Chapter Seventeen
Simon paced the floor of the HR office, fingers drumming nervously on the medallion that rested against his chest, as he shifted his weight form one foot to the other. He was so much more comfortable communicating via computer screen.
But Rika and Puma had urgently requested that he meet with them in person, as soon as possible so here he was, with Miller by his side.
A court jester stalked in through the door right after him, the bells on his hat and shoes jingling a merry tune. Then his eyes lit on Simon, Rika, Miller, and Puma, and he took in the serious expressions on their faces.
“I’ll come back later,” he said apologetically, and turned and jingled back out of the office. Rika jumped up, ready to go lock out any more interruption, but Puma was already on it. With two easy steps, the tall head of Ops was turning the lock on the door, flipping the sign around so the messageMeeting - Do Not Disturbfaced the outside.
“We’re going to have to get you a suite of offices,” Simon said to Rika.
“And an army of help,” Miller added, looking around the stacks of papers and the people milling outside, waiting to talk with Rika. It wasn’t meant critically, but as an acknowledgement that the Faire had grown, rapidly, in the last few years.
Rika grimaced. “Price of success, guys. Especially since we’re looking to make new hires across the board.”
Puma grunted. He had already reported on replacing Trish by promoting from within. It was clear that he was still disgruntled about the circumstances of Trish’s departure. Now he would be reporting on any other anomalies, whether or not they were connected.
That would be for Simon to determine. He had been collecting data from the automated systems he had set up, but Miller had convinced him that he needed face to face interactions with his most trusted employees. Rika and Puma effectively ran the Faire, although as his HR Director pointed out, they were rapidly growing, and the two were swamped.
Especially with the recent weirdness with Trish. Simon was obsessed with anomalies, with breaks in the pattern. Trish had barely touched alcohol up until the day of her accident, and she claimed she couldn’t remember a thing from that day. What had caused her sudden bizarre behavior?
Miller hadn’t been as concerned with it as Simon was. He thought that Simon sometimes over-reacted and saw problems that weren’t there.
And now Rika was confirming there was an uptick in fires to be put out. To be clear, there were always emergencies, big and small, that Rika handled brilliantly. That was one of the reasons she was so good at her job, and Simon wished he could clone her. Puma too, if he were making a wishlist of people he wanted to replicate.
“Is this an issue with retention or with recruitment?” Miller asked.
“Both and neither,” Rika replied. “We offer one of the best employment packages around, but the nature of the business is that many of the qualified talent want to do the circuit, and maintain a presence on a national scale.” Puma nodded.
“And because of the growth of the Faire and other factors such as an expanded tech industry, we’re getting a similar boom within Gardendale, where there are more jobs available for behind the scenes and support workers. The appeal of working in the city proper might outweigh other benefits that we can offer. ”
Simon was well aware of the tech industry expansion, having contributed to it himself.
“The other thing Puma and I are keeping an eye on—,” Rika looked at Puma and he nodded. “—is a possible increased use of illicit drugs. Something that we’ve been keeping a tight lid on are the results of Trish’s lab results—the ones that pertain to workmen’s comp.”
Simon’s ears perked up. This was the reason that Rika —and Puma— had asked for an in person meeting.
Puma spoke up. “In addition to high levels of alcohol, TheRagewas found in Trish’s blood.” He looked as if the words tasted sour in his mouth.
“We’re still going to help with the cost of her hospitalization and rehabilitation,” Rika said, “although we’re not obligated to, we know that’s what you’d want us to do.”
Simon frowned. “Does that fit with what you know of her personality?”
“Not at all,” Puma shook his head, his brow creased in a scowl. “Completely, one hundred percent out of character. The people who’ve been busted using theRageare almost always younger, people who have had minor problems with the law in the past, people who are kind of adrift and have no direction in life. None of that describes Trish in the slightest.”
Rika dipped her head in acknowledgment. “But the bigger issue we’re keeping track of is whether there’s an increasing usage of theRageat the Faire, or even Gardendale in general. Because if it is, we’re going to have to get ahead of it sooner rather than later.”
“We’ll have to be prepared to have a zero-tolerance policy,” Miller said, and Puma agreed with him.
“Not just among staff and vendors but attendees. We’ve got to have mechanisms in place to root out potential dealers and stop that from happening at the Faire,” the head of Ops said.
Simon pushed his glasses up on his face. “Good thinking. We already have cameras in place at all entrances recording who’s coming in throughout the day. They’re on 24 hour loops before they get recycled. I’m going to increase it to 72 hours, and Puma and Rika, you’ll both have the ability to pull footage out of the rotation.”
“I’ll go with Puma and make that happen right now,” Miller said.
“Thanks and—” Simon’s phone started flashing. It was Blake Rickert, his Realtor. Again. For the third time this morning. Whatever it was had to be important.
“Sorry, guys, I have to take this.” As Simon swipedAccept Call, Miller and Puma left to work on the security footage, and Rika followed them to the door. An employee had taken advantage of the entrance opening to slip in with a crisis that needed handling, or maybe a complaint about how serving knockwurst in the Staff Caff was cultural appropriation.
