Prattling before the Pratfall

The prodigal apprentice had returned. My first thought when hearing that Ted was at the front entrance asking for me was, “seven years.” It had been seven years since Ted was allegedly involved in a car theft. The statute of limitations had expired.

Was it a coincidence that Ted had appeared the day after I was back working in Cambridge, for the first time in six years? Or had Ted been in contact with someone in the company? Those questions didn’t occur to me right away, but I did wonder why Ted was there. He was apparently alone, but that didn’t mean his intentions were good. I told the receptionist I’d be right down.

Ted was very pleased to see me. When I saw him smiling with his hand extended, I was pleased to see him, too. We shook hands and sat in the lobby to talk. I told Ted that I’d been working at other company offices for six years, and I’d just returned to Cambridge the previous day. From Ted’s reaction, it was obvious he had shown up when he did purely by chance, hoping I’d be there.

I told Ted about the police call, without asking him for details about what he and his cohort had done. Ted admitted he’d screwed up and made a big mistake. Knowing the police were looking for him, Ted had made his way to Haiti, and that was where he’d been for the past seven years. So what had Ted been doing, and why had he made a point of stopping by to see me?

Ted said he started a business in Haiti, specializing in data communications and computer networking. The business was doing well, thanks to everything I’d taught him about the technology and troubleshooting. Ted was there to see me simply because he wanted to say thank you. We shook hands again, wished each other good luck, and said our goodbyes.

I’ve thought about what happened with Ted many times over the years, and thanks to the “all’s well that ends well” finish, I decided to finally tell the story. The End!

On LinkedIn, I told some war stories about my old job. This is something I wrote about Ted’s replacement, who fortunately was already working for the company.

Continue reading Ted Talk – Final

The police had questioned Ted, presumably as part of an investigation requested by the car rental company. I assumed Ted had given them my name as a cover story. “It’s just a misunderstanding. Call my boss. He can explain.”

What was the sequence of events that made it possible for Ted and his partner in crime steal a car from Logan Airport? Was it a rental his pal had arranged, that they failed to return? Or was a copy of a key made and the car was simply driven off the lot? My brief conversation with “Sgt. Friday” at the Massport Police was a “just the facts” exchange, and I had no more information than what he was willing to tell me.

With Ted gone, I had to scramble to fill the position, while doubling up my own traveling. Immediately, I was on the road for seven out of eight weeks. Looking back on my first fifteen years at that job, I’m frankly amazed. A friend of mine talks about how great the 80’s were for fun and partying in San Francisco. I remember the 80’s mostly for three things — work, work, and more work.

Time passed, and after the company bought a new building I was transferred out of Cambridge. By then I was married and we were in our first house. Before finding a replacement for Ted, I had negotiated the purchase price from a hotel room phone in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The suburban office was a long drive from the house we’d been in for only a year. That meant I needed two reliable cars, and we only had one. Money was extremely tight, and I borrowed from my retirement fund to buy the little Honda Civic hatchback that got crunched thirteen years later, resulting in the ankle injury that troubles me to this moment.

I was in that office building for only a year, before the company bought another property. I was transferred again, resulting in an even longer commute. Forty miles each way, every day, along Boston’s infamous Route 128 corridor. Fridays on the way home, I would stop at the LaserDisc store to rent videos for the weekend.

After becoming a father, my traveling for work became a real problem for me and my wife. Then, in 1995, I was offered the opportunity to switch positions to a development group (where I met tastewar). It was an offer I didn’t hesitate to accept. The job even returned me to where I’d started, in Cambridge.

The first day back at my old desk is easy to remember. It was the day of the Oklahoma City Bombing. The next day, the receptionist at the front desk called me. “There’s someone named Ted here to see you.”