Chapter 23 – Performance
"Director, Agent DiNozzo called again. Still wants to know when you'll be free to see him."
Vance shot an icy look at Leslie, and then relented. It wasn't Leslie's fault. It wasn't even Tony's fault. Vance tried to make himself available to his more-valued employees, but there were times when there was little of Vance to go around. Like this week. Taking Thursday through Sunday off to spend Thanksgiving with Jackie's parents meant that he had only three days this week to get through a pile of paper.
Still, this was the third or so time that Tony had requested to see him since late last week. "Did he say what he wanted?"
"No, sir. He wants to discuss it only with you." Leslie hung in the doorway, wearing a slightly-intimidated look.
Vance grimaced. "Tell him to come up now. Let's get this over with."
Tony appeared within two minutes, closing the door behind him. "Thanks for seeing me, Director."
"Have a seat, Agent DiNozzo. What's up?"
Taking the offered cup of coffee, Tony shifted in his chair a few times before speaking. Then he burst out with, "I just wanted to tell you that after a couple of years of watching McGee hack…er, get computer information in novel ways…I've figured out how to do this on my own. Somewhat. Under limited applications."
Vance raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"So I cracked the database that has the performance review statistics and modified them."
"You did what?"
"Because it's just not fair, Director! Ziva lost 60 workdays this year. McGee, that plus 19 workdays. When they came back, because they weren't working in the field, they had fewer reports to write and so their productivity stats went into the toilet."
"Agent DiNozzo, you were out with a broken leg for awhile yourself…"
"Just a few weeks. That's nothing compared to them. I know, I know; they got some credit for working on cold cases when there was nothing else for them to do, but cold cases rate crap compared to reports from field work. You know that."
Vance did indeed know that. Fresh field work was time-critical, so agents involved with that got a boost in their productivity stats for more field reports turned in. "Just what did you do, Agent DiNozzo?"
Without blinking, Tony met his eyes, and even leaned forward. "I just made things right."
"You hacked the database and increased their scores?"
"Director, I found out last week that I'm up for an award at the ceremony next month. Me! Well, not that I don't deserve something (maybe), but because of productivity? That's…to be honest, Director, that's just not Anthony DiNozzo's style. It only happened because I typed my fingertips off this year writing up lots and lots of reports because McGee and Ziva weren't around as much to do their share."
"And you're being rewarded for your hard work and accomplishments. Why can't you let it rest at that?"
"I might, even though it would feel funny, but it's not fair. McGee and Ziva have gotten high ratings and bonuses and awards for years because they work hard…harder than I do, in those categories. Okay, I excel at the usual things. But they're being dragged down this year, and I could see it in their faces last month when they each came back from their performance reviews. They felt like they'd failed. No outstanding marks this time; just acceptable.
"I'm not an outstanding marks guy, Director. I admit that. Mind; I'm very good at what I do, and some things that I do, I do better than those two. But while they rank outstanding in some categories, I don't, but that doesn't bother me. I'm satisfied with what I do. So it kills me that I'm rewarded this year because I only broke a leg while on vacation this year, and avoided getting shot while on the job. McGee—" he looked pained. "—McGee shouldn't have been sent out alone on that assignment in March. Gibbs was wrong to do that."
"Maybe. Injuries do happen, though. We can't predict where or when."
Tony rose, in anger. "Are you saying we're just cogs in the wheel? Expendable? If an agent dies, no worries; that's why we always have classes going at FLETC? More cannon fodder?"
"Agent DiNozzo, sit down!"
He remained standing, as if he hadn't heard. "Don't you get it? Tim went out into a situation in March, alone, and was gunned down because the agency didn't do more to back him up. Flash forward a few months. Death threats are made against the MCRT. NCIS approaches this casually; mostly, it's business as usual until one day, with half of us away, a sweet-faced intern pulls out a gun right in our squad room and bang-bang, Tim and Ziva go down. And then we add insult to their being in the wrong place at the wrong time by telling them, come performance review time, that they haven't worked hard enough this year to warrant anything more than an 'acceptable' rating.
"So I'll tell you what I've done, Director Vance. I nudged Ziva's and McGee's reports numbers upward, to what they would have done if they had been here. I took off some of what I'd done; put the numbers on theirs. In some cases, the reports would have been better if they'd written them, anyway."
"DiNozzo, I should slap you down so far that you'd approach the center of the earth before you stopped rolling!"
Tony smiled, sardonically. "Because I changed scores and hacked to do so. Guess that means I won't get an award or bonus this year."
"You think?"
"I should probably shut my mouth now, but…I'm glad. I feel like I've won. Like my team won."
"Just because you changed the marks doesn't mean that they can't be changed back. Or that McGee and Ziva would get awards."
Tony's face grew dark and cold. "Yes. You have more power than I do. You can do that."
"I suggest you return to work, Agent DiNozzo."
Tony turned to go with a sigh, but called over his shoulder, "They don't know that I did this, you know. You can tell Gibbs what I did, and you probably will. But don't blame Tim and Ziva. They've been through enough. All for the benefit of the agency. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving."
Happy Thanksgiving. Why was it that the holidays were often bittersweet?
The audit's interim report was in. This was meatier than the preliminary report, but the final findings wouldn't be out until mid-2011. The audit panel was still reviewing years of agency statistics and procedures.
But what Vance saw was encouraging. The agency was rated well in terms of preparedness on several fronts, including physically, materially, and monetarily. There was a slight shaking of fingers over the SIG purchase agreement and the resultant furloughs, but the audit team acknowledged that the lack of a budget for so long was something that couldn't have been foreseen.
Employee morale was found to be high—higher than in most comparable agencies—despite the furloughs. The working environment was good…despite the HVAC problems earlier in the year. Agents, and people in other positions, too, were well-trained. The chain of command was easy to understand, and successful. Policies on leave time were adhered to, and records well-kept. The Legal department got high marks overall; praised for being efficient, its procedures transparent, its success in getting cases thoroughly prepared for JAG (with very few being returned for mishandling). Intel and Cybercrimes were both cited for quick turnaround, working in painstaking detail, and close cooperation with other departments. That motley crew that was the agents…after interviews with several, all the auditors could say was that they were surprised at what differing personalities they had, and how impressive it was that they could be this way and yet lead to such a high case-solving rate.
Vance sat back and smiled. He would forward the email to the supervisors in a few minutes. They needed to see this.
He wasn't innocent enough to believe that there weren't likely to be a few bumps in the final report when it would come out. On the other hand, he knew better than to worry about something not even written yet. This interim report was good. It was better than good.
Good staff. Hard workers. Team players. That was what made the difference.
He knew he had a lot to be thankful for.
Monday, November 29
Monday, November 22