Chapter Two

Eliana Brown

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“What the hell, James?” I spat out, feeling even worse than I felt when I left the house this morning. “You said you were certain I’d get it.” Everyone was sure it’d be me. I’d gotten congratulations this morning and it made me take my mind off the fact that Harry was cheating.

James, our department manager, winced. He felt guilty but that wasn’t good enough. I was still a sales associate and a random person was the assistant manager. “I know, Anna, but this was out of my control as well. She knows our boss.”

I gritted my teeth. James wasn’t a bad person. In fact, he was friendly with us all, but I’d been looking forward to this promotion for months. I’d been working harder than ever to make sure the spot was mine. Everyone else thought I deserved it, apart from the said boss, apparently.

I had never seen the boss. With a department store as big as the one I was currently working in, it was only natural she had other business that required more of her attention, but I instantly hated her.

“Don’t worry, Anna.” He placed a hand on my arm, trying to calm me down. “You are still young. You will have a lot of opportunities in the future.”

I took several deep breaths, trying not to cry. I was at work and I still needed to maintain professionalism anyway.

“I’ll tell you whenever the spot opens up again, okay?”

“You better do.” At that moment, I didn’t care that it came out rude. It wasn’t fair. Just because I was young didn’t mean I didn’t deserve it. I had the best sales this year. I even went on a business trip to sell our cosmetics. I came back this morning and still came to work early. I did all that for nothing.

“Put on a smile and get back to work.”

I inhaled and exhaled. The most important part of my work was smiling. Even if everything was falling apart in my life, I had to smile through work. Some customers were snobby enough to scold you for frowning even if it had nothing to do with them.

James started to speak again, but I was already gone.

I went to replace my colleague at the counter and she gave me a sad smile. “From your expression, I’m guessing you didn’t get it.”

I hated the reminder. “The position was given to a newbie.”

“That’s tough. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” I forced out the smile James told me to. “You can go back to work. I’ll stay here.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t a busy day and since I was at the register, I didn’t have to socialize much. I was not in the mood for it. Every few seconds, my mind drifted to the way Harry was holding the other girl in my kitchen. How long had they been together? How long had he been tired of me? Why couldn’t he just leave if he was tired? The relationship was already falling apart but it still hurt. Most of all, it was embarrassing to get cheated on.

From my peripheral, I watched as a woman put one of the lip glosses on the shelf into her bag. I frowned. Most people that came here were wealthy. They wouldn’t need to steal.

I was wondering if I merely saw it wrongly when she placed another one in her bag. I gasped. One of my colleagues was with her but she was distracted and didn’t see her stealing.

Not wanting to make a scene, I decided to watch for a while. Maybe she was going to pay for everything after she finished picking what she wanted.

To no one’s surprise, she tapped my colleague and said something with a smile before she started walking toward the door.

Oh no, she doesn’t!

The products were expensive and if something went missing, it would be deducted from my salary. I doubted I’d have a penny this month if she managed to walk out that door.

I didn’t waste time leaving my post and running up to her. “Ma’am,” I said with a tight smile. She continued walking, pretending like she couldn’t see me but I wasn’t about to allow her leave with my salary in her bag. I went in front of her and she screeched to a stop. “Are you done shopping? Did you see anything you like?”

She frowned, as though I was a nuisance. “I didn’t. I’ll come back another day.”

She tried to step around me but I didn’t let her. I couldn’t be rude but I also couldn’t let her leave! I was at a crossroads. Just because I didn’t get the promotion I wanted didn’t mean I could afford to lose my job. Jobs were hard to find in New York. “Uh, I’m sorry for getting in your way, but…” my gaze traveled to her bag.

“What?” She asked impatiently.

“I don’t know if it was a mistake but a few products may have fallen into your bag, Ma’am.”

“What?”

“It’s open so it’s possible.”

“Are you saying I’m stealing?”

I exhaled. I already had too much sh*t to deal with. “Even if you want to claim I’m lying, there are cameras in the store and they recorded you putting them in your bag.”

Our conversation was getting long and by now, people had stopped to stare. It was embarrassing for her which was why I wasn’t surprised when she continued to deny it. “You’re crazy. I can afford the whole store. Why would I steal a few lip glosses?”

I arched an eyebrow at her. She just shot herself in the foot. “I didn’t say what you stole, Ma’am.”

Her face was red as she looked down at me in anger and embarrassment. She was already taller than I was and she had six inches heels on, making her even taller. She could crush me with her heels but I wasn’t backing down. “Get out of my way.” She glared at me.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Ma’am.”

“Where’s your manager?”

I snorted. She was such a Karen. “You can meet my manager after you return the glosses.” I reached for her bag but she pulled it away.

All my colleagues watched wide-eyed as we engaged in a push-and-pull with her handbag. She was squealing like I was harassing her but she was the one who couldn’t let me have a regular work day, especially after what just happened to me.

Eventually, her bag fell on the floor and the contents of it spilled, revealing the two lip glosses I saw her put in the bag. Passersby gasped and a new face wearing our uniform walked toward us. She was wearing a black tie, so it meant she was the new assistant manager. I immediately hated her too because she stole my job from me.

I hated her even more when she reached us and gave me a dirty look. “What’s going on here and what do you think you’re doing by fighting with a customer?”

Our store had a “the customer is always right” policy but my salary was on the line. “I was retrieving our goods.”

The lady scoffed. “You were harassing me! Is this how you treat your customers? Are you the manager?” She asked the newbie.

Newbie planted a smile on her face. “I’m the assistant, but I can help you. Tell me what happened.”