Henry spent more time chasing girlsaround the office than he did growing his dad’s business. And he knew as muchabout modern marketing as my shoe. Luckily for both Tucker men, part of ourpaycheck was commission based.
Monetary incentive drove thiscompany to succeed. Well, money and coffee. And a fair amount of Thai takeoutfrom the restaurant across the street.
Also, and maybe this was just me,but Swedish Fish had been a big part of the small success I’d had.
How else was I supposed to stayawake during projects? I was designing dental logos, remember?
There were only so many fonts thatcould simulate a smile with words.
Mr. Tucker started going through hislist, assigning each item to different designers based on seemingly zeroinformation about either the client or his employee. From hours of observinghim during these meetings, my best guess was that he picked whomever he noticedfirst. But other factors I was considering were names he could rememberquickly, favorite colors by shirts, favorite colors by ties and Morse code byway of rapidly blinking eyelids.
There was no rhyme or reason to hismadness. The same designers that were picked to be Art Directors were chosen tobe Brand Identity Developers the next week. He grouped talent together asmeticulously as a pig playing the violin. And somehow, we still managed to bethe lead marketing firm in the city.
The only good thing that came fromthe Mother Tucker’s management style is that we had all been forced todiversify. I had joined the company excited to specialize in social mediamarketing, but thanks to my random assignments, I was also awesome with logos,branding and websites.
“That leads us to our biggest clientof the year yet.” Mr. Tucker paused dramatically, priming the room for whatwe’d all been waiting for. It was only the middle of February, so it wasn’tlike he had many clients to compare, but rumors had been floating around theoffice, making this an already coveted account.
“We’re going to need at least threeleads on this one,” Henry Tucker said, dangling the carrot. “So be prepared toshare the commission.” He grinned smugly. “With me.”
I wrinkled my nose at the slimy waythe words fell out of his mouth. This account was about more than money andcommission, there would be a reputation that came with it. This was a way tomove up in the ranks and demand respect and become an STS legend.
Sure, money was a thing I wouldalways need, but my aspirations were bigger than the size of my paycheck. If Isecured this account, I could be picky about future accounts. I might evencapture Mr. Tucker’s attention long enough to get him to remember my name.
“That’s right,” Mr. Tucker crowed,breathing heavily as if it was a concerted effort to sit in his comfortableleather chair. “Black Soul Productions has asked us to revamp their entireplatform. They want a new logo, and a new advertising campaign. They want asocial media plan. And more. This account could mean very big things for us inthe future. Black Soul has an extensive client list of their own. If we do agood job with this one, we could see residual accounts for years to come.Obviously, I’ve asked Henry to take the lead on this one. I trust his visionand leadership to handle such an important account.” Father and son shared anallied smile. “Why don’t you round out your team, Son? Nothing but the best forthis one.”
Black Soul Productions was a localrecord label that had recently signed some breakout artists. When rumors hadstarted surfacing that they wanted to update their look and expand theirpresence, I had done my research. They had a strong list of B-list clients andwith their latest signings had the potential to become a nationally respectedbrand. Their social media presence would be everything. If I could get on thatteam and create a sustainable social strategy, they would be unstoppable. Itwas definitely a big task, but so worth the effort.
“Thanks, Dad. And don’t you worryabout this account. I’ll take care of everything.” Henry’s eyes scanned theroom, jumping from one designer to the next, all the way around the table. Iheld back a squeak of anticipation. At least I could trust Tucker Senior topick at random, thereby freeing me of disappointment when I wasn’t chosen. Juniorwas a different story.
For some unsubstantiated reason,Henry thought of himself as a ladies’ man, and therefore acted as though hewere God’s greatest gift to women. To my knowledge he didn’t succeed very often,but his lack of success did nothing to dampen his confidence. Which was sayingsomething since he was the second highest paid employee and set to one day takeover the marketing empire his dad had built for him.
He wasn’t even terrible looking. Heused more hair product than I would have encouraged, giving him a slightlygreasy appearance. And the gold chain necklace tucked beneath his performancepolo wasn’t exactly the height of men’s fashion. But his teeth were decent, andhe worked out.
There was just something about himthat wasn’t appealing. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but I knewenough to duck under his arm and slip out the back staircase when he’ddrunkenly cornered me at our office Christmas party. And I wasn’t exactly in aposition to turn down men. My last date had been four waxes ago.
Henry’s gaze lingered on CatherineDawes, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with Photoshop-like curves andMadmenvintage style to accentuate them.He stared appreciatively at her for a long time, before deciding better of it.
She was by far the prettiest womanin the office. But she was also a ballbuster, and I doubted she’d put up withany shit from Henry, no matter how special his dad said he was.
The tension in the room heightened,twisting and pulling, threatening to snap at any second. We all wanted to bechosen. We all wanted it badly.
There wasn’t a person in this roomthat wouldn’t fight tooth and nail to be on this team, even if we did have towork with Junior.
“Ethan,” Henry decided, surprisingus all. Ethan Baker was at least ten years older than me and had a wife and acouple kids. The entire room jolted in surprise. It wasn’t that Ethan was a baddesigner, he was probably the best in the office at brand development, but wewere all surprised Henry had been able to ignore the temptation to surroundhimself with hot girls. “I want you to take point on branding. Are you up forthe task?”
Ethan smiled confidently at him. “Absolutely.”He cleared his throat and leaned forward in his chair. “I actually heard arumor about this account earlier in the week and I’ve been playing around with ideasif you’d like to see what I’ve come up wi—”
Cutting Ethan off abruptly, Henrysmiled, flashing unnaturally white teeth, and said, “I would. Later.”
Henry’s gaze moved back to theconference table, enjoying every second of lording his power over us.
I held my breath and waited to bepassed over. I vaguely realized I’d started to click my pen obnoxiously thanksto the nervous anticipation coursing through my blood like a rabid rabbit.
I forced myself to smile serenelyand look as grown-up as possible. I wanted this account more than anything. Ihad been secretly preparing for it since I first heard the rumor that it was apossibility. This project was exactly up my alley of expertise. Black Soulwould need someone with a strong social media game. They would need someonethat could identify with a younger crowd and bring them into the tech-savvyinternet world. They needed someone that understood filters, and search engines.And the seven seconds window of time people devoted to new information.
I didn’t know if Henry realized thattoo, or if by sheer power of the mind I’d willed him to pay attention to me.But either way, he turned his creepy, tractor beam smile my direction. “What doyou think, Maverick?”
My cheeks instantly flushed when theattention of the room turned to me. I hated being the center of attention. Ihated that everyone in the room was now staring at me, judging me, weighing myworth. It didn’t matter that I knew I was right for the job or that I had thechops to tackle this project. With everyone watching me, I felt completelyunqualified. But not unqualified enough to give it up. “Y-yes. Of course.” Iset my pen down on the table and then pushed it away so I wouldn’t be temptedto click it again. “I’d love the opportunity to work on this project.”
