“You have to be disciplined. Two supervisors have taken time out of their busy day to complain to me about you.”
“Then they should have spent their time reviewing the situation more thoroughly, because I was not being derelict in my duties.”
Mr. Selfridge blew out a breath. “While you’ve presented a most compelling argument, I still have no choice but to take disciplinary action against you because if I don’t, it’ll cause all sorts of difficulties on the sales floor.” He turned and stared out the window, turning back to Beatrix a moment later. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m taking you out of the glove department and reassigning you to the coat check. In all honesty, I believe you’ll enjoy the coat check because you only need to take whatever coat, jacket, shawl, hat, or item a customer may hand you, then give them a retrieval ticket in return.”
“That doesn’t seem like too harsh of a disciplinary action,” Beatrix said slowly.
“It’s not, although it will be a fifty-cent reduction in your weekly pay.”
Heat traveled up her neck. “You’re reducing my weekly pay? If you’re unaware, I only make seven dollars a week as it is.”
“You’ll still be making six dollars and fifty cents a week, but if you don’t accept the demotion, you’ll be making nothing.”
Beatrix had never felt so helpless in her life.
That she believed a demotion was uncalled for was not in question, but what was in question was what she was going to do next.
She was clearly at a crossroads.
Unlike the other employees, she didn’t need the position. But if she balked at accepting the demotion, she was going to be dismissed, and that would mean she’d never learn where her current path might have led her, and she’d be failing at the first real challenge she’d ever been presented with in her privileged life.
She didn’t want to be a failure, which meant she was going to have to accept the demotion and reduction in pay, even though doing so left her teeth on edge.
Managing a nod as she rose to her feet, she summoned up the smile Marshall Field & Company expected of their employees. “I’m sure I’ll adore working in the coat check.”
“See that you do,” Mr. Selfridge said curtly. “Because if you’re sent to my office again, I will dismiss you, make no mistake about that.”
Chapter 15
Norman could no longer deny that his life had turned downright peculiar.
Gone were the days spent working on his inventions and scientific experiments without distractions, and unfortunately, he was beginning to believe returning to those distraction-free days was not something that was going to happen in the foreseeable future.
He’d been certain that once he parted ways with Beatrix after their ill-fated adventure, his life would return to normal. However, he’d not seemed capable of resisting seeking Beatrix out, even when he had to resort to convincing Theo to go with him to Marshall Field & Company.
It was a decision he was now regretting, what with how Theo had all but invited Beatrix to the ball for him. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind to invite Beatrix to attend the Potter Palmer affair with him, but what gentleman wanted someone else to speak for him?
“What in the world are the two of you doing?”
Blinking, Norman turned and discovered Beatrix bearing down on him as he stood beside Theo on the wooden sidewalk outside Marshall Field & Company. She was now wearing a fashionable hat that had blue and green feathers attached to it, those feathers waving back and forth as she marched toward him.
For some reason, her eyes were flashing with temper, and given that the jacket she was wearing wasn’t properly buttoned, leaving it bunched up on one side, he got the distinct impression she’d been in a hurry to leave the store.
He pulled out his pocket watch and consulted it. “I thought the store didn’t close until six.”
She waved that aside. “Mr. Field allows his female employees to leave earlier than the men so that we, being of the fragile set, won’t be making our way home in the dark.”
“Generous of him.”
Additional temper flashed through her eyes. “Hardly not when he also evidently believes women don’t need to be paid as much as men, nor, apparently, does anyone at that store believe women deserve to be promoted to higher positions. That right there is why I was just taken to task because I did not turn the sale I made through your purchases over to one of the men in the furnishings department.”
“The salesmen didn’t assist me with my purchases.”
“Well, indeed, but they certainly were quick to complain to their supervisor about me stealing sales from them.”
Theo raised a hand to her throat. “You weren’t fired because you helped Norman, were you?”
Beatrix shook her head. “I wasn’t fired, although I was demoted to the coat check room, which results in a reduction in my weekly pay. And Mr. Selfridge informed me that if I’m sent to his office again, I’ll be dismissed on the spot.”
“I need to have a word with Mr. Selfridge,” Norman said, striding into motion only to be pulled to a stop by Beatrix before he’d made it very far.
“I don’t want you to have a word with Mr. Selfridge, although I thank you for the gesture.”
“But you were demoted because of me.”
“It was my decision to assist you even though I had the sneaking suspicion that leaving my counter wasn’t going to be considered acceptable by management.”
Norman frowned. “Didn’t Mr. Selfridge speak with that saleswoman who offered to watch over your counter, the one who encouraged you to go with me to select collars?”
“Mrs. Goodman spoke with her, but even after Miss Wheeler rose to my defense, Mrs. Goodman chose to lay all the blame directly at my feet, probably because she seems to believe I’m trouble.” She glanced at Theo, frowned, then looked back to him. “But enough about my
