Suddenly, I Am Rich

By mid-afternoon, Gray was back in his office.

Gray leaned back in his chair with his blazer draped over the armrest and sleeves still rolled up. His laptop was open, but his eyes weren’t on it.

Instead, he was watching the little swirl of steam rising from his freshly brewed cup of coffee.

*Knock *Knock

While he was in his own little world, a soft knock sounded at the door.

”Come in.”

Gray looked up as Marcus stepped inside. He was holding a folder in one hand as he walked towards his table.

”I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

”Not at all,” Gray said, letting him in.

Marcus nodded and stepped fully in. He placed the folder on the desk before pulling the usual visitor chair slightly closer. He didn’t sit just yet.

”How was your visit?” he asked with a faint smile. ”I heard you were at the store again this morning.”

Gray let out a quiet chuckle and finally leaned forward.

”Yeah. It was pretty nice. I just wanted to check in on the staff room upgrade. The items came in early, so I helped them set things up.”

Marcus raised a brow as he sat down.

”You helped them unpack?”

”I did.”

”I see,” Marcus looked quite amused as he nodded his head. After a short pause, he tapped the folder gently.

”This came from HR. A soft reminder.”

Gray tilted his head and frowned. ”About what?”

”For hiring a new store manager,” Marcus said. ”They’ve already begun compiling some names, but they’re waiting for your direction. They want to ask if you want to open the hiring to everyone.”

Gray leaned back again, lips pressed together slightly.

Right.

”Is there anyone good on the list?” Gray asked.

Marcus shrugged lightly. ”A few familiar names from the other departments that have some business or retail backgrounds. There are also a few that have been referred by some of the executives.”

That didn’t sit right with Gray.

”Let’s open the hiring. Make it a quick one. I will personally interview them.”

Marcus looked slightly surprised at first, his brows lifting just a bit.

”You want to interview them yourself?”

Gray nodded once.

”I do.”

There was a small pause before Marcus leaned back in his seat, clearly mulling it over. Then he gave a quiet laugh under his breath and shook his head with a grin.

”Well... I guess I should’ve expected that by now.” He pushed the folder toward Gray.

”Alright then. I’ll tell HR to open up the hiring to everyone. But I’ll mark your preference to screen out executive referrals unless they qualify on their own.”

”Thanks,” Gray said.

Marcus stood and gathered the rest of his things. ”I’ll help fast-track the logistics. With your signature, we can post the opening today and start filtering the first few applicants in 3 days.”

”Sounds good for me.”

As Marcus headed for the door, he paused briefly and looked over his shoulder.

”You’re doing surprisingly well, do you know that?”

Gray gave a faint smile. ”That’s the plan.”

Marcus chuckled lightly before he left, and the door clicked shut behind him. Silence settled back into the room almost immediately.

Gray stared down at the folder for a moment before sliding it aside. He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping once on the side of his coffee mug.

”This is a perfect opportunity,” he murmured.

He wasn’t looking to fill the manager position with someone convenient.

He didn’t want the kind of manager who only looked good on paper or had strings pulled by someone in a higher office. If he let the executives decide again, it would just go back to the way it was.

No.

He wanted someone honest. Capable. Someone who actually knew how to work with people—not over them.

Gray turned his gaze back to the ceiling, letting out a quiet breath through his nose.

This time, it had to be fair.

This time, it had to be right.

And he will make it right.

Gray didn’t waste another second.

He sat upright again and reached for his laptop, fingers moving quickly across the keyboard as he pulled up the internal HR portal. He will draft a job posting form to be sent to HR. In there, he will write the qualities he wanted to see.

He skimmed the default job description quickly, then hit edit.

Half of it read like every generic manager posting.

”Strong leadership skills.”

”Able to manage a team.”

”Experience in retail preferred.”

For the rest, he wrote simple words, but with clear expectations.

”We’re looking for someone who knows how to lead from the ground up.”

”Someone who listens and someone who works with the team, not above them.”

”Empathy, responsibility, and communication are also considered aside from your résumé.”

”Walk-ins would be accepted too. Same requirement for referrals, and no priority given to anyone just because of who they knew.”

He filled in a few more checkboxes, adjusted the screening period to three days, and finally attached a note:

[All final interviews will be conducted by the CEO himself.]

Once he was satisfied, he clicked through the rest of the form and sent it to HR so they could finalize it.

[Form successfully sent.]

Gray leaned back and let out a quiet breath as the notification popped on his laptop.

There. It was official now.

He knew things would get busy soon. HR would be flooded with applications. Some people would try to bend the rules. Others would expect things to be handed to them.

But he wasn’t going to let any of that slide.

He clicked over to his notes tab and began outlining his own screening questions. Not the usual ones. These weren’t going to be about certifications or big managerial words.

Those were important, he knew.

However, he wanted to ask things that actually mattered.

”Have you ever handled a conflict between staff? How did you approach it?”

”What would you do if your team were underperforming due to burnout?”

”How do you handle authority—and where do you draw the line?”

Gray was doing everything to make sure they found the right one.