4. Olivia
OLIVIA
“That table needs to be here,” Marley said, pointing. “And put a wide range of our products up there. Not just the nicest cameras. Some people refuse to go for quality, but we can still convince them for quantity. Samples, too!”
Mr. Marley wore a suit and sat in a folding chair with a large cup of takeout coffee.
Olivia, in a blue dress and heels, blinked the sleep from her eyes as she smoothed a banner over the table.
It was six thirty-five on the first morning of the conference and, so far, she and Marley were the only people at their table.
“I’m happy to get the samples set up, but could you help me lift the heavier boxes?
My back is a little messed up, and I’m worried heavy lifting might make it worse.
” Not to mention that the red-eye flight had made her back much worse and left her exhausted.
She’d crashed for about four hours in the company hotel room before stumbling down here to work on setup.
“Sorry, too busy.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. As a rule, she avoided talking back to her boss, since it just made things worse. But this was too egregious. What exactly was he busy doing?
“Tell me if I’m wrong, but it looks like you’re just sitting there.”
“I’m working up here.” Marley tapped the side of his balding temple with a single finger. “Executives like me do most of our work in the mind. I know that might be hard for you to understand, but it’s just as important as setting up the table. More so.”
“Okay…” Olivia paused. “Can I at least wait for Gabe and Juan to come down?” She’d expected that her colleagues would be here too.
“I wouldn’t.” Marley shook his head. “I gave the boys time to sleep in. They need to be rested and on their game for networking.”
And what — I don’t? Olivia bit back her retort. She just needed to hang on a little longer, until she could find a better job or at least more respect from her boss.
“Fine.” She began unpacking the heavy boxes of cameras and equipment.
Around her, the conference hall was slowly filling up with other vendors.
The woman at the next table jogged over to help with one large piece of equipment, but was called away before Olivia started setting up the samples.
Some of the camera equipment was heavy and awkward, and her back twinged in protest.
“Not there,” Marley complained as she set up a capture array. “Put that on the left. Don’t you know this by now?”
“Faster,” he added as Olivia was arranging the final business cards. “This needs to be ready by the time people start arriving.”
They still had more than twenty minutes before the conference officially started. Olivia just focused on her work and tried not to let Marley’s nitpicking bother her. She’d gotten a lot of practice with that over the last few years.
Once the setup was done, Olivia excused herself to grab a coffee.
In the hall, she pulled out the plastic bottle of pain medicine Rachel had given her for her back the day before.
She rarely took medicine for anything, but she was going to need something strong to get through today.
She popped a few pills and washed them down with a swig of water.
Back in the hall, Juan and Gabe showed up just as the first few clients were entering. Olivia took her place by the table and smiled, and after a few minutes, an older man in slacks and a button-down sauntered over.
“Hi there,” he said to Olivia. “I run a photography school here in Vegas, and I’m looking for something reliable I can recommend to students. Can you help me?”
“Of course.” Olivia scanned the table and indicated one of the cameras. “This one is great for students — the learning curve isn’t too steep, but it has lots of great features for different photography styles and lighting conditions. And?—”
Just then, Marley appeared at her shoulder. “I can take it from here, Olivia. Go make sure we have enough donuts. And I need another coffee.”
The man shot Olivia a sympathetic look as she turned away.
The rest of the morning was the same — every time Olivia started talking to a client, either Mr. Marley, Juan, or Gabe would jump in.
She got more and more frustrated as the morning wore on.
When they took a lunch break, and Marley insisted that she spend her “break” updating the spreadsheet of who had stopped by the table, Olivia came very close to just walking out.
As afternoon began, though, the conference became more crowded.
Soon, more people were coming to the table than her male coworkers could handle, and Olivia finally got to show off her skills.
She demoed the products, made recommendations, chatted, and handed out plenty of business cards.
Olivia’s passion was photography, but she was pretty good at this, too.
Towards late afternoon, a casually-dressed middle-aged woman with short blond hair wandered over. Seeing that her coworkers were otherwise engaged, Olivia smiled and greeted her.
“Hi, I’m Olivia Keller. How can I help you?”
“I’m Elizabeth Pierce,” the other woman said. Olivia’s jaw almost dropped.
“The Elizabeth Pierce of Pierce Photography?”
“That’s the one,” Elizabeth smiled. “I take it you’ve heard of me.”
“I have. And wow, I love your work. The underwater shots you took of orcas in the wild were just breathtaking. I’ve always wanted to go on one of your photography trips.”
Pierce Photography was well-known both for Elizabeth herself, who was a wildlife photographer and whose work featured in many famous books and documentaries, and for its photography expeditions, where Elizabeth trained people to take wildlife pictures.
Many of those people went on to become professional wildlife or nature photographers themselves.
“Thank you,” Elizabeth smiled. “Can you show me some of your products that might be useful to me?”
“Absolutely.”
Olivia jumped into the demoing and showed off a number of cameras and accessories that might help. After a while, Elizabeth nodded.
“I like what I’m seeing. Are you in town tonight? I’d love to arrange a dinner and talk more about how we can collaborate. It’ll be worth your while — I need to restock a lot of my equipment, and I always make recommendations to my students as well.”
“That would be wonderful.” They exchanged cards and Elizabeth left, with Olivia beaming in her wake.
“You should have shown her the Optic 710,” Marley said suddenly. Olivia frowned and glanced over her shoulder to where he’d appeared out of nowhere, rather like a ghost in a horror movie.
“She was looking for cameras that capture movement well — the Optic 710 isn’t known for that,” Olivia explained.
“No, but the 710 is an expensive camera with lots of expensive accessories.” Marley narrowed his eyes. “Don’t forget that we’re salespeople, not assistants. We need clients to spend money, or we won’t get our commissions.”
“Understood. But Elizabeth did give me her card for a dinner. I imagine we’ll get a chance to talk to her more then.”
If Olivia had expected praise, she’d have been disappointed. Marley just nodded. “Good. And make sure you show higher-end products next time.”
The rest of the afternoon flew by. Olivia was busy constantly, talking to people and showing off the products. When the rush finally petered out in the early evening, she was exhausted and her feet ached. She shouldn’t have worn heels today.
“I’m impressed,” Gabe said, looking at the business cards Olivia had collected. “That’s a lot of leads.”
“Thanks,” Olivia grinned. “Even Elizabeth Pierce came by.” She showed him her card.
“No way!” Gabe shook his head. “I’m jealous. I wish I could’ve talked to her. Good for you, though.”
“Thanks.”
“Well,” Marley stepped between them and looked at his watch, “it’s five now. Olivia, can you get everything packed up? The rest of us need to get freshened up for client dinners.”
“I have a dinner lined up, too,” Olivia said. “Elizabeth Pierce wanted to meet to talk more about our products. If we all clean up together, we can all be done in time.”
“You did tell me about Pierce. It was a good lead. That’s why I’m sending in our best for a dinner at a nice steakhouse with her and a few other potential clients.” Marley winked.
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t mean…”
“That Gabe, Juan, and myself will be closing the deal?” Marley nodded. “I do mean that. This can’t be a surprise, Olivia. Junior employees like yourself bring leads to their superiors all the time. You got lucky, but we need the real talent to close the deal.”
Olivia’s vision went red. She couldn’t believe Marley had stooped this low. If he closed the deal, he would get the commission and the acclaim, even though it had been Olivia’s lead.
“We also have a few other people coming…” He named several more names, and Olivia’s blood ran cold. Four out of the five potential clients they planned to woo had been brought in by Olivia.
"This is unacceptable,” Olivia said. “I worked hard and made those connections. I need to be at that dinner.”
“Sorry,” Marley shrugged, “maybe next time.” He turned, but Olivia stepped in front of him.
“No. I need to be there this time. You can’t just close me out.”
“Yes, I can.” Marley crossed his arms. “I don’t think you want to argue with me on this one, Olivia. Get this table cleaned up. Now.”
“No.” Olivia couldn’t let this go on any longer. She’d let Marley use her as an underpaid lackey for far too long, hoping to win his respect or find a better opportunity. She couldn’t do that for another moment, no matter the consequences. “I quit.”
“Olivia?” Gabe sounded surprised. “What are you doing?”
“The only thing I can do.” Olivia turned back to Marley. “Consider this my last day. Given all you’ve talked about is how I can’t do anything right, I’m sure I won’t be hard to replace.”
With that, she turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving Marley and her colleagues standing by the table. She didn’t look back, but she could imagine the confused, fish-like look that must be on Marley’s face at her sudden departure.
The wonderful, soaring feeling of having left a bad situation lasted until Olivia got back to her room.
Then she sank onto her bed, her heart pounding.
It had felt so good to quit, but now, reality slammed back in.
She was suddenly unemployed. She didn’t have much in the way of savings — she’d always been underpaid.
And she didn’t have any leads about a new job.
What had she been thinking?
Olivia forced herself to take a deep, slow breath. Then she stood and went into the bathroom, where she met her own green eyes in the mirror. She tucked her black curls behind her ears and nodded.
The situation was dire. There was no arguing with that.
But it wouldn’t help to panic, and applying for new jobs could wait until tomorrow.
She pulled out her phone and quickly changed her flight back to Seattle to the soonest one, which left tomorrow morning.
She booked it, paying the change fees with the company card before Marley had a chance to cancel it.
Since her flight was early, she could be home by the afternoon and spend the rest of the day panic-applying for as many jobs as she could find.
Tonight, though, Olivia was going to celebrate being free of Mr. Meany and his condescension. After all, she had a free hotel room in Vegas for the night, and she would be a fool to waste that. Maybe a night in the casinos would distract her from the mess her life had become.
Giving herself a quick smile in the mirror, Olivia pulled a red lipstick out of her makeup bag and applied it. Then she went to her small suitcase and pulled out the best outfit she could find — a red dress that was just on the edge between professional and sexy. She slipped it on.
Tonight, she would celebrate. And she would let herself forget everything that had gone wrong in her life lately. Tomorrow, she would figure out her next steps.
Her back still felt pretty good — the meds she’d taken were strong and kept her feeling okay. She’d probably be in pain tomorrow, but that, too, was tomorrow’s problem.
Olivia left her hotel room, crossed to the elevators, and descended to the casino floor. Then, on second thought, she exited onto the strip and walked a few doors down to another casino. She didn’t want to run into her boss or coworkers that night. She never wanted to see Marley again.
The air outside was warm, especially compared to rainy Seattle, and the sky was still bright and blue.
Olivia admired it for a few seconds before entering the second casino.
She was immediately overtaken by flashing lights, the beeps and pings of machines in action, and the sound of happy chatter.
Olivia had never gambled before, and she didn’t really have enough money to gamble today.
But at least she could order a few overpriced drinks at the bar and enjoy the Vegas ambience.
She crossed towards the bar, passing people playing slots and squinting at hands of cards. She no longer cared that her heels hurt her feet or that she was out of a job. She only cared about having a fun and forgetful evening.