Makt arrived at work at the crack of dawn as usual. He was surprised to see that the door was not locked today - he was usually the first one there. He had spent all of yesterday afternoon filling out paperwork, had he forgotten to lock up? No, he wasn't the last person to leave yesterday so that wasn't a possibility. Somewhat perturbed, Makt stepped inside and felt himself gripping his dagger. He was no confident in his ability to fend off an intruder, but he could at least seem a little less vulnerable. The young man explored the medium sized shop, looking for any signs of trouble. The darkness and silence of the morning made him feel especially cool in this very warm morning. The draft from an open window found its ways to his skin which made Makt wonder why.
Makt made his way from room to room, doing his best not to make a sound. It wasn't long before he started to notice a very disgusting smell. He followed it and eventually found himself standing outside the room where the money was kept. Pushing the door open slowly allowed Makt to confirm that the smell was coming from this room. The man grasped for a candle and lit it hurriedly and what he saw finally put him at ease. His boss was lying on the ground, snoring softly in a pool of what was probably his own vomit. Absolutely disgusting, but at least Makt had solved the mystery of the morning.
A couple forceful prods were all it took for the boss to groan loudly then fall right back to sleep. "Well I guess you're out of commission for today," Makt would mutter as he fetched cleaning supplies. He definitely didn't need to start his day like this and yearned for the day that he could own his own business. As skilled a man as his boss was, Makt was starting to think he was better off on his own. That's when Makt got a bright idea. He would run the shop on his own today! If it was so easy then he would do it himself. "And if anyone challenges me, I'll just say the boss told me I was in charge today. It's not like that idiot would be able to challenge that if he's been passed out drunk."
Mind filled with ideas on how to run the shop, Makt took a brush and scrubbed hard at the putrid floor. He was trying to make sure that he got any and all traces of the vile liquid washed away so that customers wouldn't be repulsed. It really sucked because the liquid had had plenty of time to dry and Makt was having to put quite a lot of effort into scraping it off. When the scrubbing was all said and done, the only liquid remaining on the floor was his own salty sweat. He would look over at the buckets filled with part water part cleaning supplies and part vomit. Just the smell of it made him want to hurl so he poured it all carefully down a drain before finally relaxing.
Now that his mind had a little time to relax, Makt could now think clearly enough to come up with an idea. He asked himself what might bring in customers today and had come up with the answer: Prizes! But what kind of prizes could he offer? Surely he couldn't justify giving away jewelry - it was simply much too expensive. But he was capable of offering other services too. He could polish jewelry and take away grime among other miscellaneous services that people often neglected to do themselves. And so, he got to work, writing down contest details onto several dozen sheets of paper.
On each sheet of paper would read the following: "Come by our shop! Bring your spouse and you will get a free polishing and cleaning of jewelry of your choice! While you wait you can browse our wares and learn more about jewels!" It wasn't the best advertisement, but he had never done something like this before. Makt then went outside and started spreading the papers around the area. He was sure there was a better way to do this but he was running out of time. The morning rush was going to be starting soon.
And so, the day began, with the other employees arriving late, as usual. Makt made sure to note the time they arrived so that he could report it to the boss. Upon trying to scold the others for being so late, they merely shrugged him off.
"Listen up I'm in charge today," Makt would say with authority, "Karo told me so last night and he said to report which of you don't do well today. Now I'm going to report that all of you arrived late and I'm expecting you to work later for it. And we are doing a promotion today. If anyone comes in wanting a free polishing and cleaning you point them to me and I'll take care of them. Your jobs are to try to sell to these people because they're stuck here until I'm done cleaning. Any questions?" One of the employees tried to speak up but Makt cut him off and told everyone to get to work. Makt rarely got the opportunity to boss people around and he really liked it. It was a rush of power and it was certainly going to his head. "They'll see how brilliant my plan is"
Unfortunately, Makt's idea didn't bring in that many customers. Apparently the higher end jewelry stores already offered this kind of deal all year long which made the promotion more or less worthless. The few customers that did come in because of the deal certainly did buy more jewelry than the average customer, but it could hardly be considered a significant amount. The employees jeered at their temporary supervisor and Makt started to get frustrated. He wanted to just go home and had to do his best to prevent himself from losing his temper. It wasn't until he received a custom order to adjust a ring and add some engravings. The man was relieved to have an excuse to finally disappear into the workshop where he could craft in peace.
Makt swung his tools forcefully at the large ring, feeling the impact resound throughout his body. He was being reckless with his frustration making his mistakes quite noticeable. He found himself having to repeat a lot of his work until he could finally get the ring just right. He then moved on to etching. Each movement of his more precise tools was very carefully carried out to carve small letters spelling out a name. He then wrapped up by polishing the piece of jewelry and handing it to the waiting customer.
"Rough day huh," the customer would ask upon seeing Makt's demeanor, "the others told me the promotion was your idea and they've been talking about you behind your back this whole time. Sometimes you just have to take it easy. If you let them get to you then they win - all you have to do is keep moving forward and do better next time." Makt gave a forced smile as he listened to the old man talk and nodded to confirm that he understood. The customer gave him a win, took his ring, and left Makt to his thoughts
Well maybe he's right, Makt would think, "I definitely could have been softer on the others and I could have taken their suggestions so that this could have turned out better. Looks like I still have a lot to learn about running a business." Makt would sit there pensively as the day came to a close. The other employees looked utterly exhausted since the team had been down their most crucial member for the entire day. Makt wondered how the boss had even slept this long and was considering sending for medical help. In any case, the man figured the team had had enough torment for the day and let them go home early for the day. It was probably better that he ended on a good note since he would be on their same level come next morning.
When all chores were said and done, Makt made his way back to the room where his boss still lay snoring loudly. "Sir, you've been asleep for nearly a whole day. I think it's time you headed on home." The boss opened an eye and sat up suddenly. One look around was all he needed to see that he had gotten black out drunk. Upon hearing that Makt had run the shop for the day, the boss sported an impressed look and thanked him for his extra effort. It wasn't much, but it showed Makt that he was appreciated by at least one person at his workplace.
Makt's interest in business had grown to a point where he was regularly taking on extra responsibilities. While this should have come with an increase in pay, Makt was left working harder for nothing. It was for this reason that he had cornered his boss the next morning, thirsty for compensation. "So," Makt said, not sure how to begin, "I've been doing a lot more work and helping keeping everyone in line. I was hoping to get a little more money from now on."
Makt's staunch boss was not one to cave to such demands and said, "well how about this. I will let you give updates to the crew and tell them how they're doing, and helping decide our seasonal wares. All that will get you plenty of respect with the others and isn't that more valuable? Good. Now get to doing those things I just mentioned, no time to waste unless you want to get demoted!" The boss didn't give the boy a chance to respond and hustled out of the room leaving Makt to his own devices.
"What just happened here," the man would think, "did I just get tasked with a lot more stuff and still get no pay? This is a sham!" Makt was a bit frustrated that he lacked the negotiation prowess to get what he wanted, but he didn't have time to focus on that now. He was being trusted with several new tasks and he wanted to do things right. He was sure once he learned a little bit more he could give his boss an ultimatum - pay more or he would walk.
When the other employees finally trickled in to work, Makt gathered them up and made an announcement - "Hi everyone. Today I will be going around and talking to you one on one. Also we are officially switching to the summer wares - I know it's a bit late but let's get that done alright? Let's do our best today!" The employees looked like they didn't have any care in the world about the news, but that was to be expected. For them, it was as if nothing had changed. The only thing different was the person giving the orders and it wasn't like they had much work ethic to begin with.
And so, Makt passed around signboards and the team helped fill them out. This season the team would be focusing on gold wire, much of which Makt had helped make the other day. After that was said and done, Makt would meet with each employee and discuss things they would like to see changed about the shop. The questions he would ask were nearly mirror copies of the ones he had been asked in the past. While the man had no power to implement any changes, he could at least report the good ideas to the boss.
At long last, customers began to roll in and the work day officially started. It was at this point that he was called into the workshop by the boss in order to help him with something. Karo placed a pair of spectacles on his face and pointed at a gem that was held securely by a fixture. This was undoubtedly a faceting tool which was essentially the easier and more precise way of sanding down a gem's edges. This was the dream tool for a jewelry crafter - one that Makt didn't know if he would ever be able to use. It didn't surprise Makt at all that this is how Karo possessed such a contraption.
"I need a second pair of hands for this final step. I don't suppose you've ever used one of these before," Karo asked.
"No sir," Makt said embarrassedly, "But I know how it works. I've read about it at great length."
"No worries," Karo replied, "but you will have to get acquainted with this tool. I don't want to see you hand sanding another gem like you used to. With this machine, lots of practice, and in depth knowledge of gemstones you'll be on your way to cutting properly."
Makt gulped and nodded. This must have been a very difficult cut to perform if Karo needed help with it. Typically the tool was powered by a pedal which inevitably caused the user to rock ever so slightly. This was completely acceptable for most gems but apparently Karo needed so much precision that he couldn't be bothered to power the tool on his own. Thus it was Makt's humble job to turn the sand paper faster and faster until Karo ordered him to maintain speed. Makt kept pedaling for what felt like thirty minutes as his boss would sand an edge of the stone, adjust it ever so slightly, and sand again.
The end product ended up being the most perfectly cut gem that Makt had ever seen in his life. This wasn't something that just having the right tools would yield. Karo knew the exact angles that needed to be sanded and it was truly inspiring to see how much there still was to learn. "That will be all for now," Karo said dismissively as he looked at the gem with what was probably the largest magnifying glass that had ever been created. As much as Makt wanted to watch further, it was time to get back to his own tasks. And so the day passed and eventually it was time to lock up.
Hot wind blew through the shop window the moist ground as Makt noticed someone sitting on the shop floor. It was getting dark. It was just after dusk, the sun had gone down, and most of the people were off the streets. This man, however, had a job to do. He wanted to test out the faceting tool on his own. It wasn't a very sturdy contraption, but it was able to get the job done with what it did. It wasn't designed for speed, it was designed for utmost precision.
The man was sitting on a workshop bench when he started pedaling to start up the tool on his own. It slowly came to life with a warm hum, and then the sanding discs began to rotate. At the same time, water began to trickle onto the discs in a way that Makt's mind couldn't comprehend. It was wobbly at first, and then it stabilized as the speed picked up. The man pushed and turned dials on the controls, and the part that was supposed to hold a jewel titled down, causing the angle of the impact to change significantly. For a moment Makt felt like he was a kid again, playing with something that he shouldn't.
Makt slapped on a throwaway gem and started grinding away. As he lowered the gem onto the grinding wheel mechanism, he found that it was quite a feat to hold the gem steady. Things were very chaotic since he had little idea what he was doing and started to lose a bit of control. With a loud scraping sound a large chunk of the gemstone was chopped off and many cracks started to form. The tool started to spin out of control, and then made a very loud cracking sound. Horrified, Makt did his best to slow the speed of the tool so that it would stop going so crazy. "I wonder what that sound was. I hope it wasn't something too bad."
In the next room, Makt's boss would be counting money. He jumped to his feet when he heard the sounds coming from the workshop and ran to see what had happened. It was getting dark after all, and he didn't want someone to be trying to steal his wares! When he saw that Makt had taken the liberty of trying out the tool on his own he shouted, "What in the world do you think you're doing! I haven't even begun to teach you the intricacies of that thing! Do you know how much you'll cost me if you break it?"
Makt froze in fear. He was scared, afraid that he might have just lost his job. Or worse, he might be in for the beating of a lifetime - he was but a twig compared to the massive figure towering above him. Makt shivered as the air started to feel a little too cold on his skin. Thankfully, the rage quickly subsided. "I can't blame you for wanting to try it out. But until you get a little more exposure to it you are forbidden to use it when I'm not around is that clear? Good, now get out of here I'm ready for bed."
Though it would have been nice to have a good argument about how he was indeed ready, Makt had a feeling it would be smarter to remove himself from the situation and head on home. He smiled apologetically as he moved himself from the apparatus and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes sir, as you wish" He said, getting out of the shop as quickly as possible.