The following day was uneventful. He worked late, but not as late as usual so that he could take Linda to dinner as he had promised. When he got to her home to pick her up, she surprised him by having cooked a wonderful dinner they shared with her parents. She simply did not want him to have to go out after a long day at work and was genuinely happy and content to have him at home. Her consideration and love touched Dan deeply. But he made her promise that they would have a nice dinner out on Saturday and Sunday as he wanted to show her off. She smiled and agreed for a nice weekend together doing the things they both loved to do, and visiting their favorite eateries in Astoria, Flushing, Bay Terrace or Rego Park. He got home at a reasonable hour, just after 11:00 p.m., and had a relaxing night’s sleep with pleasant dreams.
The next day, Dan got to work a bit earlier than usual to post a notice by the time clock so that the faculty could read about a meeting scheduled for Friday at Noon when they punched in. By 9:00 a.m., he waited at the lobby for Marvin so that he could request an ad placement for part time faculty and discuss other related matters. When Marvin walked in a short time later, Dan rose from his seat to meet him and was surprised to hear Marvin say, “It’s good you’re here, Dan. I need to talk to you first thing. Please come in,” then, turning to Taisha he said, “Hold all my calls until I tell you otherwise. I don’t want to be disturbed.” He then opened the door that led to the administrative wing of the school and held it for Dan, waving him through. Dan did as he was bid, wondering about Marvin’s unusually serious demeanor. When they got to Marvin’s office, again Marvin held the door open and waved him in as he turned on the lights. Dan sat in his usual spot across from Marvin’s desk and waited for the other to put down his briefcase and sit at his desk.
“What’s going on, Marvin?” Dan said. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, yes. Everything’s fine. I just need to talk to you about yesterday’s meeting with the Melameds about certain matters that concern you.” He was still uncharacteristically serious and looking intently at Dan, who chose to say nothing and wait for whatever was coming.
“I was called to the home office yesterday mostly to discuss your future at PEMTI.” Marvin started after a short pause, still looking intently at Dan. “The Melameds are very impressed with you, and they discussed the possibility of making a change.”
“That sounds ominous,” Dan said, eyes narrowing.
“No, no, it’s a good thing. They want you to take over the Manhattan school as their new director.”
“You’re joking, right? I’ve been here for little more than a month and am still trying to understand my own job . . .”
“They are very serious. They want to turn over the school to you—you’d report to them but would basically have autonomy to make any changes you want, put together your own team—a free hand. You’d be able to make changes in the other schools too. They have big plans for you.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but what about their dean over there?”
“Howard? What about him?”
“Well, he’s been with them for a significant number of years, he has enormous experience in the industry and he’s second in command and the deans’ dean, right?”
“I see where you’re going Dan, but he’s not going to get the job. In fact, he’s gone as of the end of the week, although he doesn’t know it yet.”
“But why?” Dan insisted. “That makes no sense. They’ll hire me and can their senior academic administrator to boot? I’m flattered, but also concerned. That seems nuts to me as far as business decisions go. Put in someone completely untested and get rid of the senior most administrator they have now?”
“Look,” Marvin said, sighing, “Let me be blunt. By doing what they thought to be impossible in a ridiculously short timeframe you proved the collective incompetence of the people they trusted to, well, effectively make them money.”
“You’re actually going to tell me that I’m responsible for getting Howard canned?”
“Yes. And not just Howard. They love you but as to the rest of us, not so much. If you, a newbie, can do what they were told could not be done in a month with no previous experience, they want to know what the rest of us have been doing for years.”
“So, I do something good, and others get punished as a result?”
“Well, you’ve got to admit you made all of us look bad.” Marvin actually presented Dan with a shadow of a smile.
“You’re not going to tell me that you now have a problem too?”
“No, though they grilled me about why no one else had thought of this before when it was obvious to you walking in cold and with no experience. Fortunately for me, I got behind you from the start, so I get some of the credit for recognizing and supporting a good idea, albeit late. My defense was simply that, well, you’re a genius and the rest of us did not see the opportunities that you immediately seized upon until you opened our eyes.” He actually gave a broad smile at that.
“Well, Marvin, my answer is thanks but no thanks.”
“You need to consider this, Dan. First of all, the economic rewards would be very significant—they wanted me to emphasize that. You can negotiate a really good deal.”
“It’s not about money for me, Marvin. If it were, I’d practice law—that at least would make my folks happy, and probably my girlfriend too—seeing me finally become financially independent. My dad thinks I’ve lost my mind, especially when I told him my salary and the hours I’ve been keeping. He’s probably right. But I need to make a difference in a way that satisfies me, not anyone else. For now, I like my job here. Being a proprietary school director, however well paid, is not what I want to do—no offense.”
“I’m happy to hear you want to stay, but you should think about this at least until tomorrow. Talk to your folks, your girlfriend. Get some sound advice. And be aware that the Melameds don’t take kindly to not getting their way.”
This actually made Dan bristle. “The Melameds can be as unhappy as they like. It is not my mission in life to bring them joy. I on the other hand am not at all happy about being the reason people get fired. You see, I actually believe that loyalty is something you earn, and should run two-ways. This is not the way to earn mine. Tell them thanks but no thanks. I’m happy here with you as my boss and if they want to fire me for disloyalty, I’ll be glad to take my ball and play a different game in a different court. No problem.”
At this, Marvin seemed to relax, and his usual beatific smile returned. “I was sure I’d lose you,” he said.
“You don’t know me very well. I will always work hard but will never ask ‘how high?’ when someone demands I jump.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Marvin said. “I’ll call them to give them the bad news.”
“Fine,” said Dan, then pivoted to his own agenda. “I need permission and funds to run an ad for instructors to teach the new courses. I’d like a part time instructor for three classes a day who is experienced with WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and dBase III. I’m going to have another faculty meeting on Friday to update the faculty on the new course approval and timeline for implementation, which is item 2 on my agenda with you for today. I’ll ask if any of them are willing to teach these courses as overload. Though that’s not ideal it could be a backup plan if the ad does not pan out. I’ll also ask them, to tell any colleagues they may know who teach elsewhere and who have the necessary expertise.”
“Sound good, Dan. Send me a draft copy of the ad and I’ll have it placed on the Sunday Times classified section.”
“Great. I’ll get a copy to you sometime after lunch. Now about the time frame for running the new course, when do you think it can go live?”
“A week after you get the necessary coverage for the classes should be all right. They’ll start advertising it as of tomorrow in some media outlets—print mostly for now.”
“They?” Dan asked, confused.
“Yeah, yesterday’s meeting with me was mostly about you, but they had a separate meeting for all of the directors from the other five schools present for a launch of the new program that they are immediately going to port to all of the schools. A date has not been decided yet for the program’s start, so they’re doing an advertisement campaign on local radio, TV and in print for the next two weeks giving the local numbers for prospective students to call for more information with a Classes starting soon tag. They’re going to emphasize the self-paced individualized instruction and the continuous rolling enrollment at a time that best suits each individual student.”
“They sure didn’t waste any time.”
“No, they didn’t,” Marvin replied, his beatific smile now back for good. “First, they gave us all the stick: why does it take an outsider with no industry experience to do what the so-called experts they hand-picked could not do with all their collective experience, yada, yada, yada. And they also made it clear personnel changes would be coming as a result. Then came the carrot—the brand-new program shepherded in record time by their brilliant new dean.”
“Anything about the cost to the students yet?”
“I was hoping you would not ask as you won’t like the answer. $4,000 for the three-month course. No attrition to worry about because of the rolling employment, only three classes a day instead of the usual four or five for most other programs, and effectively more than double the yield annually.”
“Are they out of their God damned minds?” Dan said, furious. “I told you that a primary motivator for me was getting students training that would make them employable in decent-paying jobs as quickly as possible at the lowest possible cost. I envisioned $2,000 at the very most for the program—still a hell of a lot better yield at a lower cost in terms of faculty salaries and no attrition than anything you now run—by far. $4,000 for a three-month certificate is insane!” He was really beside himself now, having gotten up from his seat and pacing back and forth in front of Marvin’s desk as he vented.
“I knew you’d be upset. But you’ve got to understand, it’s a business and the model is charge what the market will bear. They actually thought they could get more but wanted to make sure they could fill every seat and have students on a standby list for graduations and attrition that might occur if students drop out. I know how you feel, Dan, I really do. But understand you’re doing future students a real service by providing meaningful training in a quarter of the time of some of our other programs and effectively at a lower cost so they can go right to work, start earning and still pay a fraction of what we charge for any of our other programs.”
“Nice job of putting lipstick on a pig, Marvin. But it still oinks, smells bad and I am not taking it to the prom.”
“Calm down, Dan. We do the best we can with what we have.”
“That’s not good enough for me. And I’m telling you in no uncertain terms, don’t expect me to develop any additional programs. That is never happening. I’ll do what I can to strengthen our existing programs and ensure students get a reasonable education as long as I’m here, but that’s as far as I’ll go. They just pushed the ball and started it rolling down a slippery hill from which there no return.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Dan. But please, calm down. When you see the benefits of what you’ve accomplished, you’ll feel differently. And I almost forgot. The Melameds asked me to extend their personal thanks and to invite you to take your girlfriend to a restaurant of your choice. Try to pay with a credit card and leave the standard 15% gratuity so they’ll reimburse you. They want you to have a great celebratory dinner on them as a token of their gratitude.”
“Let me get this straight. I more than double their profits for all six schools and their gratitude is to send me to dinner at the restaurant of my choice?”
“That’s not fair, Dan. They are offering you the directorship of their flagship school which would give you the chance to make the kinds of changes you want and a six-figure salary with additional significant performance bonuses. And they assume you will be thrilled to take it, which is not an unreasonable assumption on their part—don’t ignore that.”
“With all due respect, Marvin—and I realize you’re in a tough spot here. The promotion was just an attempt to corral the goose that laid the golden egg. It was not about rewarding me. It was about using me to maximize their profits.”
“That’s not fair, Dan. This is a business. You knew that going in. Both in their minds and in fact the Melameds are giving you a huge reward and a tremendous promotion despite the fact you’ve been here an incredibly short time. It’s not just the dinner, and you know it.”
“I get that. But you know it’s not about the money for me. However, given that I am not interested in their generous offer, what chance is there that they will reward me in a different way if I just want to keep my job here?”
“My guess is the dinner is probably it,” Marvin said, sighing.
“That’s my point. You can tell them from me that dinner is not necessary as I was just doing my job. But you need to know that I will not celebrate over steak, lobster and champagne my having unwittingly screwed a lot of people.” With that, he stormed out, leaving Marvin staring behind him, his usual smile no longer on his lips.
When he got to his office, he was surprised to see Katie there, working on her computer. Then he remembered they were supposed to go to lunch today. He looked at his watch—early. Too bad. He called Bob and said “Hey, ready for lunch? I’m hungry and want to drive out to a favorite restaurant in Rego Park—I’ll drive.” Bob said he’d meet them at reception and offered to get Marvin.
“No, I’ve had all I want to see of Marvin for today—let’s make it just you, Katie and me, all right? I’ll explain at lunch. You didn’t mention anything to him already, did you?”
“No, he just stuck his head in for a quick gossip after you left his office, but I frankly forgot about out lunch date for today—at least as far as it concerned him.”
“Good. I’ll take Marvin to lunch with us some another time—I don’t feel like hearing anything else he might have to say about anything today until I cool off. See you in a minute.”
“You ready,” he asked Katie who nodded and saved whatever she was working on and shut the computer down. “Good to go, boss,” but you seem tense. Everything all right?”
“I’ll explain over lunch or on the way.”
“I have to stop in the conference room for a moment to check on something. I’ll catch up with you—go meet Bob.” He then headed for the conference room and right for her time card which, as he suspected, she had not punched in. He punched in for her. Just let Marvin say anything about needing permission for the overtime. He’d pay for lunch, but the Melameds would at least pay for her time. He was in no mood to have her taken advantage of along with everybody else—especially not her.
He joined Bob and Katie at the reception area, and he asked Taisha and Paula who was helping her today with some correspondence “Do you ladies like seafood?” they both looked at him and nodded, Taisha was especially enthusiastic in doing so. “Well, don’t have lunch if you brought it today. I’ll bring you back a treat. Do you prefer red, white or green sauce?”
“Green?” Taisha asked, scrunching up her nose.
“Yeah, green sauce is garlic, onions and a lot of finely chopped parsley sautéed in olive oil. Red sauce is tomato-based, and white sauce is basically garlic and scallions based—at least where we’re going.”
“I’ll take red, thanks,” Taisha said still looking at him as though he had suggested roasted cockroaches with a side of fried fleas. “What about you, Paula?”
“You’re gonna buy me lunch too?” she said, smiling.
“You bet. Celebrating lessons learned today.”
“I’ll take whatever you like,” she said, smiling broadly.
“Are you sure? I’ll probably order the green sauce.”
Taisha scrunched her nose again. “But you may not like it if you haven’t tried it before.”
“If you like it, I’ll love it,” she said.
“Suit yourself, just don’t throw it at me if you don’t like it.” Dan said, laughing. “We won’t be back for a couple of hours—good food takes time,” he added. But it’s worth it.
With that, he led the way out. A couple of minutes later, they were walking up the garage stairs to his car. “Second floor today—no workout,” he said.
Bob went for the seat behind Dan, as Katie got into the passenger seat, with him holding the door for her. No sooner had he put the car in reverse and started to pull out from his spot, Bob chimed in. “So, I heard you turned down the Manhattan school directorship today.”
“I wish Marvin had not shared that,” he said as Katie looked at him serious, mouth half open.
“But, why? Are you nuts?” Bob insisted.
“I wasn’t going to talk about that—not even to Katie or you. I wanted to talk about what’s bugging me today.”
“Fine, but still, why would you turn down the directorship? Do you know how much money those guys make—including profit sharing and performance bonuses?”
“Money was not discussed and was not the issue. This was never about the money for me.”
“Still,” Bob insisted, “You could have done a lot of good at the flagship school, Dan. Why would you turn it down?”
“For a number of reasons I don’t want to get into. The important thing is I’m happy here, in my current role, or at least I was,” he said, turning into traffic and driving for almost a quarter mile before being able to get into the left-most lane of Queens Boulevard for the U-turn needed to head back West towards Rego Park for the fifteen-minute ride to one of his and his girlfriend’s favorite Spanish restaurants. I wanted to make a real difference to students and to my faculty, not manage an organization focused on the bottom line first and foremost.”
“Man, did you come to the wrong rodeo,” Bob quipped from the back, laughing.
“I developed the new program with the stated purpose of getting students real training that would get them decent jobs after just three months. I proposed a three-month program priced at $2,000 that would still bring more revenue than even our longest program at a far lower cost—just three classes a day instead of four or five. Today I learned they’re doing a major launch at all six schools with heavy advertising starting tomorrow to fill all 20 seats for a start as quickly as I can get a new part time faculty member on board. And they’re pricing the certificate at $4,000.” Bob whistled from the back seat. “Katie’s expression was still unchanged—serious look, half open mouth.”
“People also lost their jobs because of me—something I would not have foreseen in a million years of planning worst-case scenarios.”
“How do you mean,” Bob asked.
“The Melameds were pissed off that nobody had thought of doing this before, basically,” Dan said and Bob laughed out loud again, more loudly this time.
“I don’t want you to discuss this with anyone—not even Marvin, Bob” he said, looking at Bob in the eye through the rear-view mirror. “But I’m really pissed off.”
“I wish I could say I was surprised,” said Bob, serious this time. “But I’m not.”
“I never thought I’d be here forever. This is not a job with a career path I want. But I was hoping to get some experience in the field of education and move on to a small college or university downstream in an administrative position. But this seals it. I doubt I’ll make it to a year. They’ve completely taken the wind from my sails. And I told Marvin not to expect any new programs from me. That door is shut, glued and nailed.”
“What did Marvin say?” Bob asked
“I have no idea. I kind of flew off the handle and stormed out not waiting for or wanting a reply. Unfortunately, I subjected him to my anger unfairly, and I’ll apologize tomorrow when I’ve cooled down.”
“Geez,” Katie finally said, still serious and adding nothing else.
“I hope at least you’ll get a nice fat bonus for lining the Melamed’s pockets,” Bob said.
Dan laughed bitterly before answering. “They offered to pay for a nice meal for my girlfriend and for me at the restaurant of my choice—even suggested I pay and leave a tip with a credit card so I can be reimbursed including the usual 15% gratuity—a token of their gratitude I believe is an exact quote,” Dan scoffed—then laughed genuinely.
“You’re joking,” Katie said,” mouth open again, eyes wide.
“Nope.”
“Pay with your credit card today and get them to reimburse you.” Bob suggested.
“No. Today I am celebrating getting done what I was told was not possible with the people that helped make it possible. Having it paid for by the Melameds would not allow the food to go down. And I will take Marvin to lunch some other time since he also helped make it possible and I already feel guilty about not including him today because my temper got the better of me.”
“So, what are you going to do?” Bob asked.
“My job—what I came to do. I just won’t do it for long or as happily as I hoped—maybe a year, as leaving before is not in my best interest. I thought I could make a real difference. I was incredibly naïve. But I can still make a minor difference—leave things better than I found them.”
“Maybe they’ll reconsider,” Katie offered.
“Reconsider what? Charging a reasonable price? Paying people better? Rehiring the people they’re firing? No. I don’t think so.”
They rode the rest of the short trip in silence until they arrived at their location. Dan found parking on a side street without the need to feed a meter, and they walked the block and a half to the restaurant, still in silence.
