Chương 4
“I should’ve introduced myself,” Noah said.
Leonard frowned.
“No. Derek should’ve behaved like a professional.”
“Both things can be true.”
“Don’t help him.”
“I’m not.”
“It sounds like you are.”
Noah looked at the older man.
“I’m trying not to build my first management decision around a video clip and my own ego.”
Leonard’s chair creaked as he leaned back.
“That sounds very noble.”
“It isn’t.”
“No?”
“No. I really want to fire him.”
Mia looked down at the tablet.
Leonard’s expression softened almost imperceptibly.
“That,” he said, “I believe.”
At 2:20, Mia asked if she could show Noah something.
Leonard had left the office to speak with operations.
Noah was eating almonds from a vending-machine packet because the catered lunch arranged for the closing meeting had been cleared away before he realized it existed.
Mia stood near the door.
“You can sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been standing for four hours.”
“So have you.”
“I’m the owner. Apparently I can make bad decisions.”
That got another brief laugh from her.
She sat.
The tablet remained in her hands.
“What is it?”
She looked toward the closed door.
“Derek has had complaints.”
Noah waited.
“I figured.”
“Not like normal complaints.”
She unlocked the tablet.
“I don’t know if I should be showing you this.”
“You work here.”
“I know.”
“And I own here.”
“That’s actually why I don’t know.”
Noah nodded.
“Fair.”
She took a breath.
“I’m assistant sales coordinator. Customer feedback comes to me before it goes into the weekly report. Usually I categorize it, remove duplicates, and send the report to Leonard and Mike.”
“Mike?”
“Sales manager. He’s off today. His daughter’s getting married.”
“Good timing.”
“For him.”
She tapped through a folder.
“These are the weekly summaries. I didn’t make copies because of Derek. They’re on the dealership system. I use the tablet to work on them.”
Noah shifted closer.
Names filled the screen. Dates. Categories. Follow-up notes.
The complaints were not dramatic.
That made them worse.
Customer waited thirty-eight minutes while salesman spoke to later-arriving customer.
Customer says salesperson repeatedly asked whether financing was available despite customer stating preapproval.
Customer reports salesperson laughed when asked about a lower-priced used Porsche.
Customer says salesperson told son, “Come back when your parents are serious.”
Customer says test drive unavailable. Vehicle test-driven by another customer the same afternoon.
Noah scrolled.
“How many are Derek?”
“Those?”
“Yes.”
“Most.”
“How long?”
“Eighteen months in this folder.”
He looked at her.
“What happens after you send the report?”
“Usually Mike talks to the salesperson.”
“Usually?”
She pressed her lips together.
“With Derek, it depends.”
“On?”
“How much he sold that month.”
Noah stopped scrolling.
Outside the glass office wall, a porter guided a black Lamborghini backward through the showroom entrance, another employee watching the clearance around the mirror.
For several seconds Noah listened to the reverse sensor chirp.
“Who knows about these?”
“Mike. Leonard.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
“HR gets formal complaints.”
“These aren’t formal?”
“Some are.”
Noah looked at the screen again.
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
Mia’s face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“I did.”
“To Leonard?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He said Derek needed coaching.”
“When?”
“January.”
Noah checked the nearest report.
It was August.
“What coaching?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did anything change?”
She gave him a look that made the answer unnecessary.
Noah put the almond packet down.
“Why are you still here?”
It came out more sharply than he intended.
Mia stiffened.
“I need the job.”
“That’s not what I—”
“I know what you meant.”
“No. I said it badly.”
She looked at the tablet.
“My mother’s on my health insurance.”
Noah stopped.
“She had surgery last year. She’s fine. Mostly. But my plan here is good, and I’m not leaving without something else lined up because a salesman is an ass.”
He leaned back.
“Okay.”
“And I’m not some whistleblower.”
“I didn’t call you one.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Okay.”
“I wrote reports. That was my job.”
“Okay.”
She looked at him.
“You keep saying okay.”
“I’m trying not to say the wrong thing again.”
That time she did not laugh.
At three, the staff meeting lasted eleven minutes.
Noah had planned for twenty.
Leonard introduced him.
Everyone already knew.
That destroyed the first six minutes of Leonard’s prepared remarks.
Twenty-three employees stood or sat in the service lounge, some still wearing dealership polos, two technicians with dark grease at the edges of their fingernails, a finance manager in a navy suit, the receptionist Noah had seen that morning, and three salespeople who looked at him with expressions varying from curiosity to open suspicion.
Derek was not there.
Noah stood beside the coffee machine.
He had changed his mind about the speech twice.
In the end he discarded it.
“My name is Noah Bennett. I’m twenty-two.”
A few people shifted.
“Yes, I know.”
Someone near the back coughed.
“I bought the dealership this morning. Leonard will remain involved during the transition, though we are still deciding exactly what that looks like.”
Leonard glanced at him.
That sentence had not been discussed.
Noah continued.
“You probably saw the video.”
Nobody moved.
“That’s a yes.”
A technician folded his arms.
Noah looked around the room.
“I’m not going to ask anyone to pretend it didn’t happen. I’m also not going to make employment decisions in a staff meeting because people online want an ending.”
The finance manager raised his hand slightly.
Noah pointed.
“Sorry. What’s your name?”
“Greg.”
“Greg.”
“Are you saying Derek’s staying?”
“No.”
“Are you saying he’s fired?”
“No.”
“So what are you saying?”
Noah felt irritation rise.
He had been awake since four thirty. His shoulder still hurt. He had eaten almonds for lunch. Thirty million people online seemed to have an opinion about his facial expression.
He almost said, I’m saying I own the company.
The thought embarrassed him before it reached his mouth.
“I’m saying we’re reviewing what happened and what came before it.”
Greg’s expression tightened.
May you like
“That sounds like corporate talk.”
“It is corporate talk.”
