The Daily Grind [Morning Work Thread - Susan Groves]

“Yes sir… yes sir, but that would be… yes sir, I understand. No sir, I will have it in by close of business next Wednesday. …thank you, sir, have a pleasant day.”

Susan sighed and rubbed her temples, setting her phone gingerly on her desk. She had tried her best to explain to Mr. Thornton that his “sure thing” business proposition of bringing in Amlee Motors under the corporate umbrella would not be a wise idea yet she could not bring herself to interrupt him lest she suffer his pointed wrath. He wanted a business survey performed on the company as part of a political move. Everyone knew that Amlee Motors was too big to fail, that they had been a long-running name in their market long enough that threatened to monopolize it and grind competition to a halt. A “sure thing” indeed. Everyone thought that, that is, except for Susan. She had already done the research and conducted her own survey, it was one of her responsibilities for Salem Ltd. She too had once thought the same but the data did not lie. Amlee Motors was on the decline.

It was a rather interesting case, really. How could a monopoly that was “too big to fail” be sinking as it was? Susan had really had fun looping everything back together as she explored possibilities. Public transportation was strangling the life out of it and the reason that was happening was because the city was packed since too far away from it was dangerous what with demons roaming about. With everyone staying in one place no one was taxing their vehicle, they broke down less often and more people were able pass on their vehicles to their children. Tack on the nightmare that was traffic in Endymion and soon Amlee Motors would become a shell of the organization it once was, quickly taken over by the bustling public transportation sector. Oh, but the government owned most of that for official and obvious reasons, it was “privatized” but that really meant that they only chose one vendor per contract and the contract was ludicrously long. Hmm… privatized public transportation…
Susan’s thoughts wandered from Mr. Thornton and his foolish effort to prompt stakeholders to salivate as he lost them money and moved to more enterprising endeavors. She began to tap on her phone, then to her computer as she began to look up market shares, and finally ended up at her cluttered whiteboard where she furiously began scribbling out concepts and ideas.

“But then there comes the risk that the bikes will get stolen which we might have to take as acceptable losses… unless we charge a deposit but that could shy away potential customers… mmm… need to pull flow traffic of the city to find the most desired placements… shopping centers and monuments are good with added benefit of high security presence from the local police element but then there’s delivery… nnnnwould it be wiser to have an open rack or a full enclosure…? But then that’s taking up sidewalk space and with the city building code…”

The businesswoman had become so engrossed in her own idea that she hadn’t yet realized that someone had invited themselves to her office and she was muttering to herself in front of them like a crazy woman.
“Susan.”
“…that would certainly offset the cost through potential theft and allow for options in the future for weathering…”
“Susan.”
“...need focus testing before moving forward to the first phase, we could probably...”
“Hello, anyone home?”

The businesswoman was snapped from her fugue to find Michael standing in the doorway staring at her as if she had grown a second head. He was a lanky younger man with a messy blonde hair and a relaxed posture, fond of not tucking in his dress shirt and slacking off wherever he could manage. Not that Susan would judge too harshly, whether or not he held a position at Salem Ltd. wasn’t a decision that was up to her. She froze like a deer in the headlights, halting her marker on her jumbled whiteboard of ideas and random tidbits.
“Y-yes, hello Michael. How may I help you?” she blinked. Michael remained in her doorway with his hands in his pockets.
“Victor’s sending me on a run for coffee and donuts before the team meeting at ten, he said not to let you hole up in your office and miss out. You gettin’ the usual?” he inquired with a bored look.
“Oh. Yes, I will have a cafe americano with one sugar and a cheese danish, please.”
“So the same thing you get every time, okay. No problem.” The young man drew his hand out of his pocket and held it toward Susan. Susan looked down at his hand and then back up at Michael, unsure of what he was doing.

“I’m gonna need money for the order.”
Susan’s eyes flashed wider in mild embarrassment as she hurried over to her desk to dig through her purse.
“O-oh! Yes, of course. Let me just...” She trailed off again as she unsuccessfully searched for her billfold. Yes… yes that’s right. Susan had forgotten to stop by the ATM that morning. No worries, she would have to make due. She strode across the room back to the intern before handing him a bit of plastic.
“I don’t have any money on me at the moment, but you can just use my credit card this time. I am sure it will be fine.” Michael looked down at the card and back up at Susan. She seemed resolute if not just a bit absent. He gave her an awkward smile as he slipped it from her fingers and into the pocket of his trousers.
“Alright then. I’ll give it back to you just as soon as I get back.”
“Please do.” She casually watched him as he turned to leave, merely standing there for a few moments as she tried to remember exactly where she was with her idea. A flash of insight flowed over her and the dreamy woman glided back over to her computer, giving the keyboard a few strokes before logging out. She had sent what she had to Mr. Thornton involving all of her market research on Amlee Motors. Though it was due in a few days she had luckily completed all her work before he had even asked, freeing up her time for things that actually mattered instead of wasting it on office politics. The businesswoman hovered back over to her whiteboard, pondering exactly what she would call the new transit system she had just come up with. She was quite partial to Green Spot, it really sold the eco-friendly aspect...

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