Chapter 0205
Immediately, I busied myself with writing thank you notes and sending fruit baskets.
With the day halfway done, a message appeared on my screen in the work chat. It was from Logan.
It read, If you have time to set fruit baskets, you have time to add another account to your list.
Attached to the message was the contact information for one of our mid–level clients. While an honor to be considered capable, I privately balked at the added work. I only barely finished my work on time in the best of days. Adding this account was akin to assigning me overtime. Without the added pay.
A second message came in, with a second company’s profile attached.
Take on this one too. No more fruit baskets.
Obviously, Logan was missing the fact that personal touches like gifts helped establish long–term bonds with our individual clients. No one wanted to be made to feel like they were a number on a list. People wanted to feel important. It garnered trust, and with that trust, the clients spent more.
It was in the numbers. I could prove it.
Maybe Logan had been out of the sales field for too long. As an executive, he could be so concerned with the bottom line that he might miss the finer details.
I send a message back. Can we discuss a few things?
His reply, On your break.
My break was supposed to be used for non–work time.
Logan was most likely stressed, I reminded myself. After last weekend, he could have been as tightly wound as I was.
Maybe we needed to talk about more than just work issues. Okay. On my break, then.
During my break, I walked into Logan’s office. I started to close the door, expecting a personal
conversation..
“Leave it open,” Logan said.
Strange. But I couldn’t go against his wishes so I left it open. I walked up to his desk.
Not looking at me, Logan continued typing as he asked, “What were your issues?”
“The fruit baskets…”
“An unnecessary expense and a waste of your time.”
“They cultivate a rapport…
“Build that rapport through your meetings and calls. You don’t need to waste company funds on something so arbitrary, not when your verbal skills alone should suffice.”
That felt like a dig, but I swallowed down my reflex to become defensive. After all, the fruit baskets weren’t my real problem.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0205
“Two new clients are a heavy ask on top of my other duties,” I said.
“You can handle it.” He was still typing, still not looking at me.
“Logan…”
With a sigh, he stopped typing to look at me. “What do you want, Hazel? Special treatment?”
“No, of course not. But I feel like I’m being punished somehow.”
He paused a moment. Inhaled and exhaled. “Everyone has acquired more duties starting this week. We have a new efficiency standard, so productivity has to Increase, or we’ll have to start layoffs.”
“Layoffs?” I couldn’t believe my ears. Everyone already worked so hard. Not as hard as Logan, sure, but from their scheduled 9 to 5, I’d never seen anyone slacking off, except for a few gross supervisors that Dawn’s unfortunate rules did actually weed out.
“We need to lower costs and increase profits, Hazel. That is the trajectory of any good business.”
I hated when he got this way, talking to me like I was some ignoramus and him some intellectual on high. Right now, he sounded so much like those jerks from the high society party that I wanted to scream.
“Everyone needs to pull more weight around here. Even me. Even you.” Logan stared at me the way a boss would. Not a husband. “Is that clear?”
“Not really,” I said. What could have happened from last week to this one to make him want to change everything so drastically?
Logan shook his head at me. “Weren’t you the one who wanted to prove the worth of the working class to my grandfather? Now’s your chance.”