Reuben brought both cups of coffee into the living room. “Here ya go, man,” he said as he slid one of them over to Frank. It was the standard morning for both of them now before starting work; MadFast came over and they discussed their plans for the day while having coffee. After that, they’d get into the car and jet over to the office.
“So, what are we going to do today if DoJ hasn’t got any news for us, and ZFon hasn’t got a new build or software patch yet?” Reuben was keeping an eye on the calendar, and the time that MadFast had available to work on this was ticking away. He was nervous about the past couple of business days having been spent without any significant work being done. “I want to work on an alternate plan. I don’t think ZFon is going to have anything for us this week, and I don’t think that Vince will either. So we’re basically billing DoJ for our ‘sitting around waiting’, and then when we do have to resume, we’ll be out of time.You’ll have to go back to Seattle and catch up on your project work there. And I know I’ve said this before, but we really need you here to finish this. So how can we work this out so that everyone gets everything they need?”
MadFast sat back, sipping the hot coffee. “I think I can get some of my project work done this week while we have downtime. How about we don’t bill DoJ for that time, and I’ll be billable to my regular client instead?”
“That’s a start, but what about the expenses? DoJ will still be paying per diem and lodging.”
“True. But I’m also sitting put without anything else to do because they want me to.This way they can have what they want without putting me in a bind. And it’ll be cheaper for them than what they’re getting now.”
Reuben thought about that. “That makes sense. Why don’t you talk to Bob and we’ll see how they feel about it? From what little I’ve seen, it looks to me like government contracting is full of crazy details and regula- tions, and I want him to make sure there’s nothing wrong with trying to work it out that way. I’m glad I haven’t had to get involved in those details, to be honest.”
“Right on. I don’t blame you.That stuff looks like a total nightmare. Your tax bucks at work, man!”
“Yeah, I do wonder if it ever reaches the point where the cost of the effort of keeping the costs down ends up costing too much. At what point does it become self-defeating?”
MadFast laughed lightly. “It’s not like we’ll ever know. No sense trying to figure it out. It’s just how it is.”
They downed the rest of their coffee and grabbed their stuff. Minutes later they were listening to music in the car as Reuben worked them out of the city.
“What do you think of this?” asked Reuben, referring to the music that was playing.
“I like Linkin Park. It’s kind of like a little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of metal, and a bit of electronica. It’s nice to hear something different getting airplay for a change. I’m sick of the skate-punk music that’s been barfed up by every station.”
“That’s a good way to put it.Yeah, I like the eclectic nature of it too.” He shut up and continued listening to the album.
Several tracks later, they pulled into the parking lot and parked. Well- used to the routine, they were upstairs with their gear in no time flat without even thinking about it.They started to boot everything in the lab, then went upstairs to see Bob and check in.
“Hey Bob, we’re here. Hear anything yet?”
Bob looked up at the pair. “No, not yet. Eager to get back at it?” “Hell yeah,” answered MadFast.
Reuben took over. “We came up with an idea. While we’re waiting, DoJ is paying for both of us to just sit around, on top of Frank’s expenses. And the clock is ticking down, because he has another commitment on hold while he’s here. What if we could take them off the hook for his
hourly rate while he’s here, and he works on the prior commitment? That way he’s on hand when they’re ready for us to resume, and he can buy some time to be useful when that time comes.”
Bob sat back. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll have to get them to go for the expenses while he’s here, but I think they’ll go for that. It beats paying for him to do nothing, and it wouldn’t be any more than they’d pay for expenses. Hell, they’ll save on the overall tab. It means we might get paid less, but it lessens the risk that we’ll run out of time and end up under- serving the client.”
The pair nodded back to Bob. “That’s pretty much what we thought,” replied Reuben. How do we go from here?”
“Well, since we’re just on hold, why don’t you just start today? I mean, I need to call Vince first and get them to sign off on it, but why don’t you work on your other project, Frank, and if they go for it we’ll make it effective as of today. If they don’t, then you get to do a few hours of work anyway and I won’t tell.”
Reuben smiled at MadFast. “Great, now what am I going to do while you’re busy again?”
MadFast laughed. “Practice management skills?”
Reuben laughed back, play-punching him in the shoulder. “Shut up!” He turned back to Bob. “Alright, so we’ll work like that, and let us know what Vince says.Talk to you later.”
Bob nodded and picked up the phone, dialing as the pair left.