Terrence looked in the mirror and fixed his clothes. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. It felt new to him how he was dressed today.
He was wearing a white shirt and black jeans. It was his uniform for this day.
Yes, you read that right.
It was Terrence's official first day of work.
After applying for it yesterday, he secured the job at the grocery store.
He immediately applied the day after Abigail told him about it.
He can't let anyone take that job from him.
Terrence's shift starts at 12 in the afternoon and goes on until 6 in the evening. The owner of the store told him that he just needed to be there for 6 hours every day for 5 days.
The job offer was like heaven sent to him. It just fits how much money he needed to accumulate to finish his mission.
"Since the job pays $9 every hour, that means in 6 hours, that will be $54. In 5 days, that will be a total of $270." He calculated.
When he was done fixing his clothes and making sure that he was presentable enough, he went out and bid goodbye to his parents.
"I'll go now, Mum," Terrence waved his hands before going out of the door.
He just walked towards the grocery store, which wasn't far from his home. It was only a 15-minute walk.
When Terrence arrived at the grocery store, he reluctantly entered. He was greeted by a young adult man in the cashier's stand.
"Hi, Edwin," Terrence greeted his boss, who was just a few years older than him.
"You came just in time, Terrence!" Edwin smiled widely. He greeted Terrence with full enthusiasm as he fixed his eyeglasses.
Terrence smiled back. "What should I do today?" He asked.
He looked around to see if there were customers inside. However, he saw that there was no one.
"Was it like this every day?" He curiously asked.
Edwin nodded. "Not really. But, as of now, our grocery store still has a bad reputation because of what happened to Evelyn," he sighed deeply.
Terrence just learned that the old woman's name from 2 days ago was Evelyn.
"It was my fault as well. I was busy with my wife, so I haven't had enough time to monitor this grocery store. I gave her permission to take care and manage this for the meantime since she's my wife's auntie too."
Regret could be heard in Edwin's voice as he told Terrence about it.
"Because of that, I do not know how to restore this store's reputation anymore… I already put all the prices back to normal, and yet the number of customers back then, until now, is just the same… even less, I think."
"Ohh…" Terrence nodded. He pitied Edwin, but it was partially his fault. How can he not even check his business once in a while?
"That's why I decided to hire you, Terrence. Let's work together in restoring everything in order." Edwin smiled. He raised his arms and made a cheering gesture.
[Ding!]
=====
[Special Mission: Restore Edwin's grocery store reputation!]
[Rewards/s: 30 exp and 2 Lottery Tickets]
[Failure to accomplish this mission will result in -$100]
[Time left: 3 days.]
=====
'A new mission?' Terrence looked at the screen that suddenly appeared right before his eyes.
'Huh? So that means I would have a negative balance if I failed this special mission?' his forehead creased when he looked at it.
'And there's a time limit?'
"What the—"
"Don't you like the idea, Terrence? Is it too much work for you?" Edwin's nervous voice stopped Terrence from cursing out loud.
When Terrence realized that he wasn't alone, Terrence awkwardly smiled back. "I just remembered something."
"Ohhh… are you sure?" Edwin looked at Terrence with doubtful eyes. He suddenly became conscious, thinking that Terrence probably didn't like what he just said.
"Yep. I just suddenly remembered that it was that Evelyn woman who caused all of this. That's why I couldn't stop myself from cursing." Terrence lied.
His lie doesn't make sense, but he hoped Edwin would believe him.
"That's why it is really important for us to rebuild this store's reputation," he added.
"HAHAHAHA," Edwin laughed out loud. He was relieved that Terrence agreed with his plans.
Terrence pretended to laugh with Edwin. "Do you have the log books of the original price of every item that can be found in this store?
Edwin nodded. "Yup. Wait for a moment."
Edwin opened up the cabinet below the cashier's table. He took out a blue notebook containing all the store information.
"Here," he handed out the blue notebook to Terrence.
"Thanks." Terrence accepted it. "I will just check every aisle to see each one of them."
"Sure, Terrence." Edwin smiled.
Terrence walked away. He went through each aisle and checked all the prices for each item. That's when he noticed that all the items had 50% markup on them.
It was the standard price compared to the past.
Based on his calculations, when Evelyn was the one handling the store, there was a total of 300% markup on some items, while some had either 100 - 200% on them.
"Hmmm…" Terrence looked at the items and the prices.
He went through the other pages of the logbook. In there, he saw the utility bills they must pay each month and the profits the store was gaining.
Terrence wasn't surprised to see that the store's earnings were really high. It was already given with the markup increase in the prices of each item.
When he looked at the profits for this month, he saw that the store already earned enough money to go through and pay all their utilities.
"Hmmm…" Terrence thought of an idea. However, he wasn't sure if Edwin would agree with it.
'Well, at least I tried if he won't allow it." Terrence shrugged his shoulder and went back to where he left Edwin.
"Good afternoon, Miss." Terrence put on a wide smile on his face as he greeted the only customer that entered their store.
"Do you need any help, Miss?" He asked respectfully so that the customer wouldn't think weirdly about it.
"Nope, but thanks for the offer." The young woman answered. She smiled back at Terrence before leaving.
Since the woman did not need help, Terrence proceeded to go to Edwin.
"Edwin, May I have a word with you?"
"Yeah, sure." Edwin nodded.
"I already thought of an idea about what we can do to build this store's reputation." He announced with great confidence.