I could not believe it! I was sitting in the back of a fucking Mercedes-Maybach S-Class!! It wasn’t even a car you get to watch pass every day and I was riding in it! When I decided to take this job, it didn’t occur to me that there would be this many privileges.
I tried so hard to contain my excitement as I looked around the car interior, the car seat felt unreal, it didn’t feel like leather, it was more relaxing and I was almost tempted to ask if it had a massage feature.
I turned to Mr. Blackwood sitting on my left and he seemed too unfazed, lost in his phone. How can a person be this cool inside a fucking Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, a dream car of the average and wealthy men alike?
If you are wondering what I am doing in the CEO’s car, we just left the office for the day and we are heading to Jersey City for a meeting with his “Very Important Client” it was past noon already and so I knew we would be coming back late, but that didn’t bother me… Jenny would lose her shit if I told her that I rode in this car.
I quickly took out my phone to make a video for proof but I had to check if Mr. Blackwood was watching me. As if realizing that I was staring at him, Mr. Blackwood slowly turned to face me and I looked away immediately, a smile tugging onto the edge of my lips.
“So… Assistant,” he began with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. “Your deadline is fast approaching and you are yet to present a report of a possible solution for the problem assigned to you. Do you plan to submit your resignation?” he asked nonchalantly.
I could tell he was trying to ruin my mood but no feeling could beat riding in a fucking Mercedes-Maybach, so I wasn’t about to let him ruin this for me.
I smiled and turned to face him. “Yeah, I was waiting for the right time to present this, you have been busy all through the day.” I said, and quickly grabbed my handbag.
“Don’t hand me any files, Miss Owl. If you are the one who came up with the idea in whatever files you are about to bring out, then I guess you would have no problem presenting it orally?” he asked.
I huffed, and dropped the bag. It is obvious he just changed the game level to difficult but I was still willing to, I had sacrificed my whole night to this research and I was confident in myself that I had come up with good solutions for the problem.
“Sure… so the problem at hand, according to your secretary, is that there has been a drop in the price of…”
“Can you just skip to the solution please?” he cut in blatantly.
“Ughhhh!!” I screamed inside me. This man was fucking annoying; does he get off by pissing me?
“Sure,” I said and forced another smile. “After researching the market method and the slope of demand and supply, while taking into factor, the prices of diamonds throughout history, I have come to the conclusion that in order to mitigate the effects of the price drop and avoid encountering major losses, your company should reduce production.”
He scoffed and put down his phone, giving me his full attention. “Why should we do that? And How?” he asked nonchalantly, he clearly wasn’t impressed by my suggestion. I could see this turning into a question and answer section real quick.
“Well…” I began, picking my words carefully. “If you don’t want to run into major losses, which the company definitely will if they don’t make a turn around with the market, then you need to reduce production. And you can do that by laying off a few workers or closing some of the mines temporarily.”
There was disapproval etched on his face, or doubt at least. “Miss Owl, are you suggesting that I fire my workers?” he asked.
I hate that he had to put it that way, he was clearly trying to rope me in as the bad guy and make me carry the guilt for that decision.
“I know how it sounds but you are a businessman and you know deep down that it is a sacrifice necessary to be made if you don’t wish to go bankrupt. It is either a few workers lose their job or you lose a lot of money and I doubt the latter would be good for anyone.” I paused and checked if he was resonating with me but he wore that clueless expression on his face.
“Okay, think about it this way… if you let go of a few workers, you can save much more from losing their jobs because if your company goes bankrupt, everyone is going to lose their jobs anyway, but you will have more to lose. But then with due respect, since when do you care about people?” I fired, serving him a piece of his own medicine.
I might be crossing boundaries here but I needed to remind him that I wasn’t making him a bad guy, he was already the bad guy.
Mr. Blackwood chuckled and shook his head. “You are right, I don’t care about anyone, especially not you. But was that really the best idea you could come up with? Even a first year student can come up with that?” he said.
“I have a few more bright ideas, only if you would let me speak, Sir.” I retorted, adding a lot of bass to that title.
“Oh sure, the floor is all yours. Go ahead and tell me what other master plans you have,” he bickered.
I heard a little chuckle come from the front seat and we both stared at the driver simultaneously. I could see the nervousness in his eyes when he caught us staring through the rear-view mirror. He immediately cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, shifting his gaze back to the road.
Mr. Blackwood and I turned back to face each other, that was quite cinematic but I held in my laughter. “Alright… what are you waiting for?” he urged.
“Yeah… As I was saying, the company can also solve this problem by increasing marketing efforts in order to offset the drop in prices. Like I said, I studied the charts and even with my little experience, I can tell that the marketing department is not doing enough, they need to be scrutinized.”
“Miss Owl, are you trying to say that my marketers are lazy?” he asked bluntly.
I groaned softly and clenched my fist. “If that is the way you see it, all I am trying to say is that they can do better. I don’t think they are being properly supervised and I am not saying it is their fault. But if you want your company to survive this incoming tsunami, then I suggest you look into the marketing department. If they can add more efforts, by advertising in new markets or developing new marketing campaigns, they would be able to mitigate the effects of the price drop.” I advised.
Once again, he seemed unimpressed. “Is that all?” he asked with a plain face, like I had not done enough.
“No actually, I have still got more brilliant ideas. Like I said, I took time to study…”
“The charts and the graphs and the marketing files, we get it already.” He interrupted me half-way. “Just get ahead with it, don’t tell me the work you have done, show me the result.”
Fuck! I want to take off my heels and hit him on his head.
“Okay Okay,” I said, keeping my anger at bay. “Another idea is to diversify product offerings in order to reduce the company’s reliance on diamonds. If you do not wish to take the previous ideas or if it fails to work, then expanding into other jewelry categories, such as gold or silver could help control the damage that results from price drop in the diamond market.”
“Hmm…” he hummed. “Okay?” he uttered, signaling me to proceed.
I can't believe I stayed up all night for this and he doesn’t even act impressed, he doesn’t even give it clear thoughts and he is asking for another idea. What does he think I am? A fucking bot?
“Alright… Um…” I looked down, trying to remember my backup ideas. If he would just let me look in the file, I thought I got the job already, so why does this feel like a freaking interview?
“We are in Jersey, Ann. Be quick with it or you might not get another chance,” he warned solemnly.
I looked around and immediately realized that we had just entered Jersey city… Fuck, I had only being here once, and even though it was a year ago, the place just looked different. I quickly moved my attention from the flashy cars on the wide road back to my inpatient Boss.
“Yeah… Yeah, I was just putting it together. Another suggestion from me is that the company should invest in research and development in order to find new uses for diamonds. I checked through the company sections and I noticed that you have a very big IT department and so I was wondering about the use of that many talents. All they do according to data obtained from your secretary is sit down in front of a company to manage and control digital and electronic matters of concern.”
“What are you suggesting Ann?” Mr. Blackwood asked and stared at his wristwatch.
“Well… I am saying that if properly funded and supervised, the IT department can research and come up with other uses for diamonds. This could involve developing new Diamond-based products rather than just Jewelry, these products can be medical devices or industrial applications, anything that fits the bill and sales. If done with proper collaborations, you can launch it into the market and cover up for the effects of the price drop.”
I waited patiently to hear him say something but he just sat there staring at me solemnly, if anything, his face was gloomy. Good lord, that is not encouraging at all. How can I tell what he is thinking?
Moving on as I guessed that we were approaching our destination, I continued. “Finally… in order to mitigate the effect of the price drop in the diamond market, I suggest that your company forms strategic partnership with other companies in the jewelry industry. This could involve joint marketing campaigns or shared distribution channels. Such collaboration can be profitable for both parties, leading to a win-win situation. So what do you think?” I ended with high hopes, there is no way that at least one of my suggestions was not a profitable solution to the problem.
As if waiting for me to finish, the driver made a swift turn into the hotel premises, causing me to fall towards Mr. Blackwood, almost joining lips with him. I readjusted immediately as the car came to a halt, acting like it didn’t just happen.
Mr. Blackwood looked at his wristwatch and then back up at me, and then in the most unimpressed nonchalant voice, he said. “Well I have heard what you had to say, we will talk more about this later, my client could be waiting for me already.” He immediately opened the door and walked out.
My jaws dropped, a look of disbelief on my face. No, he didn’t just do that!! I spent the past thirty minutes explaining something he could have easily read from my report, after staying up all night to do it and he just walks out on me without any validation or even disapproval? How rude!!
“Bastard!” I mumbled under my breath as I grabbed my handbag. I turned to look at the driver, realizing that he heard me curse the big boss. I giggled nervously and got down from the car, hopefully he doesn’t rat me out.