That night Gwen rang the other's and told them what had happened, Freya and Mithian wanted to know all about their new boss, Elyan the other potter, and Gwen's brother was as usual more reticent "Let's wait and see what he's like before we get excited" he cautioned. He would be the least effected by the change in ownership. He was part time working two days a week, more if Merlin had a week off. Their father had a shop in town, selling decorative metal work which they both made. Elyan's work for the Pottery helped them keep their heads above water as the town relied heavily on tourists and being a seaside town the business was seasonal.
True to his word Arthur Pendragon arranged meetings with all of the shop's staff, both the potters and decorators as well as the shop staff. Of the production team Merlin was the first to be called up to the office. Arthur was still in his suit and looked every bit the business man. By his side was a dark haired woman who Merlin hadn't seen before.
"Come in Merlin and take a seat, this is my sister and business partner Morgana Knight."
Morgana held out her hand "I had a look round downstairs when we arrived this morning, you all do very good work. I'm impressed, I must admit I haven't really taken much notice of the pieces at home"
Merlin looked at Morgana decided he wouldn't want to cross her, she had a hard edge to her. "Thank you I'll tell the others"
As the secretary come in with a pot of tea they settled down to their decision. "As I told you Merlin this purchase was an emotional one, but I do want it to make money. The profit margins have been decreasing in recent years so do you have any suggestions to improve the business? After all you are on the shop floor, you see what is happening"
Merlin was surprised, the company had changed hands several times in recent years but no one had asked his opinion before, and any suggestions he had made were ignored. "I have plenty of ideas, for a start the prices could be more competitive, yes we do produce hand crafted items but recent owners have increased their profit margins and in the present minimalist society we have to be able to attract new collectors. Also I could get more in the kilns if we were allowed to make smaller cheaper pieces. The kilns are an expensive part of the process. There are gaps with big pieces which if we packed with small pieces we could get more from each firing. We get coach tours in, they don't want to carry large items away."
Arthur and Morgana looked impressed "That makes sense, anything else as you have clearly given this some thought" Arthur said leaning back.
"I have mentioned these things to previous owners." Merlin said "No one has listened before"
"We are listening Merlin please keep going" Morgana added.
"Well, we aren't promoted very well, a lot of visitors thought we had gone under years ago. Also it's a big shop and the front is full of tourist tat. The Pottery is in the back! I know the kilns have to be there but we could use part of the front as an educational area and show the history of the pottery we have been in existence for nearly 150 years and it might draw people in" As Merlin spoke his passion started to surface and he became enthused. "And rather than the stuff you can get in any other shop along the front perhaps it might be a good idea to sell stuff from other endangered British factories, then they might sell ours in return. And while I'm ranting we have hardly any internet presence, except a site that is hardly ever updated."
"You really have thought about this haven't you?" Arthur said.
"Not just me the Studio team often think things through but as I said no one has listened before" Merlin admitted. "We had this dream that if we won the lottery what we would do with the place, of course none of us are business people, well Elyan his father has his own shop and he works here and here part tome to cover me. He's the other potter, but there's not much work out there for potters"
"Thank you Merlin that was very useful, we are looking to make changes and your ideas are something we can look at in more detail. I must admit I agree with the front of the shop it's not a good look. We will be putting in a new manager for the shop part. I understand you supervise the pottery part, the 'Studio' I think you called it. Are you happy to continue with that?"
Merlin nodded "Who will we have as manager….you?" Merlin asked outright.
"No I have too much to do in London, but both of us will pay regular visits and also be available for any staff member if needed. I have a man I put in to new ventures to pull them up and reorganise them. He will be here later today, I think you will get on with him. Long term we will advertise. Also my accountant will visit once a month. I do run a tight ship" Arthur stopped to answer his mobile. Then he turned back to Merlin "The new manager is just parking so you can meet him now. By the way the old manager handed in her notice this morning, she didn't like my ideas" Arthur said the later part with a smirk. In truth he didn't like her idea of either accounting or personnel management.
Arthur called through for fresh tea and another chair. Merlin was surprised when he saw the new manager, he wasn't at all what he had expected. For a start he was in jeans and a t shirt and had shoulder length hair that looked like something from a shampoo advert. But it was his first comment that made Merlin smile.
As he walked in the man looked at Arthur "Hi Princess, I managed to get here early, Hi Morgana still as beautiful as ever I see"
Arthur rolled his eyes "Gwaine will you ever stop calling me that?"
"No I doubt it" he said with a twinkle in his eye then he looked at Merlin who had stood up "And who is this fine fellow"
"Gwaine this is Merlin Emrys, the Head Potter and supervisor of the Studio. Merlin this is Gwaine Green the manager I was telling you about. I hope you two will work well together and we can keep the pottery going. I'm not interested in turning back into a large scale production. I want to concentrate on what you do best here, hand thrown and decorated items. Rather than mass produced items from moulds"
Arthur Pendragon looked at the two men "Merlin will you show Gwaine around. My sister and I are off soon to see our parents, we will be back tomorrow. Merlin can you tell Gwen and Elena we will speak to them tomorrow?"
As they left the office Gwaine looked at Merlin and smiled "What do you make of the Princess then?"
Merlin wasn't going to fall for that one, although he was pretty certain both men were comfortable with their relationship Merlin was not going to say anything that might get him in difficulties. "You mean Mr Pendragon, I don't know him well enough to form an opinion, but he seems to be willing to listen."
"Cautious one aren't you, well I don't blame you, I hear this company has had several owners in the last few years, and I bet they've all made promises they didn't keep. Well don't worry Arthur is a good man, he's no asset stripper and he will work hard to turn this place around"
"That's good to hear. Now where do you want to start Mr Green?" Merlin said a twinkle in his eye, on first impressions he quite liked the manager and hoped they could work well together.
"Unless you want to be called Mr Emrys call me Gwaine please. As for where to start what about the engine room? It's the pottery section that makes this place unique so let's start there, first of tell me about your team."
Merlin took Gwaine to the Studio work area and introduced him to Gwen and Elena "Mithian and Freya are in tomorrow and Elyan will not be in till Monday"
Gwen looked up "My brother said he could come in if you needed to see him before"
"I'll leave that to Arthur, he will want to see you all, but I'll tell him your brother…. Elyan, is willing to come in I'm sure he will take him up on that"
Merlin showed him round and also showed him the kiln they were loading "As I mentioned to Mr Pendragon we could get more value from the kilns if we were permitted to make small pieces, you see they could be placed in the spaces and thus reduce the cost per item for each firing"
Gwaine took everything in and he spoke to the decorators and asked several pertinent questions. To Elena's surprise one of the first things was "Those chairs don't look comfortable for that sort of work, are they?"
"No, we have been asking for new ones for ages, we are all getting bad backs" she was on a roll. Elena was never frightened of speaking her mind "Also we need better kit to put the pieces on that we are decorating. I mean look at this!" Elena showed Gwaine the homemade frame she was using for the charger she was painting. It was made of polystyrene and tape. Clearly hand made from whatever came to hand.
"I will look into that as a matter of urgency" Gwaine said with a smile.
Gwaine then looked at the trolleys stood round a piece of equipment, he couldn't see it clearly "What's that machine for?" he asked Merlin.
"That's for spraying the base coat, the hood is to take the fumes away"
"And the trolleys round it?"
"It's noisy and smelly it just shields us a bit" Merlin said
"Wouldn't a purpose built screen be better, in fact if it's part of the process wouldn't a clear wall make sense, then people could see that part of the procedure happening"
"That would cost money" Merlin said "And also take room, the trolleys have to be here for hold the pottery at various stages."
Gwaine looked around "If we gave you more space that would do the trick, the building of big enough and I suspect Arthur will want to get rid of some of the tourist items from the shop floor"
"The tat you mean?" Elena said.
Gwaine smiled at her "I like someone who speaks their mind"
"Oh you'll get that with Elena" Merlin said with a grin "Mind you a lot of that section is rented out to other dealers. That brings in income"
"I wouldn't worry about that. I bet Arthur and Morgana already have their own ideas" Gwaine said.
"Have you worked for them long?" Merlin asked
"Yep, since university" Gwaine told him "Arthur's company keeps its staff on the whole, he inspires loyalty, for the right people he pays good money and looks after them, in return he gets loyalty back, it's a different place since he took over from his father who ruled through fear and intimidation. I wouldn't have worked for his father, then again he wouldn't have had me, and he was a suit and tie man and loved titles"
The two men continued the tour and Merlin introduced Gwaine to as many people as he could. Gwaine watched Merlin's body language and picked up on the people Merlin liked and didn't like. He would need to sort the wheat from the chafe in the following months, and his instinct told him Merlin was a good judge of character. But he also made his own assessment as he went.
Once they had done the tour Merlin went back to his wheel and Gwaine went to the office to start work. By the end of the day Gwaine had worked his way through the desk and one of the filing cabinets and started to get a feel for what his predecessor had been like. He also found that a great deal of time seemed to have been spent on computer games and private emails. He didn't delete the account until after Morgana had seen it for herself. Her job in the company was human resources as well as the computer systems.
The next morning Arthur and Morgana were back and over the next few days they had interviewed all the staff and also spoken to all the independent traders that rented space. Then on the Monday Arthur called a meeting of all staff paying overtime to any on days off to come in. One of those was Merlin, who had had plans, but cancelled them as he wanted to find out what was happening.