23. Enter the Vortex
It was safe to say that by ten p.m. on Thanksgiving night, anyone who was not working was fighting the food-coma. It was a losing battle for sure. Lil and Tilde were pleasantly exhausted. They couldn't have hoped for a better outcome or a nicer holiday. Lil was very happy Carlos had insisted his men handle the clean-up. She was barely functioning by the time Tilde got to sleep. Friday morning the building was back to 'normal', business as usual. Lil started her day with the PT she and Doc Brown had put off for the food extravaganza. She hadn't noticed much change yet with her nerve pain, but was still trying to stay optimistic. Tilde was spending her afternoon with Ella and Luis, which freed Lil up to visit Tank and his mountains of paperwork. On her short trip from the apartment to Tank's office, every Rangeman she ran into gave her a hug and a sincere 'thanks'. Awww. Big ol'softies. Starting the afternoon off with hugs from sexy men… Not bad Peyton, not bad at all.
She tapped on Tank's open door, where the man in question had his head bent over a stack of papers, talking to Junior. "Good Afternoon Gentlemen." The men were finally starting to get used to her constant politeness. It was different for Trenton, that was for sure. Tank raised his head and gave her a pearly smile. If Lil wasn't mistaken, there was a true look of relief on his handsome face. Junior gave her a nod and a smile as well. Such nice scenery. Lil took a look around Tank's office, it was even more cluttered than the last time she peeked inside. Holy. Shit. There were stacks of papers everywhere. On every flat surface. Folders, reams, binders, loose sheets. Just, wow. Lil's eye started to twitch. The term 'swirling vortex of entropy' wouldn't have been far-fetched. "Tank, not that I don't love your commitment to disorder here, but, what's going on?" Tank sighed, rubbing his hand over his bald head. "This is my daily nightmare. Welcome. Though it's worse now because it's the end of the month." He pointed to Junior, "He tries to help me when he's not busy with Lester." Lil nodded slowly, still having a hard time understanding what she was looking at. The twitch was increasing. "Is this random? Or is there SOME kind of order here?"
Tank stood, "I keep things separated into like groups, as much as I can." Lil stepped further into the office and felt a wave of nausea, the couch was covered. Holy Shit times Two. "OK, what's the most pressing group? It's obvious this can't all be tackled in a day. So what gives you the most trouble?" Tank laughed sardonically, "the fucking schedules", he pointed to the largest grouping of dead trees. Lil raised her eyebrows and waited for greater detail. Tank rubbed his hand over his head again. "Schedules are a pain in the ass, and they all either come to me for approval or are made in this office." He took a deep breath. "I have to oversee not only the shift schedules for the men and their requested days off, but also the patrol rotations, and the group or individual bodyguard and protection schedules. And by oversee, I mean I have to make the damn things. Then, I have to go over and approve the schedules that Lester and Cal create for planned apprehensions, redecoration, service calls, installs, and new client meetings. Last, I have to compile all the hours worked each week for Ranger, who then submits the final approval to accounting for payroll." The poor man looked pained by the end of his speech. No wonder schedules were the worst, it was a full-time job of it's own. Junior was pinching the bridge of his nose like a headache was imminent. "OK darlin, I see what you mean. Go ahead and tell me what the rest of this is, so I know what to expect overall."
Tank gave another sigh of relief, she hadn't run out of the office yet. "That's the gun range logs from Ram, along with the maintenance and equipment requests for the armory. These four stacks are the supply and equipment requisitions from Hector for all the tech and security systems. They need to be either approved for Hector to place orders, or I need to handle the larger dollar amounts myself. Those are vehicle maintenance invoices from our mechanic Al, he has his own shop in town. And those are all the performance evaluations and medical reports from Bobby on the men." Tank was starting to look a little lost. Lil walked over and patted his massive bicep. "At least I only have to mess with all that stuff at the end of every month. These last groups come through my office randomly. Those over there are expense reports for the last two months, overhead expenses like water and electric for the building, the food receipts from Ella, gas for the fleet, etc. I have to look it over and approve it, then Ranger sends it to the accountant. That small stack is the renewal forms or reports for the Rangeman health insurance, our building insurance, and the fleet auto insurance. We have to keep an eye on the premiums and deductibles for each. Then these are the reports from the top guys in Atlanta, Boston, and Miami. I check them for obvious problems and then give them to Ranger to follow-through." Tank sat down in his giant chair with a depressed thud.
Lil gracefully folded herself into a 'criss-cross applesauce' seat on the floor, as there were no other seating options. She looked around at the sea of madness and thought. Tank watched her closely, amazed she still hadn't fled. "Alright sweetheart, I see some things that can be fixed pretty easy. But I need a better idea of the structure here. I know who the Core Team is, what they do in general. What about the other men? What does Carlos handle himself? And how much business are we talking about for Rangeman New Jersey?" Tank nodded eagerly. He would give Lil state secrets at this point, anything to get his office cleared up. "Woody, Vince, Hal, and Manny work directly under your brother. They handle the redecorations, distractions, and Bond Enforcement. Rangeman does the skip tracing for Plum Bail Bonds, Les Sebring's place True Blue Bail Bonds, and any federal warrants that wander into our jurisdiction. We get maybe two of those a month. High-dollar criminals like this part of the country. Junior and Zero work with Lester doing all the Client Services; new contracts, sales calls, installs, stuff like that. Lester's area manages the protection details too. They also handle any customer service issues that don't need to go straight to Ranger. Bobby, Ram, and Hector have no one to assist in their departments on the daily. Slick, Zip, Ace, and Binkie are floaters. They get pulled to help with any other sector, usually Bond Enforcement or Client Services." Tank took another exaggerated breath. Lil could tell the poor man was months past overwhelmed.
"Ranger is the final say on everything. So all the paperwork I have to see, he sees too. He also handles all of our government contracts and any skips over the three-million dollar price point. He directly works with any security client over the five-hundred thousand range, but he tries to visit with each of our clients quarterly. He handles the security clearances when the feds are involved, and is their direct contact. He also signs all the checks." Tank leaned back in his chair, giving the situation some thought. "Ranger has less everyday paperwork, but his job is much harder. He gets the lawyers and accountants. It's all of this crap", he waved his arms at the mess, "times three more offices." Holy. Shit. Times Three. "Right now, aside from the Bond Enforcement, protections, and fed work, Rangeman Trenton is providing security services for forty-three businesses and eighty-nine individual homes. We're fucking swamped." Well that was an understatement.
Lil rubbed her temples. It was amazing they had survived this long with so much business and so little organization. It wasn't that they weren't trying, Carlos was not an idiot of course. But what they were doing was causing more trouble. They were needlessly making their lives more difficult. "Tank, Pumpkin, ya'll have a few issues that really need to be addressed." He blushed at the nickname, Junior snickered. "First of all, it's obvious that you need more employees. But, I can imagine that it isn't easy to find people to meet your standards. So, that being said, at the very least, you my friend need an assistant. A full-time assistant that does nothing else but help you with the administration side and organization. Also, since Doc, Ram, and Hector are by themselves, their paperwork needs to be automated as soon as possible. It has to be hard for them to keep all their business on actual paper, then turn it over each month." Tank and Junior were nodding, following her train of thought. "I think I can help you get some of that set up, if you want. I'm sure you'll have to talk to Carlos and the other guys." Junior chuckled. "Fuck the other guys, I want my damn office back!" Tank's booming voice and increasing excitement was amusing.
They discussed some additional details about systems that could be implemented to make Rangeman run more fluidly. Once Tank could see light at the end of the tunnel, he started to contribute even more ideas. By the time Lil had to go pick Tilde up on six, Tank was smiling. She had promised to make some notes for him that night then come back tomorrow to set some things in motion if he was ready. She had her work cut out for her that evening. Lil wanted to research what programs would work the best to streamline the flow of reports and communications at Rangeman. She thought she should call Hector to get his input from a tech standpoint.
When she and Junior left his office, he barged straight into Ranger's. Tank opened and shut the door quietly, looking like the cat who ate the canary. "I swear Rangeman, I could marry that woman!" Ranger was taken aback. He gave his second-in-command a fierce look, waiting for an explanation. "Lil has spent the last three hours learning about the paperwork. ALL the paperwork. And she didn't run! In fact, she's going to come back tomorrow to help me change some things." Ranger raised an eyebrow. He had complete trust in Tank's ability to manage the business's operations. Otherwise, he wouldn't hold the position. If Tank thought certain changes would improve Rangeman, and their lives, then he was fine with it. The fact that Lil was trying to help was not at all surprising. She had already proven herself to be a woman who was immensely kind and generous. Her education and work experience could go a long way to bettering Rangeman. "I'm telling you Ranger, if I didn't think of that woman like a sister, I would be getting down on one knee right now. She's a fucking keeper." Tank turned around and left as swiftly as he had entered. Ranger's eyes widened fractionally at Tank's admission. Holy Shit Times Four!