Page 93 of Rich and Bossy

I look at my own phone, at the inbox that’s getting notifications by the second. I can only imagine how many phone calls Bree has already taken this morning. That’s going to be the real challenge. Keeping the investors and the board out of our business.

“Guarantee she’s going to address the workers. We should turn the sprinklers on those fuckers once everybody gets together inside the building.” John looks around, his eyes going cold when Sean and his team wince. “What?”

“We can’t do that. It’s illegal. We have to let her talk to people.”

John glares like that’s unacceptable. “There has to be something we can do. We can’t just sit here and let this happen. It’s unacceptable. We need to grow a damn pair of balls.”

This is some kind of halftime speech he’s giving. He sounds like my old coaches when they were dissatisfied with what they just saw on the field.

He turns to Sean. “They’re not playing fair. You hear her interview earlier on that podcast? Total bullshit. They don’t give a damn about fighting dirty.” He taps his screen. “That’s why I called the city and had them fuck with the lights, so people coming in for work would pull straight through.”

“You did what?” I turn to him, now refusing to hide my surprise.

John shrugs. “Backed up traffic half a mile on the cross road in both directions. Didn’t need our workers gawking at picketers, hearing what they have to say. Some of those damn TV cameras couldn’t get in right away, either. Win, win. It’s the only success we’ve had today.”

I don’t even know who he is right now.

Turning to Sean, I ask, “Seriously, what do we do now? What’s the first step out of this?”

John bursts out laughing. A demonic laugh. “What do wedo? We crush these fucks, that’s what we do. They need to know who they’re fucking with.”

He’s never cursed in front of our team like this, and it’s definitely having an effect on them. He sounds like a damn war general, forget a football coach.

The worst part is, I have to go along with it. I can’t challenge him in front of everyone and he knows that. I plan to have a serious conversation with him about this after we dismiss the team.

“The best thing we can do right now,” Sean counters, “is express our dissatisfaction with the way this has been introduced. I could point out the fact that there was never a meeting requested with management before this exploded.”

“You think it’s wise to act surprised?” I look around the room.

“It’s our word against theirs.” John glares. “And the fact is, there are procedures in place for this kind of shit, and theybypassed them. Unless we make it clear here and now that this is unacceptable, we’re going to get the same shit in every warehouse across the country. This will get worse if we don’t squash them in their tracks, like I said before.”

“He does have a point.” Sean looks like it pains him to say it. “I would suggest leaning into the fact they have been secretive and backhanded. People don’t like that kind of thing. They’ll root for the workers, so we need to point out any and all mistakes they’ve made. How they’ve handled this in a poor way. People can relate to that. And adjusting traffic lights and turning on sprinklers will undermine that message dramatically.”

“Hey, a fight’s a fight.” John crosses his arms over his chest.

I hate that all of this has to be couched in gentle, noncommittal language. I would almost rather everybody be blunt, the way John is. He won’t come out and say it, but Sean’s suggesting a little saber-rattling, a little veiled threat. Thinly veiled, no doubt, but nothing too obvious.

“Fuck that.” John snorts. “This shit is already all over the news. Even if we shut things down here at this warehouse, the seed has been planted. The idea. We need to snuff it out with every resource we have. This is the kind of thing that gets people talking. They’re not going to forget about it. We need them to know it’s unacceptable, and we’re not fucking around. If they want to try it somewhere else, they can fucking get some too.”

“Well, we can’t fire her or any other dissenters,” Sean reminds him in a tight voice, which I’m sure is what John has been hinting at this entire time.

John turns on him, and I know he’s about to lose his shit. The tension in the room is thick enough to cut with a knife.

“The hell we can’t. We’re watching all of them. They clock in a minute late, it’s a note in the file. They don’t hit their numbers. Note. If they do hit their numbers, we adjust performancerequirements in their department to make it impossible. We’ll root out every last traitor in their ranks.”

This is why I make the big bucks. When I stand, the room falls silent. Even John’s mouth snaps shut. “What I’m hearing right now is a lot of emotion.” I stand up a little straighter. “Let’s see what they do today. Keep going through everything, every single option. I don’t care what it is, all ideas can be on the table, even if we don’t act on them. This will be measured and appropriate.” I stare at John when I say the last one but try to turn to the rest of the room not to single him out. “We’ll regroup in the morning with better heads on our shoulders, better prepared. By then, we’ll be able to form a plan of attack based on data, logic...” I look at John. “What’s best for the company,long term.”

He only blows out a soft sigh, then holds his hands up. “Fine.” Then he points at the room. “You guys be ready to fight. This is war.” He points down at the table for the last sentence.

The room empties at record speed, and I shoot Bree a quick message to tell her to postpone the food delivery until tomorrow. That’s when we’ll need it.

Soon it’s only John and me in this big room. He taps the corner of his phone on the table, his gaze darting back and forth from me to the screen. I don’t particularly want to get into this with him right now, but he is my business partner. He’s also my friend, and if I’ve ever needed one, now’s the time.

“What the hell was that?” I just stare at him, dumbfounded, as soon as I’m sure nobody else can hear or see us.

“How’s Hazel?”

Now, all I can do is blink. He didn’t even ask it sarcastically. “Sorry, just… What?”

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