Tobias: Hey, Sandra . . . Could you fill me in on the meeting this morning? I couldn’t make it. I got a bit bogged down with the budget forecasts.

Sandra: Oh . . . Sure. Well, Wilson officially announced that the Plainfield branch will be closing next month, and most of the people there will be transferred here.

Tobias: Yeah, I’ve been hearing about that through the grapevine for a while. So, they didn’t give many people the boot?

Sandra: None, actually. They offered early retirement to all of the people whose positions were being eliminated, and everyone leaped at the chance.

Tobias: Gee, I guess it was win-win, then.

Sandra: Right. And of course, we’re going to be taking on all of the accounts that were managed out of Plainfield.

Tobias: Makes sense. So, what’s next for us?

Sandra: You’ve probably heard about that big account they’ve been trying to win, Hanson Tech? Well, Wilson has a big project for us.

Tobias: A big project already? What’s that?

Sandra: Wilson wants us to set up suppliers and shipping for Hanson. He wants to see a few different proposals by next week. We can get in touch with some of the people we already use, but . . .

Tobias: Whoa, hold your horses . . . Suppliers and shipping for an account we haven’t won yet? Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?

Sandra: Probably, but I get the impression that this account has major potential, and a lot of people at corporate have their eye on Wilson. If anything goes south with it, it can’t be his fault.

Tobias: Ah I get it. He’s just covering his back.

Sandra: Yup. You’ve hit the nail on the head . . .

Tobias: But it still seems to me that this is all a bit premature. I don’t want to have to be swamped for a week over something that might not even come through. Plus, I have a lot of work to do for our existing accounts!

Sandra: Well, you could bring that up to Wilson, but I have the feeling that it would fall on deaf ears.

Tobias: Plus, he’d probably just jump down my throat. He gets like that when he’s feeling cornered.

Sandra: Or you could just go over his head. Make a few phone calls to corporate and . . .

Tobias: Yeah, right. Don’t hold your breath. I think I’d prefer to keep a low profile.

Sandra: Not to mention keep your job.

Tobias: Yeah. No pink slips for me, thank you very much. Well, I guess it’s written in stone, then.

Sandra: What is?

Tobias: The fact that we’ll all be staying late and eating a lot of take-out over the next week.