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Vivian ate her hurried dinner and took the time to savor the cake afterward. The bakery really had done a great job. She made a mental note to leave them a good review. Positive feedback was just as important as constructive criticism, and Vivian made sure to be generous with her compliments when they were deserved.
She took small bites of her cake, wondering what her employees were talking about now. She doubted they were complaining about anything she wasn’t actively in the process of solving, but she did wonder idly about the gossip.
Over the years, there had been many rumors about her, about heartbreaks and missed opportunities for love. None of it was true, but that didn’t stop the stories from persisting.
Vivian didn’t let it bother her. She knew that her choice to avoid all personal entanglements—even friendships—was an unusual one. Others were bound to be curious about it. They didn’t understand why she seemed so cold, probably because Vivian had never explained it to anyone. She didn’t expect them to understand. It was better just to remain aloof and do her job.
In a recent survey from a local business magazine, Vivian’s company had rated as the top choice for employees in the state. Employee satisfaction was reported highly across the board.
Vivian chuckled as she remembered the interview. They had wanted to know how she did it, as though it was some big secret. It really wasn’t all that complicated. Offer good wages and benefits. Listen and react accordingly when people were unhappy. Give positive feedback and reward good work.
Her work attendance rates had improved twenty percent when Vivian had opened a small daycare for working parents with kids. The cost of the daycare was more than covered by the extra revenue they brought in without having to account for people being missing from work because they couldn’t find or afford babysitters.
Smudges was done with his treat and jumped lightly onto Vivian’s lap, purring like a little lawnmower. Vivian stroked him idly, toying with the idea of doing some team-building exercises in the next month.
There was some tension between Ruth and Nathan after an incident with Ruth’s files being moved to make more space on one of the computers. Vivian believed Nathan when he said he’d meant to copy and not delete her files, but Ruth was still furious.
Perhaps some team building would do them good. Or maybe she’d get them to sit down with HR and work out their differences.
Vivian grabbed a scrap of paper and started jotting down the potential pros and cons of HR counseling versus team building. She doubted Ruth or Nathan would be impressed if she made them do both, and she didn’t want to make them grumpy with her on top of being grumpy with each other.
Vivian drew out the pros and cons as long as she was able to, then sat down to do the paperwork she had brought home with her.
Smudges made things difficult, stretching out all over her papers, but Vivian didn’t mind the minor challenge. She did her best to work around him.
Finally, when it was late enough to justify going to bed, Vivian picked up Smudges and plonked him on the end of the bed, where he spent every night, guarding her from the dark.
Vivian slid under the covers and closed her eyes. With the stress of the deal they’d been working on for over a month removed, sleep came easily.
The next day, Vivian went into work feeling energized. With that large investor secured, they were ready to move onto the next phase of her long-term business plan. For the next couple of weeks, they would be focusing on market research and promotion, selling themselves to an even wider base of clients.
Vivian was usually early, but it wasn’t unusual for Jane to beat her to work, so she didn’t register anything off about seeing her assistant there when she arrived.
The moment Jane saw her, she leaped to her feet. “Vivian! I need to talk to you.”
“Of course. Why don’t we go into my office?” Jane was looking nervous, which made Vivian nervous in turn. “Is everything alright?”
“Everything is great!” Jane beamed at her, though there was still an undertone of anxiety in her expression. “Brandon proposed!”
Vivian’s eyes flicked down to Jane’s hand, which was now boasting a sparkling new engagement ring.
“That’s amazing, Jane! Congratulations.” She knew that Jane and Brandon were pretty serious, despite the distance. She had been happy for Jane when Brandon had taken time off work to fly here from Spain, and she had given her a few extra days off to enjoy her time with him.
“Thanks. The thing is… well, we talked, and we don’t want to keep doing the long-distance thing. I’m moving back to Spain with him.”
Oh. That was a problem.
“Why not have him move here? I could help out with his moving costs and help get him a job here. I think my dad’s IT guy is retiring—he might be looking for someone new in the near future.”
“We did talk about him moving here. You know how much I love my job here, and it’ll be sad to lose it, but Brandon has his whole family in Spain. I mean, I have family here too, but just my parents, and we’re not that close. He has dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins. His two nieces are only six and he doesn’t want to miss their childhoods. He’s really tight with his family. I can’t ask him to leave them.”
That was unfortunately something Vivian couldn’t get around. She could try to convince Jane to stay, but that wouldn’t be fair. This was what Jane wanted, and Vivian wanted her to be happy.
“I understand. I’ll miss you, Jane. You’ve been an excellent assistant.”
“Thanks. I’ll miss you too, Vivian. I’ll make sure to line up a good replacement before I go.”
“I’d appreciate that. When are you planning on leaving?”
