“Why are you late?” Boss said.
Boss was in his side office with stacked paperwork and two old coffee cups. He was the floor supervisor, a level below the store manager. He had authority to make calls on who did what, but not on anything regarding the money. If anything needs to be marked down or negotiated the other floor manager or the store manager would have to do it. They didn’t trust the Newfie with numbers.
Boss was in his late forties and portly, with a head shaved to a stubble that gave away the receding hairline that had spurred it. He wore a baseball cap that represented some team that Happy hadn’t heard of. His safety shoes gave away misaligned feet that wore down too much on the inside heels.
“I was training the new guy,” Happy said.
“There are five new guys and 3 of them will be gone by next week. You can’t spend an hour on one trainee. The store needs to run,” Boss said.
“I’m sorry boss,” Happy said.
“Sorry’s got nothing to do with it pal. I thought you sheekhs were supposed to be good soldiers. Soliders are always on time,” Boss said.
“Are soldiers on time? Or are they effective? I still got 30 minutes until shift end, I can do the rest in time.” Happy said.
“Oh you wanna grade yourself? Well it’s time for me to grade you and see if you deserve a raise. Don’t worry about the rest I got Patrick to do it after shift changeover,” Boss said
Boss pulled out an assessment form that had been filled out already.
“You performed satisfactory this last year, but your shift flexibility is in question,” Boss said.
“I’m still in high school,” Happy said.
“You are a good customers server but lack deeper knowledge on home improvement and interior decor. You should watch more of the training modules while on break,” Boss said.
“I do my homework on breaks,” Happy said.
“Well based on this you make 10.15 right now and you qualify for a 2% raise, which is 20 cents. But the minimum wage is going up to 10.50 so you’ll be making 10.50,” Boss said.
“You pay minimum you’ll get minimum effort,” Happy said.
“In that case we’ll pick one of the 50 other Sheekhs that are lined up outside the door with resumes bud. I know you’re just messing around because we’re cool. If you want to be a bigger part of the Canadian Tire family, you’ll figure it out,” Boss said.
There was silence.
“Will you?” Boss said.
“I’ll figure it out,” Happy said.