Hire Lernin' (A Novel)

Chapter 10: Meeting the Melameds

Dan thanked Howard and followed the receptionist as she escorted him to the administrative side of the school through doors off the reception area. She found her way down a corridor with a half dozen small offices not unlike those in the Queens school, and eventually got to one of two large corner offices facing each other at the end of the hall. The corner office to the left had the name Benjamin Melamed emblazoned on an impressive, gleaming golden plaque with the title Chief Executive Officer immediately below the name. The office to the right sported an identical golden plaque on its own massive cherrywood door with the name Martha Melamed and the title Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer." Turning to the left, the receptionist knocked lightly on the partially open door and received a prompt "Come in" from a male voice inside. She opened the door all the way and escorted Dan to a massive oak desk polished to a high gloss behind which sat a portly, balding man in his middle to late 50's. To his left, sat a handsome woman perhaps ten years his junior on a large brown leather chair. Both rose and the man extended his hand to Dan. "Dean Amor, I presume" he said, cheerfully. "I'm Benjamin Melamed, and this is my wife, Mrs. Martha Melamed."

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Melamed," Dan responded, shaking the man's offered hand and then extending his to Mrs. Melamed."

"Please have a seat," the man motioned to a plush leather chair across from his desk as the woman sat back on her own just a few feet to the left, at the right side of her husband's desk. As Dan did as he was bid, the man continued affably. "Jerry, our V.P. for Administration, and Marvin were both very impressed with you on paper and in person and highly recommended you. We are very happy to have you onboard."

"I'm very pleased to be here, and grateful for the opportunity and vote of confidence. I'm very much looking forward to my new role."

"So tell us, how is your meeting with Howard going today?" Mrs. Melamed asked.

"Dr. Green has been very helpful and I appreciate his guidance before taking on a role about which I have much to learn. But I've always been a quick study, so I'm confident I will hit the ground running starting tomorrow at my new post, if that is acceptable to both of you, and to Dr. Green, of course," Dan offered.

"Fine, fine," Mr. Melamed answered. "We have every confidence in you, but you are welcome to spend a few more days with Howard if you would find that helpful. I know they're eager to have you at the Queens campus, but we want you to be comfortable in talking on your role there—no rush as another day or two will make little difference."

"Dr. Green has been very helpful to me today, but as I said, I'm a quick study and he has graciously offered me his assistance by phone whenever I need it, so I think I'll be ready after today to assume my duties without further delay, as long as he concurs."

"That's wonderful," Mrs. Melamed intoned, as Mr. Melamed smiled an apparently genuine smile. She then added, "We're a family business and PEMTI is pretty much our only baby these days, so we are deeply invested in the success of each of our branches. We reward talent and like to promote from within when opportunities arise, so you can expect a rewarding and lucrative future with us both at the corporate and branch levels if as we suspect you prove to be a good fit for our organization."

"Absolutely," chimed in Mr. Melamed almost before his wife had finished speaking. "As Martha said, you can have a rewarding and lucrative future with us. We were very impressed by your credentials and background and more so now that we have the opportunity to meet you. We're curious, though. Why does a bright, young attorney want to be a proprietary school dean at a salary that is far less than he should be able to command in his field?"