Nine Ten Begin Again: A Grasshopper Lawns affair Read Online Free PDF

down. ‘I’m very glad to see you, Patrick, and I can tell you straight if you don’t sort this, this situation out, the Board will have my resignation tomorrow. And likely Bill MacNab’s as well. We have clearly defined duties here, we do our jobs extremely well, and, while Hamish was the bursar, never had a single complaint. Ever since Jemima was brought in, I’ve had nothing but complaints and problems across my desk. I’ll be making a formal complaint myself; I’ve just found out about the latest and it’s the final bluddy straw. Bill has always used two particular contract staff in the kitchen and dining-room, and has a rota of residents who work for house credits. She’s fired the contractors, brought in her own four appointments, and told him that using residents will no longer be suitable, for health and safety reasons. I am in overall charge of staff decisions, and I discuss with Bill or any other section head what their staff needs will be. Not a temporary bursar who hasn’t a bluddy clue!’
    Jemima Bateman flushed slightly under Edge’s interested gaze. She wasn’t unattractive, probably in her forties, well-groomed and with lips slightly thinner than they were painted.
    ‘I hadn’t realized the time, Mr Fitzpatrick, I had planned to be waiting downstairs for your arrival. There’s a private room on this floor, shall we go there now?’
    ‘You can have this office.’ Katryn stood up again. ‘I need to go for a walk to cool down. I would very much like a word with you, Patrick, before you go.’
    She left and Jemima’s thin lips stretched into a mirthless smile. ‘South Africans are so volatile,’ she remarked, and offered a cool hand to Edge. ‘Are you also with the Trust?’
    ‘Mrs Cameron. I’m in the Residents’ Association.’ Edge, who had lived for many years in South Africa and liked Katryn very much, was cool. ‘I’m not here officially. However, when I heard from Patrick about the complaints, and following an incident at lunch today, I invited myself along.’
    Jemima Bateman looked slightly surprised and not entirely pleased, but sank into the other visitor chair with undiminished poise as Patrick rounded the desk to take Katryn’s chair.
    ‘This place is completely inefficient,’ she said without preamble. ‘A large part of the workforce is made up of the residents themselves who aren’t trained to modern health and safety standards. The catering manager has been stretching his budget further than necessary to buy food that can be bought at nearly half the price elsewhere, and his contract staffers were costing us a fortune. By streamlining sources and trimming the excess surplus in every department, the Lawns could be turning a substantial profit instead of breaking even. That administrator is barely competent, the grounds manager is already past retirement age, the front desk manager thinks nothing of walking away from her desk leaving an old prostitute in charge of our public image, and the matron is completely uncooperative.’
    Patrick looked interested. ‘Uncooperative?’ he prodded, and Jemima looked spiteful.
    ‘I had negotiated two local contracts for convalescent patients in the Edinburgh area. People who are well enough to leave hospital, but not yet fit to move back to their own homes. I had arranged for us to take up to five at a time in Frail Care, and she refused. Refused! Said she was far too busy with her other responsibilities to take on full-time nursing duties. In my negotiating I had allowed for two additional nurses so we could offer twenty-four hour care, but we can’t possibly turn a profit if we have to bring in a third nurse. And besides, what does she do, anyway? Daily medication visits, and she runs exercise classes. Do you go to those?’ She glanced at Edge, who nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Jemima looked slightly taken aback. ‘Oh. I couldn’t imagine anyone in an old age home wanting exercise classes. Anyway, I said one person