Family

Meeting the Boss

After eating a quick dinner (he was too nervous to eat much) Marco got in his car and began making his way downtown, all the way to Frances Avenue where the new bakery was located. He pulled over to the curb and got out of the car, making his was anxiously to the front door. A middle-aged man with short blond hair and a little mustache greeted him at the door, introducing himself as Hannes.

"Come in, come in," he insisted, ushering Marco over to a small booth. Marco noticed a slight limp in his gait, but said nothing of it. Hannes must have noticed him looking, though, and, laughing, pulled up his pants leg to reveal a prosthetic leg starting just below the knee.

"At the bombing of Shiganshina a few years ago," he explained, sliding into the booth, across from Marco. "It took my family, my friends, and my leg, but luckily not my head or my sense of humor." Hannes laughed again, and Marco laughed with him. He really liked this Hannes guy. He was very friendly and down-to-earth.

"So are you going to ask me any questions?" Marco wondered.

"Well, yeah," the blond replied. "I'm not going to ask for a full-out resume because that's too much work for the both of us. But I have a few questions to ask you, yes." Hannes pulled out a small notepad and a pen from his inside jacket pocket and prepared to write down Marco's answers. "First, what is your name?"

"Marco Bodt," he answered, leaning on his elbows. "B-o-d-t." Hannes scribbled something on his notepad.

"Age?"

"Eighteen." Another scribble.

"Previous jobs?"

"None, Mr. Hannes."

"How could you help me improve my business?" Marco sat on this one a little while, when suddenly an idea popped into his head.

"Well, I could really help on the technological side of business," he said, prepared to explain more if necessary.

"And what do you mean by that?"

It was necessary.

"I'm sure you spent a lot of time on your website, and I mean no offense by saying this, but the aesthetic of it is a little bit dated. It probably just isn't appealing to the younger crowd, and those are the ones that are using the internet most these days. From a business standpoint, it's good to have the younger generation on your side, and a sleek website design could do just that." Marco paused to see how Hannes was reacting.

"Continue," he encouraged, nodding politely.

"I'm no computer genius, Mr. Hannes, but I could help modernize your business on the technological side of it all. I could revamp your site, and get Hannes' Bakery on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all these sites that are very popular today for people of all ages. I could also bake, but when I'm here and it's not incredibly busy I could be working on all of this, boosting the audience numbers and bringing in new customers."

"You're hired," Hannes said finally, leaning back and crossing his arms. Marco looked at him, jaw agape.

"You sure?" he asked, eyes wide. Hannes nodded, a small grin forming on his face.

"If you're confident you can do what you say you can, I'd be glad to have you." Marco grinned ear to ear.

"Thank you, Mr. Hannes!" he said gratefully, his eyes alight with joy. "I'll do my best not to let you down. Just let me make one call and I can talk more about whatever you need." Marco jumped up and ran outside, dialing Jean's number as he went. He held the phone up to his ear and waited for his boyfriend to pick up.

"You know you're supposed to wait three days after the first date before you call again, and not three hours?" Jean said as he answered his ringing phone.