Well Done

by Daniel Miller

Well Done

Carol opened the store the same way she always did, with a smile and a cheery ‘Hello’ to her neighboring store manager. She worked at the Marcos’ Shoe Emporium as the morning operations manager. John Marcos, the owner, would call at about nine fifteen to make sure everything got off in the right way. Marcos’ main policy was to provide good products for a fair price. Carol understood this as a sales clerk and soon followed his advice into management. That was five years ago. She came in on time working hard to show Mr. Marcos that she wanted to make something of herself. Mr. Marcos promoted her to the head of the sales department and finally the morning shift manager. She loved working with people and it showed in her work.

“Good morning John. We have the new shipment that came in overnight. The Nikes have a display to set up with a cutout to put up. The Stars are going to be put in the back row. Make sure you ask Mary for help when she gets in.” Carol instructed.

“Sure thing boss. I’ll get to it right away.” John answered smiling.

“Don’t forget to say ‘hi’ to your mom for me. How’s she doing after the operation last week?” Carol inquired.

“She’s doing good. I’m going to see her after work today. My sister came to live with her to help out. She’s making it easier through all this.” John commented.

“Take off a little early just to make sure you’re there on time. Not all sons are that caring.” Carol returned as she walked to the office in the back.

Just at nine fifteen, John Marcos came into the store instead of calling. He hurried strait back to the office to talk to Carol.

“Morning Carol. How’s business this week?”

“It’s been good Mr. Marcos. We have more than enough space for the new shipment that came in overnight. The new Nikes are going to be a hit. The stars are almost gone. Profits are up twenty percent. What brings you in today? I hope it’s not something serious.”

“Well Carol, I’ve been called away to be with my mother. She is having a hip replaced and I want to be there for her to help. Dad’s not in the best of health with his age so I want to make sure she is well taken care of until we can find a good nurse. I’ll be gone for about a month. I’m leaving you in charge of this store till I come back. Do you think you can handle it?” He asked.

“I can only promise to do my best. The store is running good now. I only need to do what you taught me to keep it up. Put the customers and employees first and then I’ll have an easy time of it. They do all of the work anyway.” Carol replied.

“Don’t cut yourself short. You have kept this business going at a profit when other stores are losing money. I’m leaving in two days and then this baby will be all yours to do whatever you want. Just make sure the store is still standing when I get back.”

Mark came awake with the ringing of the phone. Who is the jerk calling me this time? Stirring from the cot in his office, he answered the phone.

“Who the heck is this? Don’t you know what time it is?” He screamed into the handset. “You woke me up!”

“Sorry boss. This is Sherry. The front door is locked and my shift starts in two minutes. Can you come and let me in?” she asked uneasily.

“What? It can’t be time to start yet I just got to sleep. Hold on I’ll be right there.”

When he finally made it out to the front, Mark was just pulling up his pants. Sherry was stuck by the overwhelming smell of alcohol and cigarettes. Dutifully Sherry moved to the back storage room picking up the beer bottles and emptying the ashtrays from the party Mark had here last night. A couple of Mark’s best buddies were spread out on the floor still passed out.

Mark came back pushing Sherry out to the sales floor screaming, “Don’t wake them up! They need to sleep it off. Clean up later.”

“Yes Sir. Did the new shipment come in last night?” Sherry inquired fearfully.

“Yeah. Get out there and set up the new Nike display. And get them *#@$ Stars out of the way you lazy witch before I fire you. That jerk Marcos will be in any minute. I want that display up when he gets here.”

Just as Mr. Marcos entered the shop, Sherry finished the display.

“Good morning Mr. Marcos. How are you doing today?” Sherry politely inquired as she began to sweep the floor.

“I’m fine Sherry thanks for asking. Did your little ones get the presents that I sent over for their birthday?” Mr. Marcos queried.

“The twins love the toys that you sent over. Thank you so much. How is your mother doing?”

“She will be getting hip surgery soon. I plan to be there to help her find a good nurse.”

“You are a good son. I hope mine can turn out half as good”

Moving back to the office, Mr. Marcos knocked on Mark’s door. Empty bottles clinked moments before Mark opened the door.

“Good morning Mr. Marcos. I didn’t expect you to be in so early today. Have a seat.

Would you like a drink?” Mark offered.

“It’s only ten o’clock in the morning. And you know I don’t allow drinking on the job. What you do on your own time in your own place is up to you, but don’t bring it here.

“I’ve come to ask you how the business is running. The profits are down and I’m thinking of closing this store if it doesn’t turn around. I can’t keep throwing good money down the drain. I’ll be going home for a few weeks to help my mother after her surgery. I want you to take full control of this place until I get back. I’ll make my decision then. You have about a month to turn things around. Can I count on you to keep the business going til then?”

“Yeah. I’ll get things in proper order by then. You can count on me.” Mark replied with a dubious smile and an evil thought running through his head.

As soon as Mr. Marcos was out of the store, Mark let out a sigh of relief. Yeah, I’ll put everything in order. The first order is for a big screen TV and a keg party in the back storeroom. Let the guys know and the beer will flow for a month. That witch Sherry can turn into a waitress when there aren’t any customers. Maybe even loosen her up a little bit, so that she wasn’t so grouchy every time he got near her.

Carol worked hard during the time that Mr. Marcos was away. She opened up an avenue of possibilities from every space she could think of. First, she offered a bonus contest for the most sales for the week giving the winner fifty dollars. She offered new shoes to all of the workers and their immediate families letting them become walking billboards for the shop. She even gave new shoes to the homeless shelter in the city. Profits were soaring. In a week, she had to order more shipments to keep the shelves stocked.

Mark was busy at work too. The party lasted for about three days into the second week. Sherry was fired for not being friendly enough to mark’s friends. The big screen TV barely fit through the door to the storeroom. Beer and alcohol fumes filled the area and the police had been there many times for complaints.

“For get the old man. It’s my store now and I’ll do whatever I want. Hey, Mike. Go order another keg. Make it the good stuff this time and not that watered down junk. Get some cash out of the kitty and bring back some steaks to go with it.”

Mark had turned the store into an all night party lasting for weeks. He had hired a pretty girl to flirt with his friends while serving drinks. Profits were down but he would be able to keep up the party for a few more weeks after that jerk Marcos came back and shut the place down. He had stashed away a good sum of money while skimming off the top of the till. That big screen TV would fit in his apartment just fine too.

About the third week, Mr. Marcos returned from his trip unexpectedly. The surgeon had recommended a good nurse and she had turned out to be a Godsend. She knew how to help with all of his mother’s needs and was even able to live in with her for a while.

First, he stopped in to see Carol. He was amazed. When he came in at five thirty in the afternoon, he noticed that the store was closed and a party was going on.

Taking Carol aside he asked, “What’s the meaning of this? I go away and come back to see you having a party. What’s going on here?”

“This is a celebration party. I told the staff that if we sold out of the second shipment this week that we would have a small party. Today we sold out the last of the third shipment in a week and a half. Profits are up forty-five percent. Did I overstep my bounds? Is this too much?” Carol defended.

“Forty-five percent!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t been able to get that much of a profit in years. You’re going to have to let me know how you did it.”

“I told you before that the workers are the ones that do all of the work. I just let them have something to work for. They really are good sales people all of the way down to our newest addition to this store. Sherry came over from the store on the other side of town. I think you should hear what she had to say about what’s going on over there.” Carol informed.

It didn’t take long for Sherry to explain what Mark had done. Straightway Mr. Marcos hurried over to the cross-town store.

Arriving at the store, he was flabbergasted. The windows had been all blacked out with black spray paint from the inside. The front door was locked with a closed sign that looked as if it had been there for weeks. The tape holding it on the door was pealing back. The newspapers had piled up in the doorway. Was anyone here at all? Walking around to the back door, Mr. Marcos discovered a pile of broken bottles near the back entrance. Loud music was coming from inside the storage area. He decided to move quietly around through the front entrance to see what was happening inside.

He almost fainted when he got inside. The shelves had been pushed back and some sort of fight ring had been set up in the middle of the display floor. Bloody stains filled the floor area and a sort of grand stand was set to the side. What in the world was going on here?

“OH #$%^!” Mark said as he walked through the door to the storeroom to see Mr. Marcos standing there.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SHOE STORE?!” Mr. Marcos said fuming.

“Ththe sshoes wwwern’t selling and I had to do ssomthing to keep making money. III thought that you wouldn’t mind as long as we made a ppprofit.” Mark stammered frightened.

“You turned my store into an illegal fight club! I haven’t done anything illegal in all my life. You have made me a criminal. What else did you do? Let’s go to the back and find out.”

“Oh no.” Mark whispered aloud.

Mr. Marcos heard it. Opening the door to the storeroom a cloud of funny smelling smoke filled the air. Music blasted out of an expensive sound system marking out a beat to the video on the extra wide screen. Marcos turned a deep dark red turning to Mark.

“GET OUT OF MY STORE AND DON’T EVER LET ME SEE YOU AGAIN!!!”

Mark took the hint falling over himself shaking his buddies awake from a drunken stupor. “Get up. We gotta get out of here. Marcos is back and he’s kicking us out.”

His friend muttered back “Didn’t you say that he was a crook? Weren’t you going to tell him how to run a business? Tell him to leave me the $%#^ alone.”

“GET OUT OF MY STORE BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE!!” Mr. Marcos yelled.

A month later Carol opened the door to her new store. It took a lot of work to get it back looking like a shoe store again. The windows were cleaned and showed a display of the latest styles in fashion footwear. Mr. Marcos put quite a bit of money into this place in the last few months. He gave the big screen TV to Carol as a gift for what she had done for her store. Now she was in charge of three stores in neighboring cities and was opening a fourth.

Mark came by the old location every now and then mumbling about how some witch had stolen his store out from under him.

When we are faithful to our Lord and Savior, he is more than willing to bless us. When we are unfaithful to our Savior, he will let us know and will give us a chance to turn our lives around and live for him. If we turn from his teachings and do what we want to do, we may have a small success for a short time but it will all come to a screeching halt and we will not understand why. Our own ways are full of sin as is our nature. Christ can and will direct our paths and show us what we are to do if we only submit to his will. He will cause us to profit in so many different way that we cannot imagine the possibilities that he has for our lives.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you must ask him for forgiveness and ask him to save you from your sins. This is the only way that you can be saved. Peter said in Acts chapter 2 verse 12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” KJV