But I Don’t Want To Be In Charge

   Cheryl went to the mall food court with her regional manager and someone in a suit from head office. Even in her work-code blue vest and black slacks she looked like she was in the wrong company with her four friendship bracelets, oversized hoop earrings, and cat glasses. Three boarded shops past the food court her regional manager, Monika, pointed to glass doors. Black curtains hid the inside. “This is our new outlet. Come on in. We’ll do a walk around. You’ll see how the new layout is. This is how all our stores are going to be setup in the future. This is the prototype.”

   After a half hour of walking around the inside of the shop, where Monika did all the talking and Cheryl did all the smiling and nodding, they went back to the food court to sit down for the interview.

   Coffee and crullers provided, Monika began, “Mr. Kapadia is sitting in with us. I’ve told him about your performance reviews for the three years you’ve been with us. What we’re looking for with this new outlet is a manager and what we’d like to cover in this interview…”

   “Oh, I didn’t apply for that.” Cheryl interrupted.

   Mr. Kapadia and Monika looked at each other.

   Cheryl looked around, smiling. “This is a good location. I wanted to work here because it’s closer to my apartment. But this is a good location, not just because it’s near my apartment. Someone knows what they’re doing picking this mall. You’re going to do great.”

   “We felt based on your experience, you would be suitable for this as an advancement opportunity.” Monika said.

   “Oh, not me. I want to work the floor. I like greeting the customers. Stocking shelves. Hey, they got Persian food here. The orange rice is killer here.”

   Mr. Kapadia folded his arms, stretching the elbows of his suit jacket. Monika pressed forward. “Cheryl, I think you need to think about what your future with company is. You have a business degree.”

   Cheryl did big nods and a shrug. “I know, I know.” She leaned forward whispering, “I was at the bottom of my class. I think they passed me because I was a cheerleader. I got sick taking those classes. I was way too skinny in college. I’m allergic to stress now.”

   Mr. Kapadia’s mouth hung open.

   Monika continued, “Cheryl, you have excellent performance reviews.”

   “Oh, that’s Ron. He’s really sweet. Oh, he’s a hardass, too. I mean, he won’t take anything from anybody. He’s sweet and tough. Firm and fair. That’s it, firm but fair. That’s what you want in a manager. He’s the best. This is bigger than our store. Ron would really give you your money’s worth here. Ron’s great.”

   Monika looked to Mr. Kapadia, who ate his cruller, sipped his coffee, used his napkin, and seemed to have lost all interest in the interview.

   “Cheryl.” Monika began again. “We know you do the stock ordering for the store. We know the bookkeeping was improved a good deal when you were hired. We know you sit in on job interviews with Ron for new hires. You should be a manager.”

   “That’s a great tie.” Cheryl said, leaning over and touching Mr. Kapadia’s tie. “That’s a beautiful orange floral. Did your wife pick that?”

   “I did.” Mr. Kapadia finally spoke.

   “Even better. Good on you.”

   Monika reddened. “Cheryl. I put you forth as the number one candidate for this position with head office. Mr. Kapadia is only here to see you. He’s not going to be seeing any of the other interviews. He came down here just to meet you because I recommended you. He didn’t come here to hear about his tie. Now, you need to decide, are you going to move forward with this company? Because I’m not sure we need an overqualified stock shelver.”

   Cheryl sipped her coffee. It had a warm, nutty flavour. Cheryl knew this was not the time to share such an insight with the present company. She took a bite of her cruller. She got rid of the little flakes of frosting on her fingers by brushing them off instead of using her napkin. “Okay, okay, if you make me a manager, I’d want to change everything, and I don’t think that’s what you want, and I like giving people what they want. It makes me happy.”

   Mr. Kapadia straightened up. “What would you want to change?”

   Monika’s eyes widened at the loaded question.

   Cheryl smiled, whimsically. She ran through the arguments in her head. The outlet was going to be a shoplifting nightmare. It was too close to the food court. The shelves ran against the checkout. Anyone looking from front cash couldn’t see past the first row of shelves because they were sideways. Boarded up stores were another nightmare. Foot traffic would be terrible. Discount or dollars would try to move in for a cheap rent and make everything selling in the new outlet look expensive. The other nightmare was this was a mall on the poor side of town, that was why Cheryl could afford an apartment near it on a retail wage.                   

   Cheryl looked at their faces before she spoke. She put on a serious face.

   “Me.” Cheryl said. “I would change me. This is a new outlet and I would be a new manager. I think it’s amazing that you have the courage to want to promote me. I think your trust and consideration are really excellent. I think what would really help me is if I had some sort of mentor. A guide who could help me, maybe, move towards the goal of becoming a manager, one day. Like, I really admire what you’re trying to do for me here. I think you’d be taking too much of a risk with me. I feel I need more of a safety net. I don’t want to be the manager who sinks the new prototype.”

   Mr. Kapadia stood up, ending the interview. He shook Cheryl’s offered hand. Monika was a little slower to shake her hand. “We only call the candidate we chose.” Monika explained. “So, if you don’t hear anything, it’s not that we were not seeing what we were looking for in your interview, it’s that… well, we’ll be picking the most suitable candidate.”  

   “I understand, totally.” Cheryl smiled again, and gave them both a thumbs up and left.   

   Two weeks later Cheryl stood at the new outlet doors with an out-of-season orange plastic Halloween bucket pail she used to bring her lunch to work each day. Today was peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches, a nectarine, and red licorice.

   Ron unlocked one door to let her in. Ron was a big, lumbering, happily married man with two young kids. “Come on in. Come on in. I’ll show you the new layout.” Ron took her around the inside of the new outlet she had already seen, but he didn’t know that. She listened with enthusiasm. “This is crazy.” He said. “All the shelves face the wrong way. That food court’s dead. I don’t know how we’re going to get any customers at this end. Did you talk to Monika? She was weird. I think she’s overworked with the changes. She took forever to sign off on your transfer here.”

   “We just talked about you.”

   “Really? I didn’t expect Monika to pick me for this. We haven’t always gotten along. Hey, did they give you an interview? You should think about managing.”

   “Oh, no, I’m a foot soldier.” Cheryl made little marching motions.

   “Yeah, okay, but did they give you an interview, at least?”

   “Oh, I think they knew who they wanted, Ron.”