Cracking Up!

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

EVALUATION

 

Julie seemed distant most of the week, or maybe it was just me. The concrete debacle wasn’t the only problem that week. I was so pissed off at Ron; I let it cloud my expert judgment while I was bidding a $450,000 job. It would be a quick and easy project. When they read out the bids, I knew my price was going to be the lowest. All the others were coming in around $415,000. My price was $375,000. Ten percent might not seem like a big margin, but when most companies were only marking the jobs up five percent, you do the math. I left something out. Fuck me!

Back to Julie. I called her, asking how the examination went. She seemed distant when I broached the topic, but it was just another doctor’s appointment. I was pleased to find out the first visit and X-Rays were free. That’s a word you seldom heard from the medical community.  Her only comment was she had a follow-up on Monday where they were going to review the pictures and discuss her treatment plan. Wonder how much that’s going to cost?

Monday rolled around. I, back to my dungeon of doom; she, off to her clients and second visit to the chiropractor.

Looks like another sunny day in Bedford.

 

* * *

 

I was correct in referring to my office as a dungeon of doom; more bad news from the University Park job and the bid from last week. The pipe superintendent, William, informed me the 2000’ of sewer line he laid is off by five feet. “What the fuck? You’ve got to be kidding me?” I yelled into the phone. “How the hell did you do that?” He mumbled words which weren’t audible as I continued ranting. “Do you have any fucking idea how much it’s going to cost to move the line five feet because of your incompetence? Do you? Of course, not. You’re too stupid to dissect your inability to read grade stakes and take measurements. In fact, do us both a favor, find a new job. You’re fired!” Yeah that went well.

After I slammed the phone down, I pulled up the low bid to find the mistake. It didn’t take too long. Instead of bidding the sidewalk price as square yards, I put in a price for square feet. That might not seem like a big issue until you do the math. My price was $2.50 a square foot versus $22.50 a square yard. And for eleven hundred and eleven square yards of sidewalk, that’s a $25,000 swing, in the wrong direction. I hope Julie’s morning is going better.

 

* * *

 

Why am I so nervous? It’s only a follow-up. I’m a happily married woman with a great job, wonderful children and a loving hus…. Well, two out of three isn’t bad. Joe works so hard, he’s forgotten why we fell in love and decided to spend our lives together. I sure hope his new job works out, if not, I might have to start looking at greener pastures.

Sandie’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Miss Robertson, Doctor Waters will see you now.”

“Excuse me?”

“The doctor will see you now, Julie. Follow me, please.”

“Oh, okay.”

I couldn’t wait to see him again. I did my best to suppress the butterflies battling in my stomach.

Sandie led me down the small corridor, seating me in the modest office. Not what I expected. The room was only ten feet by ten feet. There were a few diplomas on the wall but nothing like the surgeon’s office I visited after the accident. I couldn’t help but think of how many trees were felled to fill their walls with layer after layer of certificates.