have them call you so that
you can handle it? I was only a middleman anyway.”
“Oh, no,” Mandy said. “I’m in enough hot water with them as it is.”
April knew that already. Mandy had had two written warnings about her professional
conduct in the office. Go figure.
“I’ll get them right away,” she said.
April busied herself for a while, trying to muster the courage to talk to her boss—her
very conservative supervisor—who cautiously lorded over their very conservative insurance
company. Who answered directly to their very conservative headquarters. And if anyone
understood their apprehension about motorcycles, it was she.
Tapping her pencil on the edge of her desk, she thought about how to mitigate the
sound of it all. Finally, she came up with a few ideas—ideas that could get her through
the whole conversation with her narrow-minded manager. It was worth a try. She fumbled
through the file folder of fliers until she found what she’d been looking for. She
held a picture of the sick little boy they were all helping.
The clock was ticking, and she was going to have to show up at that tackle place tonight
with an answer. She walked into her supervisor’s office. “Charles, I saw an e-mail
from headquarters last week and it got me to thinking. They were asking about ideas
for their Give Back program. You know, the one where local adjusters donate or provide
some service for the community. Anyway, some of the civic organizations in town are
organizing a fundraiser for Ben Evans.”
It was sounding good to her so far. She explained about Ben’s leukemia and put the
little boy’s picture on the desk. “So, I found a way for us to make a contribution
to the community without there being any cash out of the company’s pockets.”
“You’ve got my attention. I’ve been racking my brain for an idea since I saw that
e-mail.” He picked up Ben’s picture. “We are running low on money for charitable contributions,
but headquarters is kind of insistent about the community-involvement thing.”
“Well, a group of people with the Summerbrook Civic League is organizing a rally,
and there are going to be bike rides, and they need some kind of group policy to cover
any accidents that might exceed each individual’s coverage.”
“Great idea. How much damage can a bicycle accident cause? I think we can do that.
In fact, I’ve worked with the Civic League before.” He put down the picture and turned
on his computer. “Let’s see what kind of policy we may want to write.”
She took a deep breath. This was going to take courage. “I don’t think you understand.
It’s a motorcycle rally, not a bicycle rally.”
He pushed away from his desk. He wrinkled his forehead, pursed his lips, and tapped
his fingers on his desk.
“Motorcycles? Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ll have to look into the liability of
it. And you’ll have to do a risk-assessment report on it.” He reached over and turned
off his computer. “I don’t know.”
She tapped a pen on the desk. “Well, I have done the assessment, and if we make certain
requirements, like cordoning off the town square for rides and making the riders wear
helmets and setting a reasonable speed limit, the risks would be quite minimal.”
He shook his head. “Let me think about it.”
“Fine. But I need to know by this afternoon.” She placed another file on his desk.
“This might help you to make up your mind. It’s the statistics correlating speeds
and accidents. What you’ll see is that we’ll be taking almost no risk at all. Accidents
at the speeds we’re addressing are minimal and the related costs…almost negligible.”
She paused. “I’m sure it won’t be a big deal if we don’t take this opportunity. They’ll
easily get another company to be a sponsor if we don’t. There’ll be tons of advertising.
It’s free PR.” She picked up Ben’s picture and
you can handle it? I was only a middleman anyway.”
“Oh, no,” Mandy said. “I’m in enough hot water with them as it is.”
April knew that already. Mandy had had two written warnings about her professional
conduct in the office. Go figure.
“I’ll get them right away,” she said.
April busied herself for a while, trying to muster the courage to talk to her boss—her
very conservative supervisor—who cautiously lorded over their very conservative insurance
company. Who answered directly to their very conservative headquarters. And if anyone
understood their apprehension about motorcycles, it was she.
Tapping her pencil on the edge of her desk, she thought about how to mitigate the
sound of it all. Finally, she came up with a few ideas—ideas that could get her through
the whole conversation with her narrow-minded manager. It was worth a try. She fumbled
through the file folder of fliers until she found what she’d been looking for. She
held a picture of the sick little boy they were all helping.
The clock was ticking, and she was going to have to show up at that tackle place tonight
with an answer. She walked into her supervisor’s office. “Charles, I saw an e-mail
from headquarters last week and it got me to thinking. They were asking about ideas
for their Give Back program. You know, the one where local adjusters donate or provide
some service for the community. Anyway, some of the civic organizations in town are
organizing a fundraiser for Ben Evans.”
It was sounding good to her so far. She explained about Ben’s leukemia and put the
little boy’s picture on the desk. “So, I found a way for us to make a contribution
to the community without there being any cash out of the company’s pockets.”
“You’ve got my attention. I’ve been racking my brain for an idea since I saw that
e-mail.” He picked up Ben’s picture. “We are running low on money for charitable contributions,
but headquarters is kind of insistent about the community-involvement thing.”
“Well, a group of people with the Summerbrook Civic League is organizing a rally,
and there are going to be bike rides, and they need some kind of group policy to cover
any accidents that might exceed each individual’s coverage.”
“Great idea. How much damage can a bicycle accident cause? I think we can do that.
In fact, I’ve worked with the Civic League before.” He put down the picture and turned
on his computer. “Let’s see what kind of policy we may want to write.”
She took a deep breath. This was going to take courage. “I don’t think you understand.
It’s a motorcycle rally, not a bicycle rally.”
He pushed away from his desk. He wrinkled his forehead, pursed his lips, and tapped
his fingers on his desk.
“Motorcycles? Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ll have to look into the liability of
it. And you’ll have to do a risk-assessment report on it.” He reached over and turned
off his computer. “I don’t know.”
She tapped a pen on the desk. “Well, I have done the assessment, and if we make certain
requirements, like cordoning off the town square for rides and making the riders wear
helmets and setting a reasonable speed limit, the risks would be quite minimal.”
He shook his head. “Let me think about it.”
“Fine. But I need to know by this afternoon.” She placed another file on his desk.
“This might help you to make up your mind. It’s the statistics correlating speeds
and accidents. What you’ll see is that we’ll be taking almost no risk at all. Accidents
at the speeds we’re addressing are minimal and the related costs…almost negligible.”
She paused. “I’m sure it won’t be a big deal if we don’t take this opportunity. They’ll
easily get another company to be a sponsor if we don’t. There’ll be tons of advertising.
It’s free PR.” She picked up Ben’s picture and
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