Chapter 8

The Final Showdown

"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention, please," said Glenn Gary. "I have a sad announcement. Zack Bradley quit this morning."

"YES!" Vince cheered loudly. "Come on!"

"So, it looks like Vince is going to be…"

The walkie-talkie on Glenn Gary's belt suddenly made a loud static noise.

"Manager Glenn Gary, this is Manager Ruby Redford," said Ruby's voice on the walkie talkie.

"Excuse me," he said to the employees. He pressed the button to answer. "What is it, Manager Redford? I'm having a meeting."

"I'm just letting you know that Zack Bradley didn't actually quit. Look forward."

Glenn Gary's mouth dropped open when he saw Ruby holding the walkie talkie in her hand with the Losers Gang behind her, walking towards the crowd.

"Oh, no, no, no, no…" said Vince. "No. he already quit. You said. And everyone heard and then…"

"Actually," said Ruby. "The papers were never filed."

Russell looked in the direction of Lily, the personnel manager, who was munching quietly on a Butterfingers candy bar.

"Oh my goodness," said Vince. "You sold yourself for a candy bar?"

"Is…is that true? Is he still employed?" asked Glenn Gary.

Lily nodded.

"How could you? Put that chocolate bar down and do your job!" Vince hissed at Lily.

"Manager Redford, did you see the paperwork for Zack's resignation?"

"Yes, sir, I did," Ruby said. "I found the paper work on Miss Lily's desk before she got here, but they were never filed. According to the Manager's Handbook, the resignation has to be valid with signature of personnel manager first and then, a salaried manager second. Since there was no signature from either, the papers are null and void."

"Alright!" said Glen Ross. "Let's get this party started."

"Alright!" said Glenn Ross. "OK! Now we're talking. It's a virtual tie for Employee of the Month. Today's work will determine the winner. Now, we've placed the exact amount of products in each cart, along with a curveball or two. Oh! It's going to be fun!" He paused. "So, whoever has the fastest ring rate will win it all."

Everyone cheered and clapped.

Ruby watched as Zack went over to Amy to apologize. She had that old feeling of jealousy…still, she didn't want to lose her only best friend because of her own pig-headed jealousy. Maybe it was time to let Zack go…let him go and be there as his friend like she promised herself…perhaps it just wasn't in the cards for them…

The Losers Gang gathered around.

"OK," said Zack. "Let's do this." He pulled on his apron. "Oh! I need somebody to box for me."

"OK," said Lon. "You know what, I'll do it."

"Come on, come on, dingle eyes," said Russell. "Take a left."

"Hey, man," said Zack, shaking hands with Russell. "Thanks, brother."

"OK, everyone," said Dirk. "Be safe out there." He raised the whistle and shouted. "GO!"

Soon, two cashiers were piling stuff on the register and Vince and Zack rang up every item. There was a mingle of cheers and shouts and beeping from the register as items sped through the register. It looked like Vince was going really fast, but Zack had a look of determination on his face as he kept ringing them up.

"GO ZACK!" screamed Ruby.

Suddenly Zack began to slack off…but quickly regained his speed. There were cheers and items were thrown at Russell and Jorge as they boxed the items.

"Oh, one more item," said Glenn Gary.

Zack finished ringing up his items and went over to the last item at the bottom of the cart. Vince jumped over the counter and pulled his gun towards him, but it was tangled around Jorge's feet and he yanked it, causing Jorge to go airborne and fall on his back. The two of them struggled to find a UPC number but it was missing.

"Curveball," said Glenn Gary.

"Uh oh," said Dirk. "What to do? No price check available."

"Come on! GET OUT OF THERE, GUYS!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Come on! Run! RUN!" Ruby screamed.

Zack and Vince took the tires and put them over their shoulders and raced to the automotive department. Zack was in the lead. Soon, two carts came out of nowhere, blocking the path.

"Open-ended cart!" shouted Dirk.

"What do you do?" said Glenn Gary. "What do you do?"

Zack and Vince shoved their tires into the cart and began to replace all the items in their cart back on the shelves as neatly as possible.

"Restock the shelves," said Dirk.

"Be careful with the items," said Ruby.

Zack and Vince began to restack the shelves with the items in their cart as neatly as possible. Soon, their carts had been emptied from all the carts. Vince crashed into Zack's cart, shouting,

"Surrender! Surrender, box boy!"

They grabbed the tires with a marked prices and shoved them in the carts.

"Curveball!" shouted Ruby in the crowd.

"Old woman in need of assistance," said Dirk, who was, apparently, dressed as an old lady, driving a go-cart. Ruby almost burst into laughing; who knew what that guy did at home alone. "Bunion pads, please!"

Zack and Vince looked up in the direction he was pointing and then, he leapt on the shelves and began to climb. Zack slipped and Vince was already climbing up the shelves like a monkey.

"Use your wits, Zack," Ruby shouted.

He saw a case of car oil and grabbed it and threw it up at the bunion pads on the top shelf. One fell, hitting Vince in the head, and landed directly into Zack's hands. He ran towards his cart and took off. Soon another bunion pad tumbled down with Vince. He too got up and raced to his cart with the tire. He returned the cart back to the cart area and ran towards the register with the tire on his shoulder. Vince dropped and rolled the tire towards the register, which rolled right past Zack. Jorge grabbed the register gun and…

*BEEP* ***TIRE 59.99***

There was a sea of applause, shouting and cheering from all the employees.

"The tiebreaker goes to Vince Downey!" shouted Glenn Gary.

Zack look defeated. His friends gathered around his register. Vince looked like he was putting on a fake sobbing face to make it look like he was so happy that he won, he was crying…probably to get more people to cheer for him. Typical! He stood on the register, holding the tire up like it was a wrestler's belt after he had won the match.

"Man, you did your best," said Lon.

"Be proud," said Iqbal.

"You did great," Ruby said.

"It wasn't enough," said Zack. "I blew it."

"No, you didn't!" Ruby said.

Zack walked away, still looking defeated.

However, Semi wasn't too sure about this contest. He remembered something Ruby told him…she asked him to look at the videos…damn! He forgot! So he went to check out the security tapes from today's competition…

XXXXX

Ruby sat in her office, looking through her report on her computer, running her fingers through her hair, frustrated as of what to write for her conclusion for her report. She had been working on this for weeks…only to find she had no conclusion…

She slammed her laptop shut and sighed, head in hands and rubbing her temples.

"Miss Ruby?" said Semi's voice from the doorway.

"Yea?" she moaned, rubbing her head.

"I think there's something you ought to see. It's about the competition."

"I can't look at that right now…I have to finish this stupid report before the banquet…"

"It has to do with your report…"

She looked up, interested.

"OK. Show me."

He led her into the security room and played the tape that was over Vince's register. Ruby sat and watched it. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing, Semi," she said.

"Watch the oats," he said.

"Huh?"

"The oats. Watch the oats."

He rewound the tape to Vince's register. There was something moving behind Vince's back…

"Wait! Play that again, in slow-mo."

Semi played it in slow motion and she saw Vince toss the oats behind his back to the register. Her mouth opened with shock and then a smile spread on her face.

"Why that conniving, little snake in the grass," she said, laughing. "I knew someone was giving stuff away for free…" She paused. "Semi, do you have all the tapes from last year?"

"Sure. Well, I guess you got a report, Miss Ruby," said Semi.

"Yea…" she said, smiling. "Thank you, Semi. Take the tape of the competition to the banquet and stall them as long as you can. I'll get my report printed out and ready. I know I already collected the money from today and they haven't been removed from the money from the bags yet. We're gonna need all the evidence to put this criminal away."

Semi smiled.

"Will I get a raise for this, Miss Ruby?"

She smiled back. "I'll make sure you get one."

XXXXX

Later that evening, Glenn Gary and the managers were standing at the podium. The employees were sitting at the tables, looking towards the stage.

"Excuse me, everyone," said Glenn Gary. "Excuse me."

Everyone was quiet and Glen Ross stood in front of everyone, looking proud.

"Well," he began. "Never in the history of Super Club has anyone been employee of the month 18 times in a row. But tonight, someone has." He turned to his brother. "The complaint box, please, just to make sure."

Glenn Gary placed the complaint box on the podium and slowly opened it.

"Oh, there is something here," said Glenn Gary.

Everyone at the edge of their seats in anticipation as of what it would say. He unfolded the paper slowly and read:

"Super Club blows."

There was a slight applause.

"Whoo!" said Glen Ross. "That was close, huh, Vince?"

Vince heaved a sigh of relief.

"Our champion and winner of a brand newish Chevy Malibu, Vince Downey! Downey! Downey! Downey!"

There was loud applause and cheering from the crowd and balloons of red and blue fell from the ceiling like confetti. Vince stepped up to the podium with tears in his eyes to make some sort of inspirational speech like he had won a fucking Academy Award. The Losers Gang just rolled their eyes and refused to applause.

"Say, where's Rubes anyway?" asked Lon.

"I think she had to work on something," said Iqbal. "Said some important report."

"Oh, thank you!" Vince said, sniffling. "You are such an inspiration. And all of you, little people that make Super Club the place it is."

"You're an ass," Lon whispered while his buddies agreed.

"You are the scaffolding on top of which I stand so high right now. And you, Zack," he turned to Zack who looked defeated, slouching in his chair. "You made it a race. Thank you. But I won."

"Excuse me, sir," said Semi. "I think there's something you ought to see." He was holding up a tape.

Semi was flanked by Ruby who was holding papers and a money bag.

"OK, big 'uns, why don't you go kill a couple of sandwiches there?" Vince said in order to distract the crowd. "Go ahead, find you way back to the dessert card and graze a little bit."

"Not right now, Semi," said Glenn Gary. "We're in the middle of something. And Ruby, you can give me the report tomorrow."

"Actually, sir," said Ruby. "I think you really ought to see this. It's part of my report as well."

"Surveillance footage from the competition, sir," said Semi.

"We're in the middle of a celebration," said Glenn Gary. Semi only pushed through Vince and Glenn Gary. "OK, alright." He whispered to Dirk. "He is very large."

"This is unconventional," said Vince. "Listen. But I want to recap. I did some amazing things today."

A black and white screen appeared on the large TV once Semi placed the tape inside the VCR.

"Sir, watch this," said Semi. He pressed the play button on the remote and the tape began to play.

"That's the kind of speed that won me the southwest regional competition," Vince continued to brag. "I'm embarrassed, actually."

"Vince, shut the fuck up!" Ruby whispered.

He did indeed shut up. Dirk and Glenn Gary were squinting at the TV, trying to see what they were supposed to see.

"Sir," said Semi. "I'll rewind it again. But this time, watch the oats."

He rewound the tape and soon there was the image of Vince tossing the oats behind his backs. There were gasps of horror.

"Well, what…" Vince stammered.

"Hold on," said Semi. "Watch the oats."

He played it again in slow-mo. There were more gasps of horror and shock.

"He tampered with it," Vince said, stammering. "I mean, Zack clearly paid the retard. It's…it's a forgery."

"Am I seeing this correctly?" Glen Ross asked.

"You see," said Semi. "He didn't rung it up. Not only did he cheat during the competition, he's been giving away stuff for free all year long."

"Absurd," Vince said, laughing it off.

"You see, I got the tapes to prove it," said Semi.

"What a ridiculous allegation!"

"And I have my evidence to back it up as well," said Ruby, holding up papers. "In my hand, I hold the reports from accounting and inventory logs. But, the tape was just the clincher of my report."

"Report?" Glen Ross asked, confused. "What report?" He looked at Glenn Gary.

"Mr. Ross, since I've become floor manager of this store, it has come to my attention that there has been a huge spike in money. Now, normally, once in a while, we will have a spike in money, but this has been a repeated pattern that couldn't be ignored. I brought this to Mr. Glenn Gary's attention about this concern and he asked me to do an investigation on this. I've been working on it all week."

Everyone was so impressed with this that he was very interested in her report, even Glen Ross was interested.

"May I?" she asked Glenn Gary and Glen Ross.

They nodded with approval.

"Go on," said Glen Ross. "I'd like to hear this report you have worked on."

Ruby placed her papers on the podium, snatching the microphone out of Vince's hand and placing it on the podium microphone holder. She began to speak.

"Anyway, I checked with each department's inventory logs and it turns out that there was a huge increase in inventory. As part of my conclusion, I believed that there were only three theories for the spikes in money and inventory: first, a malfunction in register. I checked the maintenance records and work orders placed by the store. There hasn't been a malfunction report in over six months. Second, the cashier was not ringing up the item properly. I kept my eye on all cashiers that day and it appeared that all cashiers were scanning items properly and systems appeared to be working fine. Which brings me to my third, a cashier was giving stuff away for free. Whenever I passed Vince's register, I spotted something suspicious: at first, I thought my eyes were fooling me, but I could've sworn I saw something being tossed up in the air that day when the Employee of the Month started. Of course, I could've been wrong. Second, all those times I passed Vince's register, I could remember him saying, '15 minutes or it's on me.' That, of course, aroused my suspicions and I began looking into accounting. I wasn't able to narrow down which register was doing this until Semi showed me the security tapes. I went through Check-stand 1's money drawer from today and I counted the other registers money as well, since they hadn't been done by accounting yet. I found my conclusion: Check-stand 1's money was over about $200 more than the other registers. I found the source of our spike."

"Sir, they're right," said Dirk. "These are from the registers. Same cart. Same amount of items. Different totals."

There were more gasps of horror.

"Vince Downey!" Glenn Gary said.

"You're the fastest, alright," said Semi. "Fastest criminal in the southwest."

Vince took off in a run…

"HEY!" Ruby shouted.

Semi jumped on top of Vince; Ruby made an 'ouch' face and was sure he had broken something from landing on top of Vince.

"That's why they call you Semi," Vince moaned as his ribs were being crushed under Semi's massive weight.

"Vince Downey," said Glenn Gary. "You are a disgrace to me and to Super Club chain! I am not proud of you!"

"Get that scum out of here before I kick his ass!" yelled Glen Ross, pointing his cane at him.

Semi got up and picked Vince up by the belt and hauled him out of Super Club. Jorge found Vince's wrist brace on the floor and picked it up and held it tightly, looking at his fallen idol being dragged out to the street like a sack of garbage.

Glenn Gary, Dirk and Ruby gathered together and talked.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"Well, since Vince cheated," Ruby said. "Wouldn't that consider him disqualified?"

Dirk and Glenn nodded in agreement.

"So, it should go to the runner-up," said Dirk.

They nodded in agreement.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Glenn Gary, returning to the podium. "It looks like employee of the month will go to the runner-up, Zack Bradley."

Zack looked surprised at first and then, Glenn Gary pulled him to his feet and a smile spread across his face. There was a burst of cheering and applause.

"Yes! Yes. Congratulations!" Glenn Gary said.

Ruby jumped on her friend and wrapped her arms around him.

"You did it!" she squealed.

"Thanks!" he said.

He went through the crowd, shaking hands with his fellow employees and went towards Amy. They said the same thing at the same time.

"Listen I just wanted…" Laughter. "You go."

They laughed again. Then, Amy did something that hurt the most. She took Zack's face and kissed him. Ruby sighed, hurt. She went off the stage and towards the door, hanging her head.

"Rubes!" Iqbal said. "Where are you going?"

"Outside," she said. "For some air."

"But, you should be here, celebrating," said Lon.

"I don't feel like celebrating really."

"What? What's wrong, Lubes?" asked Russell.

"He chose Amy," she said, sadly.

"What? And you're just giving up?" Iqbal exclaimed.

"I have to let it go," Ruby said, biting back her pain. "I have to accept it and let it go. Perhaps it's just not in the cards for us. Perhaps we're just meant to be friends."

She pushed past her friends and went outside to get some air. She lied on the hood of her car, looking at the stars, sighing. Though her heart was aching, she knew she had to let him go.

XXXXX

Zack pulled back from Amy to look at her.

"So, does this mean you only go after the…" he asked.

"I guess you'll have to find out next month," she said.

She was about to kiss him a second time when he saw Ruby was not there with the other managers, cheering him on.

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Amy," he said. "I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"I like you, Amy," he said. "But I just can't do this. If I'm going to have to break someone's heart, I'm afraid it's going to be yours…because I broke someone's heart a long time ago once."

Amy looked at Zack and finally understood.

"It's her, isn't it?" she said, kindly. "Zack, if you care about her, then go to her."

Zack gave her a kiss on the cheek and went towards the table where his friends were.

"Hey guys," said Zack. "Where's Rubes?"

"She went outside," said Russell. "She was very upset, guy."

"OK. Well, then, I got to do something to make up for what I did…years ago…" He and his friends formed a huddle. "Here's the plan…"