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I fiddled with my pen. “I tried that. You want to know what he said?”
She looked at me expectantly.
“He told me no way. I have to talk to him if I want my stuff.”
She laughed. “Then go listen to him. It’s better than having to buy a whole new wardrobe.”
“I can’t.”
She pointed a finger at me. “You mean you won’t.”
“Same difference. He’ll just try to talk me into something, and I’m not going there.”
“I’d go over,” she said.
“You’re no help.”
She twirled her pen for a second. “Sometimes a friend needs to tell you what you don’t want to hear.”
“Ready for the meeting?” I asked her.
“Changing the subject won’t make it go away.”
She was infuriatingly right.
Lucy called from reception to tell us the World Foods people were here.
“Saved by the bell,” Samantha said. She got up, and we moved into the conference room for the meeting.
Celeste, the buyer from World Foods we’d been dealing with had called this meeting on short notice. A shakeup in their procurement strategies had madeThe Wall Street Journallast week. The article had said they planned to pare back their supplier list to more seasoned companies.
I dreaded this meeting, because I worried it was to tell us we no longer qualified, and to try them again in a year or two——or more. A result like that would be more than a disappointment.
Today Celeste had brought another lady from corporate with her, we’d been told.
I steeled myself for the let down as I entered the conference room.Never let them see you vulnerable, I reminded myself.
Samantha and I handed our business cards to the new corporate representative. Celeste introduced her as Joanna Bethel. She was a stern-looking older woman.
Joanna offered us each her card, which indicated she was from the home office in Austin. She nodded to Celeste, who began. “Thank you for meeting us on such short notice.”
“It’s our pleasure. We’re at your disposal,” Samantha replied sweetly.
She should have said at their mercy, like the mouse is always at the cat’s mercy.
“You may have read a few things in the trade press about changes to our procurement strategies,” Celeste continued.
Samantha and I nodded silently.
“We aren’t ready to comment publicly yet,” she said. “But we did want to meet with our supply chain to explain a few things before the rumors got out of hand.”
I’d seen theJournalarticle.Grocery giant cutting supplier listhad been the subtitle. It wasn’t an announcement, but theWall Street Journalreporter seemed to have a good source at the company. I’d gotten frantic calls from three other vendors wondering what insight we had on the changes. Everybody was worried.
I crossed my arms and prepared myself to keep a stiff upper lip when they brought the hammer down. It wasn’t fair. We had prepared so well to work with them. We had made every modification to our computer linkages they’d requested, but we didn’t stand a chance if they were cutting back suppliers.
“I am happy to say——” I heard Celeste begin.
My heart skipped a beat. Had I heard her right? She saidhappy. Was there possibly a ray of sunshine at the end of this tunnel?
