Chapter 4 #2
“I think the lunch rush should be over in the restaurant,” I said. “I’m sure there are a few people down there who’ll be keen to get re-acquainted.”
Caleb winced. “Angelo? Was that his name?” He turned to Katie. “That one didn’t make it to Twitter, did it?”
“You went skinny dipping in the restaurant?”
“Worse. I yelled at a waiter and tried to get frisky with your boss,” he said, nodding sheepishly in my direction.
Katie laughed. “I bet that didn’t end well.”
Caleb shrugged. “Well, it didn’t make it to Twitter. That’s a plus.”
“Nice to meet you,” Katie said, shaking hands again and walking them to her door. “And Nyah, I wanted to talk to you about sending a few people down to Seattle for the Women in Management conference.”
“Drop me an email?”
“Will do.”
We left Katie’s office and walked back out to the elevator lobby.
My phone beeped, reminding me to take my pills. “I think we’ve both missed lunch,” I said to Caleb. “Why don’t you go out? I’ll go back upstairs and grab something at my desk while I clear my inbox. We can meet at the restaurant at, say, three?”
“Sure thing.” Caleb stepped into the elevator while I pressed the Up button. He turned and stood there, hands clasped in front of him, white teeth gleaming. “See you after lunch.”
Then the doors closed.
Right. That went better than I expected. I entered the next elevator and returned to my floor.
I stopped at Amy’s desk on my way through. “Amy. Set up Caleb Evans with full access to the file share and management email list, will you? He’s acting for Mr. Evans until they have a role for him at HQ, so you’ll be the PA for both of us while he’s here.”
Amy tilted her head to one side, her red hair resting on her ear. “Full access? Do you really think that’s a good idea? You left the door open earlier, and I heard you three talking.”
“I guess maybe I was wrong about him.” I pursed my lips. “Hey, he’s a rich guy. He’ll probably spend the whole day organizing his night out. How much damage could he possibly do?”
We both laughed, and I walked back to my office to take my pills.
I met Caleb outside the restaurant just before three o’clock.
It was Angelo’s day off, and nobody else seemed to remember him, so the visit was uneventful.
Afterward, when we returned upstairs, I got Caleb logged in to the corporate systems, then left him to work through the onboarding pack while I caught up on the morning’s missed work.
Nearing five o’clock, I was checking my emails when I saw a reply had come through to Gary Daly, the Banquet Manager, about Saturday’s Keller-Petrowski wedding. The couple wanted to change the entire wedding’s theme and menu, which was impossible.
Yeah, sure, no problem! Caleb had written, forwarding his response, which included the happy couple.
I saw red.
Without thinking, I stormed out of my office and barged into his, catching him with his feet up on the desk, scrolling absently on his phone. “You have no authority to approve wedding changes without consulting Gary.”
Caleb sat up, placed his phone on the desk, and responded to my anger with infuriating calm. “I don’t need Gary’s permission. Or yours, for that matter. Last I checked, it was the Evans name listed on the company masthead, not Rodriguez.”
I don’t have the patience for this. “First of all,” I snapped, “that’s Randall Evans’ name on the masthead, not yours.”
He stiffened.
“Sharing his DNA does not mean you share his authority. Second, you cannot make changes of this magnitude at the last minute. The vendors and suppliers have already approved their pre-requests, and any changes have to be run by them first.”
He started to interrupt me, but I spoke over him.
“And even if they can pivot with a week’s notice, costs have to be calculated, and then approvals or rejections sent.” All the blood rushed to my head. “‘Yeah, sure’ is not an adequate response—especially via email.”
“You think I don’t know all that?” He pushed back his chair and rose to his feet.
“Did you even check your email when you blew me off for lunch? Did you know those guys were on the VIP list?” He came around the desk, fixing me with a defiant stare.
“If you knew anything about VIPs, you’d know there’s one rule—make it happen.
I did Gary a favour, do you know that? Those changes were happening no matter what.
Now he has all week to work out how to do it. ”
Arrrgh… jackass. “Caleb, they’re on the VIP list for the weekend, not for life! They’re newlyweds, for goodness’ sake. Do you think they’ll be jetting in every second weekend and booking a suite? The next time they come back will be in twenty-five years to renew their vows—if we’re lucky!”
Caleb threw up his arms. “If they’re not rich, then why the hell are they on the list?”
“You entitled… brat!” I stormed out toward my assistant. “Amy, restrict all access to emails and company files for Caleb. No access whatsoever.”
Eyes wide, Amy did exactly as asked and sent me a confirmation.
Gary met me in my office, and together we drafted a reply to the couple, apologizing for the mix-up and the lack of professionalism in Caleb’s email.
While Gary and I were finishing up, Caleb pushed open the door and regarded us with an accusing look. “Why was I not asked to join this meeting? And how come I don’t have access anymore?”
“Gary, could you please excuse us?”
As soon as we were alone, I said, “You don’t have any access because I restricted it.”
His face hardened.
“And you were not asked to join us because your input is not valued at this time. If there’s nothing else, I have to repair the damage you caused. So please excuse me.”
I was about to walk out of the office, but Caleb stepped in my way.
“You do not have any right to talk to me like this. You are my employee.” He thumped his fist on the doorjamb, his face turning bright red. “I make my own decisions, and I need full access to our systems to do so.”
I pushed past him, then turned back and hissed, “I will decide when you get access. Good day!”
I returned to my office after I’d cooled off, and shortly afterward heard the door to Caleb’s office slam shut, followed by footsteps pounding down the corridor.
I guess Mr. Know-It-All is done for the day.
I called his father to let him know what had happened.
“Nyah,” Randall said, “I’m sorry about his behaviour, but this is good for him.
I need you to instill in him a sense of responsibility.
I need him to get serious and realize there is more to business than socializing and spending profits on frivolous things.
I’m so proud of you—and I want to be proud of him too.
But I need your help. Please stay strong. For me.”
I feared Caleb was beyond help… even if a fairy godmother came down from the heavens and waved a magic wand.
One thing was certain: I was definitely not going to let him walk all over me.
Tomorrow would be a new day. Time to change tactics.