Can you believe it's only day two?

When Alex arrived the next morning she found her office unpacked and looking like a place of business. This was certainly Gary’s doing. She made a mental note to thank him later. It felt more productive already. And she was detecting a sense of belonging. Alex had set up a P.O. box on the way into the office. It was better to keep his business separate from his campaign as much as possible. Alex settled in and began following up on the calls from yesterday. Call: remind of promised support; supply pep talk; give the new P.O. box address, thank for support. Most of the calls went that way. One call did provide an opportunity for an event. The gentleman had promised support to Terry but when Alex called to collect he Hemmed and Hawed. He wasn’t sure with so many players on the field and it being so early. He couldn’t afford to give to every campaign, which he’d need to do for business reasons. “It’s just not a good investment at this time” he paused “but Terry is a good friend” he relented.
Alex convinced him to host an event. “You could raise 10K and it wouldn’t come from your pocket. You could support Terry later with a personal check when he’s made it through the primary. But he’ll have a better shot if you do something for him now.”
“It makes sense” he said, “Everyone knows I’m friends with Terry and they would expect me to do something. They don’t need to know I’m not ponying up”
Alex laughed with him.
“But you will in a manner of speaking. Your space, food and beverage will be an in kind contribution. More effort, less pocket. You could do a quick cocktail thing after work.”
Alex encouraged an in home gathering of social associates as opposed to business associates at work. While the latter usually provided larger amounts of cash, the former tended to expand contacts, provide more exposure and produce more raisers. It was really a matter of the short run verses the long run. Alex had to finesse them to that decision. It had to be all the raisers idea, even if Alex was the one to orchestrate it. Settling on a date in the beginning of next month and with his promise to send her his list of guests the got off the phone. Lists were everything. If you had the names and information you could expand a database. The database was what made consultants worthwhile. Alex had just helped the raiser to understand that his time was too valuable. It made more sense for her to create the invite, send it out, receive the RSVP’s, make the nametags, etc. When it’s broken down for someone they tend to quickly give up control. She had four weeks to pull it all together. All he had to do was have his house cleaned and order the hors d'oeuvres. It showed signs of being a good event. When she had offered to recommend a caterer he told her he had one he always used. Alex wrote up the brief notes and arrangements and a “Save the Date”: an informal form of invitation. Working up a schedule for call time was hard. Setting it up for once a week the first month, then twice a week the second, and then every other day. It would be something Terry would have to ease into and get use to doing. Even then Alex wanted to do every day but would have to feel it out. Erin had told her everyone was very supportive but that had yet to be put to the test of time. As the partnership weighed the free advertising –vs- the # of cases Terry assigned to Jr’s , or the amount of business he wasn’t bringing in. Alex had to consider all this. There was still time though and maybe Terry could balance all of this.
Alex looked at he clock and stretched. It was only 10:30 but on top of everything else she was half way through the calls from yesterday. She looked around and tapped her pen on the floor plan “And my reward shall be coffee” She looked at the floor plan and wondered if she would get the other floor plans as well. Alex made sure to make all the correct turns but still lost the break room. A head popped up from behind a cubical wall “Would you like a cookie?”
Alex started “Well, I was, looking for coffee”
The woman looked crest fallen “Oh, then not a tea drinker?”
”No,no” Alex realized she had just made a fau paux “…I love tea, it’s just I’ve become a bit of a coffee drinker recently” Alex lied, her love affair going back to childhood. Coffee had a way of making things better. She thought of church and the Anti room where the sermon was piped in. Her dad preferred sitting there. He could hear better and they got to drink coffee there. Alex always suspected it was the coffee that seduced them away from the uncomfortable pews.
”I usually take tea about now. I’ll show you the break room, you just walked passed it. Alex right?”
Alex had only a moment to nod before she continued again “I’m Judy, and you know where I sit now. If you make it to me you’ve gone too far for the break room. I’m use to people getting lost by me. I’ve been here for almost a decade. I hear you just started for Terry.” There was a momentary pause and Alex took it as a sign for her to jump in “Yes. I’m working on his campaign.” Judy looked at her as if waiting for her to continue as she pulled a tea bag whose tag was dangling from her vest pocket like a watch fob.
“What do you do?”
Judy seemed disappointed that the conversation had turned back to her “I work for Sam Norman” Alex looked up “As in the name of the firm Norman and Green?” Judy blushed again, this time from pride and nodded. “Wow, that’s quite a bit of responsibility. If I need pointers I’ll be sure to ‘accidentally’ miss the break room again.”
Judy blushed so hard Alex thought her face might burst a capillary or two.
“You shouldn’t need many pointers, but every one needs something…I mean I’m sure your qualified for what ever Terry hired you for.” The flustered Judy, now with her glowing face in her tea, puzzled Alex. “I’m not sure what you would call my position…or what all of my responsibilities will be. The interview was mostly regarding fundraising but I seem to be taking on some other campaign manager related duties. I just hope I don’t have to write up his position papers too.” Judy nodded but the vague look in her big eyes told Alex she had done a worse job of explaining the job than the headhunter had done. Gary appeared at the doorway “Initiating Alex to teatime?”
“I would but she says she’s on coffee these days” Judy shook her head at Alex.
“Thanks for setting up my office Gary”
“Sure. Whirlwind first days never leave time for settling in.”
“Well it sure seemed to make me more productive today”
“Good, good. We want you to feel at home here. Right Judy?”
“Absolutely. It’ll be nice to have her here.”
Alex looked at her watch “I’d better get back to work if I want to stay here”
Alex spent the rest of the day switching back and forth between plowing through the other candidate’s resumes and looking up the FEC rules. By the end of the day there were 3 stacks on her desk. Candidate information and issues: Campaign rules and regulations, and her event stack. Alex typed up a memo to Terry outlining her ideas for call time, synopsizing her work towards the event at the beginning of next month, requesting access to the financial records, and a time line for getting campaign software.
Alex felt as if her mind was spinning from all the information she had collected. She slipped the memo into an interoffice envelope and left it in her tray for Gary, grabbed her bag and headed down stairs. What she needed was a quiet little bar. A couple drinks and some writing. She touched the journal inside her bag. The wood always felt warm to her as if it were pulsing and alive. There was a restaurant over looking the water on the first floor of the building. Probably too expensive Alex mused as she walked past out onto the sidewalk. She looked around passing noisy, crowded or pricey looking bars in search of something dark with a vacant and familiar feel to it. The first one she found was over by Greek town. Alex inhaled the scent of Uzo and garlic as she slipped into a barstool. The bar tender looked up. “Something for you?” She asked. “Gin and tonic, and would it be alright if I took a booth. I want to get some writing done” The bartender nodded to the corner. “I’ll bring your drink”