Swindled (11 page)

Chapter 22

Sunday turned into a mad rush from one end of the house to the other. Beth spent most of the time putting together samples of stock to take into the meetings they had managed to arrange for the week ahead. Vickie followed her around the house at a speedy waddle trying to help while Scott put the final touches on the presentation. They were going to give their business every chance of succeeding come hell or high water. By Monday morning they were all feeling the strain. Beth just wanted to stand in the garden and scream. Given that the neighbours might object to her turning into a raving lunatic in public, she decided she may as well hold off the screaming until a more appropriate occasion – like Brian’s funeral.

They had managed, by pulling favours and sheer obstinacy, to set up eight interviews over the week. Beth was going to beg borrow and plead for a chance. Before leaving for the first of three meetings, she checked herself in the mirror and decided she was as ready as she would ever be. The charcoal grey suit with a pencil straight skirt made her look like a proper business woman. The light pink shirt gave her a soft and feminine appeal. Black satin pumps with pink bows tied the whole outfit together. Vickie stood hovering next to her.

“I wish I could go with you,” Vickie said as she handed her sister a hair clip and met her eyes in the mirror.

“I know,” Beth agreed and then snickered. “But you have to admit that you might get stuck in a doorway somewhere along the line.” Vickie laughed back and rubbed a hand over her enlarged stomach. She looked stretched beyond the point of no return. Beth smiled and pulled her hair back into its usual twist which looked efficient, sort of.

“Well here goes,” she said and picked up the sample case by the front door. She turned to Vickie who handed Beth the presentation and gave her one last hug. Beth took a deep breath and headed toward the underground with a case of samples, their presentation and the dredges of her pride. She hoped this was going to work.

Walking into the first meeting Beth felt positive, this was a typical high street chain so the quality of their products was not going to be an issue. That is unless the high street chains had something against quality. Beth thought about it. Given what they often stocked on the shelves it could be possible but unlikely she decided after a minute. From Beth and Vickie’s point of view they had been wary of approaching a high street chain because it wasn’t the type of outlet they were looking for; it wasn’t the right image for their lingerie. The current situation had changed all that and meant that they had reassessed. By the end of the week they hoped to have two or even three retailers they could choose from. Luckily when Beth finally got through to the sales manager of this High Street store, he had been keen on seeing Beth and Vickie’s merchandise.

“We’re trying to improve the store’s image and one sure way to do that was to include higher quality merchandise for the more discerning buyer,’ he sounded smarmy on the phone but when push came to shove, Beth and Vickie couldn’t be picky.

So Beth walked into their offices feeling positive and as luck would have it the meeting started better then she could have expected. The store buyers were a high spirited bunch and picked through all the samples with zeal.

“I think this would go down a scream in our under eighteen market,” a lady with bleach blond hair gushed as she picked up one of the more elegant pieces. Beth had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Under eighteens? Did this woman have no sense? That particular number was of the peek-a-boo variety and bound to get parent groups on the rampage.

“I think this would the perfect present from a boyfriend, don’t you,” another of the buyers giggled as she picked up a sheer black lace bra with vertical satin stripes sewn in stripes. It was certainly a great gift from a boyfriend Beth had to concede but more likely a boyfriend of the over twenty-five variety rather then an under aged pimply faced boy. She was starting to get a very clear picture just why these high street chains were just on that shade of trashy rather then classy. Still at least the buyers were interested. Beth crossed her fingers behind her back.

Unfortunately, mere seconds later, the mood of the meeting began to deteriorate rapidly. It always would Beth was afraid when they got down to details.

“No we can’t provide these items in a nylon or poly blend. The entire point is that these are high quality unique items,” Beth explained patiently for the third time. The buyer she was speaking to was actually pouting back at her with bottom lip protruding and big puppy dog eyes batting great lashes up at Beth. She turned to look at the boss of the group, a podgy middle aged woman who looked, quite frankly, bored with the whole proceeding.

“While we’re keen on bringing in higher quality of product, we are looking for a more affordable option for the average young buyer. We want a happy and cheaper medium.” The boss explained when she realised that everyone had fallen silent to listen to her decision on the matter. She thought for a minute, an activity that Beth prayed wouldn’t do the woman any long term damage. The woman leaned forward looking excited.

“Why don’t we incorporate your designs into our current stock?” she asked sounding impressed with her own idea. Beth wondered if jumping up and strangling the woman would be deemed justifiable homicide given the circumstances. “You could sew some small pieces lace to the rayon and viscose underwear options we already have stocked. That way we can increase the price and boost the shops image with an affordable alternative,” the sales director looked positively chirpy as she made her suggestion. Beth shook her head. They just weren’t getting it and from the looks of things they weren’t going to. She thanked them for the opportunity and told them she would think about their suggestion. Feeling let down but with dignity still intact Beth took a deep breath and moved on to the next meeting of the day. One down and two more to go, there was still every chance it would all work out.

Heading to the second meeting Beth felt positive. She and Vickie hadn’t been happy with the high street store alternative anyway. Their rejection was just confirmation that it was the wrong place for the lingerie to be.

“The right retailer coupled with their merchandise would make for a very happy marriage,” an earnest sales executive explained to Beth as she was ushered into the boardroom where they were meeting. Boardroom was perhaps an exaggeration of course as it looked more like a store room that had quickly had everything pushed to one side so they could hold a meeting. Once again all the sales executives crammed into the room were thrilled at the materials she showed them. They virtually crooned over the bra and panty sets with their feathers, lace and silk. They were excited at the prospect of carrying the range. They were over the moon that Beth had come to them.

Beth felt herself get excited. Could this be it she wondered? No was the simple answer. The very same sales executives who had been so overjoyed mere moments before did an about-face when it came to the costs. In fact the sales team looked, in Beth’s mind, like a pack of pit bull terriers who wanted to have the whole cow rather then just a juicy bone.

“We feel that the inventory, while elegant and exclusive of course, should be provided at a much lower cost,” the same sales executive said after clearing his voice. Beth noticed that he was still lovingly stroking his finger over the satin trim of the piece lying near his hand.

“With the pricing structure we’ve developed it takes into account the retail costs and still gives you a large profit margin on every item you sell,” Beth responded calmly and clearly. She knew it worked, what was this guy going on about? They liked the merchandise, it would work in their shop and it was affordable no matter what he said.

“That was neither here nor there,” the chief sales executive clarified. “The store needs more profit on each garment. In fact, we would actually sell the items at a higher then you’ve outlined. People will pay more for this type of exclusive looking product and we can take advantage of that,” he continued leaning forward in his cheap suit looking smug and sounding condescending. “It’s not just the overheads and salaries being considered but the shareholders who all needed to make a profit from their investments. We need, as a retailer, to make a profit of about 80% on each item to make it worth our while.” Beth disagreed, 80% profit??? There was no point in arguing with the man and packed up her presentation. Somewhere in their organisation there was an accountant with a clip board screaming that in order to succeed a company had to take all suppliers to the cleaners- there was just no arguing with pure greed.

As Beth thanked them once again for meeting her, she found herself being escorted to the building’s entry by the same chief sales executive. On the whole way there, the executive slyly tried to convince her that if she and her sister weren’t willing to sell at a lower cost perhaps they would consider selling the patterns to the retailer for a flat fee. Beth managed to mutter a quiet refusal as she headed out the glass revolving door. She felt stunned. Basically they were looking for high quality lingerie which they could sell for a fortune but buy at cut rate prices. Not likely. What was wrong with paying a fair price for something Beth wondered? Why should the retailer’s shareholders make more of a profit per item then the very people who made and designed the materials? It made no sense.

‘What world did they live in?’ Beth thought to herself as she walked up Oxford Street to her next meeting. A middle aged lady walking past her the other way jumped. Beth gave her an apologetic look. Okay Beth thought sternly to herself, speaking out loud was really not a sign of mental stability. Beth tried to walk off some of the growing tension but it was no use. Did these companies really expect anyone to say ‘Hmm that sounds good’? Were there people who worked all the hours in the day struggling to make ends meet so some big chain store could make a huge profit? Were she and Vickie so ideological to think this would work? No, Beth thought abruptly, their work and their business were about quality and well worth the price. Someone would recognise that or the world would have to deal with the cheap quality generic underwear rather real quality.

Beth started wondered who she could talk to about the last hours. She didn’t want to stress Vickie or Scott, they had enough to deal with, but she wanted to share all the day’s events with someone. Everything just seemed to be going around and around in her head. She could tell the girls but knowing them they would try to help and that would mean disaster. That was definitely a last resort. Beth smiled to herself as she looked in a few of the shop windows she passed.

It was great to have good friends and family but it was times like these that she missed having a partner. The last year had been so busy she hadn’t had time to meet anyone let alone miss having someone. The biggest problem she decided was that she had plenty of company. It made her lazy. Finding someone to fit in with everyone seemed too much work. It was only now that Beth really wished she had done something different. She shook her head; there was no use worrying about it. Goodness knows Beth had enough to stress to deal with about the business. There had to be a way forward, they had to succeed.

By the third meeting Beth decided she was ready for anything. She had stopped for a rejuvenating cup of coffee and was feeling strong enough to take on the next challenge. Unfortunately for her, if possible, the third meeting of the day was turning out to be even worse then the first and second. A sure sign Beth felt that fate was upset with her for something. The plus side however, as far as Beth was concerned, was that the meeting looked like it wasn’t going to last longer then a few minutes.

She was following the Head of Purchasing into a quiet meeting room at the end of a long corridor. So far it was not going well. The man had greeted her with a ‘So are you the gal I’m meeting?’ as he openly leered down her top. The room he led her into was made up of temporary partitions held together with what looked like wood coloured masking tape. Hmm classy Beth thought with a quiet snicker to herself. She wondered what accountant had thought it was a good idea to cut costs by removing normal nice boardrooms with, gasp, windows.

Throwing himself into a chair as he arrived, the Head of Purchasing put his hands behind his chair and said,

“All right then show it to me.” Arrogant little man Beth thought as she tried to calmly count to a hundred while she shut the door and started unpacking their sample case. Swallowing her pride would be a small price to pay if this guy actually bought some of the range. He was the Head of Purchasing for one of the major department stores. Just one order from him would solve all their problems.

Beth cleared her throat and plugged in their laptop with the presentation. Just as the logo appeared on the screen, the Head of Purchasing leaned forward to snag a particularly sexy number in beaded velvet and silk piped straps.

“Start with this one,” he said and sent another leering look at Beth’s cleavage. She looked at him and at the bra in his hand.

“Okay,” Beth replied as she accepted the piece he handed her. “This is a winter style with hand piped adjustable straps and the beading has been …”

“No, no,” he said waiving his hand interrupting her. “Just put it on would you?”

“Pardon me?” Beth asked raising her eyebrows. Fate really couldn’t be that angry with her could it?

“You don’t have to bother with all that business stuff. I’ll buy some of the range just as soon as you demonstrate how user-friendly the items are. Convince me, know what I mean?” he asked putting enough intonation on the words ‘convince me’ that a rock would have understood what he meant. Yup it looked like fate really was not happy with Beth at the moment. Beth gave the guy an uneasy look as he stood up.

“What the hell,” he said. “Why don’t we just get down to negotiations?” As he reached out a hand and tweaked her breast Beth slammed her knee between his legs. It was an automatic reaction – honest it was, she told herself as he doubled up on the floor.