"Tell your boss," he said. "It's how good ideas happen in business --
people working at the cash register figure stuff out, and they tell
their bosses."
"So I should just tell my boss that I think we should change our whole
rental system because it's creepy?"
"Damned right. Tell him it's creepy. You're keeping information you
don't need to keep, and paying to store it. You're keeping information
that cops or snoops or other people could take advantage of. And you're
keeping information that your customers almost certainly assume you're
not keeping. All of those are good reasons *not* to keep that
information. Trust me on this one. Bosses love to hear suggestions from
people who work for them. It shows that you're engaged, paying attention
to their business."
"God, now I feel guilty for snooping."
"Well, maybe you don't mention to your boss that you've been spending a
lot of time looking through rental histories."
She laughed. God, he liked working with young people. "So, why I'm
here," he said.
"Yes?"
"I want to put an access point in the second-floor window and around
back of the shop. Your boss owns the building, right?"
"Yeah, but I really don't think I can explain all this stuff to him --"
"I don't need you to -- I just need you to introduce me to him. I'll do
all the explaining."
She blushed a little. "I don't know, Abe..." She trailed off.
"Is that a problem?"
"No. Yes. I don't know." She looked distressed.
Suddenly he was at sea. He'd felt like he was in charge of this
interaction, like he understood what was going on. He'd carefully
rehearsed what he was going to say and what Natalie was likely to say,
and now she was, what, afraid to introduce him to her boss? Because why?
Because the boss was an ogre? Then she would have pushed back harder
when he told her to talk to him about the rental records. Because she
was shy? Natalie wasn't shy. Because --
"I'll do it," she said. "Sorry. I was being stupid. It's just -- you
come on a little strong sometimes. My boss, I get the feeling that he
doesn't like it when people come on strong with him."
Ah, he thought. She was nervous because he was so goddamned weird. Well,
there you had it. He couldn't even get sad about it. Story of his life,
really.
"Thanks for the tip," he said. "What if I assure you that I'll come on
easy?"
She blushed. It had really been awkward for her, then. He felt
bad. "Okay," she said. "Sure. Sorry, man --"