"I like to hear it running right," he said. She almost smiled. He'd learned to read Patricia's almost smiles the way he'd learned to read everything. The small signals, the adjustments of expression from the person who had met him 49 days ago with 3 months of suppressed frustration and the barely contained skepticism of someone who had been let down repeatedly. Patricia Okafor had become the most reliable person in his professional world.
Not because she'd changed, but because he'd shown her day by day that he was the kind of person she could actually work with. I got a call this morning, Patricia said, setting down her coffee from a property manager at a Bennett affiliated building on the east side. He'd heard through the maintenance vendor network that we'd turned this building around in under 60 days. He wanted to know what we did differently. Marcus looked at her.
What did you tell him? I told him we documented everything addressed deferred maintenance systematically and built vendor relationships on mutual respect instead of procurement leverage. She paused and I told him the operations manager listened more than he talked. Marcus held that. Patricia, he said, "Yeah, thank you for working with me on this. " She picked up her coffee.
Don't get sentimental, Reed. We have three work orders before 9. Right, he said, but she was almost smiling again. He saw it. He was at his desk reviewing a vendor contract at 10:45 when his phone rang.
Vivian Bennett's direct line, not the office, not the assistant. The direct line she'd given him with instructions to pick up when it rang, regardless of what he was doing. He picked up Mr. Reed. Her voice was at its most precise, which meant something was either very right or very wrong.
Mrs. Bennett, I've been approached by a commercial real estate publication. She said they're doing a piece on property turnaround management, a case study on buildings that have recovered from operational decline. Someone on their editorial team knows my facilities coordinator and reached out to her and she passed it to me. A pause.
They want to feature this building specifically the last 60 days of operational improvement. Marcus was quiet. They'll want to interview you. Viven continued. And Patricia primarily Patricia actually they want the operational perspective.
Another pause. How do you feel about that? I feel like the story is accurate, Marcus said. And I feel like Patricia should be the primary voice. The work is hers more than mine.
A silence. You understand? Viven said slowly that in most of the situations I have encountered in 40 years, the person in your position would have said yes immediately and made sure their name was prominent. I understand that. Marcus said, "And you're not doing that.
The building works because of Patricia's expertise and the systems she already had in place," he said. "My contribution was clearing the obstacles and getting her what she needed to do the job she was already doing. If there's a story there, that's the story. Viven was quiet for a moment longer than usual. I'll pass that along to the editorial contact, she said finally.