"Of course not," Kelsey answered automatically. Then she heard the implication and tried to correct herself. "I mean, I didn't know who she was. I thought Derek was just being difficult with somebody who wasn't a customer."
Fiona placed a copy of Gloria's appointment in front of her. "She was a customer. And even if she hadn't been, why would that make it acceptable to humiliate her?" Kelsey looked down and did not answer.
By the afternoon, the reviews were complete. The company terminated Derek and Kelsey for cause, citing substantiated misconduct and violations of standards governing customer treatment and workplace behavior. The decision was based on the evidence gathered from both visits, their own statements, and the relevant policies, not merely on Malcolm's relationship to the customer. Human resources explained the findings directly and documented the process. Neither employee was permitted to confront Gloria or Anna afterward.
Derek reacted with anger. "Fine," he said, standing so quickly that his chair scraped the floor. "I don't need this place. I'll find somewhere that appreciates a salesperson who can actually close a deal.
Let's see how long this company lasts without me." He left his badge on the table hard enough to make it slide. Nobody tried to persuade him to pick it up.
Kelsey cried after hearing the decision, and Malcolm did not take pleasure in it. She was younger than Derek and had followed a toxic lead, but she had been given multiple opportunities to stop participating. "He told me what to do," she said through tears.
"I was afraid of getting on his bad side." Malcolm answered quietly, "I understand that pressure can be real. It still doesn't excuse laughing at somebody who's being mistreated or asking for her vehicle to be towed. You had choices, and people were hurt by them."
Afterward, Malcolm returned to the empty showroom conference room and stood for a long time beside the table where Gloria and Anna had reviewed the vans. A proper response to misconduct required more than two termination letters, and he knew it. He asked Fiona to expand the complaint review to the branch's entire customer intake process, including how employees recorded inquiries, how test-drive requests were handled, and what happened when customers left before meeting with sales. He also required the regional team to reassess the way sales commissions and lead allocation shaped staff behavior.
"I don't want employees pretending to be polite because they think there's another owner's relative coming through the door," he told her. "I want them to have a reason to treat people properly when nobody important is watching." Fiona nodded and made a note. "Then the customer process needs to change, not just the training slides." "Exactly," Malcolm said. "And I'd like Anna involved, because she showed us what a better version looks like."