His Own Dried Fruit by Diana Blakeley

Brian and his adventure in Wetherby. Whilst living life on the edge, Brian inevitably fell over the side. The combination of his failed work ethos and an extraordinary plot sent him further into confusion. Only then, at the bottom, could he finally let go and understand his own sense of reality.

                         

  Chapter One

                The cracks were beginning to show as Brian increasingly struggled to meet the requirements of his role as the Central European Quality and Training manager. He worked for Swift Streamers, a fast food manufacture and franchise outlet business. In the earlier part of his career, it had all been so different. In the company, Brian had initiated many improvements, maintaining standards through his personal drive. He was wholly committed to the company’s policy to be the best in its class and had introduced significant step changes.
                However, now, his impact was beginning to falter, proven by a recent example of introducing a Fourteen Sigma Best Practice Guideline, which was Brian’s idea. It was not working as he had wished. This was only one example, there were other similarities in Brian’s life, as he found change and his own problems ever more difficult to come to terms with.
                Why had it changed? Why could he not continue as before? His career had been so successful in the past, benchmarking all operations, focusing on measurements for key controls and managing improvements. He had assessed all franchise operations against food safety and good manufacturing practices, whilst building operational relations throughout the business, prioritising people development and their management as an essential tool for the company’s long-term survival. Brian had pushed the company’s core values throughout the organisation, making certain the drive and focus in the franchise operational sites were on the immediate customer. He had identified areas of concern and energised actions that saw through improvement systems that would prevent reoccurrence......

            Brian had constantly looked for improvements so that the organisation would always be ahead of the competition, developing and protecting the business. Moreover, he still held a significant quantity of respect in most quarters for his work. Throughout the organisation, he had a good reputation, was well known and revered. It was rare for anybody of importance to demise him for his work, even behind his own back.
            In the relatively brief history of Swift Streamers, nobody had achieved results as Brian had. The company emerged from the last decade with a faltering and middle of the road reputation. There was poor customer expectation based on the food products being reasonably cheap but also a bit of a gamble with regard to quality. At that time, you could not enter two different franchise outlets, even within the same district, and expect the same product or service.
            However, this had changed since Brian's promotion from his laboratory manager role, six years ago. The company was now a market leader and renowned in the manufacturing industry as a world class organisation with ever increasing operational standards that the competition had struggled to contend, understand or keep up with.
            Solely Brian, with his commitment and determination to the company, had achieved this. However, this commitment in Brian had its roots seated deep within him and he justified them for other reasons. There was a darker side to Brian that not everybody who knew him appreciated and certainly, this was something that Brian did not understand. There were reasons yet contended. Brian had a foundation based on a belief and fear of his own inevitable and absolute failure. The burden, which Brian carried around with him, was finally becoming too much.
            Brian was twenty eight years old, fairly tall and with a slight cumbersome build. The most discerning characteristic of him were his eyes, which were a deep blue. He often held an intense stare whilst talking and listening. The reason for this was Brian possessed a serious nature, he recognised the importance of concentrating on words and facts.
            His mousy coloured brown hair and the style was such that some might cruelly describe it as a Frankenstein hair cut for he had the appearance of a large forehead with a short fringe. This appearance was a combination of a genetic stream in Brian’s family, coupled with the work of Brian’s local barber who had long since stopped studying the work of new and fashionable hairstylists.
            The evening had started well enough. Brian had finished the last of his three reports in his hotel room and had settled down for a quite evening opening a half bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, whilst resting on his bed. He was staying at the Bristol West Station Hotel for this night but planned to travel up north the following morning.
 

Published by Turner Maxwell Books

First published 2007.
Copyright © Diana Blakeley 2000

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Warning: May contain explicit material, which is not intentionally offensive.
Warning: It may also contain nuts.

Not suitable for children

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental and may be more the work of your own imagination. Why not write a book yourself? Turner Maxwell Books are an alternative co-operative of new writers, working towards publishing inspirational literature.

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom for Turner Maxwell Books.