Hire Lernin' (A Novel)

Chapter14: The Real Work Begins

"Dan, this is Taisha. Mr. Lantz would like to see you when you have time. He said to go to his office at your convenience."

"Thanks, Taisha. I'll be there in a minute," he said, and hung up the receiver. He looked at his watch. It was 9:30 a.m. He headed towards reception, past the double swinging doors and looked into the several classrooms he passed on his way. In one, he noticed Ms. Hunter sitting at her desk reading a magazine while most of her students were reading or writing in their workbooks and quite a few were just leaning back on their chairs chatting. He frowned, making another mental note.

As he passed reception, Taisha, who was on the phone, placed her hand over the receiver and told him, "Go right in, giving him a warm smile."

"Thank you," he mouthed, as she returned to her conversation, giving the address for PEMTI and directions from the E train. He walked through the single door to the administration wing and down the long corridor, waiving to Bob as he passed his office, with Bob waiving back as he talked animatedly on the phone, apparently with a client, extolling the virtues of PEMTI's recent graduates. He made a right at the end of the corridor and was soon standing at the half-opened door in Marvin's corner office. He knocked gently on the door and Marvin looked up from whatever he was reading on his desk, giving him a wide smile and motioning for him to come in while rising from his desk and saying, "Good Morning, Dan, please come in—and welcome!"

"Good morning Marvin. Thank you. It is good to be here."

"Have a seat, Dan", Marvin motioned behind him while pouring fresh coffee onto a white china cup. "How do you want your coffee?"

"Black please, no sugar. It smells heavenly," Dan replied.

"Black it is," Marvin countered, offering Dan a steaming cup of coffee faintly smelling of espresso and hazelnut.

"Thanks very much, Marvin," Dan said taking the cup and saucer in both hands and quickly taking a sip. "Simply wonderful," he added, meaning it.

"So, how did yesterday's meeting go? I had a report from the Melameds as soon as you left their office—but I'd like to hear your take on the day."

"I thought it went very well. Howard was kind enough to bring me up to speed on basic policies and procedures, and the meeting with the Melameds went better than I expected. What I thought would be a quick courtesy meeting lasted for nearly an hour," Dan said, taking another sip of the steaming coffee.

"Well," Marvin said, leaning back on his chair, "you made quite the impression on the Melameds—and they are not easily impressed, believe me. They congratulated me for hiring you and said they expect great things from you. I've never seen them so excited. They both talked to me on speakerphone from Benjamin's office shortly after you left the meeting. They are particularly interested in your idea for a short course, though skeptical about your ability to get it through State Ed--and about the cost of implementation. But no matter--they loved your entrepreneurial spirit and were genuinely excited about your thinking in that way even before starting the job."

"Look, Marvin, they basically asked about how I could make a difference and I answered honestly—maybe I shouldn't have before having the discussion with you in greater detail and seeing how you felt. I'm sorry if I overstepped."

"Are you kidding? They loved it and think me a genius for both finding you and convincing you to come on board," Marvin replied still smiling broadly. "The only thing I'd caution you about is over-promising, as they can be mercurial in their reactions—especially as to things that affect the bottom line. For now, though, they are extremely happy and, unless you royally screw up, I don't see that changing any time soon," he added.