As the faculty left for their respective fourth-period classes, Dan gathered his file and notes and went about preparing himself a real sandwich and a salad. He also prepared one for Katie and one for Mr. Chang then left for his office, intending to ask the receptionist to let folks on the administrative wing know there were plenty of leftover sandwiches, pastries and salad for anyone who wanted to prepare themselves a snack, and intending to come back in an hour or so to dispose of the leftovers.
First, he took a plate with various pastries and a nice sandwich of prosciutto, Swiss and salami to Mr. Chang, along with a mini éclair and a mini napoleon, an unopened bottle of 7-Up, a cup full of ice and some napkins. He found Mr. Chang in his office, poring over a notebook with figures on it that Dan took to be his book orders. “I know you brought your own ham sandwich, but I thought you might want to sample what we prepared anyway.” He put the plate, napkins, soda and cup on his diminutive desk in front of him. “Thanks again for your help. I am going to ask anyone on the other wing of this floor who wants a sandwich or pastries to come and get it and I’ll dispose of the leftovers later.”
“Thank you, Dan. I appreciate it” he said with a rare actual smile.
Dan then went back to the conference room and picked up his sandwich and a pastry, and Katie’s sandwich with three small piles of potato salad, macaroni salad and coleslaw for her to choose from. He also placed several assorted pastries for her on a separate plate. He then took the food to his office, where Katie was back at work reorganizing the filing cabinets, and put down her plate atop the space remaining on the long, flat top of the Compaq computer on her desk with the printer atop it, and placed his own plate on his desk, then said “I’m going to ask whether Taisha at reception wants a sandwich and will bring us back a soda. Do you want regular Coke, Diet Coke or spring water?”
“Diet Coke, thank you” she responded.
Next, he went to reception and asked Taisha and her student worker whether they’d like a sandwich and pastries. Both said yes, and he made a note of their preferences. He then asked Taisha to let the folks in the office know there was enough food for another 20 people if anyone wanted to help themselves to a snack. He got the sandwiches for Taisha and her student worker with sodas, then retrieved two plastic glasses of Diet Coke for Katie and himself.
Back at his desk, he remembered he’d promised Bob to go to lunch. So, he called him and asked whether he was ready to go. Bob cheerfully said he was, so he left his sandwich (but drank his Coke) and went out to meet Bob at his office, telling Katie he would return in an hour and a half or so. “Bye boss, have fun,” she replied. “The sandwich is great. You sure you’re not Italian?” She quipped, squinting her eyes at him and grinning.
“I’m a full-blooded Spaniard—but my stomach is mostly Italian. Must be the remnants of our shared Roman Empire ancestry.” He said, smiling and added, “You realize that two of the greatest Roman emperors, Hadrian and Trajan, were actually Spaniards, right?” He then winked at her on his way out the door. Before heading to Bob’s office, he stopped at the conference room and noticed about a half dozen people either making sandwiches or eating them along with a salad. “Please take whatever is not eaten if you’d like, and I’ll dispose of any leftovers and clean up later, as soon as I get back from lunch,” he said. Then he headed to Bob’s office, glad for a break. Fifteen minutes later, Bob and Dan were at Red Lobster again eating and enjoying a cold beer.
“So, how do you feel about Monday,” Bob inquired while chewing on some fried shrimp.
“Fine,” Dan replied. “Over the weekend I’ll gather the statistical information I need about the job outlook for office support personnel with computer skills and on the software most used in business today. That’s all I need to finish up the SED filing which is otherwise complete. If you’re willing to look at it, I’d appreciate your feedback on the job placement potential for students who complete the program of study and any suggestions you can make on anything I may have missed would be greatly appreciated.”
“Absolutely, Dan. But I was actually referring to your meeting about the computer exchange for the new lab; I didn’t know you had already completed a draft of the SED application. That’s really impressive. And of course, I’d love to review what you have and give you my feedback. I can do it as soon as we get back to the office. I’m really excited about this program and hope you can make it fly.”
“I’ll make you a copy when we get back and you can call me at home over the weekend if you don’t have a chance to read it today. I’ll be working on a final draft tomorrow and Sunday once I’ve completed the research. I’ve got to say, though, I feel really good about it. I just hope the computer swap idea goes through. That’s my main concern right now, but we’ll see.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I’ll definitely give you my comments today—anything else on my desk can wait,” Bob said excitedly. “This would really make a difference to me in placing our students. Off the record, it will be far better for our students to enroll in this program than in our long COS certificate program which costs them almost ten grand and does not give them the software skills my clients need and demand. In fact, let’s forego a second beer and get back as soon as we finish lunch.”
“Geez, had I known you’d be so eager to help I would have suggested we have a nice sandwich in the office,” Dan quipped with a broad smile.
“Had I known you had the program proposal ready to go I’d have skipped lunch altogether,” Bob replied attacking his shrimp and salad with renewed vigor. “I never thought you’d get it done this quickly despite what you said earlier in the week.”
“Thank Katie. She’s incredibly efficient and is the only person that can read my handwriting—even I can’t make that claim. I’d never have had it done with all else on my plate this week without her help. She was also instrumental in doing all the data entry that I needed to do the schedule for Monday’s new COS class. She’s really amazing.”
“She’s a little dynamo all right. Good kid too. You’re lucky to have her.”
“Don’t I know it,” Dan said, draining the last of his beer and leaving half of his food untouched. “Let’s go back. We have work to do.”
“You bet,” Bob responded, quickly wiping some grease from his beard while getting to his feet.
Ten minutes later, after a quick stroll back, both men entered Dan’s office.
“We’re back, Katie. I’m going to make a copy of the State Ed proposal for Bob,” he said, rifling through the file on his desk.
“No need,” Katie said. “I’ll print a copy for you.” Several minutes later, she tore out the printout from the dot matrix printer, removed the perforations and assembled a copy of the proposal, stapled it, put it in a file folder and handed it to Bob. “Full service, no extra charge,” she quipped with an impish grin.
“Thank you, Katie, “Bob said, then turning to Dan, “I’ll get this back to you within the hour.”
“Thank you, my friend. I really appreciate your input,” Dan replied, opening the door for Bob who was already reading the proposal as he walked out, making no answer.”
“So, what else for today, Dan?” Katie asked.
“I’m going to clean up the mess in the conference room. You can keep working on reorganizing the files or, if you prefer, you can go to reception and see if Taisha needs any help.”
“I’d rather stay here, if that’s o.k. I’m making good progress on the filing system, but it still needs a lot of work.”
“Suit yourself I’ll be back soon.”
Moments later, Dan was back at the conference room, surprised to find it spotless and his cooler on top of the wood cabinet that had been the makeshift buffet table earlier. The cooler had been wiped clean and dry from the condensation and leakage resulting from the large bag of ice. He grabbed it, feeling guilty as he knew who must have taken care of the task he had intended to do himself. He grabbed his cooler and headed to Mr. Chang’s office, where he found the man opening boxes of books and piling them on shelves, apparently getting ready for Monday’s new AOS class.
“Mr. Chang,” Dan said in a soft voice so as not to startle the man whose back was turned to him and who turned slowly towards him.
“I thank you very much for taking care of the cleanup in the conference room, but I said I would take care of it myself and did not want you to do it.”
“It’s my job, not yours,” Mr. Chang replied. “And I was happy to do it.”
“I do appreciate it, but it is not my intent to give you needless additional work.”
“It’s my job,” he insisted, then added “And thank you for the sandwich and pastries. They were delicious.”
“Thanks again, I really appreciate all your help today,” Dan replied, then turned and walked back to his office.
As soon as he opened the door, Katie pointed to his desk and said “Mr. Lantz dropped off the pile of certificates on your desk for your signature. He told me to take them to him as soon as you sign them as there will be a graduation ceremony at 4:00 p.m. that you also need to attend. He didn’t remember whether he had mentioned it to you before.”
“He did not,” Dan said, walking to his desk and picking up one of the certificates. “Impressive,” he said. “They are better quality than my college and law school diplomas, and larger too.”
“Yeah. Appearances are everything when substance is lacking,” she replied with sarcastic emphasis.
“Geez, so young yet so jaded,” Dan snickered.
“I am wise beyond my years,” she retorted with a wry smile and rolling of her eyes.
“No argument from me on that, kiddo. You are most definitely an old soul,” Dan replied laughing. He then set about signing each of the 20 certificates in the space provided above the line with the title “Academic Dean” printed below it. Below his signature was Marvin’s signature with “Director” printed underneath. He used the best pen he had available and neatly signed his full name on each certificate, making sure not to soil them. Katie, working on the filing cabinet next to his desk glanced over and commented in a low voice, “My, he actually has beautiful handwriting when he applies himself,” then gave a little girl giggle.
Dan smiled and said, “They paid top dollar for these certificates, and they may be the only ones they ever earn. The least I can do is not cheapen them with a fast signature.”
Katie said nothing but flashed him a genuine smile he did not notice.
*. *. *