Kapitel 38: Chapter 38 - Time Was Running Out

The next morning was business as usual. With only four days left until I sent in my interview decision. Though the art exhibition was full steam ahead, the launch for my jewelry shop hit a roadblock. The pictures of the artist Fallon came out great and the designs were a bit hit among the employees. However, upon final inspection prior to when they would release, an issue arrived.

Each piece came with a special forest green box which was lined with gold. The actual box itself alone was highly collectible as the lid was etched with a special stamp coordinating the collection the piece came from. This collections stamp was a gold constellation of stars. However the boxes came up without the necessary stamp.

And time was running out.

The time it took to get the stamps on it was at least a few weeks as it needed to be carefully placed and then graded to ensure quality. But launch is expected to be in only two weeks just prior to the art exhibition.

"Is there no way we can rush the order?" Zhavia was on the phone with he manufacture trying to work out a solution but their hands were also tied. Though they acknowledged their mistake and provided a partial refund, they could not fix the mistake in time for launch.

"We will keep in contact to see if we will still have you create the lid design." Zhavia hung up and looked at me worriedly. "They are slammed with other orders they need to complete so they cannot prioritize our boxes. Should I call an emergency meeting?"

I sat at my desk and fiddled with my necklace. "Lets call it but I think I have another solution but we need to act today if its gonna work."

She went to her office to send the memo while I drafted a rough sketch of my idea and some points on execution.

Within the hour the departments heads were in the meeting room. Most were already informed of what issue arose while others were catching up. When I walked in the room became silent. "I am sure many of you know what is going on but I called this meeting to discuss solutions for the merchandising error we just received. The boxes that hold our jewelry came incomplete. So right now we need to determine our next steps as launch is too close to make any immediate fixes."

The head of marketing spoke up first. "President I think we should postpone the launch. Though it is highly anticipated given our history of quality our clientele may be more understanding for the delay. We should not make any hasty product changes."

At his suggestion the other heads had polarizing opinions. Some agreed while others viewed in the opposite. My PR leader took over the floor and voiced her disapproval. "While the general populace could be understanding our high profile clients will not. They have preordered a few pieces already and many are waiting for them to use in film, shows, runways, and other business ventures. While we could wait, they could not."

The room filled with murmurs as people debated and tried to formulate a better solution.

I sighed. That actually was my biggest concern. If this was a normal launch and this occurred I would postpone, however; this year we got many offers from entertainment circuits to use my products in their releases as a sponsorship deal. I stand to lose a lot of money if I wait as they would not be able to film anything in time. Otherwise if I pull out my investment since our contract is not being fulfilled, I can look bad and potentially be blacklisted from future opportunities.

The jewelry and box came as a set and for commercial use the jewelry alone without the box would not be under our display protocol. I also could not just give them the boxes complete and force the public to wait. It would be unfair.

"Thank you everyone, each bring up valid points. I thought about a solution and wanted to see if everyone was on board to get started on this right now and execute as soon as possible."

The team members pulled out tablets or notebooks to begin writing out any directions they needed.

"What if we did it as a customize your own box? I have seen a rise for luxury brands offering customization options. We could hire artists to paint the boxes to the design the customer wants."

The room got noisy as people simmered in the idea and played around with the thought.

"Our team is set to send out the photos of Fallon our ambassador wearing the jewelry but we could call her in to create a video of her creating her own custom box. Thankfully the photos we have of her do not feature the initial box design as we planned to unveil it after the photos went out."

"President while this could work as the boxes we have right now are blank, logistically how would we be able to handle the level of customers we expect. Painting takes a while and even longer to let it dry. We would also have to hire someone to do it at each location and who can come in in such little time. And we would still need to evaluate their skill to ensure it meets our standards."

Ahh right. We had a few stores and we are expecting a high volume of customers the day off. While this could work after the initial hype dies down, the actual day could be a disaster.

"Hmmm. Lets take a quick break and meet back again in ten minutes. See if anyone else in your respective teams has a solution."

I walked out. The paint idea was something I have been toying with for a while but I wanted to add it as a side option where you could purchase an additional box aside from the one already packaged with the jewelry. It could not serve as a replacement.

"I wonder if maybe he could help." I called Dean to see if he maybe had an idea otherwise I would call his Dad since he owed me a wish. Though I wanted to save it for something more meaningful than this.

"Dean you have a minute? I need you."