One signature per bank, listing the accounts and the amount you'd like the significant expenditure limit to be adjusted to.”
“I think I'm beginning to understand. And the same thing for a new digital I.D.?”
“Yes.”
“So I could have a low limit on one account, and a high limit on another?”
“Yes. And also, there's a special case that if you're transferring between, say, the I account in two different banks, then there is no limit.”
“And you're going to tell me about these different account letters, I hope.”
“Yes. This is your parent's system, you should understand, and you can adjust it as you like. Actually... I should have asked you if you wanted to adjust it before the signatures, sorry.”
“I'm sure I can cope. I certainly don't want to sign anything else if I can avoid it.”
“OK. You parents set it up so that different ratios of income went into separate accounts. Account I is for investments. That's the account that we've been using to increase your stock portfolio. Account H is for health and housing, that's the one which has paid for your home's insurance, any maintenance work, health insurance premiums, and so on. Account P is philanthropic purposes, and account M is for missionary giving. Those we haven't altered at all, except where there were some external changes, like the missionary retiring, the project your parents supported coming to an end and so on.”
“Oh, weren't they organised! On the subject of philanthropy, if rather than buying up someone's loans I entered an agreement with the bank to pay towards the interest on it, so that they were actually decreasing the principle of the loan, would that firstly meet your approval and secondly would that come from account P?”
“It would, in my opinion, be a far far better decision, and yes, it would naturally come from account P, though it might come from account S if you prefer.”
“S being staff?”
“Yes.”
“And I remember an L, that was legal?”
“No, L is for luxuries. R is for retained professionals, which would include ourselves and your accountant.”
“I need to meet my accountant, I presume.”
“You don't actually have one at the moment. Or rather, we've been filing your tax returns through our accountant, who used to also be your parents', but your parent's contract died with them.”
“So, for familiarity with everything, I should talk to your accountant?”
“Yes... except she's past retirement age already. I don't think she'd want to take you on, especially as your tax affairs are probably going to get much more complicated.”
“Oh. If not, presumably she'd be able to recommend someone?”
“Possibly, I'll ask.”
“Thank you. Are there other accounts?”
“No, that's it.”
“S for staff, what sort of transactions went in there?”
“That was mostly your parent's secretary, any minor legal matters. You understand that I, and now Colin, don't expect to deal with every little matter, but just your business acquisitions, company reorganisations, that sort of thing.”
“I understand. I have a question on that front too, if now is a convenient time to ask.”
“Go ahead, Sarah. You're paying me handsomely, after all.”
“I expected I was.” Sarah said with a smile, “The company that makes the stoves that Carbon-carbon now owns, is a little family owned business, with no interest at all in being bought up by some nasty horrible mega-corporation like GemSmith. As far as Bob and I see, they've been running scared in their maintenance billing because fools like the previous owners of Blackwood Cabins have been going to crooks who charge less. Bob's pointed out to them that Carbon-carbon do want them to still be in business fifty years from now and please don't undercharge us.”
“I bet that shocked them.”
“I think it did rather. I then compounded their shock by suggesting that I invest in them, partly financially, and partly in terms of getting them access to good advice. They don't need any in making or maintaining the stoves, or really in pricing the stoves, either. It's far more in terms of things like setting the prices of services, and staff training.”
“So where would your financial investment go?”
“They've got a computer which won't let them change the owner of a stove without dumping the stove's maintenance records, unless someone fiddles with the database manually, and they've apparently got a century old phone system which sometimes drops calls, and plays century old music because nothing talks to it any more. I was thinking if I upgraded some of their capital equipment, and got their database redesigned, then the staff might breathe a collective sigh of relief.”
“Probably. So, what's your question?”
“Should it be me Sarah, who does the investment, or would doing it through GemSmith be a better bet. I talked to them about it being me personally, but I was thinking that GemSmith almost certainly have the experts that I'd like them to sit down with and talk to. I guess I'm actually asking more deeply, what's GemSmith's role in the grand scheme of things?”
“A very key question, Sarah. Congratulations on asking it. Now, firstly,
GemSmith has been very deliberately set up so that GemSmith companies are all yours. GemSmith doesn't do minority holdings in someone else's company. Sometimes there are subsidiary companies which set up a joint company, but again, not as a minor partner. GemSmith has standards which means that all GemSmith investments need to abide by them. If there is a going to be a joint company, then it gets looked at carefully.”
“Oops. Bob Coal is about to set up a joint company. I told him he could.”
“Then he can, but he really ought to be talking to Ambrose Jackson, who's investments analyser, too. Is Carbon-carbon the minor or major partner?”
“Major. Bob's found someone with a ski drag-lift, but it needs cable. Roughly two thirds of the capital will be from Carbon-carbon. The cabins were laid out to be accessible by ski from the ridge, and the other side of the ridge is a lovely slope towards town.”
“So the hope is that this joint venture would be profitable in it's own right and increase the profit for the cabins?”
“Yes.”
“I'm sure Ambrose will be delighted, but since you told Bob to go ahead, if you could make sure Ambrose knows that and that they do talk....”
“Then I won't put too many noses out of joint.”
“Exactly.”
“Should that be now?”
“Has anything been signed yet?”
“I don't know. Maybe not.”
“Then now, yes.”
“OK, can I go somewhere private? That way I don't need to eat humble pie in front of you as well as everyone else.”
“Of course. Colin's not in at the moment, use his consulting room.”
“Thanks.”
Sarah dialed as she entered the room.
“Bob, Sarah here. I've been a naughty girl. Have you signed anything for the ski drag yet?”
“Not quite. Why?”
“I've just been told I should have told you to talk to Ambrose Jackson about it, to make sure your partnership agreement was all up to GemSmith's standards.”
“Oooh. And I'd even thought of talking to him earlier, but not from that point of view. I should have thought of that one too.”
“Well, you had my go-ahead, didn't you? Anyway, if you can hold off on signing, then I'll just call Ambrose and tell him I've been sticking my nose in places I shouldn't, and smooth things over.”
“OK. I'll talk to William, and let him know.”
“I've no idea how busy he is or how long it'll take, so I'm afraid I can't make promises. I'll get him to call you when he's free.”
“That's OK, Sarah. We're all learning.”
“Talk to you later, Bye.”
----------------------------------------
“Problem?” William asked, looking up at what they hoped was the final version of the contract they'd been drafting.
“Yes. You know I said I'd spoken to the owner and she said go ahead?”
“Yes.”
“She didn't know, and I probably got told ten years ago when I was only able to concentrate for ten minutes a day, that setting up a joint venture needs approval from the parent company's partnerships expert.”
“Ah. So the deal's off?”
“I don't think so. Just don't sign it yet, bits might be re-written.”
“Any idea how long it'll take?”
“None, I'm afraid. Do you want that coffee?”
“Yes thanks, only make it tea, I'm jittery enough as it is.”
Bob's phone rang, just as he'd made the tea and coffee. “Hi Bob, Ambrose here. Sarah tells me she's accidentally made me unable to do my job.”
“Not quite. We haven't actually signed anything yet.”
“So she said. Now, since she explained approximately nothing, tell me about motivations for this partnership.”
“Wouldn't you want a ski-lift if you'd got a lovely mountain out of your back window?”
“So... a personal dream?”
“Partly. I think it'll be good for the company too.”
“I assumed so. And the other party?”
“Would you like to ask him? He's here?”
“That would be excellent. Yes please.”
“OK, I'm passing you to William.”
“Could you put it on video, please?”
“Fine by me. William, would you mind talking to aforementioned expert with video?”
“Not a problem for me.”
“OK, William Speed, Ambrose Jackson, please consider yourselves introduced.”
“Bob tells me he's always wanted a ski lift for his mountain, what about you?”
“Personally, I've wanted a mountain for my ski-lift for something like five years. I'm a qualified ski-instructor, and when I found the ski-lift for sale I thought, hey, instant ski-school. I rented a nice steep field, bought some skis to hire out and then the farmer cancelled the lease.”
“Can I ask why?”
“I think it was greed. He started out saying it would mean he couldn't plant his winter wheat crop, so he asked for twenty five percent more than he'd have got for that. Then, he said that he'd plant it anyway on parts of the field I wasn't using. I said fine. Then he actually planted it on the slope I was going to be training people on. I told him that was fine, but I couldn't guarantee his crop wouldn't be damaged by the skiers. He wanted to exclude them from that area, I said that's not what we had on the contract. He tore up the contract. It was still just inside the cooling off period, so I had no comeback, but I'd already bought the skis.”
“And the lift.”
“I'd actually got that the day I saw it. It was such a bargain, I thought.”
“And since then you haven't found a slope?”
“No. Well, I got more picky too. I realised that the first slope was OK, but transport wasn't very good.”
“I understand. There's not much point in opening up a beginner's ski school if it's hard to get to.”
“So this site is pretty much ideal, from my point of view.”
“OK, now one part of my role is to make sure that GemSmith's business interests are protected, another is to make sure that GemSmith's principles are not breached. The first means you need to convince me that the deal you're both about to sign has a reasonable chance of being a success and isn't going to be an excessive burden on Carbon-carbon if it isn't. The second includes things like not upsetting the neighbours (assuming the neighbours are being reasonable), making sure that no one is treated unfairly, making sure that it's a viable project for the long term, and so on. So, Bob, tell me about capital costs, running costs, employees, customers, the business case, and then go on to tell me about longer term plans for it, how it helps Carbon-carbon's long term future, the benefit for the wider community, and so on. William, please feel free to chip it as necessary.”
Bob spoke, William agreed and clarified and Ambrose took notes. When Bob got to the idea of the ridge-top cafe, William agreed that the views were stunning. When he mentioned the cable-drawn cars for summer use, William was surprised but enthusiastic, and added his own thoughts about that possibly being useful all year round, for example for getting goods up to the cafe.
Ambrose butted in “OK, now this is where the second part of my role comes in. You'll need planning permission for that cafe, won't you, Bob?”
“Yes.”
“But you said not for the drag-lift?”
“Correct, it classifies as a temporary structure.”
“But you're actually thinking of it as though it were a permanent structure, aren't you?”
“Oops.” Bob agreed.
“So, I suggest that you put it up this winter as temporary, but first tell the planning authorities that you're trying it out, hoping it works, that you'll talk to local businesses about what they think the impact on local trade and infrastructure might be, and so on. And make it clear that if it does work out both for you and the town, then you'll go ahead and submit a planning request for the lift cum cable-car, cafe, ticket office and so on.
"In terms of community relations, I'd suggest that you offer a local residents' discount. It's electrically powered?”
“Yes.”
“And presumably it won't work off a domestic socket.”
“Ah, no. Fully loaded we're talking about a twenty-five to fifty amps three-phase connection.” William supplied.
“Why the range?”
“On average, it ought to be less than twenty-five amps, but that doesn't leave much margin for, say, a bus-load of obese people turning up.”
“Oh, I see. But the motor could cope with that?”
“Yes. Unfortunately the motor is pretty much unstoppable.”
“Why do you say unfortunately?”
“Someone once got caught between the motor and the cable. Fatal. That was the reason the previous owner had taken it down, and didn't care what happened to the cable. The operator got jailed for manslaughter — he'd habitually taken the safety devices off because sometimes ice on the cable had been making them trip and stopping the lift. Every time the owner visited, of course, they were in place.”
“The safety devices are so easy to remove then?” Bob asked.
“Fairly. They're just rollers on the end of a lever, with a switch at the other end. My guess is that when he put them back he didn't even bolt them on. The factory came up with a nice cheap solution, which I back-fitted, just in case: no lever, no power.”
“And that can't be removed too?” Ambrose asked.
“It could be, but you'd need to take the main winch-wheel off to do it.”
“That sounds much safer.” Bob said.
“I thought so, too.”
“So, getting back to the subject, your motor isn't a problem, but you'll need a power supply equivalent to a light industrial unit or something along those lines. You'll need somewhere for people to buy tickets, and some kind of key operated switch to turn it all off, and I presume you've thought of all this.”
“Yes. We've got a suitable site, and even good access. Carbon-carbon owns a strip of land which goes right to the road at the back of the mag-lev station. It used to go to a workshop cum barn owned by a farmer, but the barn was long gone. The farmer died without an heir interested in farming and Carbon-carbon bought up the farm and got this funny strip of land. Mostly we just use it for access to the field behind where the barn used to be for events. Because of the events, there's already a ticket hut there, with a three-phase supply, because some events want that.”
“What sort of events?”
“Fairs, just last week there was a reenactor's tournament, country markets, horse shows, there have been concerts there too.”
“It sounds like a perfect place for testing, anyway, and you can get from there to where you want to go in a straight line?”
“Yes. The only question really is how close to the bottom of the hill we put the drag lift. We're thinking that putting it too close to the ticket hut means there's not much space for queueing, putting on skis, and so on. Too far and people get tired out getting to the bottom of it.”
“Assume there's going to be people whooping for joy, any neighbours?”
“Light industry either side of us, that's to say a farm machinery repairers shop on one side, and an electrical contractor's warehouse on the other. There is some trade at the warehouse. We were thinking that a hundred metres would be a good compromise.”
“So you'd lay a hundred metres of fifty amp cable underground?”
“Yes.”
“What about the events, would it adversely affect them?”
“Not really. The farm machinery shop have a big parking area at the back, the route would be going parallel to their fence, about fifty metres away. It's an area that some events use for parking space, but that's about it. And there's other land that could be used for that.”
“And no one's planning on sticking a big spike into the ground, that might hit the cable?”
“Well, we are, to fix the mechanism to the ground, but otherwise, no that shouldn't happen. We'd have it properly protected, anyway.”
“Good. Right, as long as you keep the local authorities and neighbours in the loop and listen to what they say, then I'm happy with that side of it. Now, Bob, I think you said that Carbon-carbon would get twenty percent of the company in lieu of the land rental, and a proportion of the income based on the investment you made. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“And William do you find that fair?”
“I think so.” William said, hesitantly.
“Personally, I don't. I think you're being exploited, William.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I think you're so keen to finally have a plan of business that looks like it'll work that you've left the door open for Carbon-carbon to set the agenda. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole exercise would work equally well from your point of view if the lift only went about a quarter of the way up the mountain, don't you think? You'd get custom: people might say 'what a shame the ski lift doesn't go all the way to to the top', but they'd still use it, I'm sure. And you'd have the ski school and the ski-hire. Maybe there'd be ten or twenty percent more custom from going to the top, but for that you're allowing Carbon-carbon to quadruple the running costs, reduce the passengers per hour, and take more of the profit (which will of course be smaller due to the higher electricity bill, extra maintenance costs, and so on). On the other hand, for Carbon-carbon, the ski-lift going to the top means they can build their cafe, they can get more customers in the cabins, and they're going to run it all year long so that those enterprises keep the advantage of the ski-lift. More wear and tear on the equipment, a little bit more profit for you, assuming they actually cover costs, and all the profit for them.”
“Urm. If you really want to put it like that...”
“I think I do.”
“But I didn't pay five thousand for the ski lift. That's what it's been valued at, but I knew I was getting an absolute bargain because of its sad history.”
“Nevertheless, you could sell it for five thousand.”
“If I could find a buyer, yes.”
“Bob? Are you interested?” Ambrose asked.
“Yes.” Bob said. “I hadn't considered it really, but yes, now we've done the sums, if you get cold feet then I think I'd certainly be interested in a second hand drag lift.”
“So, there you are, William, you've got a potential buyer.”
“I still think it's a good investment. I don't get many offers of investing five thousand for an expected income of something considerably more than a thousand a year. Normally my investment gambles were more like ten percent.”
“Then, quite simply, you shouldn't have been investing in them, William. So, don't let the potentially big numbers blind you. I suggest that your initial calculation was fair, but you should have considered only the bottom quarter of the ski lift. The top three quarters is Carbon-carbon's business. So, that would mean that Carbon-carbon takes 20 percent of the shares in lieu of rental, plus what, one third of the rest of them?”
“A quarter of the cable would be about two and half thousand, yes.” Bob confirmed, not quite sure what Ambrose was doing. He knew it was very rare for GemSmith to invest where it didn't have a controlling interest. “So, I make that about forty six percent.”
“That's not right.” William protested.
“Why not?” Ambrose challenged.
“Because I will benefit from the extra twenty or so percent use that going to the top will bring, and I actually expect it'll be more than that. We're not going to get many mid-week occasional skiers except people who are staying here. The campsite's closed in winter and there aren't that many guest houses in the area. I expect we'll be getting more like fifty percent extra use mid-week by going up to the top. And those extra punters are going to be my customers too. Locals who want to ski are going to buy skis.
"So, I think we should at least consider thirty percent of the rest of the cable to be in my interest too, which makes it more like sixty percent for Carbon-carbon, if I'm right. Anyway, I like the way you guys operate, I really do, so there's no way I'm accepting a controlling share; I'd get things wrong.”
“Thank-you William. You've just made a very good case for accepting you as a business partner, which was the other thing I needed to check.”
“It was a test?”
“Partly. If you hadn't protested, then I'd have had to say unfortunately GemSmith have our rules, which bind Bob, and he couldn't form the subsidiary company with less than a fifty one percent share. So, since I think you're being generous, and you think we are, shall we agree on fifty-one?”
“Well, if you're insisting that I get double the return on investment relative to what I was perfectly happy to sign before we started this conversation, then what can I say?”
“You can tell Bob that his first point of call should be to the experts that GemSmith employs, not GemSmith's owner, even if she is a friend. We can't expect the owner to know every item of corporate policy, can we, Bob?”
“Ah, no, but we might expect directors to.”
“Well, it's not your fault we've been leaving you in splendid isolation up there for the last decade, Bob. And you didn't exactly get the full orientation when you started either. So, expect more corporate memos and meetings now that you've been declared fit.”
“I will.” Bob said.
----------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY, 20TH DECEMBER 1PM
May knocked on Mike Watson's door.
“Enter.” he said, round his sandwich.
“Mr Watson, I've got a problem.”
“Not another one! What is it?”
“Last night I got a message from the store saying they'd revoked the dismissal letter, and were going to move me to the finance office for the Christmas and new year period. I also got a formal job offer from Mrs Williams. So I wrote to the store thanking them for the move to the finance office, and explained that since I'd received a formal job offer I was intending to accept, I was checking how long my notice period was, and would be submitting my resignation in accordance with that. I added that if that was shorter than I believed then I would not, of course, set a date before the end of the rush period.”
“Well done. So what's you problem?”
“They replied, it's three weeks, but they'd like me to stay on until the end of January when the store closes for the impact.”
“That doesn't surprise me, what's the problem?”
“I don't really want to do it, but they're offering me, along with all staff, a fifty percent increase in my wages for January if I contract to work until that date.”
“In other words, they've worked out that keeping you on is going to be far better than trying to work short-staffed or hiring temporary staff. So, what's wrong with doing that?”
“I'd like to start with Mrs Williams before then, five weeks is ages.”
“Then just work out your notice period.”
“But I'd be losing a lot of money, and letting the store down, just when they've decided to be nice. That feels wrong.”
Mike laughed, “I don't think I can help you, there, May. I'll tell you something, though. There probably won't be much homework in January. All the staff will be concentrating on setting up self-study programs for you to take away with you. Maybe you could start with Mrs Williams just a few hours a week.”
“It's going to be chaos, isn't it?”
“I think it won't be too terrible, if the impact doesn't happen.”
“But companies are moving out of the city already.”
“Well, wouldn't you move your company, if there's no real need to be here?”
“I suppose so, but all those jobs going! They're not going to be coming back, surely.”
“Assuming the scientists are right and nothing happens on the fourteenth, there will be empty space and plenty of workers. I expect there'll be lots of motivation for companies to come back, or move in who weren't here before.”
“I trust God more than scientists, so I'm not going to make that assumption.”
“So there's no hope, you're saying?”
“Oh, there's always hope. There was that one dream where people prayed and then people went back to the city.”
“I don't put too much trust in dreams.”
“Me neither. But in this case, I think the committee's been proven right. Too many predictions have turned out correct. I'd better go and have my lunch. Thanks for the advice.”
“What advice?”
“Pray about it.”
“I never said that.”
“No, you just reminded me that there's some things experts can't help with.”
“And you think God can help?”
“No question about it.” May said with a conviction that surprised her. She wasn't sure why she was so sure, but nor was she sure why it should surprise her. Maybe because she didn't used to think like that. Keep up brains, she thought to herself, God's given you some faith. Hallelujah!