Chapter 8: Lunch with Howard

For the next half hour, Howard showed Dan the various classrooms that were set up little differently from the ones in the Queens school. Each classroom had either large full-wall windows to the common corridors, and/or custom windows taking up the upper portion of every door so that prospective students could view students in class during tours of the school. He was surprised and annoyed to see two different admissions counselors taking students around actually go in to classrooms where lectures where taking place and continuing to speak to their charges as though they were tour guides in a zoo.

“Why are these people interrupting classes by walking in and showing their groups around during lectures?” Dan asked, turning to Howard.

“It’s the best way to showcase what’s happening in the classroom and to let prospects see what goes on in the classroom for a few minutes.”

“I find that very disruptive for the classes involved,” Dan replied.

“Well, I don’t agree. At any rate, I don’t think it’s a significant disruption, and they do the same thing in all of the schools. It’s a favorite tool of the admissions counselors for signing up students.”

“That will continue over my dead body in my school,” Dan thought, though he refrained from making further comment on the matter out loud. As the tour continued, Dan noticed that there was no nursing assistant lab and no electronics lab at this facility, but the other rooms and classrooms were about the same as in the Queens school. He noticed two typing labs with the same IBM Selectric typewriters in use, and the same computer labs with the outdated Apple IIe computers that he knew had become obsolete some seven years prior when Apple introduced the Apple III series in 1980.

“Why haven’t the computers been updated to the new IBM PCs that are the most commonly used computers in business today?” Dan asked Howard as they passed by the first of two Apple IIe labs.

Howard looked at Dan as if he had asked “Why do people have to pay for stuff at the supermarket?” He shook his head and said, “It’s a cost issue, Dan. These computers are old but still workable, and they are perfectly fine for business simulations, typing practice and basic word processing which is what they are mostly used for.”

“But they won’t run the newest common business software, WordStar and the new WordPerfect word processors, Lotus 1-2-3 for spreadsheets and dBase III or the newer Paradox database management programs,” Dan objected.

“The Apple IIe can actually run VisiCalc and the earlier version of dBase, but we don’t even teach that at this point. Computers in the office are becoming very common, and you’re right that the IBM PC is the dominant system used in business, but what we try to do is to provide students with some basic computer literacy that will make them easier to train on whatever business programs and platform employers may be using now or in the future. They are way ahead of the game these days if they can just turn on a computer and load a program or know what a floppy disk is and the difference between RAM and ROM. That we teach them. The rest the employers will be able to piggyback on easily.” Howard responded, seeming to genuinely believe what he was saying. And, although Dan disagreed, he did not want to have that debate here and now. It would likely be yet another challenge he would need to overcome while finding a way to do it at a minimal cost o if he could swing that somehow.

Shortly thereafter, the tour done, Howard suggested they go out for lunch at a local eatery. Dan happily agreed. They went out and crossed the street to the corner deli, with Howard saying that they had about an hour as the Melameds, the PEMTI owners, wanted to meet Dan at 1:00 p.m. The typically small deli in a high rent district sported only a half dozen high wooden chairs along a long, narrow table affixed to the sill of the plate glass window facing the sidewalk. There were no chairs or tables outside as these were prohibited by local codes. The seats were unsurprisingly all taken, so Howard suggested they buy their lunch and return back to his office to eat it. Howard ordered a pastrami and Swiss on rye with mustard and Dan ordered one of his favorites, a classic Reuben sandwich, thin-sliced corned beef with sauerkraut, thousand island dressing and Swiss cheese on buttered bread grilled to perfection. He and Howard both got a half pickle with their sandwich and Dan ordered a can of coke while Howard ordered a can of 7-Up. The sandwiches were ready within five minutes, and Dan insisted on paying, but Howard would not let him. “This is on me. Trust me, although I don’t know and don’t want to know your salary, I guarantee you mine is more than twice yours. Plus, I’ll get the Melameds to reimburse me for lunch.” Dan relented and thanked Howard who paid the $11.98 bill and they once again crossed the street carrying their lunch in brown paper bags back to Howard’s office.

As they ate their lunch on Howard’s desk, Dan asked Howard if he taught at all. He replied, “Yes, I teach Industrial and Organizational Psychology as I am the best qualified to do so here and get paid extra for it, something I negotiated with the Melameds when I was hired. I have a masters in sociology in addition to my Ed.D.”

“Howard, I was wondering how you handle the long days. I assume your school is also open from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. or so. How do you juggle being around for both sets of faculty and having a presence both morning, noon and night?”

“We’re actually open from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. here. And I try to be flexible by being here on some days as early as 7:00 a.m. and others coming in sometime after noon and staying through 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. I don’t tell people what my schedule is, except for my secretary and the receptionist in case they need to schedule appointments. Unlike everyone else, we don’t need to punch the clock so our schedule is completely up to us. No one will ask you about it as long as there are no problems and no obvious pattern of abuse. I’ve even taken off when I need a long weekend from time to time, usually on a Monday. I check in from home with my secretary or the receptionist.”

“You mentioned a secretary. Do you have full or part time support?” Dan asked.

“I have a part-time secretary who is actually a work study student in the secretarial program, the best they have, who works for me about four hours a day during the week. She is paid partially by PEMTI and partially from federal funds. You can get one too. All the deans have the same support. And you can use the receptionist when needed as receptionists also have student workers assigned to them. All the receptionists are real secretaries with excellent typing and steno skills.”

“I’ll look into that.” He said, though Marvin had already offered him a similar arrangement but with a regular secretary rather than a student, something he would not mention to Howard either.

They made additional small talk and Howard continued to offer advice on a wide range of subjects as they finished their lunch. Then, at the appointed time, Howard called the receptionist over to walk Dan to the Melameds’ office to meet his bosses, telling Dan to return when the meeting was over, adding “It should go very quickly. They just want to put the name and the face together.”