“Grief can’t be shared. Everyone carries it alone; his own burden in his own way.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
I decided to meet with Mrs. Benda in the late afternoon on May 30th which was Friday to discuss my resignation. I thought this will give her enough time to get mad with me on the weekend when I am not around. Almost close to 5:00PM, we managed to get together and she was in a good mood. I started saying that a friend of mine needs my services desperately and Lynda and decided to help them. She said what are you talking about? I said I don’t want to sound ungrateful Mrs. Benda but I need to resign and go to Fredericton. She said where the hell Fredericton is? I said it’s in the province of New Brunswick. She said let me understand this. You are going to leave me and go work in a stinky place I never heard of before. It’s a government job Mrs. Benda. My friend’s a big shot in the government over there and he needs my help. I worked for him here when I was working for Beaver Lumber Company and like you he was very kind to me, too. She said you are making a mistake Mir. Lynda will never going to be happy in a small place like that she came from London.
I know it’s going to be hard for her but she’s prepared to sacrifice for me. Mrs. Benda said has Lynda been there before. I said yes. Mrs. Benda said so you have been cooking this plan for a while. I said we were in Fredericton for our holidays before I started working for you. She said what would you say if I offered you more money and leased a brand new car for Lynda. I said Mrs. Benda I am taking a cut in the salary to go there to help my friend. She said I don’t understand you, Mir. She said did you tell Lynda that you have accepted a job with less salary than the money you are making with me. I said indeed I did. She said I want you to go home and discuss with Lynda my offer of more money and a car for her. May be she’s a better business person than you? I said Mrs. Benda we made up our minds and nothing‘s going to change it. She said do me a favour and do what I am asking you to do. If you come back on Monday and say that you’re going, I will accept your resignation. I said it’s a deal.
When I went home, I went up to our bedroom to get changed before we head out for supper. Lynda popped in to see me and said how did it go? I said not too well. I told her the offer Mrs. Benda made to seduce us. Lynda said I could use a brand new car. I said you will be living here in Ontario by yourself. She said she was just kidding.
On the weekend we went around in town to visit the used car dealerships to trade our both cars for a reasonable reliable car. We had a couple of offers but there was no rush and we wanted to think about those offers.
When I went back to work on Monday, I was doing something in the computer room and Sandy came to see me and said if you have a few minutes, Mrs. Benda would like to see you. I said I will be there in a minute. When I went to see her in her office, Mrs. Benda was anxious to know what Lynda had to say about her offer. I said Lynda was totally flattered with your offer and to be totally honest with you we also could use some additional money but we made a commitment to our friend and we would like to go there.
However, before I go I will make sure that I hire somebody to look after the things needed to be looking after. I told her that you don’t need to spend the kind of money you were spending on me or offer a company car as I have almost every process documented in a way that other people will not have any problems to follow them through on a daily basis. Plus the current staff in the computer room and in the control room are better equipped now than they were before I joined your company.
Nevertheless, you need to stop taking stuff from the warehouse whenever you feel like. I said I also have setup an account for you on the computer. What all you have to do is to give Sue a list of the things that you want and she will get it ready for you ASAP. She will process the list as an order for you and she will put it through the computer to maintain the accurate inventory for each item. What all you will have to do at the end of each fiscal year is to write-off the total amount for the total items you had taken, as “Public Relations Expenses”. So please stay away from the warehouse.
She said you have no idea how much I appreciate what you have accomplished in such a short period of time. So she said you have somebody in mind to hire. I said I spoke to the folks who do maintenance on our computer and key punch machines. They knew a young woman they thought could be a good fit for us. I said I know these people since 1974 when I started working for Beaver Lumber Company as they used to do the maintenance for their computers, too. She said it would be nice if you get that woman to work for us before you leave here. I said that’s what I am trying to setup.
When I got up to leave her office I took the letter of resignation out of my jacket’s pocket and said would it be okay if I left this with you. She said give it to me. By the way she said I almost forgot. Would you like to bring your family to our place on Friday for dinner? It was quite unexpected request and I was perplexed for a minute. I said what’s the occasion? She said nothing special just a dinner nobody else’s invited. I said Lynda and kids would love it.
I had so many things on my plate to keep me busy for the rest of the week which included hiring the person I spoke to Mrs. Benda about. The person who came for interview had resigned recently and she was available to start working anytime. When I interviewed her she sounded okay and when I checked her references her last boss said she’s a smart lady but she didn’t have patience to wait for her turn to be promoted. The job I offered her indeed was a promotion for her and told her that she was going to be number one person in the department and there were no other opportunities for her to be promoted further. She said that was okay. I told her to go home and discuss with her family and let me know as soon as she can.
