La Parisienne IV

This is part four of my Natalie and La Parisienne series, but in this one Natalie is no longer the main character. It is seen from the perspective of Sarah.

Walking through the hotel lobby one sunny September morning, Sarah looked around her, the running of the hotel was going smoothly. She watched as various staff members walked past her going in all different directions, some of whom were caterers holding trays of food, others were admin staff. To Sarah, everything seemed to be moving like a blur. Hearing the automatic doors open, Sarah pirouetted 180 degrees, and noticed as a group of people got out of a car. They were holding briefcases in their hands which made Sarah rather suspicious, something was not right about them. They strolled inside and passing Sarah, one exclaimed, "morning, we are a consortium and we wish to speak with your boss about the hotel, we have an interesting offer for her." Pointing them in the direction of Natalie's office, Sarah wondered what their plans were for the future of the hotel. Suspicious, Sarah followed them at a distance and found a little spot that would look inconspicuous so that she could eavesdrop on the conversation. Getting into the position, Sarah hid herself from any view and waited for the meeting to begin. 

Natalie looked up from her computer, "good morning to you all, I assume you are here in relation to the future of the hotel." One of the consortium members nodded, "yes, we are interested in buying the hotel, and we have some rather sweeping changes planned." Thinking to herself, Sarah wondered what these plans would be, would this mean that she would be surplus to requirements and be out of a job? Listening further, Sarah overheard another member say, "you have been running this hotel for several years now Natalie, and our consortium has been of the idea that it could do with some new management. There are rumours floating around that you are a rather tyrannical boss around here, and if we purchase this hotel, we can not have our team abusing their position. We want to make our staff feel happy in their job and that there is always a positive feeling amongst the staff members. Tyranny has no place in the working world. This is our first offer, you'll find it's most generous." Natalie looked at the offer, and with disgust, she replied, no way, I am not sacrificing my career for this, I am a businesswoman and I have done stellar work running this hotel over the years." 

About an hour later, Sarah had nearly fallen asleep listening to the conversation when she heard someone say, "this offer is more than generous Natalie, and we shall even give you a hefty severance pay." Sarah could not believe it, her boss could have been facing being fired. Natalie was the one who gave her the job in the first place and now her boss's career was on the line. After a couple more hours had passed, Sarah was falling asleep again when she heard a voice exclaim, "fine, I accept your offer." Sarah was in shock, this was going to be a new era in the hotel without Natalie.

Later that evening, Sarah made her way to Natalie's office. "Natalie, I overheard the conversation about the hotel, I will admit it. You can't sell the hotel, I'll be out of a job and I'll have to register with a social welfare office. You can't sell, please, don't." Natalie turned to Sarah with regret, "Sarah, it's too late, I've already signed the contract, the consortium is taking the keys and everything tonight and they start operating jere as of tomorrow morning. You have been a fantastic worker Sarah, and I am going to miss you around here. You may hand in your badge and work attires this evening before you leave." Just as Sarah was about to leave, one of the consortium members appeared, "not quite, Natalie, we have decided that Sarah will run the day to day operations around here. Natalie, your services are no longer required. Sarah, come here to this office in the morning and we shall have a little welcoming gift for you from all of us in the consortium. My apologies, I never introduced myself, I am Melanie, I am the chairwoman and owner of the consortium." 

Sarah did not know how to respond, her boss was being fired, the boss who had taught her everything she knew about the hotel, and now a consortium was in charge, but she was also eager to see how she would do as the new manager.

The following day, Sarah had arrived at the hotel. She was wearing a navy pinstripe jacket combined with a red dress that she had bought the previous summer when she had been on holidays in Portugal. Before she got out of her car, she applied her lipstick and looked at herself one last time, she was proud of how she looked. She wasn't sure though how Natalie would react as she had implemented a suit and tie rule at all times. Making her way inside, Sarah was walking through the lobby which was relatively quiet, that being said, it was 8am and most of the guests were probably still asleep. There were various staff members passing her nearly every second, it was like trying to navigate through a maze. Eventually when there was a free chance, Sarah made her way to the office where she was greeted by Melanie, "Sarah, good morning, it's a lovely day outside. Anyways, I have a few changes around here that I wish to make. The female staff wearing a suit and tie is no longer mandatory, but they are welcome to wear one whenever they want to. There shall be daily reports from every staff member on how they did, and I expect them to be flawless. You, as manager, however, you are exempt from this rule. Staff shall inform other staff when they are taking their lunch break. Staff may keep a bottle of water next to them if they are working, water only. I do not want to see staff drinking energy drinks in front of the guests. Chewing gum is not permitted by any staff member, I find staff chewing gum in a place like this is a bit inappropriate. I think that's everything. Oh, I almost forgot, this is our welcome gift for you Sarah, I hope you like it. I'll see you later, I've some business with the other members of the consortium." Just as Melanie was about to leave, Sarah noticed a girl walk in, "hello mother." Melanie turned around instantly, she knew that something was up. "Chloe, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at school, this is not acceptable behaviour. I want you to go home, put on your uniform and then go to school. Go this instant or I shall phone your headmistress and tell her you are slacking off school. As a successful businesswoman, I can not have my daughter shirking her education. "

When Chloe and Melanie had both left, Sarah took a deep breath, she had been promoted to manager and knew this meant that she would be in a new echelon of work and a whole new set of challenges.