“I already said I’m not going to fire you,” I reply. “But we need to do something about this. You have these situations pop up more than anyone else. Sometimes it’s because you’re not paying attention and you overserve customers until they’re drop dead drunk. Sometimes it’s because you don’t pay attention to what you’re saying.”
She nods. “I know. I don’t know how to change it.”
“You’re the best employee we have, Helen. That’s why we made you the service manager. But this stuff gets you in trouble constantly. We need to find a way to get you to focus, Helen. We have to.”
God, I want this girl.
“I know,” she says, and I see tears flow down her cheeks. A very crazy idea comes to me.
It’s insane.
I hate to be cliché, but it’s crazy enough it just might work.
“Starting tomorrow, you show up a half hour before your shift, and you meet me here in the office. For the next three weeks, you’ll be in here on your knees with your nose against the corner. You won’t talk and you won’t move. You’ll just practice not being able to do anything but what you’re supposed to do.”
Her jaw drops. Then she nods. “Okay,” she whispers.
“On the bright side,” I say. “You’ve just been given a half hour of overtime for every shift.”
She giggles. “Thank you.”
I smile. “I don’t know anyone who wants to do a better job than you. We’re going to get you to a place where what you want to accomplish and what you actually accomplish gets done. You’ll be in the corner and then I’ll keep an eye on you your whole shift. Are you okay with that?”
“Yes, D… Yes, Sir,” she says.
I excuse her, but don’t get up from the desk. I know she meant to call me Daddy, and I don’t want her to see I’m hard as hell now.