|
Big things are happening at the Company, and I don't quite know what to make of them. I'm not sure if I'm going to be swept along into something disastrous, or left behind while everybody else gets fat and sassy. I'm caught in the middle between big plans and impossible dreams.
Branching out is what you'd call it, I guess. Tim has the Boss convinced that we need to be a big property management conglomerate, instead of a moderately successful construction firm. He thinks we should have things like "holdings" and "investments," with "backing" and "funding." He wants to be a mover and shaker, and all I want is peace and tranquility.
Tim wants to be rich. I don't want to work hard enough to be rich, if it means giving up time, freedom and sleep (or any combination thereof). Mostly I don't want to be in the business of making everybody else rich, while all I get is an increased work load and a few extra shekels as a sop.
The two of them, Tim and his father (the Boss), had a meeting this morning. I had a bad feeling about it from the start, because they speak different languages and operate on different planes of existence.
They're also deeply suspicious of each other's motives, and each thinks the other guy is cheating him. Tim thinks the Boss doesn't pay him enough, and the Boss thinks Tim pads his expense account. Since they're both right, I think it kind of evens out. They'd be better off to leave things as they are, but that's not in their nature. Wave-makers, the both of them.
Tim spent an hour on the phone with me yesterday, trying to get me as excited as he is about the new project he wants to tackle. I listened politely, because that's all I could do. I also listen to the Boss when he complains about Tim being headstrong and short-sighted (a potentially lethal combination). And I listen to the Boss's ex-wife, who is by chance also Tim's mother, when she worries about the two of them being in business together. "I know them too well," she warns.
Apparently their meeting went well, though. It's a business opportunity we're going to pursue, at least in the short term. We might find out we don't qualify, lacking either the money or the experience to convince the people we'd be working for that we can do the job. I'm almost totally convinced that this is what will happen, because we've come close to stepping up in the past and those are the kinds of things that held us back.
But I'll do my part. I'll put together the paperwork, fill out the forms, make the copies, punch the holes, package and mail the proposals. I'll even read all the fine print until I go blind. I won't sign anything, though. Uh-uh. You get up on the tightrope, and I'll hand you the pole. | 
