Page 122 of September
“We have the space here, and I know we’re still expanding, but we rent out the top floor of this building to another company, and they only have a year left on their lease. We have some space to grow into, and if we really wanted to do this, we could make half of a floor or a whole floor, even, a bigger and better fake store inside the office. The one we have is pretty old and really small, so I can only fit five participants in there at a time, when we’re usually teaching ten to twenty. We could have them do their role-plays and other activities in a bigger fake store, and I wouldn’t have to break them into smaller groups all the time, which means I’d be done training them faster. We could also use it for new-hire training, and the old one could be turned into an office or a storage room. We can even get those movable walls for the training spaces and host several classes at once, if we want, or just one big one. We’d still have to get people to travel here, but we could get a deal with a local hotel and save money on the nightly rates. We wouldn’t need to rent a conference room, we’d be able to use our own coffee and water, and we could cater in meals and save money on that front, too. The trainer wouldn’t have to travel.”
“The trainer, meaningyou?” he asked.
“Well,mefor now,” Juliet said. “Think about the hours Jordana spent on the road each week, just going from place to place. That wouldn’t have to be the case anymore. I would be here, in the office, and more productive because I’m not driving everywhere. We could hire Andrew’s backfill and split the new person’s work with Janine,” Juliet said of the other trainer. “I’d teach the local new-hire classes as needed and still do things in stores when required, but I’d be home at the end of every day,and the company wouldn’t be paying a per diem. On top of that, Jordana had a company car. I wouldn’t need one of those.”
“You want the same job without all the travel,” he said and leaned forward in his chair. “What about management?”
“Management?”
“Well, if you’re here and not on the road all the time, you’d be more productive, like you said. I was worried about putting direct reports on you because you were already adjusting to the travel, but if you’re here, do you think you could handle Janine and Andrew’s replacement, making the schedule, and teaching?”
Juliet cleared her throat and replied, “Yes. But since that was Jordana’s job, and I’m sure I’m not making what Jordana was making, I’d want to talk about that.”
Her boss smiled and said, “We can do that. I’ll need to talk to facilities about the rooms here and how to make this all work, and we’d need someone to handle vendor relations with whatever hotel we choose.”
“I can do that,” Juliet said.
“Okay,” he replied. “Then, let me get Stacey in here, and we can talk more about the role and the money with her so that I can prepare what I need.”
“Really?” she asked. “Just like that?”
“I’ll review the doc you sent over, but it’s a good idea, Juliet. It helps us in a lot of areas. I’m not sure if what happened with that participant and the hotel had anything to do with this idea of yours, but if this gets us out of those kinds of incidents, too, I’m definitely on board. I’m sure HR would be as well. We’d like to prevent another Jordana situation, and I don’t want to risk you or the other trainers being uncomfortable or unsafe on the road if there’s something we can do about it. We’ve talked to that manager who invited you to dinner, by the way. We don’t think there was any malintent, but we did talk to him, and heunderstood that he crossed some lines by continuing to pressure you.”
“Thank you. I didn’t think he meant any harm, but I also didn’t like having to explain myself to you and Stacey.”
“I know. I didn’t like putting you through that, either. I, of course, didn’t know you had your girlfriend with you, or I would’ve dropped it right there. Sorry about that. Now, let’s get this taken care of and, if we can, get you off the road. One thing, though,” he added.
“Okay.”
“We already have all the October classes scheduled and travel booked for everyone. We can work on November, but I’d still need you to travel to the classes next month.”
“One month, and I’m done with travel?”
“Let’s say five to six to eight weeks, just to be safe, but I think we can get part of November moved here, at least. I’ll also need your help finding and training Andrew’s backfill when you have the time.”
“Deal,” Juliet said.
Her boss laughed and replied, “Let’s get Stacey in here, then.”
CHAPTER 34
“She’s going to be gone for weeks?” Logan asked as she and Gwen hefted a bag from the hardware store up into the van.
“She’ll be home on the weekends,” Gwen replied. “But, yeah… At least, it’s not forever.”
“That’s true. I don’t know what I’d do if Rory were gone all the time.”
“Or Elisa,” Myra added as she hopped up into the van. “Especially since we just started dating, like you and Juliet. That has to be hard.”
“Yeah, but it’s harder on her. She hates it, and Carly is here. I mean, she’ll be with me, which is good for Carly, but Jules will be on her own there, so that sucks. At least, it’s just through October now and maybe a little into November, but hopefully not. She leaves tomorrow for five days, and it’s an eight-hour drive, so she won’t be back until late Friday night since she has to teach a four-hour class Friday morning.”
“She should just stay until Saturday,” Logan suggested.
“She didn’t want to be gone another night. She already leaves again on Monday. They got it all worked out so that this will be over soon, and I can’t wait.” Gwen smiled.
“And when do you want this thing up and running?” Myra asked her, pulling items out of one of the bins they’d carried in.
“November,” she replied. “I’m giving myself October to get it put together and get clients scheduled. I’ve already got my pricing worked out, and the website is almost ready. It’ll be bare bones at first, but I’ll add more to it later.”
