Same as it Ever Was

“Same as it Ever Was”

By ten-fifteen Chaz had been walked around the office and introduced to most of his new colleagues. At every workstation and every office door they’d stop and Bob would say, “I’d like you to meet Chaz Phillips, our new Art Director.” And at each stop that introduction was followed by a “Nice to meet you, Chaz” and a not so subtle head to toe look-over from each employee. Chaz had long ago gotten used to that kind of thing. Unfortunately his extensive resume and education were quickly passed over and his hippie appearance became the focus of people’s attention. He’d heard every joking comment about his long hair, his beard and his wire-framed glasses. There was, “You’ve got the John Lennon thing going pretty good” and people passing him on the street and giving him the peace sign. One time a friend even told him, “You gotta get out of the Sixties, man.” But every time he’d just smile and nod. He was totally comfortable in his own skin.

As they walked back to the large room that would be Chaz’s home away from home Bob said, “So that’s the team, or most of it. A couple of people aren’t here yet. You’ll get to know them all better in time but I think you’re going to be chained to your desk for the first few weeks, learning our graphics system and figuring out ways to make things better.”

When they walked into the Art Department Chaz asked, “So what about Human Resources? I assume there’s a lot of paperwork to fill out.”

Bob hesitated for a moment then answered, “Yeah, well I saved that for last on purpose. You’ll be sitting down with Amy and, well, just between the two of us she can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

Chaz smiled. “What do you mean?”.”

“How can I put this? Amy goes strictly by the book, the employee handbook that she wrote herself.”

Chaz was surprised. “On Point has what, like maybe twenty-five employees? And they have their own handbook?”

Bob smiled and nodded. “Yeah, when John and Jay Simon started the company they told me they’d be hands-off owners so I asked her to create a sort of framework for employees to use. That framework became a forty-two page book that’s way over the top. And you didn’t hear that from me.”

Chaz shrugged and said, “Thanks for the heads up.”

Bob extended his right hand. “Welcome aboard and let me know if you need anything.”

Chaz spent the rest of the morning on his computer, going through the company’s website art templates and client marketing plans. On Point had a great reputation for building websites and online marketing strategies for clients of all sizes but their market share had been slipping for over a year. He’d been brought on board to revamp the company brand and everything he saw on his screen told him he had a big job ahead of him. It was almost noon when he heard a knock on the doorframe. He looked up at a short, neatly dressed woman holding a stack of paperwork and said, “You must be Amy. Bob said you’d be reaching out some time today.”

The woman approached his desk and sat down in the chair in front of it. “Yes, I’m Amy Catania. I’m the HR person here.” She didn’t have so much as a hint of a smile and was giving him the same up and down look-over that the rest of the people had. He resisted the urge to run his hand over his beard. Amy leaned forward and said, “I’d like to welcome you and ask you to fill out these information and benefit forms here.” She laid them on the desk in front of him. “They’re self-explanatory and I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with them.”

“Cool. I’m not going out to lunch so I’ll try to have these back to you before the end of the day.”

There was still no sign of a smile from her. “And this is very important.” She handed him a booklet with a bright blue cover that read ON POINT Employee Guidelines.

“Oh, yeah, the guidelines. Bob mentioned them to me.”

“Well it says employee guidelines but I prefer to look at it as the rule book. Those are the rules.”

Chaz thought to himself, “Man, Bob wasn’t kidding about this chick being way over the top.” He flipped through the pages and said, “Okay, thanks, I’ll look at this tonight at home.”

“Yes, please do that. It’s important to know the way we do things around here. And please take special note of Page 19.” With that she offered a weak smile, stood up and left the room.

She was barely out the door when he thumbed through the manual and found Page 19. The heading was Expected Dress and Grooming Requirements. As he scanned the page he noted that it was his first day with the company and he’d already broken three rules; No blue jeans, facial hair must be of proper length and neatly trimmed and finally, mens’hair should not extend beyond the shirt collar. “Well, that’s interesting.” he thought. “Guess I’m off to a good start.”

It wasn’t the first time Chaz’s Sixties-looking style had been noticed but his two previous employers had just looked the other way. His artistic talent and gift for managing clients had always cancelled out any negative perceptions of his own personal dress code. And he’d come by his look honestly. He’d grown up in the 1980s in a home where politics and activism were a part of his family life. His birth had been a later-in-life surprise to his parents; educated and professional people who still had one foot in their days as hippies. Dinnertime conversations were often filled with stories of marches, protests and debate. And somehow Chaz had always felt that he’d been part of that long-ago action.

The lunch hour was spent filling out the forms that Amy had given him. He could already tell she was the kind of person he wanted to stay on the good side of. That led to a couple of hours getting to know his creative team; three very talented and off the wall young people who he bonded with immediately. He’d already felt close to being ready to implement some of his ideas. When Bob walked in just before three o’clock Chaz found out that being close wouldn’t be good enough.

“Hey, Chaz, I hate to lay this on you on your first day but next week’s meeting with Considine Solar has been moved up a bit.”

“What do you mean by “a bit”?

“I mean like four o’clock this afternoon.”

“Holy shit, I just got started looking at their file. What are they expecting from us?”

“They’re expecting us, mainly you, to blow them away with a whole new approach to their website and social media pages. I told them they were asking a lot but they said they wanted to at least meet you and get a comfort level with you. They know we’ll need more time for an actual presentation.”

“So this is like our first date before we decide if we want to go steady.”

Bob smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s a fair analogy.”

“Okay, I guess the place for me to start is to go to their website and kind of dissect it. I already checked out their Facebook page and it’s pretty weak. I’ll get a handle on where things stand on the screen but what can you tell me about the people, the culture? Are they cool or stodgy? Are they chocolate or vanilla?”

Bob walked over to a small meeting table and sat down and Chaz joined him. “Well, to use your terms I’d have to go with stodgy and vanilla.”

Chaz leaned back and waited to hear more.

“It’s an interesting origin story,” Bob continued. “Billy Considine was and still is a rancher. He has a degree in Resource Management of all things, and he got interested in solar back in the 1970s before it was a thing. He borrowed some money from his father and started out manufacturing basic silicon panels and then expanded into large arrays for businesses. The company is his baby and his life.”

“Far out, he was doing solar before I was even born.”

“Yeah, then last year he ran into some health problems and had to turn over the day to day operation to his granddaughter, Julia. She’s a sharp, young woman and I have a hunch she feels the need to prove herself to Grampa somehow. From what I understand she’s the one who’s not satisfied with their online presence and she doesn’t feel any particular loyalty to us. And unfortunately she’ll probably run their side of the meeting today.”

“Any kind of strategy in mind?”

“Just listen to what she has to say. From my phone conversations with her she sounds like a real tight ass so be prepared.”

Chaz crossed his legs and pushed his hair back with both hands. “No problem, man, I’m a good listener.”

 Bob stood up and before he left he turned back to Chaz. “We’ll listen and choose our words carefully, but watch out for old Billy because if he gets a chance he’ll talk your leg off.”

The next hour was a total immersion into solar energy companies in general and Considine in particular. The work that On Point had done for them was good stuff but definitely in need of a freshening and an update. As Chaz scrolled through screen after screen he jotted down his thoughts on ways to separate Considine from the competition. There was a lot to do and almost no time to do it. By five minutes to four he had the two giant screens in the conference room cued up with their website homepage and Facebook profile. He felt he was as ready as he could be given that he had no idea what to expect.

At precisely four o’clock, Julia was the first one to come through the door and Chaz got the same feeling he’d had earlier in the day when his introductions started with a greeting and then a complete up and down visual inspection of him.

“Hi, I’m Julia and I take it your Chaz.” She seemed nervous and her smile forced. His expectation was correct and he smiled while she gave him the once over.

“Yep, I’m Chaz, he said as they shook hands, “and it’s nice to meet you.”

Following closely behind her and ahead of Bob, a tall, lean man offered his hand. “Hi there, Chaz, I’m Billy Considine and I’ve heard a lot about you.” He had the look of a man who’d spent his life outdoors. Like Julia he gave Chaz a good looking over but his reaction was totally different. “You know, Chaz, you kinda’ remind me of myself, way back when I was startin’ out. The beard, the long hair, the jeans.

“Yeah, believe me, I get my share of “Look at that hippie stuff.” I’m used to it.”

“They called me a hippie too and I was tryin’ to fix all the world’s problems.” Billy’s broad smile put Chaz at ease.

Chaz remembered Bob’s advice about engaging Billy in conversation but as they all took a seat at the table he went ahead anyway. “Well, you know Billy, you tried to fix things, my parents tried and in my own way I’m trying too. But the problem is we’re still fighting the same battles.”

Billy leaned forward. His intense expression made it clear that he wanted to talk. “Well I was fightin’ a big company that was pollutin’ the river that ran through our ranch. That was one fight. And my bum leg kept me out of Nam but I lost a couple of friends there so I started marchin’ to bring the rest of em’ home.”

Julia looked at Billy and sighed. “Grampa, we’re getting off the subject here.

The old man nodded and said, “I know honey, in a minute.”

Chaz looked over at Bob. He looked back at Chaz and nodded, as if to say, “It’s okay, keep it going.”

Chaz said, “You know, Billy, nothing has really changed. People are still fighting the same fights that you did back in the day. Your water pollution is now climate change. Your fight in Vietnam just moved to the Middle East. And look, the whole country is still fighting over civil rights.”

Again Julia interrupted. “What does any of this have to do with why we’re here?” Her impatience was obvious.

There was a long silence as no one seemed to know who should speak next. Bob got up, walked to the front of the room and said, “How about we turn on these screens and see how Considine looks today so we can brainstorm how you go forward?”

Chaz had been lost in thought and when he’d heard what Bob said a smile came to his face. “Wait, what if the way to go forward is by going back?” Bob and Julia appeared to be puzzled but Billy nodded as Chaz continued. “Billy, why did you get into the solar business?”

Billy pointed to the left screen. “Well, our company history is on the website.”

“Yeah, I know, I read it. But it’s mostly about how you grew the technology. It’s the how, not the why.”

Billy seemed like he was starting to get Chaz’s point and he smiled. “Keep going.”

“You were a guy, a hippie who saw an environmental problem and you fought to fix it. You stopped the pollution of the river on your ranch. And I’m guessing it was that same hippie who saw the need for clean energy and embraced solar. Am I right?”

Billy was grinning from ear to ear. “Bingo.”

Julia looked at Bob and then at Chaz. “Where in the hell is this conversation leading?” she asked.

Chaz paused a moment to collect his thoughts then answered, “It’s leading us back, back to the beginning and to what made Considine Solar different from the competition. It wasn’t about technology or business.” He looked at Billy. “It was this man, this hippie who had long hair and a beard who cared about the planet, who took up the fight to make it better.”

Billy was obviously pleased by what he was hearing and Bob noticed it. “I have to say, Chaz, that’s an interesting take on things. Where does it take us next?”

Chaz picked up the remote control and began to scroll through the Considine website. “Okay, we developed this site for you a few years ago. I wasn’t part of that team but when I first looked over things it seemed as though the story started in the middle. You’re clearly a leader in engineering and technology and you come across as a modern, solid company.”

Julia asked, “So isn’t that the message we want to send?”

“Yes it is but it’s not the whole message, the whole story.”

“And exactly what do you think is missing?”

Chaz straightened up and took a long breath. He looked at Billy and answered, “What’s missing is the part about a young man, a man who some called a hippie, who fought a polluter and learned that the best way to clean up the environment doesn’t happen in a courtroom, it happens outdoors under a bright sun.”

Bob understood what Chaz had just created; a whole new identity and a new Considine brand. “Chaz, if I can jump in here for a minute?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

He looked at Julia and couldn’t quite read her expression but the look of enthusiasm on Billy’s face was enough to tell him that Chaz had scored big. “This idea kind of happened on the fly and I know Chaz wants to develop it completely. Give us a week to build on it.”

Julia sighed and looked up at the screen. “I guess that will work.”

Bob continued. “Your input will certainly be helpful in the next few days and Billy, feel free to get in touch with Chaz, you know, hippie to hippie, with any ideas you might come up with.”

Billy looked around the table at each of them, grinned and said, “Far out.”