bring up Ember Washington's file, it says she's been with the company for three years. Full Hearts Matchmaking Service has only been around for five years. Interestingly enough, the stagnation of the business started only six months after she began working there. I can't help but wonder if there's a direct correlation.
I read through her file. What in the bloody hell?
Before I even know what I'm doing, I'm picking up my cell phone to call Freddie Montanez. He answers on the second ring sounding oddly nervous.
“ Mister Larsen, is something wrong?”
“ No. I just have a question about one of your employees.”
“ Which one?”
“ A Miss Ember Washington.”
“ Ember. What about her?”
“ What's the deal with all of the promotions?”
“ Promotions?”
“ Yeah. She started as a sales associate. Then six months later you promoted her to a matchmaker. Then two months after that you created a new position for her. Client retainment associate.”
“ Is there something wrong with that? It's normal to promote good employees.”
“ Except for that she's doing the exact opposite of what her position should entail. She's not retaining clients. She's scaring them away. Purposely, from the looks of it.”
He sighs. “I know that Ember is rough around the edges, but she's really a good girl.”
The realization hits me that something else was probably going on between them. “You knew she was hurting your company, but you didn't fire her. Why?”
“ It's not what you think.”
“ Then what is it. If you were fucking her, I get it to a certain degree.”
“ I never laid a finger on her.” He suddenly gets defensive.
“ Then explain. Why keep someone like this on your team?”
“ She started as a sales associate, and she was doing fine. Since the company was still new and it had a high employee turnover due to the nature of the job, I promoted employees quickly into positions where I needed them. I was in desperate need of another matchmaker, so I promoted Ember since she was next in line for a promotion.
“ The problem was that she was a horrible matchmaker. I won't go into specifics, but clients complained about her. Some of them even canceled their memberships after an appointment with her. I knew I couldn't keep her in that position, but I didn't want to fire her because she's been through a lot.
“ I know you might not understand, but we're like a family at Full Hearts. All of my top sales associates and matchmakers have been with me since nearly the beginning. When you grow a business with people, you start to care about them. On a platoni c level.
“ I decided to create the client retainment position for her. Up until that point, I had the matchmakers deal with their own clients if they became delinquent. Most of them, we could find an amicable solution for, but some clients were just impossible to work with. Clients who missed dates, violated our terms of service, or were unmatchable. Those clients get filtered to Ember.”
“ I take it you don't understand the definition of the word retainment.” I cock an eyebrow.
“ I'm well aware of the definition of the word, Mister Larsen. The position may not be named accurately, but it is a necessary position within the company. I assure you. No one wants to deal with delinquent clients, especially the ones who are unsalvageable. Ember doesn't mind doing the dirty work. Not many people could handle the level of stress that she experiences on a day to day basis.”
“ I'm eliminating her position,” my tone is deadpan.
“ Oh?”
The line goes silent for a minute.
“ She's not my family, Mister Montanez, and she's probably one of the biggest reasons why your business has been suffering these past few years. You can't treat clients like trash and expect them to give you their hard-earned money. I realize that some clients have to go, but when I went through the files of clients who have passed through Miss Washington's office, I've seen