Page 138 of An Engagement for Erica

“Again,” Joel said. “We know that. We see it. We know more changes are coming too, but most don’t know that.”

“And they don’t need to,” he said. “The goal of hiring a consultant was to bridge the gaps of communication and to see that the staff are being heard. I heard them. If they think they are getting all their demands, they are crazy. That doesn’t happen anywhere.”

“No,” Catherine said. “It doesn’t. And I agree with you not to do more than the basics of raises the first of the year. Coming in and throwing money at people isn’t going to change attitudes. Those who see the real changes will stay. An extra dollar an hour is only a patch and not enough to change a mindset for more than a month or so.”

He’d always felt that way. Money was great, but what people wanted in terms of more money to get them to stay didn’t buy them the happiness or the necessary things to change morale.

“The raises are going to be more than what my father did, but they aren’t going to be through the roof,” he said. “I still have a business to run. I don’t owe them any explanations of my personal life. When everything is finalized, I want a summary of what all these changes are costing. I want the staff to see this summary.”

Catherine’s jaw dropped. “You’re going to share costs with front line workers?”

“I am,” he said. “I’m giving transparency. They wanted free coffee on the floor, I gave it to them, and they are going to damn well see the cost of it. They can’t have it all. They have to understand that if the little things make a difference and change their opinions, then I’ll do it, but everything is at a cost. No one gets it all.”

“They don’t,” Joel said. “But I’m not sure sharing financial information is the way to go. Using your coffee example, those that don’t drink it will be bitter and say they’d rather have a raise.”

“Again,” he said. “You can’t make everyone happy and that isn’t what I was trying to do when I brought Erica in. I’m trying to tackle as much and as many issues as I can, but no business is perfect and if someone doesn’t like the way I run things, they know where the door is. The people in this room included.”

He’d never talked to Joel and Catherine like that before, but the fact they came in accusing him of something and acting as if they believed what was being said only set him off.

Not the best way to get on the boss’s good side.

Catherine and Joel looked at each other again. Joel said, “Listen, Tucker. We are on your side, not anyone else’s. We’ve seen the changes you’ve made. We’ve seen how the staff are slowly coming around.”

“Good,” he said. “Then I’m not sure what the problem is and why you came marching in here as if the rumors going around the plant were layoffs tomorrow.”

“We are only trying to help,” Catherine said.

“If you’re trying to help, then you wouldn’t run to my grandfather with everything,” he said.

They both stared at him. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Joel said.

“You think I’m not aware you are both an inside source reporting back to my grandfather on everything? I’m not stupid.”

Joel laughed. “Sure, we are. But you’re making it sound like we are spies when we just work for your grandfather. Your father wasn’t the boss even though he liked to think he was. If he had control of things like he thought, we’d all be gone and this business would have closed its doors years ago.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m the boss.”

“You are,” Catherine said. “You’re not like your father.”

“You said I was,” he argued.

“No,” Joel said. “I said the staff are talking about it, not us. We are passing it on to you. If we reported to your grandfather like you think we might be, we would have told him before you.”

“He has no idea?” he asked. “What the staff are saying, because my grandfather has known from day one I was dating Erica. It’s never been a secret to him.”

“Oh,” Catherine said.

“What you both have failed to see is that there is more going on than you know. TC is my grandfather. He is aware of what happens in my life, work and personal. I talk to him about the company he started. I ask for his advice and keep him informed. I don’t need other people doing that or going behind my back.”

Joel put his hand up. “Let us be clear here. We don’t want to get off on the wrong foot.”

“You shouldn’t have walked in stating what you had then,” he said, his arms crossed.

“Maybe Joel could have worded it differently,” Catherine said. “It’s not the way I would have approached it, but he is who he is. We’ve worked together for a long time and you’re still getting used to his personality.”

Catherine wasn’t wrong.

He didn’t think he was a sensitive person, but maybe he was acting that way because he was still unsure of where things stood with Erica.

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