Holly went into the store at 4:15AM on Saturday for her delivery and came home at 5PM. It had been a 12-plus hour day but she was more annoyed than tired at that point. She had called Ray that she was on the way home and he had asked about dinner and her uncharacteristic reply was "I don't give a shit about dinner." Then she had disconnected.
"Okay, honey" was Ray's immediate thought. Ray knew there was a big problem but she hadn't said she was terminated so he wasn't sure exactly what the issue might be. When Holly came into the kitchen he took her lunch and didn't say anything to her. Holly emptied her apron that she wore at work and said, "I got an ultimatum today....well, I think it was an ultimatum."
"Oh, what was said?"
"I was told that a 'cleaner' was coming in on Tuesday to work the aisles and I needed to get the office neatened up. If I didn't there would be consequences."
"That sounds like an ultimatum to me."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. I'm going to bed I don't feel like eating, good night."
"Okay honey, I'm sorry your day wasn't too good."
Holly undressed mostly, leaving a tank top on and pulling a night shirt on over that. I had the sheets warmed up and she went to the bathroom, did her routine and came back. "Honey, wake me at 4, I'm going in to get some stuff done before we open."
"Sure thing sweetie, love you good night." Nothing new with this, sex has been out of the question for the last several months as middle management pushed Holly and the other store managers that she talked to regularly. The corporation wanted more done with fewer employee hours. The profit margin was the ultimate goal for upper management.
I had told Holly I wanted to build a case against the corporation for some type of harassment regarding work. They didn't give them enough hours knowing the managers would cover the lack of help. Holly was working 65+ hours regularly for her salary and getting some minimal bonuses. It felt like she was enslaved to the company and we had virtually no time for family never mind a decent physical relationship. She worked, slept, ate and showered to go back to work.
The worst part was she was only getting a day off once a month or so and she felt like she should be at the store instead of home. Grocery shopping had been relegated to stuff from her store, some fresh fruits and vegetables from the supermarket in the same shopping center and because I can't drive, I have ordered frozen supplies to be delivered. It's cheaper than taking a taxi home from the supermarket. She really needed some decompression time to relax.
The weekend ran the same way, up at 2:30 on Saturday to get in for 4:30 to ready for the 5AM delivery. Then she came home at 9 and slept 'til 1 and went back for 2:30 to 10:30. Sunday wasn't quite so bad, up at 4, back at 8:30, sleep to 1 and back in for the closing shift. Monday was a repeat of Sunday.
Tuesday evening she told me about her day. She had gone in for 6AM and set a sale. The 'cleaner' came in at 7:30 and Holly talked to him, his name was Dave Collinson. He explained what he did for the store and said he worked a 40 hour week, 4 days at 10 hours each. She said Dave was older and he worked quickly and efficiently and freed her to get some things done that she hadn't had time to finish. Dave had told her he traveled the east coast, staying in hotels on the company's dime and going home to the Atlanta area either Friday after work or Saturday morning. He would then leave home on Monday to get to the next store. Anywhere more than a 3 hour drive he'd fly and rent a car. He had a company credit card but had to submit receipts for everything. Holly said she'd told Dave she'd love a schedule like that.
Holly said it sounded like a really interesting job. She said she'd like to talk more to Dave, that she wanted to ask him more questions and thought dinner would be the way to go. She asked if he could come home tomorrow for dinner and I agreed. Holly texted Dave and he accepted the invitation.
Wednesday was another delivery and Holly re-arranged the schedule so she could bring Dave home and talk over a meal. I asked if dinner at 6:15 would work and Holly agreed. I had asked if salad, chicken pizzaeola, with linguini and marinara sauce was okay. Holly called Dave and he said that sounded great. I suggested that maybe a bottle of wine on the way home would be a good idea.
They arrived at 6:05 and I was introduced to Dave. Older was accurate, tall about 6'2, lean and very graceful. He looked like a runner and I mentioned that. He said he did 5Ks but never more than that. We chatted and ate. Some talk about work, Holly's and Dave's as well as how I occupied my time. Then Holly started asking questions while I got out the batch of Tollhouse brownies I had made. Some Breyers French vanilla ice cream on the side after the brownie was warmed made a really tasty dessert.
Dave mentioned he was retiring in a month and the company had been asking him about someone to replace him out of all the store managers he had met. He said he hadn't given them a name but Holly seemed so enthusiastic he asked if she'd be interested in the job. He warned her that the travel was constant and that there will be two weeks of her shadowing him to learn the 'ins & outs' of everything.
Holly didn't even look at me before she said, "Yes, I'd love to take the job."
"Holly, you didn't even ask Ray if that was an okay thing to do."
"I don't need to ask Ray because in the long run, he'll see me more if I take this job, more than he sees me now anyway. And he almost always says yes to what I want, right honey?" Dave looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders then said, "What about the salary? It's all about the money."
Holly smiled at me and said, "Dave told me he's making somewhere between 85 and 90 thousand a year. That's a big jump, at least 20 thousand more than what I make now honey."
"Okay then, I'll submit your name tomorrow and you'll start your training next Tuesday. I'll let Marc know he's going to need to find a new store manager. We'll be starting in Alexandria, Virginia. I'll give you the info by Friday and I'll buy your plane tickets with the company card and let you know what time the flight leaves and we'll meet at the airport. We'll rent a car and head to the hotel Monday late afternoon."
"Thank you Dave. This will be far better than the schedule I'm working now, thanks a lot." It was almost 9 and I said, "Well, Holly needs to get some sleep, work calls her early in the morning." Dave nodded his head as did Holly.
Dave stood up and thanked me for a great meal, thanked Holly for inviting him and left saying, "I'll be in around 7. See you then, good night." I walked him out to the car and I asked if he needed directions to the hotel.
"No, I use my phone with the Google mapping and that gets me everywhere. What phone does Holly have?"
"Galaxy S5."
"She might want to upgrade to a newer model. Or maybe an iPhone would be better."
"What do you have?"
"Galaxy S8 but I just got it last week. That would be a good choice for her as well."
"I'll work on that for her, thanks. Have a good evening."
"You too, Ray." He got in his car and left. I went back inside and Holly was in bed with the door closed already. I cleaned up the kitchen; put away the leftover chicken and linguini. The bottle of wine hadn't gotten opened so I put that on the side.
We were up at 4. Holly went to work in a better mood than she had been over the last year. She came home in a better mood too. Friday was the same thing. Even Saturday was good. Sunday was pleasant as Holly started to pack for next week.
