Chapter 15 #2
“Ha!” she cries. “That’s why you’re being so nice to me! You need me to be on my best game. For the holidays. For revenue. For ‘fan satisfaction.’” She throws in finger quotes. “It’s not even Halloween, and you’re already thinking about Christmas.”
“Don’t twist my words,” I say quietly.
“And it’s assistant team captain,” she snaps.
“No, I said team captain, and I meant team captain. We won’t be hiring anyone to fill Aurora’s position. We’ll be hiring to fill yours and Cesar’s.”
Her mouth drops open. “Did you just promote me?”
“I did.”
She throws her shoulders back. “I need more than a thirteen-cent raise, Wil. I want at least as much as Aurora was making. Actually, I want thirteen cents more an hour than what Aurora was making. No. Make that a dollar-thirteen. And Lavender and Kevin are ready for more responsibility. They work so hard.”
I smirk. “See, you’ve already made your first decision as TC. I’ll talk to Jeremy about the raise. Now go home, Rhodes.”
Felix stops by the store the following day to check on a new display mock-up in software.
“Looks good,” he says. “Seems like you’ve turned the corner, Wil. And just in time for the holiday season.”
Felix, like most people at the district or corporate offices, started at retail. He worked in the media department at the Sioux Falls store while he was in college, then moved to the Twin Cities and worked his way up to district merchandise manager by kissing ass at every rung of the ladder.
When I think of dedicated, hardworking men of integrity, I do not think of Felix Kane. While I’ve never been able to pinpoint exactly what it is about him that I don’t trust, there’s always been something in my gut that tells me the guy’s not exactly on the up and up.
“Let’s take a walk,” Felix says as he reaches out to straighten a package of floppy discs on an endcap. “Getting rid of Aurora was the right move. Now you’ve got to take a long, hard look at Shane.”
“We didn’t ‘get rid’ of Aurora. She’s moving to Texas.”
“And just in time, I’d say. Now, about Shane. He knows his stuff. Smart, hardworking. But he’s not right for the flagship store. You know how much pressure it can be.”
As much as I want to disagree with Felix, I can’t.
Shane’s young—still at community college, in fact, working on a business degree at night.
That’s why the early shift of the merch job was a perfect fit.
But he doesn’t do well under pressure. He clams up whenever anyone comes in from corporate, and here, that’s every week.
“What do you suggest?” I’m curious to see how Felix responds. “We have no reason to terminate or demote him. There’s no progressive discipline or documentation.”
“Well, except his merch eval scores,” Felix says with more than a hint of condescension.
He’s probably thinking about how store merch scores impact his bonus.
He doesn’t give one shit about the employees who work their asses off for it.
“I think a relocation is in Shane’s future.
He goes to school in Inver Grove Heights, right? ”
“That’s right.”
“And he lives not far from there, in South St. Paul?” Felix has done his homework.
“Yes, he lives with his parents to save money.”
“Danno wants to retire at the end of the year,” Felix says.
Dan Truman has been the combined merchandise and media team captain at the small Inver store since it opened back in the late seventies.
“I propose we move Shane over now to help Dan get through one last holiday season, and then Shane takes over in the new year. Inver’s already agreed to keep him at his same rate of pay. ”
It’s not a bad idea, as much as I hate to admit it.
Although Shane has worked hard, he’s still struggling, and that’s not helping me with this rotation.
And although I’m irritated that Felix has gotten this ball rolling without looping me in—especially talking to the GM at Inver—I’m glad Shane wouldn’t have to take a pay cut.
He’s a good kid, even if the flagship is proving too much for him.
“What about his position here?” I ask. “I assume you have someone in mind.”
Felix grins, his white veneers gleaming. Even his teeth aren’t exactly what they seem. “You assume correctly, my friend.”
I grimace at the term but because Felix has found and picked up an abandoned CD in the car audio department, he doesn’t notice.
He hands me the CD. R.E.M., New Adventures in Hi-Fi.
One of the CDs Abbey bought the day we hired her.
A knot of tension releases in my neck when I think of her, her soft smell, her strong arms, her spirit.
And then, it tenses right back up when Felix opens his mouth again.
“His name’s Jimmy. He’s been the merch team captain at the Schaumburg store for ten years, and he’s moving here to be closer to family. He starts next week.”
Well, shit. I don’t get a say in this? This is my store, my department. “Wait a min—”
“Here’s the thing, Wil,” Felix says. He leans in like we’re buddies, co-conspirators. “You and I—well, we’ve both got plans. Goals. Big dreams. And Jimmy and your girl Abbey—”
“Woman,” I interrupt but he doesn’t catch it. And she’s not mine.
“—are the two people we both need to make those dreams come true. Now, I don’t know about you, but for me, the writing’s on the wall. You’re a smart kid, Wil. Come from good genes, obviously. And I think you know what needs to happen so that we can both get what we want from this company.”
My head’s spinning. I have no idea what Felix means, except that he’s managed to insult me multiple times. What writing on what wall?
“What I mean to say,” he continues, “is now that you have Abbey in the team captain role, we all need to make sure she stays there. A few more evals like the last one, and she’ll have suitors at her door with a dozen roses from every store in the region, and this isn’t Pride and Prejudice.”
I’ve run out of patience with Felix and his metaphors. “What are you saying?”
He sighs. “I’m going to do you a favor and make sure that Abbey’s the Woodlake media TC for a very long time, and you and I can both watch our bonuses skyrocket. Before you know it, I’ll be the regional merch manager, and you’ll have the GM spot here in the bag.”
“Well, that’s always been the plan,” I say.
“Sure, sure,” he says and claps me on the back. “Just remember, your dad’s a fan.”
I snort. “Of me?”
“No, of me.”
Yes, Felix is one of Dad’s favorites, and I’m sure that had something to do with how quickly he was promoted out of the stores to district level, but this almost sounds like he’s threatening me.
But no, that can’t be right. Can it?
He makes a low sound, mmmhmmm, and then says, “I’m just saying, do what you can to keep Abbey happy, okay?”
Before I can even think of how to respond to that, he claps me on the back. “Good talk, my friend. You know what to do.”
I have no fucking clue.
Early Saturday morning, I arrive at Lakeland Park to help Austin, the nonprofit director, and Andre with Fall Fest setup.
“Dude,” Andre says, “I can’t believe they’re making me emcee Battle of the Bands. I suck at shit like that.”
I huff out a laugh. “Whatever. You can BS your way through any situation.”
“Dude,” he says again. “You gotta do it for me. I’m already sweating.”
“You’re sweating because those speakers were heavy. No way. I’m grilling brats and hot dogs today, and then I’m going to hit a few homers. How’s Kelsey?”
He blows out a breath. “She’s been super sick. All those books and ‘experts’ who say that morning sickness only lasts the first three months? Bullshit, man. And it’s not just in the morning. It’s all day long.”
“Is she coming today?”
“No way. Can you picture her puking in a port-a-potty?”
“I can’t picture her even looking at a port-a-potty. I saw your interview in TC Weekly.”
“Oh, yeah, whoop-de-do. The dude from the paper. Brian? Ryan? Complete moron. Man, what, do they let anyone write for a newspaper these days?”
I wonder if Abbey knows that guy. She never talks about her job there.
“He had someone with him, an assistant writer—I think her name was Laura. Anyway, he was such an ass to this poor girl—”
“Woman,” I interrupt. “If she’s old enough to be an assistant writer at TC Weekly, she’s a woman, not a girl.”
“You sound like Kels. Anyway, enough about that stupid article,” he says. “Let’s get these lights up.”