Page 34 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Ariel, please try to find someone to fill your shift. It’s only Monday. I’m sure you can in the next few days.”

“I know Courtney would take it,” Ariel said. “She needs the extra hours. She’s only part-time.”

Laurel frowned. She knew several were just hired and if Courtney was part time and had been here for a while, why wasn’t she promoted to full time?

“Go ask and then it will solve that problem,” she said.

Ariel moved away and Denise looked at her. “I don’t need you solvingmyproblems.”

“That was a pretty easy one to solve. And since Courtney is part time there is no overtime involved. I guess the bigger question is why she wasn’t promoted to full time with the openings. Or didn’t she want it?”

“She’s not a great worker,” Denise said. “She doesn’t get things done fast enough and asks too many questions.”

“Not everyone learns at the same speed,” she said. “And asking questions is a good thing. I’d rather staff do that than think they know it and mess it up and ruin products. Employees are hard enough to find. We have to work with those we’ve got and those willing to work.”

“You’re the boss,” Denise said with a sour puss on her face and walked away.

“Yes, I am,” she said but was only talking to the air.

She turned and Lily was standing there. “Good morning,” Lily said.

“Good morning to you,” she said.

“You handled that well,” Lily said.

“I don’t think Denise feels that way. If no one can cover Ariel’s shift, I’ll be here and work it or keep an eye on things. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried in the least,” Lily said. “And it’s a wonderful feeling to know that too.”

Laurel needed that compliment more than she could admit. “Thank you for that.”

Lily angled her head. “Everything okay?”

She let out a sigh. She didn’t want to dump on her boss. “Sure,” she said. “Just didn’t sleep well.”

“Let’s go talk in your office,” Lily said.

She wasn’t going to tell the woman who hired her no.

They went to her office and she shut the door when Lily was in there. “We didn’t have a meeting today, did we?”

She’d feel like shit if she messed that up, but she had enough on her mind with Easton and what a jerk she’d been acting like.

“No,” Lily said. “I came over to get a few things for the store. They know what I need and will have it loaded into the van for me.”

“That’s good. Everything runs so seamlessly.”

“We try,” Lily said. “But we know that it doesn’t always happen. Has Denise been giving you a hard time?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. I expected it.”

“She wanted the job you’re doing,” Lily said. “She doesn’t have the patience or the personality for it. She normally isn’t as short as she was with Ariel, but she gets that way when she’s under pressure.”

“And there is a big shipment due at the end of the week.”

“Yes,” Lily said. “She won’t come apologize to you, but she’ll act like nothing happened.”

“As she has in the past,” Laurel said. “It’s fine. But I stand by what I said. There is no reason we can’t work with people when it’s hard to find staff.”

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