Chapter 8 #2
Chet laughed outright. “I’m not going to date or marry someone you think I should.
I’ll find the person I want and that will be the end of it.
Do you understand? I don’t want some East Hampton snob or a kid who grew up on Park Avenue and thinks the world revolves around him, his car, and his trust fund.
I’ll find someone on my own.” The truth was he thought he might already have done that, but Darren was three thousand miles away…
on the other side of the continent. “Now, I’m hoping you called me in here to talk about some business project and not waste my time butting into my life. ”
“I’m your father.” There was that command in his voice.
“Yes. And you got to choose the life that you lead—you don’t get to pick mine, father or not.
There are limits as to what I will allow, and you know you have very little influence over me.
I already own enough of the company through my trust fund to have a say in how things are run.
So, ease off on the heavy-handedness.” God, he felt so much better just standing up for himself.
It was so liberating. “What is this project you need me to look into?”
“I think we need to look into upgrading our inventory control systems. Can you look into it? Here is a list of issues that have been reported over the last six months. See if we need to change our system or if the current one can be fixed.”
“You know I could have done all that while I was away. I don’t need to be here in the office. This is a national business, and I can log into any of our systems remotely. All I need is a secure internet connection.”
His father growled under his breath. “I don’t know about any of that sort of stuff. If people are being paid to work, then they should be in the office working.” That was his father. He liked to have the people on the payroll where he could see them.
“That’s what I was talking about. I don’t need to be here to do my job, and we don’t need to keep these big offices any longer.
You could work from your office at home most of the time.
Elaine, your assistant, could help you still, but she doesn’t need to be sitting at the desk outside your door.
She could do her job from her home too. I mean, we updated our distribution.
Now it’s time we updated the way we do business in general.
” He figured trying to get his father to go with the times was going to be difficult.
“Well, let me think about it. In the meantime, please look over all this system stuff for me.”
Chet nodded and took what his father had for him and left the office.
It wasn’t like he was going to get any further at the moment.
He went to his office, much smaller than his father’s, and sat at his desk, going over what he had.
Chet read through the information and called in the head of systems, who bounded into his office like a puppy dog.
Randy always moved at lightning speed, like if he slowed down, the world would somehow catch up to him. “What’s up, boss?” he asked, breezing in.
“Systems issues, courtesy of my father. He seems to think we need some sort of upgrade, but these look like changes we can make.” He handed Randy the list, and he read through it.
“When do you want these changes made?” he asked.
“All those things are configuration settings in the current system. I suggest we make them in test, review them, and see if the impact is what we really want, and then go forward. It’s not a huge issue.
” He continued reading through the list. “I could have had all these done some time ago if someone had told me about them.”
“It seems to me that we need a way of reporting these things.”
“We have one.” Randy came around to his computer and brought up the logging system.
“It comes with the software.” He showed Chet how to enter his issues.
“Go ahead and enter them. That way we’ll have documentation of the issues, and I’ll get on them right away.
I figure we can do the testing and make the changes all at once. ”
Chet smiled. “Perfect. I’ll enter them in. Just put together a plan for implementation. We’ll review it together, I’ll sign off on it, and you’ll be good to go.”
“Awesome,” Randy said, and strode out of the office.
Chet sat back and shook his head. He thought of calling his father to find out what else he might have for him, but figured there was no use.
So, he logged into the different systems, checking on production and various other areas to make sure they were all running correctly.
Then he set up a meeting with accounting and finance.
It was time he buckled down, learned how the money flowed through the company and where the bulk of it was going.
Ten minutes later, his father called. “What are you doing?”
“What?” Chet asked.
“Your finance meeting,” he said. “If you want that kind of information, come to me.”
Chet shrugged even though his father couldn’t see him.
“No. You’ve said for years that I need to learn the company, so I am.
I need to get a handle on the finances, and quite frankly, I don’t want you there.
” His father sputtered for a minute, and Chet let him go on.
“They will tell me what they think you want to hear if you’re there.
I want their opinions and the truth about what we’re doing and ideas on how to improve.
So let me do my job, or else I can leave and go back to California. I liked it there.”
His father was silent for about ten seconds. “Did you meet someone?”
“Yes, I did. But that isn’t what this is about.
I took care of those system issues already, and there will be a plan in place to resolve them by the end of the week.
So, I can do busy work, or I can help manage this business.
You decide. Because if you don’t want me here, I’ll be on a plane in a few days. ” God, that sounded so damned good.
“Okay. Have the meeting. I’ll tell everyone that they are to treat you the way they would me.”
“No. Just stay out of it. I don’t need your help here. Let me fight my own battles and make my mark on my own.”
“Fair enough.” He could almost hear the smile in his father’s voice. “Let’s talk about whatever you come up with in a few days.” He hung up, and Chet got back to work.