Kate's Touch Base

Hi there, it’s Olivia,

I received an invite to a meeting this morning from Kate:

Touch base. Conference room. 2:00 pm

No agenda or explanation. This gave me pause because first, “Why in the conference room?” Most of our one-on-ones took place in her office. As I processed this, my coworker, June, peeked her head into my door.

“Did you get an invite from Kate for a touch base?”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s weird, right? And no agenda.”

“Well, I guess we will be blindsided as usual.” Said June.

June had been at Mosaic for over 10 years. She was older and came from a more traditional textile background. She was especially well-versed in sweater knitting and technology. She was a methodical perfectionist who “knew it all”, and liked to keep her knowledge to herself, especially if it had anything to do with Mosaic. This was her way of creating job security. She was not my biggest fan when I started there 2 years ago. To be fair, I was not hers either. Yet when Kate came on board, both of us bonded over the trauma of her constant harassment and mental abuse.

Promptly at 2:00 p.m., June and I walked into the Conference room. Kate was sitting on one side of the table and Kayla was sitting on the other side. Kayla started at Mosaic as a customer service agent in the call center and had recently been promoted to Apparel Merchandiser. The good thing about Mosaic is that people were often promoted from within and from the ground up, which also created situations where people were put into roles that they had no business doing. This was the case with Kayla. She was way over her head! So, she compensated by kissing Kate’s ass. She bought her extravagant gifts and constantly planned and paid for activities with Kate outside of work. In return, Kate ordered all new furniture for Kayla’s office when the rest of us had to make do with our barely held-together desks. Kayla and Kate had an odd, very inappropriate relationship. Kayla was 25 years, Kate’s junior but acted like she was her best friend. We couldn’t figure out if it was a love affair or a mother-daughter dynamic. Whatever it was, it was awkward for everyone to witness.

“I called you here today“ started Kayla. Did you call us here? I thought. The invite was from Kate. Oh boy, this should be good. “To discuss the profit margin issues from the Fall season.” Ah, now I understand perfectly. I caught wind of the fact that Audrey had sent Kayla a scathing email, raking her over the coals for missing the increase in pricing for apparel. Cotton prices jumped + 40% after Covid, compounded by flooding in the regions of Europe and China where the cotton grew. Both June and I had sent copies of articles stating this fact to Kayla, as well as emails from our vendors warning us about pricing hikes.

“As you know, prices went way up, and I was not informed.” Kayla continued. “It is your job to alert me to such issues and now we are way below our margin goals for the season because of your mistakes.”

“Excuse me,” I said. “Did you say our mistakes? I believe that both June and I made you aware of these price increases multiple times.”

“YOU STOP TALKING” Kate interrupted. “You talk too much.” My mouth dropped wide open with shock at her declaration.

“You called us here for a discussion, right?“ I said looking at Kate. “Oh correction, YOU called us here for a discussion” I then turned to Kayla.

“You just never know when to SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Kate continued.

“So anyway,” Kayla said. “As a result, we are going to have to find ways to reduce costs to make up the difference. Do you have any ideas?”

I just sat there looking at both of them. Yes, I have some ideas. Maybe you can return the furniture from your office and have the difference in margin deducted from your salary, I thought.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is it ok to talk now? I am not sure how to reduce costs without compromising the quality of the garment. We would have to use cheaper fabrics. Kate, are you approving our reducing the quality of the garments and using cheaper fabrics?"

“Of course not. You need to get the factories to make the garments for less money,” said Kate.

“The merchandiser negotiates the cost, Kate. Not design.”

“Well, I guess that Kayla will have to save the day again!“ Kate said.

June started to say something, but I put my hand on her arm. “I guess so,” I said.

The sad part is by allowing Kayla to blame us for her mistake, Kate was taking ownership of the mistake by default, which she didn’t get. She just wanted to make us look bad. And didn’t compute how bad it made her look. June and I returned to our desks. I found the emails that had been sent to Kayla and resent them to both Kate and Kayla.

Hi Kate and Kayla,

Thank you for the impromptu brainstorming meeting today. Resending the following emails, stating the price increase for the cotton styles, sent by both June and me six months ago. I would be happy to forward these to Audrey as well so that she can have a better understanding of why this shift in cost is happening.

Please keep me updated with the results of the costing exercise and let me know if there is anything that I can do to help rectify this unfortunate oversight.

Best,

Olivia

Translation – Don’t F**K with me!

Until next week,

❤️ Olivia