The Three Halves of Martyn Manning--Chapter Eleven - Janet

His
office took up most of the top floor of the Keller Tower. It was by
no means the tallest skyscraper in New York, but he had wonderful
views over Union Square and Manhattan to the Hudson river in the
distance. The size of the office and its fittings and furniture
reflected his exalted status. Three leather Chesterfield sofa’s
around a Bauhaus coffee table defined a separate break out area for
the less formal meetings. A cocktail cabinet was stocked with several
aged single malts, vintage Kentucky bourbon, French brandy, Russian
vodka and London gin. He didn’t have a fridge for beer and soft
drinks. That would look vulgar. The walls were hung with original
artworks including of course several Warhols. This is New York after
all. He sat behind a huge but almost empty mahogany desk. A wooden
sign embossed in gold lettering left any visitor in no doubt that
this was “The Desk Of Randy Schulmann – CEO”. The rest of the
top floor, apart from the reception area, was taken up by a smaller
office shared by his two PA’s, Terri and Pam. Terri was a redhead
in her late twenties. Pam was a brunette in her early thirties. Both
were slim and pretty and any objective observer, man or woman, would
say they were very attractive. It would be unfair to Randy however to
suggest that he’d recruited them on the basis of their looks as
they were both efficient, hard working and very good at their jobs.
He always treated them with respect and he’d never hit on either of
them, it just wasn’t worth the potential scandal. But that didn’t
mean he couldn’t wank about them, and he did, regularly and
vigorously, sometimes it was one-on-one but often it was as a
threesome. I mean what’s the point of being the big boss if you
can’t treat yourself now and again.

Randy
seldom used the intercom to communicate with his PA’s, he just
shouted.

“Hey
Pam! Can you see if Janet Manning is in the office today and if she
is can you ask her to come right on up?”

Janet
was indeed in the office, and she was neither completely surprised
nor particularly disquieted by the call to Randy’s lair. She had an
inkling what it might be about. Many of the staff found Randy
intimidating and were nervous of being around him and stories of his
public humiliation of what he perceived as poorly performing
subordinates were a standard feature of after work drinks. Janet
however attended regular divisional meetings with Randy and had also
had several one on ones, and by her use of her looks and her
manipulative skills she’d always managed to keep him in line. She
took the lift to the top floor and entered the PA’s office. Both
Terri and Pam were hunched over their screens, concentrating.

“Go
right in Janet, he’s expecting you.” said Pam, without looking
up.

Nevertheless
she knocked respectfully, then opened the door and walked in without
waiting for an answer.

“Janet!”
gushed Randy, rising from his seat. “Come in, sit down and make
yourself at home. Terri, can you bring coffee and cookies? Those
chocolate ones from Leopolds in Montrose.”

They
made small talk till the coffee and cookies arrived. Randy poured.
Then the atmosphere in the office distinctly changed as Randy got
down to business.

“So
Janet, I keep being told you’re making quite a name for yourself,
so I took a closer look at some of your work.”

“Randy,
it’s not just my work, it’s my team’s work.”

“I
know, but you lead the team. And I have to say the Fire/Dot campaign
was highly creative as well as hugely successful. Was it you who came
up with that slogan?”

“No
it wasn’t actually, it was Vee, she’s an intern.”

“OK,
but like I said, you lead the team, you decide what to drop and what
to run with. And it worked. So take credit where credit’s due.”

He
took a sip of his coffee and winced. He reached out and added another
sweetener and stirred.

“And
I also reviewed the Candle-Lite and FaceSpace campaigns. Not quite as
outstanding as Fire/Dot but both were highly professional, creative
and above all successful.”

“Thank
you Randy, that’s very kind of you to say.

“Ha!
I’ll never get used to you English and your self-deprecation.
Anyway, I’m going to tell you something now and it’s for your
ears only. For the time being it must go no further than this room.
Can I take it that you’re OK with that? That I can trust you?”

“Of
course Randy.”

He
took a deep breath.

“You
probably don’t know but John Spinner has been off work for the past
two weeks.”

“John
Spinner?” She had to think for a moment. “The president of
Household and Retail?”

“That’s
him. Well he won’t be coming back to work. Turns out he’s got
liver cancer and it’s spread all over his body. It’s terminal and
he’s got single figure weeks to live. So, I’d like you to take
over the Household and Retail division with immediate effect.”

“Oh
no! That’s terrible. Poor John. And his family! But me take over
Household and Retail? I don’t know anything about Household and
Retail. I don’t even know where the office is!”

“They
have a beautiful modern office in the Upper West Side. And you can
learn about Household and Retail. It’s not so hard. John was
Household and Retail through and through, he’d worked in it all his
life, but to be blunt he was a plodder and his results were only
solid, never spectacular. I’m convinced that this role needs
someone with a successful background in marketing and that will be
more important than sector knowledge. And that’s why I’m talking
to you now.”

There
was silence in the room. Janet was still trying to take it all in.
She’d half expected she’d been called in to be praised for
Fire/Dot but hadn’t expected to be offered a presidency. Janet knew
that Randy Schulmann was used to getting answers immediately.
Eventually she plucked up the courage to speak.

“I’m
afraid I can’t give you an answer now Randy. I’ll need to think
about it. Can you give me twenty-four hours?”

“OK,
but it’s twenty-four hours max. I need to resolve this issue
yesterday so I need an answer quickly. And while you’re thinking
about it here’s something else to think about. This will be an
extremely demanding role. It will need total commitment and I expect
success. I realise you’re English and you have a young family back
in the UK. But I need you here. There’ll be no flitting back and
forth across the pond every couple of weeks or you and I are going to
fall out. And believe me you don’t want to fall out with me. I’m
sorry but that’s the way it is. We can talk package once you’ve
accepted, but I’m sure you’ll be very happy with what’s on
offer.”

*****

She
managed to leave the office by eight, earlier than usual because she
couldn’t concentrate. By nine she was in her apartment, sipping a
margarita and standing at the glass doors to her balcony, gazing at
but not seeing the frantic floodlit city spread out before her. Come
on Janet, make a decision, you’re good at making decisions. Yes,
she thought, I’m good at making business decisions, but this wasn’t
just a business decision, it affected everything. She started to try
and marshal the arguments in her head but had to admit defeat and sat
down at her dining table with a pen and paper. She drew a line down
the middle of the paper and at the top of the left hand column she
wrote “Pros”. At the top of the right hand column she wrote
“Cons”.

She
considered the Cons. Other than Martyn and the kids she had no other
close family in the UK, she was an only child and her single parent
mother and one childless aunt were long dead. She didn’t know when
she’d see Martyn again but she acknowledged that ship had almost
certainly sailed, and to be honest she could live with it. She’d
miss the green English countryside in the spring and summer that she
loved so much, but she could maybe take a weekend break in New
England, and she wouldn’t have to endure her mounting depression as
autumn progressed to winter and the long, dark nights that followed.
Would she miss the free healthcare from the NHS? No, it wasn’t a
factor. She was quite sure any new package would include the very
best health insurance. The BBC? She could get that in New York. It
would be long hours of hard work with a lot of stress, but that had
never bothered her in the past. In the end she only wrote down one
item under cons, but she wrote it in capital letters pressing down
hard on the page.

“I
DON’T KNOW WHEN I’LL EVER SEE MY KIDS AGAIN!”

Opposite
this, in the Pros column she wrote “But I can skype them as much as
I want.” before deciding that was a fucking pathetic counter and
scribbling it out.

Before
starting on Pros she allowed her mind to wander briefly to her
relationship with Tom. Relationship? Could she even dignify their...
“interactions” with that word? She still saw him occasionally,
that would be the occasionally when he was in town and could drag
himself away from board meetings and networking. But she didn’t
care. To be honest the sex was becoming routine and mundane, even
stale, and his manner and body language led her to suspect he might
be feeling the same. What the hell, he’d served his purpose. Wasn’t
it Lenin who coined the term “Useful Idiot”?

So
back to the Pro’s. She didn’t yet know the package but she had no
doubt it would be handsome with a significant increase in salary,
even more share options (which had already made her very comfortable
indeed and were potentially far more lucrative than the salary), a
bigger car and housing allowance, outstanding health cover. And what
a career progression! She’d have all the stature and kudos of
“President” on her resume, and even if she failed, which she
thought unlikely, she’d bullshit her way around it somehow. The
world was full of failed presidents who just walked into another
similar role. But imagine if she was a success. Household and Retail
may be one of the less glamourous divisions, but success here would
unquestionably lead to an even bigger role in a more high profile
division. And there was a good chance she might be approached by a
headhunter and lured away to another outfit, though it would have to
be an unbelievable package to get her to leave before all her options
had vested. Maybe one day soon she could afford to send the kids to
an even posher private school. Eton? Harrow? Wellington College? Even
if she couldn’t hug them.

She
realised she was getting carried away with herself and pulled herself
back to the sheet of paper. She quickly scribbled:

Salary

Options

Benefits

Career
Progression

Profile
and Potential for Further Career Progression

She
sat and stared at he page for a further five minutes without writing
anymore, then finished her margarita and opened the fridge, pulling
out a bottle of pinot grigio.

*****

Dinner
was the usual. Poached wild salmon, (she never bought farmed), with a
salad of curly kale leaves, sliced onions, tomatoes and raw
mushrooms, all organic of course. No carbs. It was a boring diet but
she was pleased with the results. She was maintaining her weight at
125lbs and she loved the way her clothes hung loosely on her slender
frame. In the mornings, after her shower, she would stand naked in
front of her full length mirror and take pride in her taut stomach
and the enticing way her hip bones protruded. She continued to dwell
on her situation. After dinner she poured another glass of wine.
“Last one” she said to herself. She was tired, so she took the
wine into her bedroom, undressed and climbed into bed.

Of
course she couldn’t sleep. Her quandary kept going round and round
in her head. Yes, the salary, the options, the benefits, the profile,
the career progression, they were all a dream come true, all she’d
ever wanted, and would probably be just a stepping stone to even
greater things. But what sort of a mother leaves her young kids on a
different continent for an indefinite period of time, never knowing
when she’ll see them again? What sort of a mother, at least
sometimes, when work permits, doesn’t watch them grow, share their
triumphs and disasters, pick them up from school, tuck them into bed
at night with a story and a kiss. Actually she knew exactly what sort
of a mother didn’t do those things. Her mother. Her single
worthless, depressive, alcoholic mother. Her mother who would
disappear on binges for weeks at a time, so that Janet would have to
call Auntie Kathy to come and get her and her little brother again.
Yes, it had been a miserable childhood. But it had toughened her up,
taught her independence and never to rely on other people, and left
her with a steely resolve never to end up like that. She often
thought that without that experience, if she’d had a more
conventional, loving childhood, she would not have had the ambition
and determination to get where she was today. There was no doubt that
objectively, given her background she’d done well for herself,
pulled herself up from the gutter. A thought began to coalesce in her
head. At first it was just too horrible to contemplate, but then she
surrendered and let it in. Maybe, just maybe, an absent mother might
have the same beneficial effect on her children, teach them to stand
on their own two feet, go for what they wanted, be ruthless in their
ambition. Her mind was racing now. Maybe she could even claim she was
making this sacrifice for them? But no, that was ridiculous. Come on
Janet, get a grip.

She
began to feel over-whelmed by everything. This was a very unusual
feeling for Janet and she didn’t quite know how to deal with it.
She sobbed, quietly yet briefly, into her pillow. Then, quite
abruptly and resolutely, she reached out to her nightstand and
switched on the bedside lamp. She dried her eyes with a tissue then
picked up her phone and called Randy’s direct office number. She’d
meant to leave a message and was astonished when she heard Randy’s
voice on the other end of the line.

“Good
evening Janet! Wow, you’re a night owl. I like to see that sort of
commitment. So have you had a think about what I said?”

“Hi
Randy. Me a night owl? At least I’m not still in the office. But
yes, I have been thinking about what you said, and subject to
agreeing a suitable package I’d like to accept your offer.”

“That’s
great news Janet. You’ve made the right decision. Come to my office
first thing in the morning and we’ll bash out the deal. And I’m
going to mail Marsia now so she can get working on the press release
as soon as she gets in. We’ll have it out by lunchtime.”

END
OF CHAPTER