Losing Jeff was just devastating. Not only was he my friend and brother, he was my music guy. He could say, "Lillybell, no." or "YES! I don't care that you don't like this song you can sing it so it's on the set list". We had created an arrangement together that became my solo. My signature song of sorts. The very famous Summertime. I had then and still have a Gershwin thing. Jeff and I had created a very jazzy, descending minor chord version that we loved. Not like Janis who ate the song and made it sound like the most painfully gorgeous thing to have to release it or the traditional high soprano. My range. My style. We also sang Lenny Welch's Since I Fell For You. I could relate to that song and always got lost in it's heartache. People like my singing sad stuff. I also did a set ending Joni Mitchell modal tuned You Turn Me On I'm A Radio and then we rocked Big Yellow Taxi. But mainly we were a harmony group, a vocal band. Elsie and I couldn't carry what Jeff brought. I didn't just miss him, my other musical half was gone.
At work I was meeting people everyday. Branches moving in, new hires moving in, floors being built out, the entire file project was still being fretted over in meetings. I had a presentation that I must have done 50 times to various levels of importance and self importance. The presentation was very clear and concise and included plans for what needed to be done in the branches out in the field and what needed to be done at the Center where all these files would eventually be archived. Basically, I needed 20 people to purge every file in 13 branches. This included not just DFW but Houston, Austin, St. Louis, New Orleans, Denver, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Memphis and Nashville. That's a lot of equipment. Plus all the new files created everyday as new orders were processed needed to be properly prepared. And employees had to access files daily. Branches were moving in to the Center in various stages of file preparedness, close to none. They had made decisions in the branches to create new files according to the process and to bring the cabinets of files as is and have them processed in the new shinny building. Other than that it was easy.
No it wasn't. No one seemed to grasp what really was simple in theory. Throw away the crap, do not create new crap, file only the necessary documents in the correct file folder. Use the file and bring it back. This was hard. Very, very hard. Xerox at this point had a customer service problem. The old time employees were used to having no competition so customers were like drug addicts in a way. You need your copies, you pay THE MAN!
I learned this lesson the hard way my first week in the Fort Worth Branch. A customer called from an east Texas church. They had ordered equipment and signed the contract but had since decided, and prayed about, using the money for copies instead of the Lord's work. The caller wanted to stop the equipment delivery and terminate the contract. I transferred the call to the administrator responsible for installs and deliveries in that area. Sounded right to me. NO. WRONG. Soon a very angry black woman was at my desk in the elevator lobby loudly explaining that she NEVER TALKS TO CUSTOMERS! EVER! SALES REPS TALK TO CUSTOMERS, SALES REPS TALK TO ME. TELL HER IF SHE CALLS BACK THAT CUSTOMERS PAY XEROX BEFORE THEY PAY GOD. Small attitude problem with the mass of people who happened to keep the company in business. I learned through some funny and not so funny experiences that month end in the branch office went like this:
Sales rep pressures customer to buy before the end of the month when commission checks were cut. Checks are cut once the equipment in installed in the system. This required an Order Administrator. Sales reps would line up with gifts and plants and gift certificates and food to get their orders processed so they could get their money. This sounds small but many reps complained about being $10,000 short on their commissions. AW. Those of us in administration made nothing compared to that. So, ego maniacal sales reps grovel at the feet of the lowly to get the money. Are you with me so far, this is very important later.
I was amazed the number of people I discussed files with and gave presentations to including the CEO himself. GOOD GRIEF. And people just couldn't grasp this complex world of paper and file cabinets. Finally I met the man who was responsible for the entire move of the branches into five centers in the country. He lived on an airplane. He traveled to a different branch or center every day. His name, Current. He asked for a meeting, just little me and very important him to discuss the entire files issue. I spent one hour with him. He understood everything I said, agreed it was the right thing to do. I had all the bases covered. He would "roll it out" across the nation and he thanked me for making his job easier. No executive does this at Xerox. I sensed no ego in this man at all. He was humble, and polite, no one upping, just thankful to have a tiny portion of his plate cleared. He asked, very politely if I could be the expert and he would try to coordinate the effort. Currents name carried much more weight than Lillybell. Sure. Now all I had to do was beg for the money. Excuse me? Yes, he explained this is all but approved, the manpower, the overtime but first we have to go through the official process of moving money to this budget center to cover expenses. This required umpteen more people and approval at 7,000 levels of management to approve the expense. "Wait", I said, "I am not a business genius but isn't that absurd? Asking for company money to solve company problems requires more meetings and presentations and dog and pony show? Really?" "People have to tendency to focus on the ants and let the elephants walk by", he said. "We're going to bring some attention to this elephant.
MAGIC. Someone that actually did something other than measure his or her own importance. This is how I thought people worked in a corporate environment. People like Wonder Woman and now this executive named Current. I was impressed with his selflessness. He was impressed with my moxie.
I would not see him again until the entire Center was filled and the Region offices were built. He was a twenty-second floor guy.
During all these meetings and moving people in and out and hiring I met two people who became my family. Shaneequa, the funniest woman on earth. Bubba, middle management with an EGO and witty as, well not me or Shaneequa, but he held his own. I adopted these two people and they me. We remain close enough to be real honest with one another to this day.
Zelda met a guy named Guitar Man. He was an old fashioned, finger picking, folk style player ala Peter Yarrow. He had great character and a Barry McGuireish voice. He knew a bass player. Zelda knew me and Elsie and I had met a cellist. That's weird I know but I love me some cello moan. Soon we had a new, strange and fun band. Working and singing and being married and getting insomnia. Life was about to be different, fun but different.
How do you drive and work and set up equipment, sing a gig, tear down equipment and rehearse for the next gig? Cocaine of course.
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