Going Down (21 page)

“I’ll call you tonight and let you know how it went.”

“Yeah, you do that.”

I stood and watched as CJ backed up and zoomed of the parking lot. I walked back to the building and couldn’t shake the feeling that she was jealous. But I quickly convinced myself that that couldn’t be the case.

At one that afternoon, Tyhedra Crawford arrived at the building. I introduced her to Kim and Tina, and then I sat back and listened while they told her what their jobs were. Once they were done, Tyhedra asked them a lot of questions. Questions that I wished I’d thought of. But that is what I hired her for.

When Tyhedra was finished with the ladies, I took her around to meet the floor managers. Tyhedra only had a few questions for them, which they answered politely. Then I took her around to meet Ivan
DeVito
.

I stuck my head in the door. As usual, his head was buried in reports. “Got a minute, Ivan?”

“I always have time for you, Chris. Come on in and have a seat,” he said without looking.

“There is somebody I’d like you to meet.”

When Tyhedra walked into the office Ivan looked up, and I thought I was going to have to pick his tongue up from the desk. He sprung to his feet.

“Ivan
DeVito
, I’d like for you to meet Tyhedra Crawford. Miss Crawford is a Cisco consultant that I brought in to improve our procedures.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Crawford,” Ivan said. “Please, please, have a seat.”

“Thank you, Mr.
DeVito
,” Tyhedra said, and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. When she crossed her long, sexy legs, Ivan’s eyes were glued to her. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Tyhedra had him eating out of her hand.

“Miss Crawford’s specialty is the reporting functions. Since that is a particular concern of yours, I thought it would be a good idea if she spent some time with you to make sure that you were getting all you wanted from the system. Miss Crawford has already spent some time with my staff and I took the liberty of having her speak with some of your managers to get a feel for what they do.”

“I think that is an excellent idea, Chris,” Ivan said and looked at Tyhedra. “So, tell me Miss Crawford, what do you think of the system?”

“Well, Mr.
DeVito
,” Tyhedra started.

“No need to be so formal. Please, call me Ivan.”

“Okay, Ivan,” Tyhedra said and gave him that smile. “As you know, today’s data center is about more than
offering a secure environment which minimizes the chances of a security breach
. It is about getting the most from your fully integrated, multi-channel interaction.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Ivan said. He was partially giddy. It was hard for me to keep a straight face.

“You’re using the Cisco Unified Intelligent Contact Management Enterprise Edition as part of your Unified Computing System. From what I’ve seen thus far, you’re not utilizing the system to its full potential.”

“How so?”

“I’m sure you’re aware that the Cisco Unified Intelligent Contact Management Enterprise enables you to transparently integrate traditional inbound and outbound voice applications with Internet applications such as real-time chat, Web collaboration, and e-mail. This integration enables a single agent to support multiple interactions simultaneously, regardless of which communications channel the customer has chosen. Because each interaction is unique and may require individualized service, Cisco provides contact center solutions to manage customer interactions based on almost any contact attribute.”

“I see.”

“A Customer Interaction Network extends customer service capabilities across the entire organization, giving your business a more integrated and collaborative approach to customer satisfaction. With that said, what I’d like to do is make an appointment with you to do a complete review of your system. That way I can search for and identify areas that are in need improvement.”

All that sounded good, and as I expected, Ivan ate it all up, but I hoped neither of them thought that I was going to pay for Tyhedra to evaluate their system. Once they had set an appointment for her to come back, I got Tyhedra out of there.

As we walked away from Ivan’s office, Tyhedra quickly put my fears to rest. “Before you say it, don’t worry. I have no plans for sticking you with the bill for this. By the time I’m finished with Ivan, I’ll have him paying for what I do for you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “That makes me feel a lot better. Now, what do you think of my side of the house?”

“From what I see, your operation is running pretty smooth. There are some procedural issues and some training opportunities that I’ve identified. To that end, you’ll have my written evaluation in a couple of days. I remember you mentioning that you wanted me to do some training on the reporting functions for one of your staff.”

“That would be Kim.”

“I thought as much. She’s sharp.”

“I think so,” I said as I walked her to her car.

“You got any plans for the rest of the afternoon?”

I smiled and looked at her the same way that Ivan was earlier. “What did you have in mind?”

“Easy, big boy. I’m on my way to see one of my clients and I wanted to know if you wanted to come along?”

“Sure. Just give a minute to let the ladies know that I’ll be gone for a while.”

“Good, because I already told them about you and that you’d probably be with me today when I came. They have some issues that I think you can help them with. If you can sell them, I’ll either work it out so you can invoice them or you can invoice me for your time. But either way, you stand to make a pretty good bit of money on them, and they pay.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll get you in the door. All you gotta do is sell it.”

“Then it’s a done deal,” I said, and went inside to let Kim and Tina know that I was gone for the day.

When we got to her client, I looked over their setup. This was something that CJ was better suited for than I was. I called CJ and told her what I was into and what I had in mind, and asked her if she would be available for a conference call. “If it means new business for us, I’ll make myself available.”

Once I finished my evaluation, Tyhedra took me to meet the boss. I went into my pitch and then I got CJ on the phone and she locked them down. When I walked out of that office, I had I firm commitment and promised to have a contract to them the next day.

“I’m impressed,” Tyhedra said as we drove away. “You and your partner work very well together. You feed off each other. I can feel that just from listening to the way the two of you worked to overcome his objections and close the deal.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t think Tyhedra needed to know that the reason we work so well together was that I was in love with CJ.

“I think you and I are going to be able to do big things together, Chris. I’m glad I met you.”

“Are you kidding? I’m glad I hung up the phone so I could talk to you. I think today was a pretty productive day for both of us.”

“Those are the only days I have.”

“Well, not all my days go like this. I think we should celebrate.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Allow me the honor of taking you out for a drink?”

“I’m hungry, so if you include dinner in your offer, you have a deal.”

“Well, let me ask you a question?”

“What’s that?”

“How hungry are you?”

“I haven’t had anything to eat today. So saying that I’m very hungry is an understatement.”

“I know just the place.”

We went to a place I love going to called
Fogo
de
Chão
on Piedmont Road. They operate under the service concept of
espeto
corrido
, which translates from Portuguese as continuous service. So instead of ordering from a traditional menu,
Fogo
de
Chão
offers a prix-fixe system where guests can sample the entire menu, or just focus on their favorite items.

The menu features unlimited servings of fifteen different, delectable cuts of fire-roasted meats, a sumptuous buffet of gourmet salads and fresh-cut vegetables, and a variety of traditional and Brazilian side dishes.

“This is a very nice place, Chris.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“So how does this work?”

“They are going to bring us a two-sided disk to control the pace of their meal.”

“Okay,” Tyhedra said and looked at me curiously.

“The green side signals the Gaucho chefs to bring out skewers of meats to carve at the table. The red side indicates a stopping point. Turning back to green lets the chefs know to start offering the meats again.”

“I shouldn’t have come here with you.”

“Why?”

“Because we just met, and this is the kind of place where you come to make a pig of yourself. This is the place I’d go with my girlfriends, ’cause they already know what a pig I can be.”

I laughed as the Gaucho chef began bringing out skewers of sizzling fire-roasted meats, along with warm cheese bread, fried bananas, crispy hot polenta, and seasoned mashed potatoes. “I did ask how hungry you were.”

“And I am, so I am about to get mid-evil in here.”

For the next couple of hours, Tyhedra and I drank good wine—quite a bit actually—talked about our new business association, and sampled a variety of meats. I’ll say this for her, Tyhedra can put away some food. The longer we were there, the more I began to like her. She was interesting to talk to, very funny and my God, she was just so damn sexy.

I thought about what I said to Tavarus about my being able to have a professional relationship with a woman. So, here we are having a conversation about network infrastructure, routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths, and I’m thinking about bending her over the table.

“You all right, Chris?” Tyhedra asked.

“Huh?”

“I said are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about how I met you at exactly the right time.”

“You know I was thinking the exact same thing. I have a really good feeling about you and I, Chris. I get the feeling that we are going to do great things for each other.” Tyhedra took a deep breath. “I’m very excited about the possibilities for us.”

After I paid the check, I asked Tyhedra if she wanted to go someplace else. “Have something a little stronger than the fine wine we’ve been drinking.”

“I’m going to take a rain check on that. I promised a friend that I’d meet them a little later this evening. So if you don’t mind giving me a ride back to my car.”

“No problem,” I told her, but it really was.

I drove her back to her car and we said a polite good night. “I know that we’ll be in touch soon,” Tyhedra said and got in her car. I watched her drive off and took out my cell as I got back in my car. I called CJ and told her how the rest of the day went, and then I called Ebony. “Be ready when I get there.”

For the past few weeks when I get home from work, all I’ve been doing is practicing on the trumpet. And if I have to say so myself, I’ve gotten pretty good, but I know I still need more practice.