Page 57 - Gary's Book - Final Copy 7.9.2017_Active

him. I placed Bob on a 30-day probation period with an outline of how “we” were
going to address the details.

Two weeks later, on a Friday morning, Bob came into the office at about 11:00
a.m., made some phone calls, wrote out his expense report, placed it in my inbox
and left for the weekend. At about 3:00 p.m., I quickly scanned it and saw that he
had claimed that he had taken a local customer to lunch that day. I knew the

customer, so I called him and asked if he had seen Bob that day; I said I needed to
talk to him. He said, “No!” I called my manager and told him I was releasing Bob
next Monday. He said, “Hold tight, Gary, I will get to you very shortly because
with his hot temper, he will hit you with a chair.” About an hour later, I received a
joint call from my boss and a corporate safety officer stating, “Hold off! We will

call you on Monday with a plan of action.”

Come Monday I arranged for Bob to attend a conference in Boston, which would
require him to drive to the Philadelphia airport for departure and return. My
secretary had made all the arrangements during the week. I called Bob and told
him that I had a flight arriving just before his on Friday and that we could meet for

a drink in the United Airline’s lounge. This was a great idea because it would
require him to go through the metal detector, which would benefit me and my
protection. Dow Corning had arranged for plain clothes police officers to be there.
Then on Friday, I greeted him, told him, “It is over, Bob.” I collected his company
ID, car keys, employee card, credit cards and office keys and told him that he
would have to take a taxi home and submit his final expenses next week. He broke

down and cried.

We met the following Monday to clean out his desk, and he thanked me for acting,
which meant he had to come to grips with his personal issues. I helped Bob draft
his resume and job search profile. In fact, I even helped him get employed with
Otis Elevator Company in San Francisco. Fortunately, he got his life together,
saving his family and himself. He thanked me for it and was very appreciative.

The territory increased, and one late Friday afternoon I got a call from the vice-
president of marketing asking if I was prepared to accept an international
assignment. Boy, was I ever! I had been asking for one during my last several
annual reviews - saying I wanted to go to Europe since I had had ten hours of
German in college. However, the assignment was not to go to Europe but to Hong

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