Chapter #4The Head Twister: Remastered. by: Unknown "...There's no two ways about it, Liz. We've too many staff on the workforce."
Emma groaned and massaged her brow with her fingers, kneading through the wrinkled skin and cellulite packed underneath in muted frustration. The shift had just ended, meaning the exodus of customers was all but complete. The few that remained were mostly connected to staff themselves, employing their friends' and partners' employee discounts to buy a few miscellaneous bits and bobs.
The store's manager had been tirelessly combing through the branch's finances with a fine-tooth comb, not out of character in the slightest, though it'd no doubt be disheartening for one to walk in and see the drained colour from her face.
"I'm well aware, Emma," Liz agreed, rolling her eyes as she filed her nail down. The assistant manager had made more of a conscious effort lately to 'be womanly', hence why her fingers had been manicured a day prior and her nails were longer than they'd been for a while, coated with a girly pink polish to boot.
"Half the people on the payroll have been here for yonks and are starting to lose their legs. We need some fresh blood in this place, and fast. I'm tired of seeing the same faces every morning, Emma."
Emma groaned, her eyes scanning across a chart with each staff's ID picture next to their names. She looked over the assignments for the day. She went back to her computer and pulled off the security camera feed, observing where each employee was and who they were with.
Owen was checking out the store's malfunctioning sliding doors with Eric and Mike, Liz's ex-husband and Natalie's husband respectively.
Maddy, Charlotte's friend, was pestering Rebekah, Mona and Laura.
Sasha was talking to Carly and Zoe.
John seemed to be cleaning up around the toilets, unaware that Luke's pregnant girlfriend, Rachel, had just gone inside.
James (Kerry's handsome boyfriend) was talking with Kyle and Reece by the abandoned tills.
Charlotte was having quite the unceremonious reunion with her ex, Jacob.
Ellie and Aiden talked wedding plans at the back of the store.
Rob and Allie were on the Toiletries section as usual.
Tiffany was on the Cleaners with Nicola.
Luke and Jodie were working the Housewares department.
David was on the Kitchen section with Jade and Emily.
Jessica and Nathan were hefting the heavy boxes with Kiran on the Pet Food aisle.
Ryan and Stuart were working on the Seasonal department with Alex.
Mark and Becca were on the Home Living section together.
Kerry was quietly working on her own on the DIY/Electrical section.
Darrell and Courtney were working the Decorating section, with the latter's boyfriend, Marcus, walking in.
Claire was stocking the shelves on Stationary with Steven.
Liam was working with Becca and Michael on the Confectionary aisle.
Rose, Michelle and Lexi were stacking some bags of compost in the middle of the store.
The last two employees, Ruby and Aaron, had the job of tidying the Goods Inwards storeroom.
"Who to choose though?"
"Can I put my hat in the ring for Liam?"
"No can do, as sensible as that idea might be." Emma muttered something incomprehensible under her breath. "He's got an uncle in Corporate, whose wife I've been schmoozing up to for the past few months in the hopes of getting her to convince her partner to increase our store branch's budgets by even a measly bit."
"That chuffing lazy bastard," Liz groaned, putting down her file. "The one fella that I'd hoped would've been first on the chopping block has only just gone and gotten chuffing invincibility."
"Whelp, we need to find other names in any case."
Emma placed down her chart and steepled her fingers. She looked first at Liz, and then to Natalie sat on a chair on the far most left side of the office. She'd been quiet ever since the shift ended- which was much unlike her- but with the way she was frowning as she feverishly tapped away at her phone's keyboard, Emma assumed there was probably some sort of trouble at home she was dealing with.
"Liz, Natalie, I'm putting you both in charge of making a list of expendable assets amongst the workforce. I need you to submit the names by the end of shift for me to review before formally drawing up the termination papers."
"Sorry, Emma," Natalie said, her eyes still focused on the screen before her, "Can we do this tomorrow?"
"I know you've things to do, Nat, but this is an important task, for your role especially."
Emma watched as Natalie begrudgingly put her phone down, eyes rolling as she tucked the bedazzled pink case back into the clutch purse she'd carried into work.
"What about me?" Kelly chirped from the shelves on the side of the room, a bulky binder clutched in her grasp.
"I just need you to control the herd until we separate the wheat from the chaff, Kelly. Keep 'em in high spirits until a final decision is made on who's staying and who's leaving."
Kelly nodded, glad to be of use. Emma grinned warmly at her; she enjoyed the woman's cheery disposition, though on certain slow days her constant smiling could do one's head in. She was a large upgrade on Steven despite this, the poor bloke not ready (nor willing) to take on the responsibilities as the store's assistant supervisor.
Nonetheless, Emma sighed and reclined back into her seat, thoroughly stumped on how to make these tough decisions. She'd still been thinking when everyone got a sudden, split-second feeling that something was about to happen. The Wilko management team shuddered just as some sort of invisible energy wave encompassed the store and everyone in it. The staff, all at the same time, blacked out and fell to the floor where they were.
They started gradually waking up five minutes later...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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