The Knowledge Stone (35 page)

‘Excuse me.’ Louder. Still no action for a few moments; then the woman sighed and turned towards him: ‘Yes?’

Julian looked at the woman with dislike.

‘Oberto wants to see me.’

The woman turned to her computer screen. ‘When is your appointment?’

‘I don’t have an appointment. Oberto called me and asked me to come up.’

The woman sighed again: ‘You can’t see the Senior Partner without an appointment,’ she intoned and turned back to her keyboard.

Julian felt his face reddening: ‘Would you tell Oberto that HDC is here.’

‘HDC? What’s HDC? I’ve never heard of it.’

‘Head of Document Control, HDC, my name is Julian.’ He knew he was shouting.

‘All right, all right, no need to get excited,’ the woman was now saying. With bad grace, she picked up a telephone handset: ‘Someone called HDC is here. He says you asked him to come.’ She listened. ‘Well, if only you would tell me what you’re doing, we could all work together more effectively.’ So saying, the woman slammed down the handset. As she turned back towards her keyboard, she gestured briefly towards a door.

The office was huge and lavishly furnished. The Senior Partner was a small bald man – a friend of his father who had known Julian since he was a child. ‘Ah, Julian,’ he waved a welcoming hand, ‘come and sit down.’

‘Good morning, Oberto. Who’s the dragon?’ Julian jerked his thumb towards the door he had just entered.

‘Oh, don’t worry about that. She’s a very good secretary,’ the Senior Partner said absent-mindedly, shuffling through many papers on his desk.

‘Ah, yes. Here it is.’ He turned to Julian. ‘We have a very important contract coming up. It’s worth half a million to us. So we need to be sure to get everything right – and that certainly includes the documentation. Here are the details. I need a full and totally complete documentation pack first thing tomorrow morning. Any problems with that?’

‘Of course not, Oberto. Could you send your PA to pick up the pack at 0900 tomorrow?’ Julian was determined to get his own back on the unpleasant woman in the outer office.

The Senior Partner acquiesced and made a note in his diary. ‘Fine, Julian. You make sure personally that the documents are correct. No mistakes, please. It’s too important.’

Julian left Oberto’s office. As he passed the unpleasant secretary, still ostentatiously rattling away at her keyboard, he called to her in an authoritative voice: ‘See you tomorrow at my office. 0900 hours. Room 156a. Don’t be late!’ He left with a covert grin before she had time to reply.

Julian strode back purposefully to his office. On reaching his desk he called Margarite’s office:

‘Margarite, can you come and see me? We have an important priority.’ A few moments later, Margarite arrived and they sat down together to examine the requirement for the documentation pack. Finally, Julian sat back: ‘You know, I think this will be a very good training exercise for the staff. They should learn quite a lot from this.’

Margarite looked worried: ‘Do you think we should involve everyone? Doesn’t that increase the chance of getting something wrong? That’s the last thing we can afford to do, is it not?’

As always, Julian was resolute: ‘Nonsense. Everything will be fine. We’ll do this as a training exercise.’ He held up his hand as Margarite was about to speak again. ‘No, let’s not discuss it any further. I have decided. Follow me.’

Julian now strode into the General Office, followed by a solemn Margarite.

‘Attention, everyone.’ The office became quiet. ‘We have an important job to complete before tomorrow morning and I want everyone to be involved. Margarite will allocate all the tasks you have to do but I have decided that Jana will be the Base Co-ordinator.’ Julian looked at a young slim blonde girl who looked both pleased and apprehensive to be singled out for this extra responsibility.

Julian continued: ‘Jana, you will raise the initial document pack and we’ll build from there. This will be a full and comprehensive pack, so we will need to use the deep A3 format. Is that clear?’ He looked piercingly at the girl, who blushed and nodded. ‘While Jana starts that, the rest of you wait for instructions from Margarite.’

‘Julian, could I have a word?’ Margarite indicated her small office.

‘Why Jana?’ Margarite’s first question.

‘Oh, I thought it was about time she took on some responsibility. Had her confidence built up again. She was reprimanded for a serious mistake a while back, wasn’t she?’

‘Yes, although it was never positively established that it was her fault.’

Julian looked at Margarite sharply: ‘Of course it was her fault! I investigated the matter and that was the outcome.’

Julian now became even more authoritative: ‘Right, here are the details of what we need. Could you look through it and get the others organised. Make sure you pick the right people for the tasks. You know we cannot afford to make any mistakes. I will need the completed pack on my desk at the end of today so that I may carry out the final HDC signoff check.’ Without another word, Julian left and returned to his office where he relaxed and read a tabloid newspaper contentedly, checking his watch to see how long it was until lunch time.

So it was a day of high activity in DC. Staff were instructed and despatched to stores and filing rooms to return with carefully-checked items. The large and sturdy document pack on Jana’s small desk grew throughout the day with items meticulously checked against the comprehensive Document List that had been drawn up initially by the Senior Partner’s legal and administrative staff, then refined, added to and cross-checked by Margarite in DC, with further lists and sub-lists made and checked off. It was an impressive example of staff organisation and Margarite felt quite proud as she watched her staff (very much her protégés) scurrying around.

Unusually, she decided that staff lunch breaks should be taken in groups, so that the office was always manned by several people. This, she told them, was to ensure that nothing went amiss. The young staff were pleased and excited by this important task, their flushed, cheerful faces reflecting their delight. In the centre of this web of activity was the slight figure of Jana, also flushed with pleasure; having been allocated such an important role in the procedure, she felt she had been redeemed.

As the afternoon progressed, the document pack began to take on impressive proportions. All the items within it were filed within folders and sub-folders, each folder fronted by clear and concise document lists. All the folders were arranged in a specified order, so that the legal team could quickly lay their hands on whatever they required. Everything was topped by a master list, a sheet of high quality heavyweight paper printed with the proud masthead of the Firm and then with a bold sub-heading declaring ‘Document Control Department.’ Eventually, it would be this impressive paper that HDC himself would sign before releasing the pack to the legal staff – in this case, no less than the Senior Partner himself. By late afternoon, the pack was completed, checked by Margarite and ready for transit to HDC. All staff agreed that it had been a great day in the department.

The large pack was carried almost ceremoniously to Julian’s office. At the knock, Julian hurriedly concealed the newspaper he had been reading and called:

‘Come in.’ The door opened and the pack was carried in by Jana, followed by Margarite.

‘Ah, yes, just put it on my desk. I’ll be checking that later. First, I have some other work I must do.’ The girl left and Julian addressed Margarite:

‘Is everything checked? Can you guarantee no mistakes?’

‘Everything is checked,’ she replied firmly.

‘Just go home ahead of me,’ Julian now said, ‘I want to finish something and then I’ll sign off the pack.’

‘Are you sure?’ Margarite was anxious. ‘I could stay and help you.’

He looked at her coldly: ‘No thanks. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.’

Margarite knew the meaning of Julian’s tone. It meant: “Go away and leave me alone!”

‘I wonder why,’ she thought, ‘no good arguing – I know him – I’ll just leave and maybe he’ll be in a better mood by the time he comes home.’

Most of the staff in the building had now gone home and Julian luxuriated in the quietness. He recovered his newspaper and finished reading the racing pages – Julian fancied himself as a racing expert; however, his bets rarely paid off. Noting that all of his bets had been unsuccessful, he now threw the paper across the office in a fit of pique. As he did so, his elbow caught the edge of the large document pack, knocking it to the floor where it spilt its contents.

‘Damn!’ he said loudly, ‘why didn’t these fools next door pack it more securely?’ However, there was nothing for it. Julian had to scramble around the floor to repack the documents, placing them in what he thought was the right order. Finally, he found the front page and appended his signature to it: ‘That’s done and dusted,’ he said with satisfaction, ‘and now I’m looking forward to that PA woman coming to pick up the pack tomorrow.’

Julian would need to think about this carefully and see how he could best humiliate her.

Shortly after 9 o’clock the next day, Julian waited in his office with pleasurable anticipation. At last, a knock at the door. Julian waited until the knock was repeated.

‘Come in,’ he called and the Senior Partner’s PA entered, looking extremely bad tempered.

Julian held up a hand without looking up: ‘Just a moment, please,’ he intoned, pleasantly. After a moment, he raised his eyes: ‘Yes?’

‘I’ve come for the package.’

Julian looked puzzled: ‘What package?’

Then: ‘Who are you?’

The woman was furious: ‘I’m the Senior Partner’s PA,’ she snapped.

Julian smiled: ‘Ah, the Boss’s secretary. Now I know what you want. The Document Pack. There it is on the table. Sign here for it.’ He slid a form across the desk. The woman signed angrily and prepared to leave with the bulky pack.

‘Did we meet yesterday?’ Julian called as she was opening the door.

‘Of course we did. Yesterday morning.’

‘Ah yes, I remember talking to someone in Oberto’s outer office. That’s the trouble with support staff, you don’t really remember them – rather below the radar, if you know what I mean. Goodbye, then!’ Julian finished cheerfully and grinned broadly as she slammed the door hard.

The business meeting in the client’s boardroom was extremely affable and everything was proceeding well. It seemed very likely that the whole contract would be sewn up by lunchtime. The clients were very impressed by the knowledge and efficiency of the legal team headed by the Senior Partner. Details of the various projects had been discussed in detail and the proposed actions of the legal team appeared to meet to client’s wishes at every turn. And the coffee was delicious! Finally, the Managing Director of the client company sat back in his chair and beamed at the assembled company:

‘Does anyone have any other points to raise before we formalise the contract?’ Music to the ears of the Senior Partner. Murmurs of assent from the others. The MD continued: ‘Fine, can we now proceed to the contract documents?’

The Senior Partner now turned to his team and said jovially: ‘Can we have the contract documents, please?’

‘Of course,’ his subordinate replied smoothly, snapping open the document pack, ‘just a minute …’ Minutes passed with much rummaging in the pack. Silence gradually fell on the room. The subordinate eventually lifted a stricken face and spoke in a low tone to the Senior Partner: ‘Sir, we do not seem to have the major contract document here.’

The Senior Partner blanched: ‘Look again,’ he hissed. Further searching revealed nothing.

‘Sir, it definitely isn’t here.’

Silence while the Senior Partner collected his thoughts; then he addressed the MD in a tone of extreme regret: ‘Hektor, we have a missing document – I will send for it right away …’

The MD looked at his watch: ‘Sorry, Oberto, there is no time. I leave for South America in an hour. I will return in four weeks. We will have to wait until then to complete the documents. Of course, this will delay the whole project and, unfortunately, I think you will agree that puts you in default. This is a financial matter we will need to discuss next month.’

‘Hektor, I am very sorry …’

‘Mistakes will happen, Oberto. It’s a great pity.’ The MD was cold as he rose. ‘I am sorry but I must leave you now.’ The rest of the client’s team followed with only murmured goodbyes. Soon, the legal team were alone in the boardroom.

HDC barely had time to conceal his newspaper as the Senior Partner burst into his office. Julian knew something extremely serious must have happened. The Senior Partner had not been seen in DC for years. One glance at his face told Julian that his conclusion was correct. He decided he had better play this one formally – no First Names!

‘Good afternoon, Sir, I hope there is nothing wrong?’

There was! Julian listened in silence as the Senior Partner angrily told the story of the missing document: ‘I emphasised to you that there must be no mistakes and you assured me ….’ The Senior Partner was speechless with rage.

Julian moved to defuse the situation: ‘Sir, I cannot understand what has happened. I will institute an in-depth enquiry immediately and report to you. Meanwhile, I will find the document and bring it to you.’

‘Too late!’ the Senior Partner bawled and stamped from the room.

Without pause, Julian began to search his extremely untidy desk, knowing that this was where the document pack had spent the night. After some time, he was sure the document was not on the desk. He then rummaged through his desk drawers, finding nothing there also. Banging all the drawers shut, he concluded: ‘Just as I expected. It’s not my fault. I should never have suspected myself. The document must have been missing from the pack when it was delivered here. Someone is going to pay for this.’ Julian was extremely pleased with this outcome. He would need to think carefully about the next move.

He sprang up and began to pace back and forward in front of his desk. He always thought that this action helped him to think. After some minutes of pacing, he noticed a sheet of paper lying on a side table against the wall. The sheet was partially covered by a raggedly-torn scrap of paper with some writing on it. Striding across to investigate, he lifted the torn piece of paper and read the following scrawled message: “i find this undr your desk an thougth you might need – Cleaner.”

Julian picked up the crisp expensive paper from the table and regarded it with widening eyes; it was the Formal Contract Document that had been missing from the document pack!

‘How could it be under my desk?’ Julian was puzzled and then he remembered his accident with the Document Pack the previous day.

Now he sat down with the paper in his hand: ‘This requires some thought,’ he concluded gravely.