Need You

Chapter 17

"Good luck Harry. If they don't renew your contract, I'll be glad to recommend you to somewhere better." Amanda said happily right before she thanked Ethel and got out of the car.

"Somewhere better." Nikki laughed. "You're going nowhere; not after how much you've helped the restaurant."

It had been a month since I started working at the restaurant and whether my contract would be renewed or not depended on the meeting with the investors.

Two hours after the breakfast service had begun, Ethel and I left for the meeting.

All the investors were seated when we got there. I thought we were late. "Let's begin." Steve said when Ethel and I sat.

"Alright. We decided to try something different with the restaurant's orders at the beginning of this month in order to increase our profits." Ethel began. "After agreeing that we would put someone in charge of tracking how this plan affected the restaurant's finances, we agreed that there would be a meeting at the end of the month to review the progress and possibly renew the contract depending on the progress made."

I gave each investor a copy of the financial records of the restaurant from the month and explained that by ordering more of what customers buy, the profit margin has been increased by one percent.

"We were expecting a greater percentage." James commented.

"I know, but for something we're trying for the first time, the one percent increase is not bad." Ethel said.

Everyone seemed very focused on the papers I had given them and then Steve spoke, "From my own calculations, had something not happened, the profit margin could have increased by roughly two to two-point-five percent." He paused. "What I'm wondering is what happened?"

His tone gave me the impression that he already knew what had happened. But how could that be? Ethel didn't tell any of the investors about the issue with the orders.

"For some strange reason, customers weren't coming in their numbers but the numbers show that it wasn't for long." Ethel answered.

"And what would that strange reason be?" Steve questioned. "I was told that you messed up an order and in order to get back your upset customers, you cut prices."

"That's right. We cut prices because that was our only way of of making up for the  losses incurred." Ethel said.

The room was quiet for a moment and then Ethel mentioned the renewal of the contract.

"I don't think there's a contract to be renewed." Steve stated.

"We all had an agreement to renew the contract after one month depending on the progress made and clearly the restaurant has made progress."

"No, we agreed to renew the contract if the restaurant made a two to three percent increase in profits." I wasn't expecting Derrick to speak if he wasn't going to help me get the job since my chances of getting it seemed slim.

"Harry," John called. "what exactly did you do when you were given this job?"

"Um... I made accounts of purchases, and offered financial advise."

"Those are not things too different from what the manager does." John remarked.

"I hired him because there's a need for his expertise." Ethel said.

"Okay but whether he continues doesn't depend on you solely." Derrick said.

"Since the expectation wasn't met, there's no need for this but still, let's take a vote." Steve said and asked, "Will all who are not in favor of renewing the contract raise their hand?"

All the investors including Derrick's hand went up. I honestly felt betrayed by him. Sure my chances were still slim but my best friend raising his hand against me was painful.

"Harry, we're thankful for your services but we're sorry to announce to you that your contract will not be renewed."

Was it even necessary for Steve to say it?

"So do you expect me to hire someone else to fill that position?" Ethel asked, clearly frustrated.

"Come on Ethel, you know hiring someone to do what you or Nikki can do would be a waste of money." He said.

After a short while of nobody saying anything, Steve mentioned that the meeting was over and made his way out of the room.

Before Derrick left he told me that he was sorry and it was something he had to do since it was business.

"I'm sorry Harry." Ethel said when we got into her car. "I'll get you something to do at the restaurant while you look for another job."

"It's fine. You told me before that it would be temporal depending on the results so I'm okay even if it didn't go as I would've wanted it."

When we got to the restaurant, I went to the dining area and saw Amanda eating alone. I spotted Nikki in the back attending to a customer.

"Hey." Amanda greeted me with a smile. "How did it go?"

"Well you're looking at the recently unemployed financial controller of Ethel's Diner."

"What? Are you being serious?"

"Yeah."

"Hey." Nikki was now standing next to me. "How much are you getting paid now according to the revised contract?" She grinned.

"Nothing." I answered and her happy face turned into a confused one. "I got let go instead."

"Why?"

"There was an agreed percentage increase that was to be attained and we didn't get it so..."

She pouted. "It's my fault, isn't it? I am so sorry."

"It's okay. I'm fine. Did you forget Amanda saying she'd get me a job?" I said jokingly. "But you should be sorry though because all that workload I had, is now yours." I added and she chuckled with me.

"You know, I was joking when I said I'd recommend you but now that they let you go, I will." She took her phone and got busy with it.

Surprised, I took a seat. "Really?"

"Yeah. My friend from the company's finance department said that they needed a few more workers."

Unexpectedly, Amanda gasped. "Harry, we need to go right now."

"Why?" Nikki asked.

"They have only three more people to interview. My friend said if he can make it there before the last person is interviewed, he'll be interviewed." Amanda explained.

I wasn't prepared for any job interview. "You didn't say that the interview was today." I said nervously.

"I didn't know it was. If you want this job then we need to go now." She stood and I shakily got on my feet. "Harry," She said calmly. "you'll do fine."

"And you look great so that's one less thing for you to worry about." Nikki added.

"Alright, let's go." I took a breath and said.

Nikki wished me good luck and followed Amanda out and into a taxi. As nervous as I was, the whole thing was exciting - I had never done something so spontaneous.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, please don't forget to VOTE before moving on to the next chapter.