Need You

Chapter 16

Ethel was very upset when she heard of what happened. We were sure that that one incident wouldn't affect the number of customers that came to restaurant daily, but the couple of days that followed recorded a low of number of customers that were served.

This was affecting the financial plan of the restaurant.

"How are we going to get our customers back?" Ethel asked Nikki and me. We were in the office and she had just finished looking at the breakfast service accounts. "If things continue like this the restaurant would have to go for a loan to keep up with maintenance and then we'd end up in a bigger debt."

"Nikki." Ethel said.

Nervously she replied, "This whole thing is my fault. I don't want to come up with any idea that will make things worse."

Ethel frowned. "First this wasn't your fault." I was still confused as to why Ethel thought it wasn't her fault. If Nikki had not made those changes with the order then we wouldn't have upset so many customers. "Second, I didn't make you assistant manager because you're my niece but because you're brilliant and so I need you to make use of any knowledge you have so we can fix this."

"Harry." Ethel said. "Do you have anything?"

"Um, I have an idea." Nikki spoke. "We should cut our food prices by a significant percentage."

What!?

"It would be temporary. Maybe until the weekend." She added.

Ethel turned to me and asked me what I thought about Nikki's idea. Giving it a bit of thought I said, "It might work. It would  affect the finances but in the long term, things will correct themselves. We can get back our old customers and maybe even new ones."

"Okay."

Ethel decided on cutting the prices by twenty-five percent. She called for a meeting and informed the staff. We were set for the following day.

We shared the information by which ever way we could and the effect was as hoped for; the restaurant received a lot more customers, and a lot more in the days that followed.

"Hey." Nikki said when she walked into the office.

"Hey." I muttered with my focus on the laptop.

She sat next to me and put a document on the table. "The breakfast accounts." She stated.

"Thank you."

"Hey, um, I've been meaning to apologize for what happened. It was totally wrong of me to make that decision on my own. I didn't consider how it would affect the restaurant and how it would affect you. I'm very sorry."

"It's fine." I said, looking at her. "I would just want to know why you did it."

She looked uncomfortable and didn't want to answer. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me. I won't hold anything against you." I spoke honestly.

She smiled shyly.

"Um, can you move to the desk. I would like to take a quick nap."

"You mean lie on the couch and stare at your phone."

"No." She chuckled. "I haven't slept much and the increasing number of customers  is really working me."

"Mmm." I carried the laptop to the desk and she made herself comfortable on the couch.

I turned my eyes to the couch briefly and she was asleep. She would have to wake up soon for the lunch service.

Someone knocked on the door and wondering who it could be, I opened it slightly. It was Leo.

"Yes."

"Where's Nikki?" He asked and added quickly, "Someone wants to see her."

"Who?"

"It's none of your business. Just call her for me."

"Well she's asleep, so you can tell whoever may be looking for her that."

He stopped me from closing the door and yelled Nikki's name.

"What is wrong with you!?" I questioned, surprised by his boldness.

"And what is wrong with you!?" He asked. "You think you're the boss just because Ethel put you in charge of the restaurant's finances and gave you the title financial controller. I told you someone wants to see Nikki and you're acting like you control who she can and can't see, meanwhile she's your boss and decides what you can and can't do. I'm sure Ethel is pitying you like she has since you started working here."

"If my job isn't an important one, I'd like to see you try and do it." I replied. In my opinion he was just uttering nonsense. "Again, you can tell whoever that wants to see her that she's asleep. She'll be out in a few minutes and so if they really want to see her, they must wait."

"How stupid can you be?"

Excuse me?

"You expect me to tell an investor that." He stated. Why would an investor be here? We hadn't told them of what had happened neither had we told them about how we were solving the problem. "Nikki!" Leo yelled.

"Let's go." I said to him. "I'll see the investor."

"No. He said he wants to see Nikki."

"Who wants to see me?" Nikki spoke. I looked behind me and she was sitting up.

I told her what Leo had told me about an investor asking for her. She looked stressed from what I had told her.

Standing and walking towards me, I moved away from the door and followed her out. I was hoping the investor we were going to see wouldn't be Steve - he seemed like the most difficult to deal with.

At the bar was Derrick, in a black suit. I grinned and got to him before Nikki did.
"Yo. I thought it was Steve we were going to have to deal with."

He laughed. "I don't think Steve has ever been to the restaurant."

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I came to get some food to go and then I find out you've cut the prices. I wanted to see Ethel but I was told Nikki was the one in charge."

"Mmm." I nodded. "We had to cut the prices so that we could attract more customers to recover some losses we made."

"Oh?"

If it were any of the other investors, I wouldn't be giving this much information but since it was my best friend, I was certain that it was all okay.

"There was a problem with the orders on Monday and that left a lot of customers upset and we were losing them so, we had to cut prices for a few days to bring them back." I explained.

"People love things at a cheap cost." He chuckled.

"Yeah."

"Alright," He stood. "I have to get going so I'll see you later."