Control of the unions was very strong at that, particularly at the NUJ level, and I found out that there was very, very poor attendance at meetings.  Somebody was always ill, somebody was always not feeling well, somebody always had to go to the doctor - we had our own doctor and sister - somebody was off in Ireland meeting an author, or in Paris having a meeting with a French publisher.  And so, I didn't know how to curtail this without becoming a snoop and asking for proof of this or that. So I made all meetings on Mondays and Fridays.  And the absenteeism went down unbelievably, because it was quite clear who wasn't there on Mondays and Fridays, who was extending their weekends.  And before too long, things regulated themselves very nicely.

I also discovered sometimes the phone would ring, all through the building.  Many different phones were ringing, and nobody would pick them up.  And I would ask someone, why is the phone ringing all the time, and nobody ever picks up?  He says, it's not my job.  And I said, well, whose job is it?  Well, it's so-and-so's, they're out to lunch.  Or so and so, they're ill.  So the phone just keeps ringing.  Well, whoever's ringing will call back.  So, I didn't know quite what to do.  I couldn't get anybody to pick up anybody else's phones.  Seemed to me to be civil.  You would do this for somebody, I thought.  But not in a union environment, or not in the union environment that existed at that time.

So I would run around the building every time I heard a phone ring incessantly, and I would start picking up the phones all over the building, but particularly, of course, on my floor which was the ground floor.  And I found out that it started to embarrass people to have the CEO pick up everybody's phones.  And soon they started picking up their own phones, or helping their buddies… and picking up the phone on the desk next to them and say, he'll call you back right after lunch or whatever, can I take a message?