FIVE CONVERSATIONS

MONDAY, 7:06PM EST. Dulles International Airport.
Hi, this is Mark Bennett. Fine, thanks. I’m just calling to see if you can transfer money for me from one account to another over the phone. Yeah. Yes. Okay... Hi, my name’s Mark Bennett. Good, thanks. I’m wondering if you can help me transfer some money. Yes. Well, it’s from my business account to my wife’s personal checking. Yes. Yes, both accounts. Good, great… Um, 594-61-5515. Yes. January 12th, 1965. You’re welcome… Well, can you tell me the balance right now? My wife’s account, the one starting with 045... Are you sure about that? I just… do you have a record of the deposit I made Monday, for... yeah, that’s right, you have – okay. No, I’m not really sure. I don’t actually know, she didn’t – she just left me a message saying she was overdrawn. Okay, sure… I see. How many? Okay. Did you pay all of them, then, or... Okay, just three were... Okay. I’ll call the merchants and… Yeah, they’ll probably re-deposit. Okay. So the total charges are $175? All right. Well, better make it five hundred dollars. Yes, correct. From – right, the one that starts with 775. Right. Okay, good, thank you. Okay. Right, I understand. Thank you for your help. You too. Buhbye.

MONDAY, 10:17PM EST. Hilton Hotel, Poughkeepsie.
Hi, it’s me. Fine, no problems. Well, I was delayed at Dulles, they sent us – Yeah, I got it... Yeah, I already called the bank. Five hundred. Well, what did you need? Well… How many more? No, I mean how many dollars, how much? Well, how, why did – I know that, but couldn’t it wait until the 16th? It doesn’t matter how much, if we don’t have the money, we don’t have the – well, I’d rather pay full price a month later than blow our… Okay, fine, but where am I supposed to get – the money I transferred was supposed to be for taxes, now I won’t be able to… Yes, I know, but they haven’t sent it yet. I did, it takes time, they said they have a new person in AP or something. I *will*. The point is, in the meantime, you’re supposed to – I understand that, I just don’t have any more money to – what do you want me to do? That’s how much money I make, that’s how much we have. When I get paid, we’ll have – I know that, but if you could – look, that’s what we agreed on, right? If that’s not the right number, then we’ll need to – that’s what I just said, if that’s not enough, then we can readjust our budget, but I have to be able to count on – I understand, I know you don’t – I just can’t… Well, you need to keep track, you have to write it down, you can’t just do it in your head, that’s why this keeps – I know. I’m not telling you what to – I *asked* you how much, we went over this… That’s the point of a budget. Well, what do you want me to do? There’s a limited amount of money. You have to say no to some stuff to have other stuff. You don’t even have to say No, you just have to say Not Now, that’s all it takes, if you – okay, fine. Is that going to be enough? Just till the 16th, the check should be here by the 16th… Then I don’t know, we’ll worry about that if it happens. Well, that would be a bad idea, our house is attached to that. I know, but we can’t just tap into that every time we overspend our budget, then before you know it, you’re – well, it wouldn’t BE an emergency if you would just – okay fine. Look, never mind. It’s covered. I’ll figure out what to do when I get home. Okay. No, it’s fine. Yes. Yeah. Yeah… No, I haven’t – I *know* Hon, I just haven’t had time to do it. Well, I have a bunch of things to do, that’s one of them. I don’t exactly have a lot of spare time at home to – well, what do you want me to do, spend the entire weekend working, too? I understand, I will get to it when I can. I don’t *know* -- when I *can*. Well, why don’t *you* do it? Sure you can, all you have to – well, you’re the one who’s so bothered about it, why don’t – okay, whatever. I’ll do it. Yes, I’ll – I will try to do it this weekend, okay? All right, fine. Good. How’s it going today? Well, I mean besides the – yeah, good. That’s good. No, I think you’ll do great, that’s excellent. It’ll be good. Good. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Nah, just have ‘em call me later, before they go to bed. Okay. All right. Bye.

MONDAY, 11:01PM EST. Hilton Hotel, Poughkeepsie.
Hello, this is Mark. Hey, punk, what’s up? Nah, just sittin here waitin for you guys to call. Yeah, I’m watching a hockey game. New Jersey and Buffalo. Not bad, it’s 3-2, coupla good goals. Yeah. So how was your day today? Whadja do in school? Yeah? Well, that’s good, right? Cool. Did you do your homework? Great. Good job, bud. Thank you. What about your chores? Okay, well do them before you go to bed. In fact, you better give me to your sister and get going right now. Well, we can talk some more tomorrow, okay? Okay. Just ignore her. Just ignore her, she doesn’t – well, I don’t know what to tell you, son, just don’t pay attention when she does that. I know. I understand, but you bug her, too. If you left her alone, she wouldn’t be mean to you… Okay, well, good. Yeah, I know. Okay. Love you, son. See you in 4 more days, okay? I know, pal, but this is my job. I have to have a job, we need money, you know how that works. I am, son, but in the meantime I have to go where the work is. I know. You’ll do fine, just close your eyes, listen to that CD I got you or something. Not Linkin Park, not hyper stuff, something calm. Yes, you will. You’ll be asleep before you know it. And I’ll be home Friday night. No, late, my flight gets in at 10:30 or something. You can if you want, but you’d probably rather go to sleep and be rested for Saturday, then we can do something together, okay? Yeah, whatever, you think of something. I have to fix the driveway in the morning, I promised Mom, but in the afternoon, maybe we could go hiking or something. Or whatever. Well, we’ll see about that – I don’t even know if they’re playing this weekend. Okay, yeah, I will. Okay. Get your sist – okay. Yeah, I love you, too, bud. Okay, bye.
...
Hi girl, what’s up? No, Pennsylvania. Yeah, it’s cold. How’s it going for you? Uh-huh. Yeah. Well, did you? I don’t want to hear that, you speak respectfully about – I understand. I understand. It doesn’t matter hon, you do what your mother tells you to do. I don’t care, you do what she needs you to do, you’re not the one running the house, you don’t have to make everything happen, if Mom tells you to do it that way, you do what she says. I understand, hon, but how did you talk to her? Did you say, “Yes, mother dear, I’d love to” or did you possibly take a some other approach? It doesn’t matter, you just worry about doing your part. You need to cooperate with your – no, it doesn’t. When I say cooperate, I mean you figure out what the family operation is, and you change your plans to fit into it. That’s what cooperation is in this situation. If you be nice to your Mom, she’ll be nice to you. Well, what do you want me to do about it? We all have times when we’re not as patient, when we’re stressed... You can’t make other people’s decisions for them, you just have to worry about doing your part. You just control what you can control. I *guarantee* you, if you cooperate and be polite instead of making it difficult, that won’t happen. Well, have you tried it? Have you actually tried – okay, well do it some more. Well, what’s *your* plan? To be difficult and surly and then get all mad when your Mom gets upset? I understand, but not everything is under my control is it, or yours, or anyone’s. We all just do the best we can, don’t we. Yes, she does. You don’t have any idea what another person has to deal with. You just need to concentrate on your stuff, and take care of your own business, not your Mom’s, not your brother’s, not anybody’s. Yes, you do. Good, thank you. ...Friday. Yeah, Friday, late. Yeah. What about your homework? Well, what do you mean you don’t know, did you have homework or not? Well, look in your book, see if you have homework. Well, why not? That’s why they give you that book, so you can write down your assignments – yes, every day – what, do you think it’s just for like when you feel like it? You have to write your assignments down every day, then it’s simple, you don’t have to remember anything, you just look in the book. Yes. Well, you’ve got about an hour and you need to be in bed, so hurry up and figure it out. Yes, well do whatever you have time for. Whatever’s due first, whatever’s the easiest or most important. It doesn’t matter honey, just DO it, do whatever you can. Just DO it. Yes, you can skip the dishwasher till tomorrow, but then tomorrow you’ll have to do two loads instead of one on the laundry. Yes it is. Look, you’ve had like five HOURS to do homework and chores since you got home – okay, so that took what – 45 minutes? Look, let’s say you had two hours of other stuff to do, that still leaves you with 3 hours since you got home and you haven’t done anything. So do it. Just do it. It doesn’t matter, all that doesn’t matter, you just have to do it. I don’t care, look, do you think when you get a job you can just tell your boss “I had to do X, Y, and Z so I couldn’t do my job that you’re paying me for?” You can’t – all that matters is if you get it done or not. And it’s the same with homework. You can talk all day long about whatever, but the bottom line is you have to do it. Just do it. Just do it. Just. Go. Do. It. Okay, good. Okay. Okay, love you. Bye.


FRIDAY, 12:14PM EST. Pennsylvania Widget Company, Poughkeepsie.
Hey Brad, it’s Mark. Yeah, I’m at PA Widgets. Look, it looks like we’re a go here, but we need to be able to get them up and running by April. Yeah, this coming April. I know it is, but we can do it if we assign them the right techs. I know, but if we don’t, they’re going to put the whole thing off another year – and who knows what they’ll look at between now and then, or who will quit or whatever. I don’t want to start all over with these folks – they’re motivated, it’s a great fit, they’ve got the budget right now, and we just need to be able to deliver by April and we’re golden. No, they need somebody like Terry, or Rick. Or Jeannie. Who? Who’s that? Not a new guy, there’s no way. Brad, you know there’s no way a new guy could do it by April, no matter how – Brad, every time you say that, and every time it’s the same thing: we send the rookie and they get hammered, and the client gets pissed off, and the date slides, and we end up sending Jeannie or Rick in to clean it up anyway. If we just do it right for a change, we can get some referenceability in this area, who knows what else might heat up in this state if we have a good clean win with these guys. Come on, Brad, you can do it if you want to. No, I can’t do it, you guys have me booked every other week from now to forever. His Highness would never agree to it anyway, he doesn’t want to pay my rate to have me do tech work. I know they did, but that was an emergency. I’m telling you, you need to send one of the good guys. You’re not listening to me, are you. Fine, whatever, look, you can talk to them. I’m not going to be the one to say that this Alfredo or Alberto or whatever can get them live by April. You can tell them whatever you want, you know it’ll end up being August/September, and Jeannie will be here for three months anyway. Whatever. Okay, I’ll have him call you. All right. Bye.


FRIDAY, 12:14PM EST. In the car on the way to the Poughkeepsie Airport.
Hello, this is Mark Bennett. I just got a rebooking message saying my flight was cancelled… Yes, I, okay. Bennett, B-e-n-n-e-t-t. Flight 6014 from Poughkeepsie to Chicago, then to Seattle. That’s right. Bennett. I see. Everything into Chicago? Well, is there anything else? I know you did, but tomorrow morning means I lose half of my Saturday, I’m looking for anything else to the West Coast tonight. Through Denver, or Pittsburgh? What about another airline. I know it is, but I need to… How about Portland? Could you get me to Portland? Or Vancouver? I’m not picky, I just need to get home tonight. I see. Well, can you send me to Chicago anyway, in case the connection is also delayed? I understand, I’d just rather be in Chicago – well, I had a seat an hour ago, before you called me and rebooked me for tomorrow. I understand that, but I’ve made connections that tight before – I’d rather chance it and have to stay there than start from here in the morning. You can’t. I see. All right, well, can I get a hotel voucher or anything at the airport? Uh-huh. Yeah, I understand about weather. No, I'll find something on my own. Okay, so 7am tomorrow. 5:30, right, 7am departure. I’ll be there. Oh, no, great, never better. Thanks for your help. All right. Thank you.