Chapter 214 Doing This to Himself on Purpose

• Ben Walton sat there, listening closely as a few salesgirls and the store manager broke down why the store’s numbers had tanked. He waited till they were done, then finally pieced it together: the street out front had been closed for subway construction since last September. With the street blocked, foot traffic had dropped to one-third of what it used to be. What really made Ben furious was what the manager admitted next—the company had known about this for a long time. Jolene Pennkowski had even come down to check in person. Her “solution” was to cut expenses and tough it out until construction ended.
• The answer was obvious. Jolene Pennkowski was messing with him on purpose, hoping to find an excuse to fire Ben out of the company. It just didn’t pan out because Vincy Shaw stepped in and shut it down.
• Ben spent the whole morning chatting with a few clerks in the store. When he checked the time, it was noon. He looked at the girls who’d stuck with him all morning and finally grinned. “If there’s no way around it, then fine—we’ll roll with it. You girls kept me company all morning. Lunch is on me.”