Page 80 of Sparks Fly
“Alright, fine,” Max said, putting up his hands in surrender. “So the contest is over. What’s next for Sparky?”
Miles smiled, clearly happy to move on.
“Well, despite the annoying outcome, overall the posts that were done with Sparky performed incredibly well, which proves your invention works,” Miles said. “Thanks again for giving it to me.”
“Did I give it to you if you paid for it?”
“Whatever,” Miles said with a laugh. “The point is, I think that with the help of Sparky, we’ll be able to cut down on our staff while still maintaining our regular output of content.”
Max felt like he was getting whiplash from this conversation.
“What do you mean, cut down on your staff?” Max asked.
Miles looked at him as if he was stupid.
“You know exactly what I mean,” Miles said. “Digital media is unfortunately not doing as well as it used to, so I’m going to need to downsize to cut costs. Obviously, losing some personnel is the best way to do that. And with Sparky basically writing these posts, I can get rid of some content writers and probably some editors, too, and have Sparky handle most of the content output with someone still in the back end to edit and fix any errors. I know Sparky’s not perfect, and the last thing I need is people accusing my posts of being AI generated. But with it writing, I’d need far fewer people on staff.”
Max was beginning to fear he was the stupid one here because how was it that Stella and her friends could see exactly what Miles was planning and Max felt totally blindsided?
“Miles, you can’t do this,” Max said. “Sparky isn’t a replacement for your writers.”
“Yeah, I know,” Miles said, theduhat the end of his sentence clearly implied. “But it can do some of the heavy lifting for the writers I’ll keep on staff so they can churn out enough content that I don’t need nearly as many people as I currently have. I’ve been talking with finance, and they’re saying that if we lay off thirty percent of the staff we should be good.”
Max must’ve been making a face because Miles rolled his eyes.
“Max, this is just business, you know that,” Miles said. “Why are you so shocked?”
“Because, Miles, I know for a fact that if your company is actually hurting for money, you have enough to keep it afloat for some time,” Max bit back.
The waitress appeared with their drinks and appetizers, and Max fell back in his seat, trying to get a handle on himself. When the waitress left, Max looked at his brother, who stared back with defiance.
“I’m not using my own capital when there is a clear and simple solution to the problem,” Miles said. “One that you gave me, I might I add.”
“You never told me you were going to use it for this!”
“And clearly that was the right call because of course you’re too much of a softie to realize what I’m doing is a smart business move,” Miles said. “Just because you’ve never had to make the hard decision to get rid of some people from your company doesn’t mean you’re a saint.”
“I never said I was,” Max said. “But if I had the money to allow for menotto have to get rid of employees, I would use it. Plain and simple.”
“Well, I’m not you, and it’s my company, so it’s not really up to you,” Miles said.
“But it is my tech,” Max said. “And I won’t let you use it for this.”
Miles let out a soft laugh. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I am,” Max said, pushing out from the table. “You’re not going to use my product as an excuse to lay off thirty percent of your people. Besides the fact that I think that’s effed up, unlike you, I’m also smart enough to know that’d be a PR nightmare for my company. I’ll have my legal team draft up documentation to terminate our contract in the morning.”
Throwing his napkin on the table, which he’d admit was maybe a tad dramatic, Max stormed off before Miles could say another word.
Forty
Stella and her bed had been stuck together like glue since she’d stormed out of the Yellow Sparks office and gone home. It was a wonder that she even remembered to text Max.
Some part of Stella’s mind was aware that she’d left work before lunch without logging any kind of time off, but she also felt that if Melanie or Miles couldn’t give her anything for bringing the most traffic to the site last week, she didn’t owe them her time. Because that was the thing. It wasn’t just that Stella had won Sprint Week and wasn’t going to get anything, it was the fact that she’d so clearly proven she’s great at her job and Melanie basically said she didn’t give a shit.
Stella hadn’t even really thought that asking to switch to the Spark News team was that big of a deal. She’d been talking about wanting to make the switch for ages, and she hadn’t even asked for a raise. Just a change from one team to another. And yet!
Stella groaned into her pillow again at the memory.
