Alex in the Limelight

Chapter - 37

"The second suggestion is---" Alex paused for a while and looked at everyone in the room.

"Oh Alex, you are so dramatic at times," Karen said, smiling, but it was far from assuring with the cracking of her knuckles.

"Sorry, I just wanted to grab the attention of all of you," Alex said, giving her an awkward smile.

"For the nth time, Alex. You have all our attention for the last ten minutes. Don't think just because you came up with a decent pitch, I won't crack your skull open. I won't hesitate for a moment if you piss me off anymore. Now tell us what's that second idea of yours is," Karen finally lost it.

"Okay... Okay... Just hear me out. This may sound a bit odd, but listen to me fully before coming to any conclusion, alright?" Alex asked and got a nod from everyone present there.

"You see, the earlier situation I was talking about was the time you spend on your flights," Alex said, "You know we have the largest network of the aviation industry in our country and have the highest number of people taking the aerial route daily," Alex said.

Everyone present agreed with him. Alex was also taking it slow, trying to explain everything he had in mind.

"So, where I am getting at is why don't we make people read? Alex said.

"What? Why and how will we do that?" Ellaine asked. Well, it's true that they can indeed influence people in this day and age, but what Alex said was kind of iffy.

"Remember what I asked you earlier? If you have nothing else to do for a couple of hours, what would you rather do?" Alex made them remember the situation he talked about a while back, "Now, we all know how it works. Most of the time, we are asked to keep our phones in flight mode while we are high up in the air. And I am not talking about the business class. Let's focus on the economy class. I would rather make them read our books than let them sleep, twisting their bodies uncomfortably, bothering other passengers," Alex let it all out in one go. He was so out of breath that he gulped down the whole bottle in front of him.

Karen waited for him to finish before she asked, "How will that help in increasing our sales?"

"Yeah, I thought you were going to come up with another mind-blowing plan or something". Ellaine said, disappointed.

"I think Alex's first proposal is very plausible. Chief, I think we should start off with that for now," Jennifer gave her remark.

Karen, on the other hand, looked at Alex. He had this constipated look on his face, wanting to let it all out, but couldn't.

"Hold your horses, all of you," Karen said, gesturing all of them to give it a pause, "Let the little guy finish what he has to say," Karen then gestured at Alex to continue.

"Chief---". Hazel, who was silent till now, wanted to intervene but was interrupted.

"I said listen to him first," Karen said. She was polite and respectful to the other ladies most of the time despite being their boss, but she very well knew where to draw the line. Even Hazel knew that, and because of that, she didn't say a word when Karen interrupted her.

"Go on" Karen gestured for Alex to continue.

"Well, you see. We can set up book stores in all the major airports. Just think about it. While you are on a flight, if you don't have anything downloaded on your phone, the only thing you can do is sleep throughout the flight. Am I wrong?" Alex asked, gazing at all of them.

"Well, we can read the magazines they have". Amber said.

"For how long? Half an hour at most. It's not like they have many magazines there, one, at most two. I don't think you would go around reading the menu again and again," Alex tried to bring in some humour.

All of them nodded once again.

"We can use that very fact".

"Go on," Karen said, now a bit interested as to where he was going.

"You all know how big is our country. The average flight duration is four to five hours. And if they end up getting connecting flights, it may be further long. What can they do in the meantime? They can come to our book stores and by showing their boarding pass and an ID rent books from us and if they want they can buy the books too". Alex said as he told his plan actively.

"How will we get back the books we lent?" Hazel asked, now all of them were getting interested.

"Since we know where they are going and if we have a book store there too, isn't it easy if we just tell that very book store the details. Workers from that airport can easily get the books back". Alex said.

Listening to Alex, all the others went into deep thoughts. What Alex said was certainly plausible, but will the board of directors approve of it? Only Karen knows that other than the CEO, all others are strictly against investing so much of their time and resources into this project which was non-profitable or scantily profitable.

While the other ladies stood in support of Alex, Karen was contemplating, as to how she was going to persuade the board members.

"Chief, I think this is worth a try". Jennifer said as she supported Alex.

"Yeah, I am in support of our newbie". Hazel said.

"Newbie scored a home run in his first game". Ellaine said as she stood up from her seat and patted Alex on his head. Then she looked at Karen, "We can use what I suggested here. We can have a celebrity post a photo outside our store at the airport, renting a book, and this will go viral in no time," Ellaine said, further improvising the idea.

"Weren't you all just now against this very idea?" Karen asked with a smile.

"C'mon chief. Didn't think you were the type to cling to the past. Take a chill pill. We are now in support of our newbie," Hazel said, brushing away what happened earlier.

"You are really getting out of hand," Karen played along with Hazel, showing her palms to her, threatening her with a slap, "I know this is a good proposition. And from the looks of it, I think we all are on the same page. That's why..." Karen said and paused. She looked at everyone, finally resting her gaze on Alex.

"... I have decided that we will present these ideas in the next all department meeting tomorrow," Karen said with a smile.

"Wohooo, now we are talking," All the ladies cheered in support.

"And Alex will join that meeting with me," Karen added, amidst all the cheers.

"Me?" It was like a bombshell for Alex. 'How could he be present in such a high-level meeting?' Alex thought to himself.

"Yes, you," Karen nodded, "And you are going to present all the things we have discussed here in the meeting," Karen dropped another bomb on him as she tidied up the papers in front of her.

"Why me? There is Elaine, Jennifer, Hazel and above all of us, you are there. You should be the one to do that," Alex said as he pointed towards all of them.

"How can I take credit for your work," Karen asked with an amused look.

"Isn't this what all superiors are supposed to do? How can you deviate from the norm?" Alex said, only to get chuckles from everyone present.

Even Karen was left amused for a second. But she had already made up her mind, "Well, I have decided you will be the one doing the briefing at tomorrow's meeting. You can all head back now". Saying this, Karen left, followed by others without giving Alex the chance to refuse.

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