Chapter 6 - SUSAN'S DEFENSE
Susan Miller was suspended immediately.
Then fired after the store investigation.
Not because Daniel shouted.
Because security footage and witnesses showed she struck a child and physically forced her toward the door.
Susan’s union representative argued for due process.
Correctly.
The company reviewed:
video,
register data,
staff statements,
Susan’s prior record.
No earlier violence.
Two prior complaints about harsh treatment toward teenagers.
Nothing this severe.
Susan said she believed Lily was attempting to steal formula.
The register proved Lily had offered all her money and stood at checkout.
Then Susan said:
“She kept begging.”
As though begging were aggression.
The investigator asked:
“Why not call a manager?”
Susan had no good answer.
Then:
“Why slap her?”
“I lost my temper.”
There.
No policy.
No confusion.
A choice.
Susan faced a simple assault charge and employment consequences.
No monstrous sentence.
No corporate show trial.
Then Daniel asked an uncomfortable question.
“What would have happened if I hadn’t been there?”
Kelly answered honestly.
“I probably would have heard the commotion thirty seconds later.”
Maybe.
Not guaranteed.
Daniel hated being treated like the rescue mechanism.
He had happened to stop at the store after an investor dinner because his driver needed cold medicine.
Random.
That meant the system needed to work without billionaire coincidence.
So the chain reviewed escalation procedures.
Not a charity campaign.
A safety rule.
Any minor who appears:
unaccompanied,
distressed,
attempting to obtain infant necessities,
or afraid to leave
requires manager involvement before removal.
No employee may physically touch a child except immediate safety necessity.
Obvious rules.
Now written.
Then Kelly said:
“We shouldn’t need a policy to know not to slap a ten-year-old.”
Daniel answered:
“No.”
“But?”
May you like
“We apparently needed a system that made the right response easier than the wrong one.”
That was the part ownership could actually fix.
