MENDING FENCES

It had been almost six months since Jamie had turned down the offer to become Greenwich’s vice president of human resources. He remembered that Vince Green had seemed particularly agitated by his decision to join Telegraph, even swearing about his rival at one point. And Jamie had sensed even then that he should not throw away Green’s phone number. The memory of that moment gave Jamie hope.

Certainly Green would be interested in talking to Jamie. For one, the two men shared a frustration with Telegraph. More important, Jamie had information that he might find interesting.

At the time Jamie called, Green was on the verge of abandoning his almost morbid curiosity about Telegraph, and resign himself to never understanding his rival. Now Jamie was about to suck him back in.

Always the purposeful diplomat, Jamie chose his words carefully. “I know this is awkward, Vince, and I would understand if you didn’t want to talk to me” (in truth he knew otherwise), “but I think that my decision to choose Telegraph over Greenwich might have been a poor one.” Jamie was sure that those words would be music to Vince’s ears.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jamie. It’s good to hear from you. What’s going on with you over there?” Green was always glad to hear about a competitor’s imperfections.

“Well, I’d like to keep this between the two of us . . .”

“Of course, don’t worry about it,” Vince assured him a little too quickly.

“Well, things are fine, I guess. Not perfect, but I’m sure I’ll manage.” Jamie decided to come right to the point. “Well, I’d like to stay in touch with you, just in case I decide that this isn’t the right place for me. I hope that you’d be open to talking to me again if . . .”

Green interrupted his prodigal suitor. “Listen, Jamie, I would be happy to talk to you again. Things like this happen all the time. We lose people to Telegraph; they lose people to us. Sometimes people change their minds.”

Even after just six months on the job, Jamie knew that Green was exaggerating the regularity of Telegraph departures. Still, he was relieved.

Green continued. “Why don’t we touch base every few months to see how you’re doing?”

Jamie agreed, thanked Green for his understanding, and hung up. How am I going to get through the annual planning session? he wondered.