AT LONG LAST, SOMEONE RECOGNIZED JIMBO RED’s TALENTS – SCOTLAND YEAR 2001

It is sometimes funny, how things have a way of working out. It had now been, just under, 3 years, since we had moved to Scotland. I was fully immersed in this company. However, as life dictates, the human being is never satisfied with their lot. Jimbo Red was no exception. I truly missed the independence of running my own company. Even though I had, probably, worked longer and harder, for less money, while on my own. So, after a short time (as an employee), I was starting to feel sorry for myself, and where fate, had landed me. This post is another opinion piece, about me, authored by me. It should be quite unbiased. You think?

I was beginning to think that nobody would ever recognize Jimbo Red’s talents. I was wondering, if, perhaps, I had made a mistake, giving up my freedom, for work with another company. At the general manager level, I was still low enough on the rungs, that I could be bullied, a bit, by those equal, to me, or higher. There were plenty of them, that could turn their personal failures, in running their own operations, into something, that somehow Jimbo Red must be responsible for. At that point I was in charge of quite a few different activities, from proposal work, to, land and labour negotiations, major bulk material negotiations, contracts, as well as, traffic and logistics. Each one of these things might be used to overshadow someone else’s gross incompetence. I must admit, during these first few years, of losing my independence, I cursed a lot!

It came to pass, that, one of our quarterly management meetings was to be held in London. These meetings were held in a different venue, around the world every 90 days. All of the top level executive of the company gathered to share progress, in their particular area. It was a chance for the top guy to hand-out public floggings. Mostly to those, who failed to make a profit, win work, or count the money in a way that made us look profitable. Every group, had their turn to stand up front and bare their souls. If you had screwed up, you were in for a beating. If you had done something wonderful you might get a grudging nod of thanks. No one escaped the wrath of our President. He had a keen sense of wrongdoing. He could smell bullshit, from a long way off.

Sometimes, he just targeted someone, who might have irritated him on a completely different level. At that point, it mattered, not, whether you were guilty or innocent. No one escaped! He even tried ol’ Jimbo Red out a couple of times. In some ways, he went easier on me. He knew that I had, and could again, run my own business. So, unlike most of his sycophants, who he had found under rocks, and had no where else to go; he knew I would say “adios amigo” if he pissed me off, too badly. I only, occasionally received a whipping. Mostly, with a limp spaghetti noodle. I think, it was his way of showing equality amongst the group. While demonstrating that no one was safe from his wrath.

I remember one particular meeting (in Houston), especially. It came my turn to make a presentation. One talent I did have, was to be able to get up in front of a group, and speak. My other talent was that I always had my “shit together”, checked and double checked. The third thing, that always helped me present, was the absolute knowledge, that I knew more, about my subject, than anyone else in the room. Most of them could, only look wise, and ask, “who, what, where, when or why”? They did not have to know the answers. Nor did they. These “stud ducks” would ask their question, then fold their arms and look wisely across the table at me. Because, I knew that they did not know the answer, I could then tell them anything I wanted to.

If I didn’t know the answer, I just made something up, and fed it back to them. Often they would nod their heads up and down as if I had just said something profound, that they agreed with. I do not know how many times, I muttered “moron” under my breath, after responding to some inane, question. Our President could not be caught like this too easily. However, as I said, I usually had all my facts and figures solid. During one particular meeting, he seemed to be agitated. I think he was eager to get on to a public flogging. At a point where I was about halfway through, my overhead presentation. And had everyone following me on handouts, I looked over and see our President, running the edge of his hand across his throat, in a rapid cutting motion.

I took this to mean, that he had enough of my bullshit, and wanted me to wrap it up. So, I casually reached over, and turned off the projector. I gathered up my papers, put them in my folder, and headed for my seat. There was silence in the room! I could see shocked expressions on some of the faces. My boss, turns a bit red, raps his pencil a couple times on the table, and then addresses me. He says, “Jimbo you are an idiot!” “Now get your papers back up here and finish off”. So I did. As long as I worked for him, I never again seen his hand, pass his throat, like a knife edge, while I was performing. Later, in the bar, after I explained to those gathered, what had happened, it was met with applause and a lots of laughter.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. For the meeting that was held in London, I asked Deysi to accompany me. It was her chance to have a moment away from the girls, and join me on a short trip. Ange, was by this time, almost 16, so was approaching an age where she was allowed to stay home for brief periods, as long as her sister was in attendance. This particular time, we had gathered in an old country hotel, just north and west of London. It was quite quaint. The first day of the meeting went well. The usual suspects received their beatings. Funny, but some of these guys really knew their stuff. They just couldn’t get it out of their mouths without stuttering, stammering and slobbering.

One of my best friends, we’ll call him The Prince of Darkness, had a natural ability to spew out bullshit and make its sound like wisdom. He was a single bloke, and had a bit of a reputation as a partying type. Sometime, near dawn on the first night of our 3 day meeting, we heard him and SfgM, stumbling down the hall. They were bouncing from wall to wall. The only thing that kept them from falling out of the Hotel, were the walls. Without walls, both of them would have fallen clean out, onto the ground below. Their loud laughter, and banter faded as they went further along the hallway. Luckily, I had Deysi with me, so I was not with them on this occasion. I was quite righteous, in my indignation, about being woken.

The next morning, the Prince is the first speaker. He was on time and looked reasonably healthy. He was fresh off, about 1 hour of sleep and fortified with a couple of black coffees. Up he gets, with one paper in his hand. He turns on the overhead projector and presents the full company financial report, from memory. Not a waiver, whimper or stammer, marred his presentation. You would think he had just escaped from an Arthur Anderson seminar, on how to make Enron believe, that they were actually making money. The Prince was slick! He takes his bows and prances back to his seat. As her walks past our President, I hear him say to the Prince, “I’ll talk to you later, you fool”. He then smiles and winks at him.

Next up, is his party buddy of the night before. SfgM looked like he had been pulled thru a “knothole” backwards. He could hardly remain upright. To say he was dishevelled would be a compliment. More, he looked like, he had just survived a train wreck. He has a handful of papers and reports, that look as if he had slept with them. His first problem was that he could not get the overhead projector to work. His slides were, somehow, mixed up. Out of his mouth comes an amazing babble of stuttering, stammering and slobbering. I am quite sure that he knew his stuff, it’s just that he couldn’t get it from his brain, through the fog, and out of his mouth. Our President had a field day, flaying the skin from his back.

Once again, I am sure that you would like me to get to the point of this article. So here it is. On the last morning of our meeting, I get a call to my room at about 7:00am. It is my boss. He invites me to join him and our VP of Legal, for breakfast, before the day’s meeting started. I was a bit apprehensive, but couldn’t think of anything that I had done wrong. Deysi, gets me dressed, tie and all. I looked as if I was going to church. We meet, chitchat a bit, then our President looks at me and says, “the board of our company, has instructed me to ask you to join us as a Vice President”. I am floored! He goes on to say, “that in recognition of your contribution to the company, I am authorized to offer you this….”

I am speechless. I know you might find that hard to believe, however, it was true. My mind is reeling. A couple of days earlier, I was on the edge of telling them to take their job and shove it. Now I am feeling deep emotions of attachment to this company and our President. The legal Council says, “you do not have to tell us immediately, however we need to know before the meeting starts in an hour”. I excuse myself, and wander out, to find Deysi. I am in disbelief. She is like, “well you deserve it. Took them long enough. Jimbo you are smarter than all of those guys.” As always, she knew the right buttons to push, to pump ol’ Jimbo up, for bigger and better things.

We congregated in the meeting room. About 25 of us from around the world. Our President, starts off by making his announcement. He says, “today we have asked Jimbo if he would join this company in the role of Vice President. He has accepted! His appointment is immediate and from this point forward he joins the executive of our company. His contribution to our success, is unquestioned. Please provide him with the support he will need to continue his efforts worldwide.” With that he shakes my hand and sits down. I must say, I was flushed with pride and a touch of embarrassment.

The room goes deathly silent. The Prince of Darkness, lets out a hearty laugh. He pounds my back and pumps my hand. I look around the room. One of the guys, that I considered a friend, looks as if someone has just crapped in his salad. He has a look of stunned disbelief. They have just passed, him over, and promoted a new-comer, up, and over his head. He can not meet my eyes. Some of the group are starting to congratulate me, while others are “gob smacked”. No one had seem this coming. All of the sudden, they realize, their time of trying to push me around, and blame their failings on me, IS OVER!

Now I can smell something burning, as a few of them, start to think too deeply. There may have been a few “clutches slipping”, at that point. I guess they are wondering, just how much they might have pissed me off, in the past. And what now, might be the consequences of that. One burly, old hard-ass of an Operations VP, stands up and says, “well, I guess congratulations are in order, although, I personally voted against this move.” I think he was trying to make a joke, and got a few laughs, in agreement. I could not tell if he was serious, but I suspect, that maybe he was being truthful. I make a mental note to watch out for him. His mouth is smiling, his hand is out, but I think his eyes are telling a different story.

The rest of the meeting went well, for me. I noticed a few of them paying much closer attention to my presentation, than they had previously. That afternoon, we broke for a small reception, in my honour. A couple of the more heartbroken ones, made excuses for “someplace” that they just had to be, and missed my moment of glory. Deysi, was quite happy . I think she was somewhat proud. Most of the remaining time passed in a haze. Deysi may remember, more of the details.

That event, in my opinion, provided a small amount of vindication for the years, I spent, dragging our family, all around this world, in pursuit of recognition. I might add, in some of the most dangerous places in the world. Also, all of the jobs I hated, all of the people I disliked, the butts I kissed; all seemed forgotten at this moment. Of course, along, with this new status, came additional work and responsibility. The president, still considered me an “idiot”, but now I was “his idiot”. In a short while, I developed another opinion, that carried me thru the rest of my work career, and remains with me to this day. That is: IT IS MUCH BETTER TO BE ON THE TOP OF THE PILE THAN ON THE BOTTOM. The difference being, that once at the top, there were fewer asses, that could make your life miserable.