Nooo. This was bad. How far did “make him happy whatever it takes” go? Would Binick reschedule the tour to accommodate Noe?

For all of Chananya Hartstein’s generosity, when it came to company meetings — and they didn’t happen often, even though he kept saying he wanted to make them a weekly thing — the most his accountants could expect was bottled water.

“Streamlining,” Hartstein boomed. “I can’t stress it enough.”

You stressed it enough, Yochi wanted to say, but instead he closed the cap of his water bottle and looked down at his phone. Keeping his eyes on his phone was the safe thing to do. If he looked anywhere else, it required too much eye contact avoidance effort on everyone’s part. Why make things uncomfortable?

Besides, the discussion was irrelevant to him — he’d long be out of the firm by the time all streamlined procedures were re-streamlined — and he had work to do.

A lot of work, in fact. More work than he’d envisioned when he’d signed the contract with Binick. Because in addition to all the fun stuff — writing up programs, planning itineraries, inviting celebrities — there were the people. And that included Yumi Noe.

“It’s No-wee,” Noe had corrected Yochi’s “Hi, Mr. No” the first time they’d spoken. Yochi had quickly looked up the notes next to the guy’s reservation. Yumi Noe, collector of nursing homes, came on the Spain tour in 2018 with three couples and hasn’t joined again since then. Make him happy, whatever it takes.

Yochi read Noe’s text. Did you make sure I’m getting rooms on the first floor?

As if Yochi were the one making the room plans. Touring Together had a staff of secretaries for a reason. They were hired to take care of things like reservations, billing and — get this, No-wee! — room plans. But no, lowly secretaries shouldn’t dare touch Noe’s holy room plans, G-d forbid. Only the higher-ups could do that.

Of course, Yochi replied. Four suites, non-smoking, right off the lobby, orchard view.

Noe’s response was swift. Call me.

Um. Yochi looked around. His shver was going strong, something about system changes, workflow improvements, productivity drivel. Yochi was sitting close to the door. Nobody would suffer if he disappeared for a few minutes.

He paced the hallway near the elevator as he dialed. “Yes, Mr. Noe. What’s up?”

“I’m looking at the dates here, and they’re not going to work.”

Nooo. This was bad. How far did “make him happy whatever it takes” go? Would Binick reschedule the tour to accommodate Noe?