Page 22 of Naughty Heart

He smiled, a look of pride washing over his face. “That’s excellent, especially considering we have a meeting to get to right now.”

Having seen his schedule yesterday and this morning on my computer, I was aware he had a meeting. What I didn’t understand was why I was involved. “We?”

“It won’t always be this way, but in certain cases, I’ll want you present during meetings,” he explained. “In this scenario, I think it’s wise for everyone to meet you, so they know you are a new point of contact here.”

That made sense. “Okay. Great. What’s today’s meeting about? Will I need to bring anything with me?”

“It might not hurt to jot down some notes, so if you want to bring something to make that happen, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Why don’t you grab that, and I’ll talk to you about the meeting on the way?” he suggested.

I quickly grabbed a notepad and a pen before standing and rounding my desk to meet him at the door. Malcolm hesitated for just a moment, his eyes focused on me, before he stepped back into the hall to lead us to the meeting.

We hadn’t gotten more than just a few steps outside of my office when he shared, “The meeting this morning is one that I have at least once a month. It will be with all the higher ups in each department within the company.”

“And what is the purpose of these monthly meetings with those individuals?” I questioned him.

“Like I said to you just a few minutes ago, one of the biggest parts of my job here is making sure everyone has a good working environment. One of the ways that I’ve found works for me to take stock of how things are going within the company is to meet with the people in charge of each department and ask them,” he explained.

“What if they don’t tell you?”

We came to a stop outside a closed door. Malcolm put his hand on the door handle and asked, “What do you mean?”

I tipped my head from one side to the other before I answered, “Well, you’re meeting with the people in charge of each department. I’m not suggesting you’ve hired bad people, because I haven’t met any of them. I’m just saying that it’s possible there could be grievances they aren’t sharing with you.”

Malcolm studied me for a moment. “I never considered that. But I still make rounds throughout each month and pop in to check on things. I would think if there were issues, the staff would let me know.”

I wasn’t sure if I agreed. I’d been in a position where I merely was a factory worker who was grateful for a job. There wasn’t a chance I would have ever done anything that could have upset the balance within the workplace, because I couldn’t afford to lose my job. If my boss was in the warehouse, I was on my best behavior and doing my best to show I was a reliable worker.

And while there was a whole factory here where everything was made, I didn’t know what the work environment was like. It wasn’t my place to use my past work experiences to suggest what could be happening here.

So, I flicked my hand out to the side as though dismissing the thought. “I’m probably just assuming the worst for no reason. I’m sure you’re right, and everything is great here.”

Without another word, Malcolm opened the door and allowed me to step inside ahead of him. I wasn’t sure why, but I had expected we’d walk in to find the room filled with employees.

I spun around and asked, “Are we in the right place?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

Looking around the empty room for a moment to make sure I wasn’t crazy, I returned my attention to him and replied, “Nobody is here.”

“We still have about ten minutes before the meeting is going to start.”

“And you normally arrive this early?”

He let out a laugh. “Of course. If I’m leading the meeting, shouldn’t I be here before the rest of the staff?”

Wow.

Malcolm was consistently reminding me that he wasn’t a traditional rich guy at the top of a corporation. He genuinely seemed to care about the people who worked here and the impression they had of him. I thought it was admirable.

What better thing to do than to show the people who worked for him just how important they were?

“That’s a great outlook to have,” I told him.

After urging me to take a seat, Malcolm asked, “So, do you think people would talk to me?”

“What?”

“I’m just thinking about what you said regarding the employees under the staff I’ll be meeting with today,” he clarified. “If I’m going to a particular department, whether that’s marketing, sales, or in the factory, do you think people wouldn’t come forward to tell me if something was happening that wasn’t okay?”