“Oh. That will go a long way to giving the employees a break from their cells. Should we limit them to fifteen minutes a day? What’s the standard yard time for prisoners?”
“Are you asking me?”
She made a show of looking around the office. “You’re the only one in here.”
“I’ve never been in prison, so I wouldn’t know.”
“Huh, interesting,” she said with a smirk on her face. “I guess we’ll just have to set our own rules.” She slapped a hand over her heart. “My bad, I forgot you were the warden. You get to make the rules.”
“Do you talk to all of your bosses like this?” I snapped.
“Nope. Do you treat all of your employees like they are your servants?”
I ignored the comment. I wasn’t here to make friends or find a girlfriend. “The breakroom is a distraction. It’s more like a hotel lounge than an employee breakroom.”
She slapped a hand on the desk. “You’re right! We’ll remove the tables and chairs. There is no reason they should be comfortable.”
“That’s harsh,” I said with a smile. “I have no plans to take the tables and chairs. I will be cutting the expense for the food and beverage bar in there. I’ll have a coffee machine supplied along with filters and ground coffee.”
“Why would you do that? We have a perfectly good machine in there.”
“Fine, keep the machine but people will need to bring their own K-cups as well as their own fancy creams. I will agree to provide the basic cream and sugar packs that my company buys in bulk. I’m not here to run a breakfast bar.”
I waited for her snarky comeback. She slowly exhaled. “Your business. What’s next?”
“Do you have any suggestions?”
“I have plenty of suggestions.”
I didn’t have to wonder what those might be. I was sure most of them involved something going up my ass. “We’ll start with this and we’ll see how things go. I imagine productivity will increase and we’ll see the difference by the end of the week. Two weeks tops.”
“You really think destroying employee morale is going to make them work harder?”
“I’m not destroying anything,” I insisted. “I’m implementing successful strategies. People who talk and eat all day are not working. Do we really want coffee stains on tax paperwork? Jelly donut stains or greasy fingerprints? Come on, Saige. This place is seriously lacking in the professionalism department.”
She was probably going to kill me if I said another word. “Thank goodness you came in when you did. I can’t imagine how we would have gone on without your expertise.”
She could be sarcastic all she wanted. It wasn’t going to change my opinion of the office and what I had seen thus far. “I’ll be watching.”
“Good to know. Exactly how long do you plan on being here?”
“Here? As in the office?”
“Yes,” she said tightly. “Will you be gracing us with your presence on a regular basis?”
“It almost sounds like you want me to leave,” I said and was barely able to hold back my smile. I was having too much fun teasing her.
“Of course not,” she said with a great deal of sarcasm.
“I’m meeting a decorator today.”
“A decorator?” she asked.
“For my office,” I answered.
“Your office. Do you plan on working in the office here?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?” she asked with gritted teeth.
“Until things are straightened out and I’m confident I can leave the running of things in your very capable hands.”
She slowly nodded. “Well, I’d hate to make you late for your meeting with your decorator.”
She was actually dismissing me. That took balls. I admired that. “I’ll have the breakroom taken care of by the end of the day.”
“Suit yourself.”
I got to my feet, ready to leave. She stopped me at the door. “What do you plan to do with the stuff in the breakroom right now?” she asked.
I turned to look at her. I shrugged and shook my head. “I suppose it’ll go in the trash.”
She flinched before narrowing her gaze. “That’s definitely the right thing to do.”
I knew she was being sarcastic once again. I didn’t bother replying. I walked out and slowly made my way toward my new office. I felt the eyes on me. I knew they were all watching and waiting. It was good for the people who worked for you to have a healthy fear of you. I wanted them worried. Some of them needed to be afraid.
I opened the office door and cringed. The furniture was still there, along