Chapter 8 - A Spreadsheet Isn't a Person
"Please tell me you didn't send them a fifteen-tab spreadsheet," Leah said over breakfast.
"Six tabs."
She gave him a look.
"Three are optional."
"Nate."
He started to defend it, then stopped. "I can simplify."
They sat together while Josie brushed her teeth. Leah circled the only information a volunteer really needed: arrival time, assigned room, emergency contact, and what to do if a station was short-handed.
"You're trying to manage the school like a distribution center," she said.
"I'm good at managing distribution centers."
"I know. I married you when your planner had a color-coded column for fun."
"And you liked it."
"I liked that you showed up to dinner afterward. You stopped doing that near the end."
He could still picture the Wednesday night he'd told Josie he would take her to the neighborhood lantern walk, then stayed on a call in his office until after she was asleep. He'd made $180,000 a year and sometimes spent ten minutes on a home where he was needed for hours.
He deleted nine pages.
At the next meeting, Meredith read his one-page schedule without comment. Mr. Flores said he could help with tables. Tessa offered to manage family arrivals. Ms. Bell agreed to ask two colleagues whether they could support an earlier reading block.
"We still need a little money for additional signage and portable microphone batteries," Nate said. "I'll cover it."
Meredith's pen stopped. "We can't just buy things and ask the school to use them. Purchases have to go through approval."
"I'm not asking to be reimbursed."
"That's not the only issue. Equipment specifications, donations, storage. We've done this before."
He started to say that three dozen batteries weren't a procurement crisis. He didn't because she was right about needing permission.
"What do you need from me?" he asked instead.
"A list. No purchases yet."
But a case of battery packs was already sitting in his trunk. He'd ordered them overnight so he could show up prepared.
After the meeting he called the store to ask about returns. The clerk explained that the opened multipack couldn't be returned in full.
"You opened it?" Leah asked when he got home.
"To test it."
"For microphones the school hasn't agreed to use?"
"Yes."
May you like
She sighed, long and quiet. "We need to talk about what we're trying to afford right now."
