Catch Me When I Fall

Time Management

Thursday morning had come, hoping Drew and Anna would show up for their first shifts, and that she hadn't scared either of them away when they toured the store together the other day. Parking in the employee parking lot, Karla clung to her hot coffee, still recovering from the sleepless night a few days prior. A constant barrage of passive comments and tantrums until she was able to negotiate a deal on a used battery for her truck from Austin at the shop where Ricky's car was being fixed. "I owe you one," she sighed, practically crying over the phone from the relief of being able to get some help.

"Kar, I know it wasn't always smooth sailing for us, and maybe it's not something I should be saying, but you deserve better if this dude isn't helping you. Still can't believe you've spent all this money on his car. I could have bought it from you and used it for an enduro car." Austin glanced at the car sitting in the back of his shop, which he and his employees would tinker with on their downtime. "I do have to say, it's good practice for the new kid we got working here. Didn't think he would ever have to do an engine swap, but I have him taking care of it until the thing runs. He's put that thing back in there, like, three times now." He chuckled. "It'll be running good when you get it back, don't worry."

"No, I trust you. If I had the room, and if Dad were still up here, I could have done it myself." Karla sighed.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I appreciate your business, and I know you're good for your payments."

"I have to make good on something. Rent has been late 4 times this year," she rubbed her forehead, a tension headache building.

Hearing the sound of metal on metal got Karla's attention, pulling her from her thoughts. Looking over, she saw one of the cart pushers in the lot already. Checking her watch, it was 10 minutes to 7; no one was ever on time, let alone early, to push charts. "Drew? What are you doing out here already?"

He turned to look at her, wiping his brow with a gloved hand. Already breaking a sweat to get the lot cleaned up. "Hey, manager Karla," he smirked. "Can't be late on my first day, thought I could clean up the lot from the night before I went inside."

"Be sure to do a TA, I want you to get paid for the work you are doing." Karla gave him a stern look, still trying to maintain the pecking order of things around Drew.

"Don't worry, baby girl," he walked up to her, looking down to meet her eyes, "I know how things work around here."

"Good," she eyed him before turning on her heel to walk into the building, her nose turned up to him.

Drew watched her walk away for a moment, eyeing her backside briefly, "Playing hard to get, little hen?" He smirked to himself before turning his attention back to the row of carts he was about to push up to the building.

Setting her things down, Karla rubbed her face as she sat in front of her computer, waiting for it to boot up. She was able to touch base with Anna, thankful she was already receiving vendors, not skipping a beat in building rapport in her new setting. She sipped her coffee as she read through emails, receiving reports about the perishable and non-perishable merchandise trucks that would be arriving at the store for the day, and more reminders about the eLearning modules that had been overdue for months now. Her fingertips tapping on her laptop keyboard, she heard a knock at her door. "Come in," she glanced up from the screen to see who would enter, as she wasn't expecting anyone.

"Hey, bosslady," Drew flashed her a crooked smile.

"Drew, what can I do for you?" Her tone remained pleasant, but she was trying not to give him the time of day with hopes that he would lose interest in whatever game he was playing with her.

"I just wanted to get your help with the time sheet adjustment for this morning." He sat down in the chair across from her, his posture quite relaxed and casual.

That's it? Not even a side comment? She thought as she glanced at him. "Sure, what time did you get in this morning? Karla minimized the window she was working in, pulling up the link for the store's employee time sheets.

"Not much before you did. You always get here early before the rest of the day-walkers get here?" He leaned back in the stiff plastic chair.

"I try to get here a few minutes early when I can. What's your date of birth, again?" She glanced back at him.

"April 27th, 1995. Not afraid of older men, are you?"

There it is. "You're only a year older than me, I wouldn't call that intimidating, sweetheart." She was being slightly condescending, as she entered the time that was five minutes before she saw Drew. He already had a line of carts, which was at least five minutes' worth of work. "You're all set, Drew." Karla closed her laptop before meeting his eyes. "But before you go, I would like to have a little chat."

Drew gave a short laugh, "Uh oh. What's up?"

"I want to be very clear that I don't like your flirty attitude. If you are behaving this way with me, fine, but if you are being this way to other women on the floor, I'm going to put a stop to it right here and now. Just because this is a retail setting, it doesn't mean we can act as trashy as our clientele."

"Mommy Karla laying down the law, huh? I like that." After reading Karla's expression, Drew backpedaled, "Hey, I'm just playing around, I'm just trying to be chill with the new boss. I don't always act like this, gimme some credit."

"Alright," she sighed, his antics exhausting her further, "If you want to be on my good side, just show up and do the work. If you don't create problems, I won't have to solve them, agreed?"

"Yes, ma'am," Drew said, standing up and adjusting his visibility vest. "I'll catch you later, thanks for fixing my time."

Karla stood up to close the door behind Drew as her cell phone rang. Thinking Drew was already far enough away, it didn't matter if she closed the door again or not. "Hey, honey, everything okay?"

"Did you feed Merry this morning?" Ricky asked, his tone was not pleasant.

"N-No, I'm sorry, I was in a rush."

"Well, your stupid cat must have gotten into something and threw up on the floor, now I have to clean it up."

"I didn't leave anything out this morning or yesterday before I went to work, I'm sure of it. But if it's that big on an issue, I'll clean it when I get home," she frowned. Karla knew Merry only got sick if Ricky left a cup of chicken sauce unattended, and she got into it.

"No, I'll just clean it up like I do everything around here," he snapped at her.

"I appreciate you taking the time to clean up after my cat, even though it wasn't my dipping sauce she got into."

"You wanted this cat, don't forget that. You should be the one cleaning up after it, but instead, I do because you're never home to take care of her."

"Because I have to be the one to work and pay all the bills! I'm not staying at work because I don't want to be home; I'm at work because I need money to pay for everything!"

"Because I'm just a big, fat loser, isn't it?"

"I never said that, don't put words in my mouth." She frowned.

"But I bet you think it all the time. Tell your friends and your little boyfriends that I'm fat and useless, and I have a small dick."

"Holy s**t, I have never said anything like that to anyone!" Karla ran her fingers through her hair. "Why are you turning this into an argument, anyway?"

"You're the one who made this an argument when you accused me of making the cat sick."

"She only ever gets sick if she eats something she shouldn't have, and you leave food and dirty dishes on your desk all the time."

"You blame me for your other problems; might as well blame me for this, too, huh?"

"Patrick, enough. I'm at work. Can we talk about this when I get home? Face-to-face?"

"Whatever, it's fine." Ricky hung up.

Karla sighed, exasperated. "If it isn't one thing, it's a mother f*****g other," she muttered bitterly before she closed the office door behind her.