“Second part, Dani, the main room will be remodeled when you go to Council Bluffs. I am putting partitions up and adding a couple of spots. I’m positioning you to focus on client development along with continuing some of your office manager stuff. You’ll be getting an assistant who handles payroll for both sites plus whatever other tasks you want to shift over in order to free you up to get us more clients. The remodel for the main room was also sent out, though there is only the one option.
“I know this may come as a surprise. But the number of clients I have is few, and I’m taking up the most space. Plus, it seems I’m pulling away from our core business by focusing on Psycept related clients. I’ll still come to the office on Thursdays to meet with everyone and handle owner stuff, it’s just that I’ll stay in one of the new spots next to Dani. Oh, yeah. And the name of the company is being changed to Gray and Associates. You’ll each receive an associate contract term commensurate with your experience after the meeting.
“And before anyone freaks out, this will be done in stages. Remodeling first, which will take a month to complete. And yes, one of the items is bathroom space. That’s the piece that will take the whole month, who knew. As for the new positions for our location, we’ll wait to post job openings until at least the end of next month. Council Bluffs is first. Questions?”
There’s a short, stunned silence then several questions pour forth. I anticipated most of them so am quickly able to answer. There are a couple I need to follow-up on, but for the most part, they seem excited about the upcoming changes. We finish up the meeting with Dani’s client pipeline and any client updates from the associates.
I grab my salad from the office refrigerator and take a quick lunch outside with the puppies, then we head to my office. I don’t have much to wrap up, just some emails to send and reports to read. It’s soon time to gather everything and head outside as Libby will be picking me up.
PCSS headquarters is in AeroBase, which at ten miles from work, isn’t that far to bike there. The real issue is it’s almost twenty miles from my house, so getting home this evening would be time consuming. Ugh, I forgot about tomorrow.
Hey, Sully. I hate to bother you, but can you pick me up at work for the meeting tomorrow afternoon at Police HQ? I’ll have my puppies with me. If not, no problem. It’s only 9 miles for me to bike it.
Libby pulls up in the family vehicle and I load Echo and Shotzie in the half-bed and pull over the mesh cover and secure it to various hooks in the bed. We’ll be back at my office about the same time as I would get off work, so I’ll bike home. Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out how to strap the bike and the pet trailer to the roof of the vehicle. By the time I get settled, there’s a reply.
Sure, I’ve got you covered. Pick up at noon.
Great, thank you.
“I just have to make a stop at the University and drop some samples off for one of my professors. It shouldn’t take up too much time, but it’s why I asked to pick you up a few minutes earlier.” Libby is a forensic science graduate student specializing in blood patterns and analysis. She’s even taken some courses in hematology, more to enhance her Blood Sage knowledge than forensics, but she uses all her education.
“No problem, Libby. My other choices were bike ride or bus. And every time I wait at the bus stop with my bike, pet trailer, and Echo, I can feel the bus driver barely resist bypassing me altogether. Can you imagine with two puppies?”
“I think it’s more the bike and trailer than the puppies, Gray. I know vehicles aren’t used much in SWACon, but you may think of getting one if you will be expected to travel around town to various meetings. Your house is in the middle of Westside and your workplace is on the border of NorEastville and PsyTown. You’re going to AeroBase today and Muni Row tomorrow. What’s next, South Valley on Saturday and Sunday in Old Town?”
We bicker amicably on the way to the university then refine our database suggestions as we head to PCSS building near the military base and aeroport area of town. Imital meets us in the lobby and escorts us to a conference room. Libby presents our requests, complete with slides and screenshots. I don’t know the technical name of some of the functions of the database and neither does Libby. We tried to look some of it up, but we weren’t sure if the what the website called it was what we were referring to. So, we just snipped some pictures of our desktop database and literally drew different colored circles and arrows around what we’re talking about so there’s no confusion. Not very professional, but hopefully the system developers won’t care.
“It appears as if you are asking for an interface to navigate the system and not replacing or upgrading the database, correct?”
“Sure, Imital. If that’s what we’re talking about. User-friendly interface, please. Psycepts are the users and the database is not friendly. I shouldn’t have to drill down five different levels to get to a screen that we use on every single case. And the detective contact information should be integrated with the system. I shouldn’t have to pull up the email system and a separate phone list. And why isn’t there a secure message feature? Not everything requires a formal email and I’m tired of talking on the phone.”
“Goodness, Gray, you certainly have opinions. Well, this is much
