Broken Biscuits (part 4)

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What next?

“I’d like to come over for a chat, Mercedes. Now would be a good time for me,” says Riaz, Director of Reliance, firmly.

“Now what?” thinks Mercedes. Waiting for Riaz to arrive, she wonders nervously whether he’s heard anything about her board’s discussion about a potential merger with Reliance. But how could he? All the trustees had been sworn to secrecy and it was only discussed last night. 

She feels out of control. It’s been one thing after another recently and she’s almost at the end of her tether. Having to make three people redundant was the worse thing she’d ever had to do at work. Bruno, and Sarah, and that young girl in accounts. Her first job too – she was so upset. Now everyone seems suspicious and edgy about what’s going to happen next. They’re all too polite to her at the moment. The happy atmosphere at work has gone.

Looking up, she sees Sue, the Office Manager, announcing that Riaz from Reliance has arrived. “Shall I get you a coffee?” she asks cheerfully.

Riaz's shock news

After the initial welcome, Mercedes waits uncomfortably to hear why Riaz has suddenly asked to see her. In a rather frosty tone, he explains that he’s heard Millcaster Aid to Africa is considering merging with Reliance.

“As you can imagine, this came as a bit of a surprise this morning.  Perhaps you can explain what’s going on?” he said. 

Mercedes goes bright pink and explains that this was only a preliminary discussion with the board last night and she was intending to contact him to explore the idea. “Nothing more sinister than that, really...” her voice trailing off. Mercedes suddenly finds herself close to tears and shakes her head furiously.   

Riaz looks at Mercedes realising that she’s upset and says kindly, “I’d heard about ReadyBix. I’m sorry. Really bad luck.” He pauses for a minute and then says, “Perhaps, you know, it might be good to see where we could work together – maybe share some back office stuff. We could do with cutting costs too. The next two years are not going to be great financially if the press is to be believed.”

Mercedes feels relieved and they agree to meet again. As she sees him out the door, she remembers to ask where he got the information from. Riaz won’t say. Going back to her desk, she suddenly remembers leaving the papers there as she rushed out last night. But there was no one in the office apart from Selma, their lovely cleaner. She just can’t believe that Selma would have seen anything, let alone said anything – and who to anyway? “Oh no...not another thing to deal with!” she sighs.

An invitation to Clive and Camilla's

A few days later, Mercedes is surprised to receive an email from Camilla (wife of the chair of Readybix), inviting her and Iphegenia, the Millcaster Aid to Africa Chair, to dinner later that week.

Mercedes is pleased. She remembers one of the trustees saying that his wife, Maddie, had shared the school run with Camilla a while ago and that he would ask her to have a word.

“It must have worked then,” she thinks and then closes her eyes, “Oh please let it do some good...please!”

A night out

Later that week, Mercedes and her chair, Iphigenia, go to Camilla’s for dinner.

As they sit down to the meal, Mercedes notices Iphigenia’s eye brows raise as they are offered a slice of what looks to be a rather dry nut roast and tap water. She remembers the gourmet, cream-laden meal they’d had last time they met.  

As she passes round the plates, Camilla says, “I’m really glad to have a chance to talk to you both. I met Maddie a few days ago.   Haven’t seen her for ages. Great woman. She gave me a copy of your last annual review. Took it with me to the hairdressers. Looking at the pictures, I was in floods of tears. Those poor, poor children – always hungry - so many of them all alone.”  

Camilla pauses, shudders and offers them some salad with an oil free dressing.

“It made me realise just how petty and selfish I’d been - taking offence at that silly joke about my dress size. What does it matter for heavens sake when there are children out there starving.   There’s one picture of a little girl I just can’t get out of my mind.   Anyway, I’ve been on a fat-free veggie diet ever since. I feel just great! Clive’s not that happy about the food – he’s a roast beef man! But he’s a good man. Anyway, I’ve got something to tell you.  Think you’ll be pleased.”

With beating hearts, Mercedes and Iphigenia tuck into a dried fruit and fat free yoghurt dessert. “Thank goodness I didn’t give Camilla those after dinner mints we’d brought!” thinks Mercedes with relief, tucking them further into her bag under the table.

“Anyway,” continues Camilla, “I’ve been talking to Clive about this. I told you he’s a good man. Well, he’s agreed to reinstate his sponsorship of the farm. Unfortunately he can’t do anything about the regular income from the biscuit sales – that’s been stopped - but hopefully our sponsorship will make a difference to those little ones.”

Mercedes' heart leaps. She could hug Camilla with relief. “Oh that’s wonderful! Thank you, thank you!”

On the way home

In the taxi home, Mercedes and Iphigenia hungrily open the after dinner mints meant as a gift to Camilla. They are overcome with relief but can’t help giggling at Camilla’s changed diet. Suddenly Mercedes is serious. “You know, Iphy, this is a wake up call. I’ve got to learn from this. I’ve got to find a way to pull everyone together and rebuild morale. I’ll have a word with Aggie and Sue - they always seem to know what’s going on!”

Feeling happier and more optimistic than she has for weeks, Mercedes grins in the darkness of the taxi and offers Iphigenia another mint.

Have your say

• What tips do you have to rebuild morale after there have been redundancies in the team? What worked (or didn’t work) in your organisation?
• How well did Mercedes and the board handle the issue of the loss of funding? What else could they have done in the circumstances?

Have your say on the Millcaster Tales forum.

Past episodes

This story is a follow on from a previous story. Read parts one, two and three of 'Broken Biscuits'.