Another year, and it was budget time again. It was hard to believe that I was still in that same job situation. What had started out at the end of 1964 as a temporary position, seemed to be developing into a permanent job. My home life had become stressful to say the least. I had become a part time father and husband, if I was lucky, I was home two days per week. When I got home, on Friday night or Saturday morning, I arrived with a suitcase full of dirty laundry. I would pick up a suitcase full of clean laundry on Sunday night, kiss the family goodbye, and leave for the week. It was getting pretty "iffy" in the Kitchener residence.
If I remember correctly, it was around the middle of January when I spoke to Luke Asjes, the Dutch General Sales Manager in charge of North America. I told him that if he wanted to keep me in my present position I was going to have to move to New York. He had told me, that the job was going to be temporary, until KLM had a District Managers job for me. I had come to the end of the road with my family. Over a year and a half had passed and I needed some resolution. Luke Asjes was very apologetic, telling me that the company never intended to leave me in that position for this long. He promised that he would have an answer for me by the end of the month. Asjes was an honorable man, well liked, but stern and dedicated to KLM. He was the one who had saved my job when I had the problem with the former Regional Manager. I had hung in for over a year, so what was another two or three weeks? I called Helen, and told her about the conversation with Luke Asjes. She didn't seem too happy, but at least she knew I was trying my best to get a solution. I know that she was still hoping we were going to Miami.
The next few weeks were very busy; I had promised Asjes that I would get the yearly budgets completed by the end of January. I had scheduled a two day visit to each district and told everyone that they had to complete their sales and costs budgets during those two days. We got it all done, and I felt good about it. Luke Asjes spoke to me at the end of January and told me that he and Fritz Kielman, the Vice President for North America, wanted to see me Monday morning, February 7, in Mr.Kielman's office. That weekend, I told the family about the meeting and I promised to call Helen at the conclusion.
Kielman and Asjes were very friendly; they told me how much they appreciated the work I had been doing and apologized because it had been much longer than anticipated. The plan they wanted to put into effect was for Jack Bussian to go from Miami to Los Angeles, and I was to take over Miami. However, Bussian turned down the move. The alternative plan that they now wanted to do, was to send Kenneth Becker, DSM in Detroit, to Los Angeles, and they wanted me to take over Detroit. They had considered sending me to Los Angeles, but Detroit was actually a much more important station for KLM due to the very large Dutch population in Grand Rapids, and in Holland Michigan. They wanted me in Detroit because they felt I would be more important to them there, rather than California. They were also working toward getting a permit to fly from Europe directly into Detroit. I had a suspicion that they were just trying to boost my ego, but I knew Asjes pretty well, and I didn't believe Kielman would say that to flatter anybody. They went over the new salary, moving expenses and resettlement allowance.
I was in the meeting for over two hours. After telling me the plans and getting my agreement, they wanted to discuss the areas I had been covering with Silton. They were interested in my opinion about certain individuals, they gave me some in depth thoughts about the Detroit office and the importance of Detroit in future company plans. As soon as the meeting was over, I called Helen to tell her the news. I was hardly prepared for the reaction.
Helen and her sister were born in Detroit, her father was a tool and die maker and had worked for the Rickenbacker Car Company. The family had left Detroit and moved to Little Falls, New York, where he worked for the Cherry Burl Company. Helen and her sister had both attended State Teachers College in New York. Helen and I visited Little Falls quite often but I had never heard any discussion about Detroit. Apparently, Helen hated Detroit. She had never expressed that to me, so her response to my telling her we were going to Detroit was explosive. I expected her to be disappointed over not going to Miami; I was too, but her reaction took me by surprise. She more or less told me what I could do with Detroit. She was never going to go to Detroit, and she hung up the phone. I didn't call her back until the next day. She reiterated her position about Detroit; my response was that we discuss it that weekend when I got home. I was not looking forward to the weekend.
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