"I thought you were going to spend the whole day with that bus." She set her folder down and gave him a look. "Only until the work was done. Why are you sitting in my chair?"
"I'm using your chair because mine is forty minutes away, and I'm tired of reading dealership reports at traffic lights." He stood and kissed her cheek, then pulled out the visitor chair for her. "We have a problem at Eastside. Customer complaints are up, particularly about the way people get treated before anybody runs a credit application or prepares a quote." Gloria sat down, listening more closely than she had listened to the remark about his office.
"How many complaints?" she asked. "Enough that I asked the regional operations team to pull a six-month sample. Some were marked resolved, but the explanations are thin."
He scrolled through a report. "The numbers on customer satisfaction are still excellent, which doesn't make sense. The sales totals are good, too. Derek Lawson is one of their highest performers."
"Are you reading what people actually wrote, or just looking at the scores?" Gloria asked. Malcolm looked up. "Both.
Why?" "Because a person who isn't allowed to become a customer doesn't get a satisfaction survey after the sale." She let the sentence settle before adding, "Sometimes the people who leave without buying are the ones who could tell you the most."
Malcolm set the tablet down. He knew that particular tone. It was the same one she had used when he was eighteen and had complained that a college professor was unfair after turning in an assignment late.
"You have something in mind," he said. Gloria shook her head. "I'm asking you to look at the people nobody is rushing to help. That's all."
He glanced at the folder she had brought home. "And what about your expansion? Emma says you've picked up another campus contract." "Three campuses, actually.
The old college routes are stretched past where I like them, and I am collecting quotes for fourteen new passenger vans." Malcolm's eyebrows lifted. "Fourteen? Mom, that's a sizable purchase. I can introduce you directly to my fleet director."
"No shortcuts," she said immediately. He held up both hands and smiled. "It was an offer, not an order." "I know.
But I want the same service and the same prices you would give another fleet operator. If your people can do the work better than anyone else, they'll get a fair chance. If they can't, I'll buy somewhere else."
He leaned back, accepting an answer he had heard in different forms his entire life. "You never did make things easy for me." "I raised you to do the right thing, Malcolm, not the easy thing." She picked up his tablet and slid it back toward him. "Now, when you visit Eastside, don't announce yourself an hour early. Go down there and watch how the floor works when nobody is arranging it for you."