Angela Prescott's reaction was more troublesome. She had put her hand to her mouth, to disguise her surprise. Alex had not expected the HR fashionista to be involved in this mess. At best, Alex would have considered her the silent and oblivious, yet intimate, partner of Benjamin Walker, looking the other way and ignoring Walker's abusive leadership style, due to the nature of their personal relationship. But no, there it was, genuine surprise at the precise moment Alex had stepped through that door.
Rewinding the video a few seconds, Alex increased the zoom and centered the image on Prescott's face. Not only did her hand jump to cover her mouth, but also her mouth had opened in surprise, just before her hand covered it, her eyes widened and her eyebrows raised. She then composed herself before two seconds had passed but remained fidgety and uneasy for the remainder of the meeting. In her case, the conclusions were clear. Bitch, Alex thought, you wanted me nailed. Well, we'll have to see about that!
Chandler Griffiths was undisturbed by her entrance, showing no reaction at all. With Walker and Sheppard absent from the meeting, this concluded her analysis of the video. Opening her email and connecting through the Starbucks WiFi, she wrote an email to Tom.
Good evening,
Finished video analysis, Prescott is the only one showing a definite reaction. Walker and Sheppard were absent, Kramer inconclusive.
Could we please speed up the extensive background checks into the three remaining on the favorites list?
Thank you.
She hit the send button. The screen refreshed, showing a new email in her inbox.
Hey,
Templeton is five minutes out.
Good luck!
A cell phone, her personal device, chimed from her left pocket. The same message had been texted to her, making sure she got it on time.
This was the signal she had been waiting for at the local Starbucks, sipping from a glazed Frappucino. This particular Starbucks had a favorable location relative to the home of Mrs. Kingsley, AKC registered breeder of Rottweiler dogs. As the message had indicated, Janet Templeton, director of manufacturing quality at NanoLance's Alpine plant, and the author of the anonymous note sent to Dr. Barnaby, was on her way to Mrs. Kingsley's house, heading there to select her next Rottweiler puppy.
Pulling into Mrs. Kingsley's driveway ten minutes later, Alex made sure she was blocking the exit for Janet Templeton's car.
She rang the doorbell and heard a concert of barks and yelps. The breeder owned both parents — proud, imposing Rottweilers, acting protective of their young. After greetings and introductions, she sat down near a small table, across from Janet, ignoring her. She picked up a puppy and allowed herself two minutes of blissful enjoyment of Rottie kisses. Then she remembered what she had come there to do.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Alex probed.
"Not sure, maybe; you do look familiar," Janet responded, studying the little Rottie curled up on her lap.
"Do you live around here?"
"Nah… in Alpine."
"Oh, near our plant," Alex said.
"Which plant are you talking about?"
"The NanoLance plant. I work for them."
"So do I," Janet said, smiling. "I work at the plant, but I haven't seen you there."
"Nope, I work at corporate."
"Operations?"
"IT, in infrastructure. I'm Alex Hoffmann, director of infrastructure," Alex said.
"Janet Templeton, quality assurance."
They shook hands, both careful not to drop or otherwise disturb the puppies they were handling.
"Too bad they're only six weeks old; I wish I could take her home today," Janet said.
"Yep, same here. But two more weeks will give me enough time to puppy-proof the house, clean it up, and make it really nice for the little one."
"Have you thought of a name?"
"Yes, well, I'm somewhat undecided between Skye and Alma."
"Oh… Alma is nice; my last dog's name was Alma. She just died."
"I'm so very sorry," Alex said, "it is, indeed, a nice name. Was Alma a Rottweiler too?"
"Yes. My heart is set on this breed."
The connection had been made and rapport was building fast. They continued small talk on the topic of dogs, and then advised Mrs. Kingsley of their intended choices and pickup dates. They wrote checks with deposits to hold their pups. They discussed behaviors, personality testing, rearing, feeding, training, and everything else there was to discuss between two people passionate about dogs.
"Wanna grab a cup of coffee?" Alex asked, as they were ready to leave the breeder's home.
"Would love to," Janet said.
"Would you prefer something stronger than coffee, maybe?" Alex winked.
"Oh, no, unfortunately, I can't touch any alcohol for another twenty days; I'm on an antibiotic regimen after gum surgery."
"Ugh, that sounds painful," Alex said. "Then we'll stick to coffee. I know a Starbucks around here; I stopped there on my way in."
Minutes later, iced coffee treats in front of them, their casual conversation resumed.
"I think I know where I've seen you before," Alex said, moving on to business, "weren't you in a Walker meeting a couple of weeks back?"
"Ah, yes, you're right, we did meet," Janet said, her face lighting up. "Sorry, I'm really bad with faces. It's amazing how things out of context can affect my memory."
"No need to apologize, I couldn't remember you either, so we're even," Alex said with a warm, sympathetic laugh.
"I guess. Those meetings are hard to endure, and I try to suppress any memory after they end," Janet said, starting to open up.
"Are they usually like that? I thought it was just my beginner's luck."
"No, not at all. You go in there not knowing if you're not going to get your head bit off, and for no reason that makes any sense. It's really stressful, and it's a continuing pattern of stress. You'll see. Tomorrow we have another meeting, and it's going to be just as bad, if not worse. I'm ashamed to say, but after a couple of years of doing this, the only thing I can hope for before these meetings is that he doesn't pick on me for the ritual sacrifice."
"What's his problem? What's wrong with him?"
"He's an idiot with unrealistic demands, that's what he is. He doesn't understand our processes, nor does he want to. He just wants more, more, more, and nothing is ever good enough. I know every leader needs to challenge his organization, but keeping goals achievable is part of the game. A big part of the game. If the goals aren't achievable and people are afraid, that's when problems start. Errors are made and covered up, not fixed. People cut corners, fudge numbers, and make desperate decisions that do not serve any greater good, just buy them some time to figure out an alternate solution."
"Alternate solution?" Alex asked.
"Another job, I mean," Janet explained with a faint smile.
"Are you looking?"
"You're not going to tell on me, are you?"
"Oh, no, absolutely not. You can count on me," Alex reassured her.
"Yes, I'm looking, and so is everyone else from Walker's team. It takes a while though, 'cause we're depressed, exhausted, and in a constant state of crisis. Fires burning everywhere, little consistency, and no consideration for his people."
"How do you mean, fires burning?"
"Figuratively speaking. Emergencies of all kinds, some real, but most of them are imaginary."
"I think I get it," Alex said.
"Today, everyone focuses on cost reduction. Tomorrow, he wants staff reductions. The next day, he wants a new product model to be ready for testing in 90 days. And so on. For example, he wants cost taken out of the product year after year. Every year we have to think how to make these products cheaper by anywhere between 5–10 percent, all barfed up numbers with no foundation in reality.