Chris
As far as business goes, these last few weeks have been pretty good, if I had to say so myself. With Tyhedra’s help I’ve been able to make so many new contacts, and most of them, I feel confident, will eventually turn into clients. The only weak spot that remains is TMG and Ivan DeVito.
In spite of Tyhedra’s direct involvement in the account, it still remains a problem. I have to say this about her: Tyhedra knows her stuff. The training that she gave Kim on the reporting functions was exemplary. Kim feels more confident about her position and I believe she has gained a lot from Tyhedra’s poise and professionalism. Each morning she attends the meeting, whether I’m there or not. The other managers seem to have accepted her and feel a lot more comfortable about coming to her with their issues, instead of waiting until I get there.
The only sour spot was Ivan and those reports. He insists on reviewing them daily, and only with me or Tyhedra. As I expected, she had Ivan eating out of her hand, but it’s become a problem because it is taking too much of her time.
“Chris, I know I said I would work with Ivan until he gets comfortable addressing his issues with Kim, but he just doesn’t seem to want to move in that direction,” Tyhedra said to me on our way to see a client that we planned to joint venture with.
“I know, Tyhedra, but please, try to hang in there a little longer.”
“You don’t understand. I make an appointment with him to do a review. First, he keeps me waiting for no less than thirty minutes. Then when he does get around to it and finally calls me and Kim in, it’s the same thing every time—he’ll ask questions, and I let Kim answer every one of them. I have to say, she’s getting good.”
“I think so too. I’d like to get them to the point where she takes over this account in more of a supervisory role and I hire somebody to do her job.”
“I don’t know when that’s gonna be.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Ivan. After she answers his question, he’ll make some notes and move on to his next point. I let her run the whole show. Unless he asks me a direct question, I don’t say a word. Not one word.”
“I know where this is going, but go on.”
“Then Kim asks if he has any more questions; he says no and we get up to leave. Then he says, ‘Tyhedra, there’s something I need to ask you. It will only take a minute.’”
“And it never takes a minute.”
“No!” Tyhedra said much louder than she needed to. I could tell Ivan was getting to her. “All he wants is to ask the follow up questions that he could have and should have asked Kim. And that’s another forty minutes out of my day.” Tyhedra folded her arms across her luscious chest and pouted for a few seconds. “And you know I blame you for this, don’t you?”
“Me? Why me?”
“Because you dragged me into this. I’m at the point right now where I’ve finished his system review and he was satisfied with that. I billed him for my time and they paid my invoice. And by the way, I billed them for the time I spent on your evaluation and for training Kim.”
“Thank you. I had noticed that I hadn’t gotten an invoice from you. I appreciate that.”
“No problem. But you owe me one. Anyway, like I said, I’m ready to walk away from it now.”
“Why don’t you just bill him for the time you spend with him?”
“Because he is so annoying and the way he looks at me makes my flesh crawl.”
“Good reason.”
“I think it’s time we pop the tittie out of his mouth.”
“What do mean by that?”
“Let Kim go in there by herself.”
“I thought about that, but all he’ll do is call me.”
“And when he does, you give him your firm voice and explain to him that you have completed your contractual obligation to me and TMG, and refer him to me if he has any questions.”
“Then he’ll start blowing up your phone.”
“You let me worry about that.”
“Consider it done. As of tomorrow, Kim is flying solo with Ivan.”