I shifted uncomfortably. “To be honest, I haven't thought through what the buyout means for the company,” I admitted. “My job is just to give them the facts of it. It's for my higher-ups to make the decisions on what's best for the company.”
Chuck frowned. “It's rare that a buyout doesn't result in some sort of reorganization, and reorganization tends to mean that people lose their jobs.”
“True,” I agreed. “But I have a pretty specialized position as an insurance analyst. They can't replace me with just anyone. And what's more, there's no real reason for them to want to replace me. I don't get paid all that well, so it's not like I'm sapping up company resources, and I do my job well and turn in my reports on time. That's all they could be looking for, isn't it?”
“It's all about loyalty,” Chuck insisted. “Besides, you can't tell me that you don't like the relatively laid-back corporate culture that we currently have. Being able to wear whatever you want in the privacy of your office. Having an office where, for all your higher-ups know, you could be browsing social media all day. Knowing all your higher-ups by name and going out with them for drinks on Fridays. Things like that. None of that is going to exist with Orinoco.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that's not the way companies like that operate,” Chuck said, shaking his head. “I used to work for a company that was similar to Orinoco in some respects. Very cutthroat. Every man for himself. It's not a fun place to come to work in the mornings. I can tell you that much.”
I laughed. “Chuck, we work in an office. And sure, we may both love the people that we're working here with, and it might not be the harsh office environment that some companies promote, but at the same time, it's not all about fun. Do you honestly think Orinoco is going to change us that much? They probably won't even care what the company workplace is like, as long as we keep increasing our bottom line profits.”
“I wouldn't be so sure.” Chuck sighed. “As much as I'd like to believe that they won't care about anything more than the profits, I think that it's precisely because they care about the profits that they'll care about the company. They'll view it as modifying our work ethic. Streamlining things. Promoting company loyalty.”
“Well, even if that eventually does happen, that's nothing that I need to worry about today,” I said, wishing I could sound
as firm as I wanted to. “All I have to worry about today is giving this presentation and getting all the facts across.”
“Watch out for Goldwright, though,” Chuck advised.
I rolled my eyes. “Watch out for what?” I asked. “Sure, his business practices may be ruthless, but that's something for the supervisors to consider when they're thinking about the trade. It's not like he's going to get up in the middle of my presentation and do something. I'm more worried that I'm going to say something stupid or mess something up with one of my slides.”
“Just, remember that Andrew Goldwright has something of a reputation,” Chuck said slowly, and from the look he was giving me, he was trying to hint at something more than the man's business reputation.
I laughed. “Relax,” I said. “I appreciate your looking out for me, but I'm sure Andrew isn't going to do anything that could jeopardize this takeover. He's not stupid, no matter what you seem to believe.”
“I never said he was stupid,” Chuck muttered.
“Lacking in business sense, then, or whatever it was you said.” I smiled a little at him. “Chuck, don't worry about me. I'm a big girl. I'm sure I can handle whatever it is that he throws at me. As long as he doesn't ask me to stand on my head and recite the last ten years of tax returns or anything like that!”
“I doubt he'll do that,” Chuck said, finally cracking a smile. “I'll take you out to lunch afterward. How does that sound?”
“We're having lunch catered in during the meeting,” I said apologetically. “But maybe we could get drinks later this week?”
“Sure, sure,” Chuck agreed. “Break a leg, trooper.”
I smiled and turned back toward my presentation. “Thanks,” I said, even though I was already typing in the final section of text.
Chapter Two
Andrew
I rifled through the paperwork one more time, glad that I'd had Jenny, my secretary, postpone my meeting with the Albright girl until later in the afternoon, rather than the early-afternoon meeting that had originally been scheduled. Orinoco was most likely going to take over Albright. I just needed a bit more information about all the various implications of the buyout before I could sign it. And one of the implications that I needed the most information about, at the moment, was the potential insurance implications.
Orinoco had made a name for itself as one of the premier online retailers, but if we successfully bought out Albright, we would become something more than that. Not only did Albright carry its own portfolio of products that it sold online, but it made its deliveries using drones. If we could corner the market on drone deliveries, we would really be head and shoulders ahead of the competition.
The problem was, I didn't know what would happen if those deliveries went bad. There was too much potential for drones to crash or deliveries to be lost or damaged. I wasn't sure that Orinoco was prepared to absorb those risks.
Hence, why I needed to talk to Albright's main insurance analyst.
Jenny knocked lightly on the door and poked her head inside. “Mr. Goldwright, your three p.m. meeting is here,” she informed me.
I waved my hand. “Send her in,” I said, shuffling my papers into order on my desk.
The woman who entered my office was nothing like I would have expected. I didn't deal much with the insurance analysts that worked for Orinoco, but I had assumed they were all frumpy, older women who had gotten bored working in the finance department and decided to lone-wolf it in the insurance department.
But this woman was young, maybe a few years younger than me, and she was far from frumpy. She wore a neat gray suit with a bright, silky purple shirt that emphasized her pale skin and dark hair. And those legs, wow. They went all the way up.