"I understand that -- but my wife sure doesn't . . . . I really think you're going to have to make some allowances if you want me to stay on."

Those words were still ringing in Evelyn's ears two hours after the meeting. And she still wasn't sure she had done the right thing.

The words had been spoken by Gil Truman, one of Evelyn's best salespeople. At least he had been one of the best, up until a couple of months ago. That's when the trouble started.

The first hint of something amiss that Evelyn had noticed was in Gil's paperwork. Before, he had been very prompt about turning in his call reports, his expense claims, and his sales plans. About two months ago, though, that began to change. First the call reports and then the weekly plans began to come in a day or two late.

When Evelyn brought this up, Gil said he had been particularly busy and would get back on track soon. And he did -- for a week or two. Then it began to happen again. And since that time the only thing that always came in on schedule was Gil's expense claims.

Then, last week, Evelyn noticed that Gil was occasionally out of touch with the office for an hour or two at a time. It was not unusual, of course, for someone in Gil's position to be out of the office a great deal. As a sales rep in a highly competitive industry, he was supposed to spend most of his time making sales calls and servicing established accounts. But while out of the office he was also supposed to respond to his pager -- and it was when that didn't happen, two afternoons in a row last week, that Evelyn realized there was more to Gil's problem than some overdue paperwork.

As soon as Gil got back to the office that second afternoon, Evelyn confronted him about not answering the page. He blushed, stammered that he was sorry for any inconvenience he might have caused, but that he had gone home for personal reasons soon after lunch, and then turned off the pager because he didn't want to be disturbed.

Evelyn thought all this sounded serious and unlike the Gil she had known before, and she decided that the discussion ought to be continued when he was more composed and the two of them could speak more confidentially. That led to today's meeting.

And today Gil started talking as soon as Evelyn had shut her office door. "I'll tell you what the problem is," he said. "The problem is that my wife feels neglected. Do you realize that I'm out entertaining my customers and new accounts three or four nights a week? That's right, three or four nights every week. I have to. They expect it. If I ever quit doing it, we'll lose their business. Because we have plenty of competitors who'll jump right in if we ever give them a chance."

When Evelyn commented that her immediate concern was that Gil stay in touch with the office during the day and answer when paged, he reddened. "Look, Evelyn, I know how important that is. Taking care of customers is one of my strong points. Haven't I consistently been one of your top producers? Aren't I still a little ahead of my current quota? Well, that doesn't happen if customers aren't satisfied -- and mine are. They know I'll take care of them."

"That may be, Gil," Evelyn said, "but some of them get pretty irritated when we tell them you can't be reached. They want you to take care of them now. And that's not all. Some of those pages you didn't answer last week came from people in the office who needed information from you. You delayed their work as well as your own."

"Okay, okay . . . . I was wrong. From now on I won't turn off the pager. But with the schedule I keep, Evelyn, I'm going to have to 'disappear' every now and then for an hour or two. I won't overdo it, I really won't. But as much as I love this job, it's not worth ruining my marriage for. What I'm saying is that I've got to have some more time at home. I know entertaining customers is part of my job. I understand that -- but my wife sure doesn't . . . . I really think you're going to have to make some allowances if you want me to stay on."

Evelyn was quiet for a moment, and then she replied, "All right, Gil, I'll leave this to your judgment for the time being. But I think sooner or later, something's got to give. And the first time you fall behind your quota, we're going to have a serious talk about how you're doing your job."

Did Evelyn do the right thing? How should she have handled the situation? And what should she do now?