A Bad week is Over

It started out so innocently. We just enjoyed our biggest month ever in my office and I took the entire gang out to Benihanas to celebrate. 17 of us all joined in and ate appetizers and steak, shrimp, scallops, sushi, tempura, edamami, chicken, fried rice, salad, soup and ice cream. We were all in good spirits. Pete and I went out afterward and met with the construction supervisor and were assured that the space would be ready for us to take occupancy on April 27th. Home Office didn't want to have to pay rent at the Rancho location, so we have to be out by month end. The offices are all roughed out, the paint has been applied, the carpets and ceilings were due to be done on Friday and the doors and windows will be in this week. The carpet will be installed by week's end.

It was such a good day, but it all came crashing down when Anthony walked into my office and shook my hand and said, "It's been a good eight year run, but I'm leaving. Consider this my notice." I almost fell out of my chair. How could it all come apart so quickly? I was stunned. He is leaving to open a Roseville office for a competitor. I asked him if he was taking any of his assistants and his response was , "I wouldn't do that to you, Ken." Five minutes later, Pete's main assistant walked in and gave her notice as well. She is leaving to join him and help him run the office. I walked back in to Anthony and said, "What the hell? You just looked me in the eye and lied to me." He claimed that No, I asked about HIS assistants. Semantics.

It is really hard for me. I took Anthony from an Assistant UW making peanuts to a top producer making six figures. He would not be in the position he is today without my encouragement and guidance and faith. He has some issues that other managers would not have overlooked, but I gave him his chance and he made the most of it. I will get over it, but it feels like a betrayal.

I took a night to grieve and then hit the ground running the next morning. I promoted one of Anthony's assistants to an underwriting position, broke up his territory among four of my underwriters and made contact with all agents that wrote over $20,000 with us from Anthony's book. I also sent letters to all of the agency principals with details of the new team working with them and an explanation that Anthony had left and that as far as we are concerned it is business as usual and we were ready to handle any and all new business that they have to work on.

I was in the process of hiring one new assistant to replace Cora, but now will replace Pete's assistant and hopefully add one more to help us with the infrastructure and support all of the underwriters. I have interviewed about 12 candidates so far and have four to meet with Harvey on Thursday. He was coming in anyhow to do second interviews on the one position. Now, we will have a full day. I have four more interviews Monday thru Wednesday and hopefully I can add one more person to the rotation on Thursday.

Things are pretty hectic at work right now and everyone is really busy. The move couldn't come at a worst time and I talked to Home Office about letting me out of the Canada trip. They compromised and canceled the Calgary trip, but they still need me to fly into Kelowna. It looks like I will fly in to Abbottsford on Thursday and then on to Kelowna on Friday. I'll still get to see Dad and Shirley, but just for one night.

Darla will have to make the trip with her brother to Pacific Grove without me. She is inviting her sister to join her, so it will be Darla's family all together in Monterey during that weekend. I will be on site to handle the move.

Even with all of the drama at work, I still was able to make it out both days this weekend for our Zone two man qualifier. Steve and I teamed up and after our laid egg in February, we played well this weekend and tied for fourth out of 33 teams. We both struggled individually on Saturday, but played well as a team, shooting a 63. There were four teams with better scores, the leaders at 59. We teed off today third from last as they played in inverse order of position. I shot 88 yesterday, and struggled on a number of holes. Today was completely different and I played great, shooting a 41+40=81. Steve shot 92 yesterday and improved to an 85 today, so individually we improved by 14 shots, but had a 64 today for a two day total of 127. 123 qualified for the tournament in Monterey. I did have a closest to the pin today and put the ball 28 inches from the hole on a 148 yard par three. The ball was tracking straight to the hole and came up just short, but right on line with the pin. I enjoyed myself today.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind. One of my biggest issues right now is how Pete feels about what happened. He lost a major part of his team and one of the reasons that he grew so quickly last year. He is focused on moving forward and has taken on a big part of Anthony's work. There is definitely an undercurrent of unhappiness with Pete right now and we need to work our way through this. Pete and I have had many conversations and he'll get over it. He just feels like he lost a brother and a daughter all in the same day.

Next weekend I will play in the Roseville City Amateur both Saturday and Sunday. The weather has finally turned to Spring and we should see temperatures in the 80's next weekend. The weather continued raining last week. In fact, we had rain all week, right up to Friday night, which saw rain and hail. It was wet at the course all weekend with standing water around several holes and in a few of the bunkers. It will dry out this week with temperatures in the 70's and up to 80 by Friday. It was cold on Saturday morning, but warmed to 68 degrees and up to 72 today and the rain finally moved out. Tomorrow will be 77 degrees and up to 87 degrees on Friday. We need some 70's for awhile and a taste of Spring.

Well, I need to get on to my evening. I hope you all are well and life is treating you well. Ciao.