Chapter 4
Along with a half dozen other employees, Evan stood in the meeting room of Alton’s Furniture.
He sipped his coffee while Conner Mathis, the twenty-some-year-old store manager, droned on about sales tactics, sales numbers, goals, and upcoming promotions.
Evan wasn’t really listening to any of it.
He was wondering if anyone had found the man at the storage unit and what would happen when they did.
Evan had killed the guy in an attempt to snap out of his current funk, and even though it hadn’t worked, it had left him with a new feeling to explore.
The investigation into the murder itself—and what actions law enforcement would take to catch him—was somewhat intriguing, and Evan couldn’t remember the last time he had been intrigued by anything.
“Hello. Earth to Coker.”
Evan, catching his last name, looked over at Conner, who had eyes locked on him and wore a questioning look.
“Are you with us, Evan?” Conner asked.
“I’m standing here,” Evan said.
The look on Conner’s face flashed from one of questioning to one of anger, or maybe disappointment, at Evan’s response. Evan couldn’t decipher which.
“Yeah. I see you standing there off in your own little world,” Conner said. “Why don’t you come back to reality and tell me who you have to follow up with this morning?”
“Nobody,” Evan said.
Conner sniffed hard. “Nobody, eh? Amy, how many customers do you have on your follow-up list this morning?”
Amy was the star salesperson, and Evan figured Conner was trying to make some comparison between her leads and his lack thereof.
“Probably five or six,” she said. “Oh, and I had that couple in for a living room set last night that I want to follow up with. See if they have any other questions.”
“So five or six plus another one.” Conner nodded. “What about you, Dean?”
“Ah, one second.” Standing at Evan’s shoulder, Dean pulled a small notepad from his pocket and flipped a couple of pages.
“I probably have four or five that I could give a call,” he said. “I’m not entirely certain how serious any of them are, but the one guy seemed fairly locked in on that modern bedroom set we have on display at the front of the store.”
“Make sure you tell him about our financing options when you follow up,” Conner said.
“Yeah, of course,” Dean said.
“Okay. I’m not going from person to person,” Conner said. “You guys know what your jobs are. Make your follow-up calls and get ready to pop the doors.”
Conner got nods all around. Evan took a step toward the door that led to the furniture store’s showroom.
“Evan, hang back a second,” Conner said. “Follow me to my office quick.”
Evan knew what was coming, or at least he imagined he did—a speech about him not performing to expectations, which would then be followed by getting written up or simply being shown the door.
He gulped what remained in his coffee cup and followed Conner to his office, where Conner took a seat behind his desk.
“Close the door. Grab a chair,” Conner said.
Evan did as asked and planted himself in the chair.
“I suppose that you know why I wanted to take a minute to talk,” Conner said.
Evan shrugged, not offering a response.
“You’ve been here eight months. The first couple, we had you on a two-thousand-dollar-a-month subsidy, plus commission while you got all your training done and got your feet wet on the sales floor. And then it went to straight commission, which is what you have been on the last four months or so.”
“Yes. I’m familiar,” Evan said.
Conner shook his head. He rubbed his eye then continued.
“Anyway. You’ve been on straight commission for months now, and you’ve been consistently last in sales every month that you’ve been here.
Honestly, I’m just going to cut to the chase.
I’m not sure that you are cut out for a sales position.
I mean, I can see what you are earning, and it isn’t much. ”
“Thankfully, I don’t require very much to live on,” Evan said, “as I don’t have many monthly bills.”
“Um, yeah. You’re maybe missing the point.”
“What would the point be that I am missing?” Evan asked.
Evan noticed that Conner sucked in and let out a big breath as if trying to portray his annoyance or something.
“Cards on the table,” Conner said. “I need you to sell more. To assert yourself. Take more customers. Your job here is to sell furniture, so I need you to do that, or we’ll have to let you go.”
“Okay,” Evan said.
Conner furrowed his brow. “Okay that you are going to give this one hundred percent and get your sales numbers up? Or okay that we’ll have to let you go?”
“I guess whichever you prefer,” Evan said. He noticed that Conner’s brow remained furrowed.
“So you don’t care about losing this job?” Conner asked.
“No. Not really,” Evan said, truthfully and rather curtly.
Conner pulled his chin back. “Really? That’s your answer?”
“Yes.”
Conner sat in silence.
Evan assumed that Conner’s silence meant that he should maybe expound on the matter.
“This is an entry-level furniture sales job,” Evan said.
“If you let me go, I can go across the street and gain employment at Newman’s or Hardington’s.
Probably within the day. They’ll want me to take a drug test, which I’ll pass, so that could maybe take an extra day or so for the results.
But both stores have pay structures similar to what you have here.
Meaning that if you do let me go and I do take a position over there, I will technically make more money than I do now with the subsidy programs they offer while training.
So there really isn’t a downside for me by you terminating my employment. ”
Conner scratched the side of his cheek while he shook his head. “Man, you kind of have me at a loss for words with that one.” He followed up with a smile and a brief chuckle.
Evan chuckled and smiled back. He didn’t know what was funny or what he did that had Conner at a loss for words, but returning a smile and laugh had generally served him well through the years when he was unsure about something.
Conner outstretched his hand for a handshake. “I guess that’s it, then. Good luck on your future endeavors.”
“So I’m terminated?” Evan asked, not reaching for Conner’s hand.
“Yes, sorry.” Conner pulled his hand back, took his eyes from Evan, and tapped away at his keyboard as if he had some important computer work to do.
“All right. I guess I’m going, then.”
Conner gave him a nod without making eye contact.