Page 48 of A Bossy Surprise

“We already have reporters. If you wanted to hire two more I would be curious as to why. So why 16?”

She sighs as if she’s about to explain something obvious to an idiot. “We are months out from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, after which we will know who the candidates for each party are. I want to have eight reporters follow each candidate on the campaign trail. I think between now and then is long enough to recruit these reporters.”

I fold my arms. “Don’t you think 16 is a bit excessive?”

“Yes, it is, and that’s the point. I want us to have reporters all over these campaigns. I don’t want anything to happen without us knowing about it.”

“I get that, but why do you need eight following each candidates? And why do we have to hire brand new reporters? We already have quite a few in-house.”

“I can’t spare any of my reporters. They already have beats assigned to them and I don’t want them to abandon those beats just because it’s an election year. Although our goal this year is to provide comprehensive election coverage, I don’t want everything else to fall by the wayside.”

“That makes sense, but at the end of the day, I am not hiring 16 more reporters. Have four of our current reporters on the campaign trail, two with each candidate. Then distribute their workload among the other reporters.”

She shakes her head vigorously, and her flaxen waves bounce around her head. “That’s not going to work.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to overwork my people. That’s how you get shoddy work. That’s how people start cutting corners and making big mistakes.”

I lean back in my chair and steeple my fingers across my abdomen. She makes a good point.

“Okay, I will give you that, but I’m still not hiring 16 brand new reporters.”

“Why not?” She’s becoming exasperated.

“Because that’s fucking expensive. That’s an annual salary of between $50,000 and $60,000 per reporter. Combined that’s almost $1 million a year.”

“I’m not saying you should hire them permanently. You can hire them on contract. Make it clear from the beginning that you’re hiring them to cover the election only.”

“Have you run this past Arthur?”

“Of course, I have.”

“And what did he say?”

“He thinks it’s a good idea.”

I sit forward and narrow my eyes. “Arthur approved hiring 16 more reporters?”

“Mhmm.” She has a great poker face, but I suspect she’s bluffing.

I pick up the intercom on my desk. “So what you’re saying is that if I call Arthur right now, he’ll tell me that he thinks we should hire 16 more reporters?”

A slight smile tugs at the corner of Kayla’s lips. “Okay fine. He agrees that we need more reporters, but he also thinks 16 is too many. He’s wrong though.”

“I don’t know…”

“We need to be bold. We need to show everyone that we aren’t playing around. We do that by making sure nothing escapes our notice.”

“This isn’t war. It’s not about having bodies on the ground. We need a few people who know what they’re doing. Reporters who know how to get the story. Most news outlets send between one and three exceptional reporters with each candidate. I think that’s what we should do.”

She sighs. “If you’re worried about the cost, my contract idea will save you a lot of money.”

I consider her idea for a minute, then say, “Okay, we can try it, but 16 is still too much. It’s just wasteful in my opinion. What about six?”

She narrows her eyes and counters. “10?”

I smile. “Eight, and that’s my final offer.”