It was on the heels of a family friend’s untimely death due to cancer and I put a short-term extension in place for the company to complete paperwork amidst turnover.
HealthStaff is a small staffing company in Virginia spearheaded by James Driscoll.
If memory serves me correctly, his contract expired in August but his admin walked out. He needed time to find another or do it himself.
Parallel to this, my family friend was enjoying his standard vacation but food and water consumption was difficult. He was still smoking pork and brisket for everybody to enjoy.
October came and went and I did another short-term extension to keep James operable.
At the end of October, I got my hand slapped for not finalizing a full-length extension. I couldn’t. James was playing recruiter and juggling other stuff.
I let James know the situation and that he might have to submit the package himself. He did and we were flipping it back-and-forth for me to get something to move. He then decided to do another proposal and change his company name. This was fine because his extension package had the price proposal completed.
I then got a telephone call from Dad informing me of an untimely death. I got a lump in my stomach. Both for his family and trying to get leave to go. When I first started, I was informed that leave on holidays was based on seniority and that I probably wouldn’t be able to go home for the first two or three years of employment. Also, others make you feel guilty for leaving and the mountain of paperwork seems even worse when you return. I was determined to do whatever it took to be granted leave to go home.
I spent 14 hours at my desk to award this proposal before I left for a funeral. I began work at 6 AM and didn’t leave the office until 8 PM. I think my boss was feeling a bit bad for me because as I was exiting the building he ran after me and told me that he would like to drive me home. I told him that wasn’t really necessary and that I just did what needed to be done in order to go home and support my family and friends. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He drove me home and I left early the next morning on a bus back to Iowa.
Upon returning to the office, I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from James that deeply thanked me for saving his business and his employees. He told me that what I did for him and his company was a huge sense of relief and that he knew he could not assign me a monetary bonus but he would definitely be contacting my supervisor in hopes of obtaining me one for my heroic efforts.
James is stellar and knows his stuff. All that being said, requesting the assistance from a consultant could have alleviated him a lot of administrative burden. He could’ve concentrated on executive stuff and a consultant could’ve done the paperwork for him or at least coached him through the paperwork so that revisions would be a moot point.
Don’t let contracting be the most stressful part of your desk. It doesn’t have to be. I laugh out loud as I type. Lovingly, leave that to your assigned Contract Specialist or Contracting Officer in the government.
If you think I can help you then email nicholas.s.robertson@outlook.com for your introductory email and free consultation.
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