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“Why did Mr. Harding give us such a difficult director? She’s worse than Ike,” a male colleague complained under his breath as he made revisions to his design drawing.
Fortunately, Tiffany’s office was far from here, so they could afford a moment to slack off.
“Tiffany’s a typical twenty-first century iron lady. She’s good with office work and housework.” Suddenly, a female colleague sitting next to Natalie poked her head out. “Hey, is she married? How old is she anyway?”
“I don’t know how old she is, but I’m willing to bet she doesn’t have a boyfriend.” The male colleague gnawed one end of his pen, lost in thought as he stared at his drawing.
Natalie commented lightheartedly, “I think she’s good for this department. She might be cold and strict, but she’s just and will get the job done. We could learn a lot from her.”
As everyone chattered on excitedly, they suddenly heard a knock on the glass. Tiffany was standing by the door in a black dress, her lips pursed unhappily. “Since you all have so much free time on your hands, let’s have a meeting at ten o’clock. All you designers are required to attend.”
A hush fell over the office. Everyone knew they were doomed. The male colleague subtly made a gesture of slitting his throat.
“The design department just received an important project. We’ll be cooperating with another company to design the spring collection. Every designer has to submit their plan by the end of this week.”
As Tiffany spoke, she flipped through a PowerPoint presentation concisely. Then, glancing at all the designers before her, she finished assigning tasks and left the room, like a teacher leaving her students to answer their test.
The atmosphere in the design department dropped several hundred degrees.
Natalie and the other designers all worked overtime that week, sketching drafts seriously, as if they were in the middle of an intense exam.
Surprisingly, when the designs were submitted a week later, Natalie’s design was selected.
She thought the battle had come to an end. But one morning, Tiffany suddenly called her into her office.
“You have to start over and design a new plan.”
Natalie frowned, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
Tiffany looked at her indifferently. “Don’t be anxious. Listen to me first. When we handed over your draft to the client, it was rejected and your designs were criticized thoroughly. They said they wanted something more serious.”
Natalie picked up the design draft she had submitted and carefully examined it.
“This design is in complete accordance with their requirements. I’m surprised they had rejected it. Maybe it’s because I’m too inexperienced to understand where I had gone wrong. Ms. Fisher, please give me some advice, or perhaps just choose someone else’s designer.”
Not only Natalie, but Tiffany was also equally confused and surprised.
She looked at the design draft and shook her head. “I can’t give you any advice. I think this design draft is good. That’s why I chose it and presented it to the client. Well, frankly, if a client is not happy with our design, they never reject it right away. They usually ask us to modify it based on their requirements. I can’t believe they just rejected our design without giving a proper explanation this time.”
“Then, what do we do now?” Natalie asked hesitantly.
“Since we can’t figure out the reason, let’s go to their company and ask them why they rejected it. It would be better to talk to them in person. Bring your design drafts and laptop with you so that we can modify it on the spot.” As Tiffany spoke, she stood up and took her coat.
Tiffany’s decisiveness shocked Natalie.
She thought Tiffany would ask her to modify the design until the client was satisfied.
But Tiffany had other plans.
She took Natalie to the Color Company.
This company belonged to a clothing group, and it ran a women’s fashion brand that had gained popularity over the years.
As soon as they arrived at the reception, Natalie met an old acquaintance.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I am in charge of the project. You can talk to me directly.” Cassie walked in haughtily with a cup of coffee in her hand.
She became more arrogant and complacent after seeing Natalie.
Seeing the astonishment on Natalie’s face, Tiffany frowned. “You two know each other?”
Before Natalie could say anything, Cassie answered with a smile, “No, we don’t. This woman has come to our house to collect second-hand goods several times. So she works as a designer in your company? Well, it looks like you’re lethargic when it comes to recruiting employees.”
“That’s very rude of you. We all know the design department of the Larson Group has a name of its own. Besides, you opted for our company to meet your design needs,” Tiffany said politely, suppressing her anger.
Cassie snorted and skimmed through the design draft on the table. “Your drafts seem very amateur. What are you still doing here?”
At that moment, a man came to the reception. He was Jason Gentry, the CEO of the Color Company and Cassie’s current boyfriend.
“Why are you all standing here? Please sit down so we can talk.” Jason sat down on the sofa. “Here is the thing. My girlfriend doesn’t like the design, so I would have to ask you to come up with a different draft.”
Jason was happy with the design. However, Cassie saw the draft at his place last night. After knowing that Natalie had designed it, she immediately asked him to reject the design.
She held Jason’s arm and looked at Natalie, a complacent smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “I’m responsible for evaluating the design drafts of this project now. I think Miss Quinn’s design is not good enough to meet our requirements. You better replace her with a better designer.”
“Our company has selected this draft among the other designs submitted because it was the best. Some other designer’s plan might not be as good as this,” Tiffany said calmly.
Natalie was surprised to see Tiffany speak for her. She leaned closer to her and whispered, “This is our company’s project. We should prioritize the interests of the company.”
“Of course, we should prioritize the company’s interest. I am just explaining the pros and cons to them.” Tiffany smiled.
Jason picked up the coffee and took a sip. He glanced at Natalie and back at the design draft. Then, he turned to look at Cassie without saying anything.
“I don’t like this designer’s work. I have the final say in this project. If you don’t change the designer, I have no other choice but to cancel our collaboration. The choice is yours.” Cassie didn’t give in. Her makeup-laden eyes turned to Natalie.
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