“You were informed that you were close to achieving your bonus quota this month,” I said.
“Er, yes, Kendall informed me I was on target,” he responded nervously.
I tried to talk to him a little more, but he wasn’t being loose, he was just responding to what I was saying, I hoped I hadn’t totally ruined the chance to have a workforce which was effective, and an environment was a happy one. I let him leave and moved to look at Kendall.
“Who’s next, Kendall?” I shouted through the door.
“Hayley. She’s just come back from her break, so she’s free at the moment,” Kendall informed me as she smiled.
“Good. Send her in,” I said.
Hayley entered within two minutes of being called.
“Hi, Hayley. I hear you’re a star in the making,” I said with a smile. “Please sit down, please.”
“I don’t think of it like that, Sir. I’m not a star, I just have a job to do and to move forward in my career, I have to do it the best I can,” she informed me.
Hayley informed me that she had managed to sort child care out for her child, so she was able to work full time; a very smart woman I thought, and that was the sort of attitude any boss would welcome. I could see it in her eyes though, that she was really apprehensive about me speaking to her like this.
Kendall sent a few more employees in, and it appeared to me there was a trend, many were happy with the work and everything, yet they all had one problem in common. Unfortunately, that problem was me. I could tell they were all a little scared of me for whatever reason.
“Kendall, can you come here please,” I shouted.
“Two minutes, just uploading something,” she replied as she hurried her mouse on her computer and bit her lip.
“Yes, what do you want?” she said politely.
“Sit with me for a few minutes because I need to ask you something, just close the door and the blinds.”
Kendall pulled the blinds and shut the door before taking a seat. I urged her to come and sit next to me, the desk was too business like for my liking.
“I have a couple of things I want to ask, but business first,” I said. “How are things with you and your job going?”
“It’s great. I have plenty of variety, and the job is not the same old routine. Um, and the perks are pretty good, yourself not included,” she said with a smile.
“You see, that is what I wanted to hear from them, you have opened up a little, even though you didn’t include any bad points about the job,” I replied. “What do you think I could do to make them happy and more relaxed toward me? I know I was probably not the best boss in the world, but that was before, I want to make it right.” I said as I offered my smile.
“Let me think about it for a while. I’ll come up with a couple of ideas before the end of the day.”
“Great, I appreciate it,” I was grateful to have her on my team. Here and personally.
“What was the other thing you wanted to ask?” Kendall asked as she waited to hear.
“How well do you know Peter?” I asked as I leaned into her.
“I have not really had much to do with him, to be honest, he did use to come here quite frequently before and now I don’t see him as often,” she said quietly.
“What did he come for?” I asked quizzically, “I would have thought once or twice a week would have been enough.”
“What I thought was strange was that he used to come just before the day shift finished but didn’t stay long,” she said with a puzzled look on her face.
“In future, if he comes, keep a note on the day and time, but for God’s sake don’t let him find out, he has been a diamond of a brother since I had my accident, but I just feel something is not quite right,” I said.
“No problem, mom's the word,” she said raising her finger to her mouth to mock a silence gesture.
“Thanks, Kendall, I don’t know what I would do without you,” I said as I grabbed her soft hand over my large desk.
“I just remembered, before your accident you should have had a meeting with your lawyer which you canceled. He’s called a couple of times while you were out. Do you want me to contact him?” she asked.