A Hitch in Predicting Sales
"I need the latest reports from Sector One, Danny," Liza said as she strode through the maze of cubicles.
The building was silent except for the sound of keyboards and the occasional turn of a gear.
"Looks like all stores are reporting success from last weeks introduction of pink, with many of the blue box stores running out of merchandise just conveniently enough for the stragglers.
Liza strides into her office, nodding. She turns back to Danny.
"And what about the line of bicycles that were only available at red circle?"
Liza watches Danny's eyes unfocus, hears the slight hum of his processor intensify.
"Still plenty of stock. There are reports of many families just painting the ones they have already."
"I told them we should do more than just change the color. Just because the sheep graze where we tell them to doesn't mean they always eat the grass. Okay Danny, go download the reports to the main server and see how this year's calendars are shaping up."
Liza closes the door, rolling her shoulders to get rid of the prickling down her spine. She hated being the only person in her building, but the Families could only spread themselves so far. She presses her thumb to the desk, and the windows darken, then light up with her mother's face.
"Hello, Liza, I've just been reading through the reports from Sector One. Looks like you were right about those bicycles. Just when we thought we could predict just about everything. Do you think this can be fixed?"
Liza let out a breath. She knew this was big. Keeping the trends in line and managing sales was her family's job. The bicycles had to be fixed.
"Let's add a permanent basket. We could make it a part of a family picnic project."
Liza watched her mother think for a moment.
"I like it. We could market it to anticipate a celebration of together time later in the year. I'll pass it on to the Gibsons so they can put it in the calendars, and run it by your father so he and your brother can start the engineers and advertisers on it. See you tomorrow?"
Liza nodded and waited until the windows were clear again before sitting in her chair. She took a moment to relish her success, and then got back to work.
Author's note: this is somewhat related to this post http://poppetawoppet.livejournal.com/78340.html , for reference. After all someone has to be controlling everything, right?