Bitch Known as a Ballbreaker

"Hi, you two," said Elaine, arriving with a jug of Martinis and topping up their glasses. "You too appear to be relating well."

"We've been deep into conversing about the birds and the bees, um figuratively speaking," Brandon said.

"I don't understand."

"There is world-wide discussion going on, particularly involving scientists, conservationists and young people, about the dramatic decline in bee and some species of bird populations," Susanne said, without saying that it wasn't what she and her son had been discussing.

"Indeed," Brandon said, catching her drift. "Ultimately, the loss of all sorts of wildlife species could have a devastating effect on human life on this planet."

"You two would be better off talking about sex and how to procure it to your requirements," Elaine said, sounding a little cross. "I'm off to check on things in the kitchen. Dinner should be served in fifteen minutes, or perhaps longer."

"That sounds lovely, Elaine," said her guest. "I love your hair; that style really suits you."

"Thank you dear, I rarely get comments like that these days."

"Mum, thanks for accepting dad's wish to invite Susanne for dinner tonight. She's said some inspirational things to me."

"Oh really, like what?"

"What's that burning smell coming from the kitchen?"

Elaine hurried off, leaving her son grinning.

"You're naughty," Susanne said, and noticed the long focus he had on her boobs, too long to be a glance. What a pervert, she though mildly.

The ribeye beef was beautiful and the conversation around the dinner table was uplifting, and just as Susanna had expected, Brandon's parents, both professionals, had the nous not to raise the subject of their son being adrift emotionally and without a female partner.

Next morning, Susanna was ready to leave for the airport at 6.00.

Elaine had a breakfast of stewed fruit and poached eggs with wholemeal toast ready as Susanna arrived in the kitchen. She joined Susanna at the table and they mainly talked about fashion and travel.

Elaine did ask about her impressions of Brandon's plight and all the visitor said was she thought she had trimmed his focus on his next steps about settling.

Before Elaine could respond, there was a soft toot of a car horn and the visitor said that was her taxi and she must go.

The two women kissed at the door and Elaine said, "Omigod, for a widely recognised power woman, you're capable of being unexpectedly nice."

Ninety minutes later, Elaine served the two men bacon and eggs and asked Brandon what did he think of Susanna.

"She'd a formidable bundle mum, and I can see why dad hired her. She practically has balls."

"Brandon!"

"I apologize mum and they all smiled.

"She came to my room during the night."

"Omigod, do you mean nude?"

"I wish mum, but no and the only time we touched was when she said goodnight and kissed me."

"So, she wasn't thinking sex?"

"I have no idea about what was on her mind, mum. But she suggested what I should do in coming months and the main thing was trying to find a new and compatible female to befriend and I was not to think marriage potential when looking and when I did secure a promising woman, I was not be mention courting and not press to have sex with her or even talk about it until she began discussing such things, if she ever does."

"Why ever not."

Charles said dryly, "Because Susanna was advising him to concentrate on the basics, possibly without explaining it in detail, to get back into the routine of finding females and eventually banging them and feeling that his interest in women was fuelling his thoughts and actions again and in all probability one of those women would hint she was interested in moving in with him."

"And then they could progress from there?"

Charles sighed and said yes dear.

"Omigod, I knew that woman was highly intelligent, brilliantly motivated, very knowledgeable and is success-driven," Elaine said.

"And doesn't believe in wasting energy by practically fucking her brains out."

"Brandon, that's disgusting," Elaine chuckled. "However, in my opinion she'd be great in bed."

* * *

Brandon drove back to his adopted home city thinking about Susanna and amazed that his mum had said in her opinion Susanna would be great in bed. He began thinking although Susanna was quite a bit older than him, he could really get off gently squeezing one of her bared tits when on a bed with her.

He gritted, thinking there was part of his problem, that Susanna had adroitly pointed to him to think about; to refrain from over-thinking about sex but to concentrate thinking about any woman who caught his eye to consider whether she possessed charm, was a good person, had potential to capture his interest without appearing to try. In other words, he should not rush things and he should get his mind off pussy.

Susanna had the guts to come into his room in darkness and finding him awake and sitting beside him had placed a hand on his chest and held it there lightly while she spoke to him quietly, repeating the brief suggestions she'd made to him the previous evening.

The clever bitch. He became totally focused on two things, thinking her hand might begin wander while listening to every word she said. She then kissed him fully on his mouth, using her other hand to find in the darkness where his lips were. She's kissed rather sexily he'd thought.

Gee, he sighed. His mother was right. Susanne would be a great fuck. Now, which of the unattached females he knew could he begin to really befriend? Susanne had really implanted him with new focus.

What a management guru she was! Wow, she'd motivated him with just a few words to trigger him, keeping it simple and now his mind was filling in the gaps and extending um, his vision.

* * *

Paula arrived at the office at 8.55 to find Susanna waiting for her.

"Hi, Paula."

"Good morning um Susanna."

Susanna walked over to one of the leather sofas and said, "Come and sit with me. Put your handbag and lunchbox on the coffee table while we discuss house matters."

"Comfy?"

"Yes, thanks."

"Firstly, I suggest you don't bring your lunch to the office anymore. You are moving on to a higher salary as from today and you more senior position entitled to lunch free in the executives' dining room where other senior personal assistants also eat."

"Omigod."

"Those PAs will know to accept it as they all are on this floor and one of your first tasks today will be to send them an email under my name simply stating as from today you have been promoted in seniority and therefore are entitled to lunch in the executive's dining room. I'll accompany you to the dining room today to lessen any embarrassment to you."

Paula squirmed and nodded her thanks

"The second thing, I'd like you to work primarily in this room but the work-station outside will be retained for you to continuing working when I have the occasional confidential meeting in this office. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, and do you want me to start earlier?"

"Yes, what a great suggestion. Start at 8.00 and finish at 4.00 unless urgent business requires you to work on. Earlier I ordered a desk and two chairs for in here to match the other furniture in this room and if you require more filing cabinets, ensure they match perfectly the three already in this room."

Paula went home at the end of that day thinking as if she'd been put through the wringer.

The worst part for her had been when the head of HR came to the office at 3.00 when it was her turn to meet the new CEO for discussion in detail.

When Susanna said she would like to establish a new direct-line of communication between her PA and the manager of HR, Flo Bridges had said, "I have objections to that request but don't wish it to be discussed with Paula listening in."

"Well drop those objections Flo and consider the direct line of communication being established between you and Paula a directive, rather than a request. I expect to raise considerable dissent with this enterprise when I push managers to push their teams to knuckle down harder and introduce greater efficiency initiatives. That could result in objectors throwing in the towel and leaving our employment, the sooner the better in my view, and anyone accepting changes negatively will face the possibility of their employment here being terminated unless they fall into line."

"Now that will place greater demands on your department and I will authorise increased staffing should I accept you have made a strong case for that to happen, remembering that this sudden upsurge in people leaving will be short term unless I fail to do my job properly, and that's not likely to happen."

"Each time we accept a resignation, I'll want Paula to phone you with details so that the replacement process is underway immediately."

"B...but Paula will know nothing about the intricacies in-involved in h-handing personal terminations and the system in place for finding and installing replacements," Flo spluttered.

"That's probably correct, so please brief her thoroughly. My PA is no dummy."

Flo's angry face turned even redder and she hissed, "This is preposterous."

"Do it my way Flo, otherwise take the risk of me finding someone who will. Leave now and think hard about this. It's all part of the strategy I have designed for the good of the company."

"You bitch," Flo hissed.

Susanna ignored that and as Flo strode to the door she called, "Oh Flo?"

Flo stopped and turned.

"Paula will be down to have her first briefing in the morning at 9.00. The choice is for you to do it or to assign one of your senior people to do the initial briefing."

"Remember, the board has hired me to turn this company around and back into profitability. I believe the key for this is partly based on doing things differently around here. I've read your personal file which states you are a highly respected and effective manager. I accept that which means I have every confidence in you."

Flo's only response was to stride from the room practically breathing smoke as she slammed the door shut.

"Oh, I upset her over such a little thing. What do you think?"

Feeling partly terrorised, Paula said, fighting hard not to whimper, "It had to be done. The people in that department act aloof to most of us. What's just happened here may dust off a little of the unjustified arrogance from the team in HR."

"That's perceptive comment, Paula and what I must try to avoid is to initiate a landslide of resignations or go-slow action becoming rife in the workplace. Such short-sighted reaction could really push the company to the wall. Rightly or wrongly, it's perceived by the board that I have the skills to nurse the workforce through necessary change."

"I must say Susanna, I was impressed that you came under some provocation from Flo when pushing her but nevertheless didn't raise your voice and also quietly urging Flo to carefully consider your directive, indicated skilful thinking and perhaps Flo will come to appreciate that overnight."

"Thanks for that Paula. Now please type a summary of that meeting in MS Word in 100 or fewer words and after I check it and make any changes I request, ensure that a copy goes as a backup to my secure Cloud account."

Twenty resignations were received during the next 10 working days and many more personal intending to resign were convinced by Flo Ryan to wait for a month to six weeks to have a better assessment of the impact that the new CEO was having on the company and its workforce.

The next day after Flo had delivered her angry outburst to Susanna, she'd faced the CEO with Paula in the room, and apologized unreservedly for losing her cool. Susanna smiled warmly, and thanked her for having the guts to do the right thing and her invitation for Flo to sit and have coffee with her was accepted.

Chapter 3

Within a week of the arrival of the new CEO, the cloud of gloom that had permeated the divisions of Cascade Fashions appeared to be lifting.

Margaret Harvey in accounts, received an envelope overprinted 'From the Office of Cascade Fashion's CEO' and her heart sank, thinking it was notice of her dismissal. She was stunned to read it was a note that read,

I'm sorry to learn that your mother has be admitted to hospital. If it's serious and you have trouble getting approval to have necessary time off work, please come to me and I'll see what I can do for you. Susanna, CEO.'

She showed the note to member of her work-team and work about the gesture spread beyond her office.

Hanna Steele, kitchen manager, received a personal letter from the CEO that stated

Hanna, I've been told your widow mother is arriving from England next week and that you haven't seen her for eight years. What a wonderful day it will be for you on the day she arrives. Please asked your manager to approval of you having that day off and say I've suggested that you not be docked pay for that Very Special Day for you. Susanna, CEO,

Those two humanitarian notes were hugely offset by a series of posters that were taped to some of the workroom walls and seen by staff when arriving for work before the posters were removed. The posters read:

You bitch Susanna Bundy for over-ruling my manager's appeal that I be given one more chance to get my productivity rate above the minimum line of efficiency as a machinist. I have been slow all my life and now, as a result of being fired, I'm out of work. No wonder you have the nickname of Ballbreaker. I hope you lose your job, you Nasty Bitch. Janet Smith.

Word also spread like wildfire when it was learned that the night watchman who'd let Janet into the building during the night and that led to her taping her posters to all the workroom walls had been fired on by instructions of the CEO for failing to remove the clearly visible posters before staff began arriving from 7.30 am. The most visible poster of all was taped to the locked door of the CEO's office.

The CEO posted no comment about that incident. It occurred the same day that Susanna began an intensive review of each department closely and talking to staff about their jobs.

The notice of intent had appeared on Cascade's secure inhouse website available to all staff.

Susanna stated she was commencing a personal appraisal of Cascade Fashion's internal operations as the first step of 'the big squeeze' to improve internal productivity rates to ensure the company's wellness. During her intensive tour, she hoped to speak to as many of the company 278 people currently on the payroll as possible. In time, the appraisal would cover managerial strengths and weaknesses, inward delivery services, product delivery systems, product designs and quality, sales, customer complaints and expressed satisfaction feedback. Outside consultants would be used to assist in that overall appraisal.

The notice ended grimly that some sections or indeed entire department could ultimately be changed dramatically, down-sized or expanded or even closed.

A gloomy atmosphere pervaded across the entire operation again, and the phrase 'ball-breaking bitch' was frequently heard.

A group of senior managers met Susanne and asked for her to address a special meeting of senior managers about her personal appraisal in detail and to take questions and answer them but she flatly declined the request, saying it was 'inappropriate at this time'.

The group attempted to express their concern to the chairman of the company's board of director but that could not proceed because Mrs Thelma Williams had left to compare how similar-sized clothing company boards operated across the Tasman Sea. The study had been suggested to the board by the CEO. At present, Mrs Williams had her phone switched off.

Angry that the chairman was out of contract, the group's reaction was to add a new word to the slur being used by various people in the company, 'the conniving ball-breaking bitch'.

Unexpectedly, howls of protest, instant sacks or even groundswells of condemnation failed to materialise as the department inspections commenced by the 3-person team of Susanna, her PA and notetaker Paula and Flo Ryan, manager of Human Resources.

Staff verbal circulation of comment after the first sections had been inspected included:

'She was exceedingly pleasant and professional.'

'Is she really a ball-breaker?'

'Someone said our manager was unpopular and Susanna immediately told Paula to email details of that comment to her for urgent attention. We were hugely impressed.'

'I was disappointed there was no gnashing of teeth and abuse alleging we were a lazy pack of workers.'

'I can only say that, contrary to all predictions, she came, she explained her mission, she saw, she listened and she conquered. Impressive.'

The personal assessment visits to all departments took two days longer than planned and staff were wondering what now when a personal message appeared on the internal website.

Thanks everyone for enduring the disruptive visit to your department by me and my two associates. My visits appear to confirm what I had already suspected, that what's ailing this company is generally not being generated within, but it's outside influences largely that are causing chaos to the fashion market.

One only has to walk along a shopping street or visit a mall to see the evidence. Personal preferences about what to wear has slipped away from the influence of designers and producers of fashionable garments into the marketplace where virtually anything goes. I mean look here within, staff don't wear uniforms these days and even protective clothing is not strictly uniformed. Managers here still wear suits, but work with their jackets off and female managers no longer universally wear pin-stripe costumes and in many instances long pants are preferred to skirts and pants and jackets don't necessarily match.

And so, where lies the answer?

Who the f... knows! We have to change to have a chance of surviving in business as we know it. I guess we have to catch the mood of buyers before they really become aware of it and begin producing to suit their changing demands and that means changing the way we manufacture and become more adept at changing fashion lines faster and attempting harder to avoid making miscalculations.

Oh f...! Yes indeed. Susanna, CEO.

On perhaps a brighter note, the weather forecast for tomorrow is sunny, with little or no wind. The staff carpark will be closed all day tomorrow and you are requested to arrive at work with a sunhat. A complimentary company barbeque will be provided in the carpark for everyone in your usual lunchtimes of 12.00 to 1.00 and1.00 to 2.00. Please adhere to your usual break time. Now, I'm taking a risk here. I'm providing at my cost beer, wine and cider and ask that you drink moderately and prevent your work colleagues from drinking immoderately. Oh, as hostess I'll be circulating. Please feel free to chat with the Bitch. Cheers. Susanna.

The impact of that staff memo was enormous, and the snap discussions about it focussed on not the unusual fact that a company lunch was being provided not just for managers but for all staff, and initial discussion wasn't about the fact that the CEO was using her own money to pay for grog for almost 280 staff. Discussion was about she'd referred to herself as 'the Bitch.'

Of course, the Susanna had cunningly meant that to happen in the hope than it might humanise her somewhat even in some of her biggest critics' minds. Also, it might help shift the thinking of staff incrementally closer to consider themselves at work as being 'one' and that the company not only thought about improving the bottom line.

Brandon Goodfellow called Susanna that evening to say he would be visiting the city and hope she had time for them to meet.