Chapter 1: The Confounding Dynamics of RU Data

The ordering process isn't solely the domain of Matt and the RU Data team; Todd is equally entrenched. However, he's as enigmatic as ever, providing little clarity despite his incessant chatter. His typical reaction to inquiries is a dismissive shrug, even when the topics at hand stem from his own initiatives. He may mumble something about needing to "figure it out" or imply that any misunderstanding is due to "user error," suggesting that others can't grasp the intricate brilliance of RU Data. As he veers off into unrelated tangents, one has to wonder if it's even possible to catch him for a straightforward conversation.

"He hasn't replied to me in months," Sharon confides to Edgar on Tuesday morning, as they sit with Matt and Sarah at Central's back dock. "I have no idea what I did to annoy him, but my calls go straight to voicemail, and my emails are never acknowledged."

This is the first time Edgar is hearing about this situation, which sheds light on Todd's peculiar behavior during a recent meeting. Todd, Fred, and Edgar were the only ones present, and Todd had connected his laptop to display his email inbox on the big screen. Strangely, the display remained unchanged for a significant period, with no activity from Todd. At one point, Sharon's name came up, prompting Todd to make a sarcastic comment about people in Palmyra being intimidated by her.

"I like her!" Fred chimed in enthusiastically. "She's like a bulldog; she goes right after them!" He laughed, mimicking a bulldog with his teeth bared. In contrast, Todd merely grimaced in response, showing his aversion without uttering a word.

Today, Matt, Edgar, and Sharon find themselves revisiting many of the same topics discussed yesterday, albeit from Sarah's perspective. They are engaged in following up on and expanding existing projects, such as Matt's outreach to EDI vendors. Simultaneously, they're working to integrate Central with the Hupp program, which is generating some frustration—especially for Destiny. Fortunately, the irritation isn't as intense as it was when Candace expressed her grievances the previous day. Edgar's inbox continues to grow, filled with standard inquiries, along with an occasional complaint regarding Hupp and RU Data from Arcadia.

Thus, Tuesday unfolds similarly to Monday, but with an increased workload. This metaphorically represents the overall pace of activity around the office. Edgar enjoys the flurry of tasks and new concepts to explore, as it provides him with a stimulating challenge—provided the projects are logical. Unfortunately, much of what’s happening lately defies that logic.

Sharon's latest tirade about Todd stemmed from the chaos surrounding the proposed transition from email to Slack. While the idea might have merit, the implementation has been anything but clear. Aware that few people regularly check Slack, Todd instructed Felix to set up a system where any new message in Slack triggers an email notification. This convoluted approach may help ease the transition, but Todd then insisted that those who have begun using Slack—like Edgar and Sharon—shouldn't expect their more traditional colleagues to adapt overnight. Thus, they must follow up with phone calls or emails. Meanwhile, the tech-averse staff, including Vince, Ralph, and Destiny, seem to escape this additional burden.

With Matt off for lunch, Sharon seizes the moment and asks Edgar to accompany her to confront Todd about the Slack situation. Her frustration is palpable, and Edgar senses she will steer the conversation. It would be beneficial to clarify matters, assuming they can even pin Todd down. Otherwise, Edgar fears he might just comply mindlessly, expecting the resistant individuals to suddenly embrace Slack or that email will vanish entirely. He’s accustomed to voicing his opinions about the best approaches, and when people resist, he finds ways around them. Now, however, it’s Todd himself who has become one of those obstacles.

"Todd, do you have a moment?" Sharon asks as they enter his office, catching him off guard. He jumps slightly as he turns away from his computer, startled by their sudden presence.

Without waiting for a response, Sharon launches into her critique of Todd's latest directive. Mostly nodding along, Todd remains unusually silent, suggesting that perhaps this approach—attacking from the shadows—might be effective.

"Are we really expected to send every message in both Slack and email?" Sharon finishes, her voice rising in disbelief.

Edgar chimes in, "We already receive email notifications for Slack messages, right?"

"Well, they may need to disable that," Todd replies nonchalantly.

"Wouldn't they need to access Slack to do that?" Edgar retorts, skeptical. He knows that those avoiding Slack likely wouldn't bother marking those messages as junk. He's overheard Fred boasting about having "over 700 unread messages" in his inbox, as if it were a badge of honor.

Sharon continues, "We already have enough on our plates. Now we must wonder who's included in our messages? Are they all using Slack? Maybe I should send it twice. This is absurd! Is this mandatory or not? If it is, shouldn’t people like Vince or Fred…?"

"Don't worry about Vince," Todd interrupts, raising a hand defensively. He points to himself, adding, "I'll handle Vince."

Edgar suppresses a chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. They're arguing about Vince, yet no one has confirmed if he’s even in the office two doors down. Todd is unlikely to take any real action regarding Vince, regardless of his declaration.

"But we still have to send messages to both platforms?" Sharon presses.

"For now, yes," Todd responds, rising as if he has somewhere more pressing to be, signaling the conversation's end.

"Are we going to…"

"Just keep doing what you're doing. I’ll take care of Vince."

Will he, though? Edgar muses that if any future messages involve Vince, he will likely opt to send them via email only, as Sharon pointed out, this is getting ridiculous. This surreal discussion provides enough room for him to justify this decision if questioned.

As Matt returns from lunch, Sharon and Edgar head back to Central to continue their RU Data training and troubleshooting. A major issue at hand is Edgar's insistence that Matt should prioritize setting up the email vendors, a notion that Sharon supports. Despite their urgings, Matt resists, for reasons that remain unclear.

"Can you explain what you're doing right now?" he asks reluctantly.

"As soon as we click send, it should automatically email a PDF of the order to the vendor," Edgar explains.

"Even if we don't have that set up yet, you can export your order as a PDF and email it yourself," Matt suggests.

"I tried that last week with a dummy order, and the program crashed before the PDF appeared," Edgar admits with a faint smile.

"Let’s see what happens," Matt says, clicking around the screen furiously. This has been a recurring issue during their two-day training; he often clicks through functions at lightning speed without taking the time to show Sharon and Edgar how to do it themselves, leaving them to catch up.

As Matt selects a vendor, adds items, and closes the order, it appears straightforward enough—until the program crashes, and the PDF fails to generate.

"That’s strange," is all Matt can muster in response.

After this session, he will return to New York, allowing the others to resume their regular duties. Time hasn’t stood still during this training; others have had to manage product check-ins at Palmyra. This isn’t necessarily negative, as Shelly has previously covered for Sharon, but she is unfamiliar with RU Data, raising questions about how product check-ins are handled while Shelly and store manager Russell sign off on invoices to be entered upon Sharon’s return.

Edgar contemplates this, but he knows it’s important to support colleagues rather than harboring suspicions without evidence. Besides, it’s not his concern.

This principle is particularly true regarding inventory management, which has become another item on his "Things That Don’t Make Sense" list. They failed to transfer inventory balances to RU Data. They had one opportunity to do so—between the close of business Sunday and the start of business Monday—but Todd dismissed the idea. When Edgar first mentioned it in a morning meeting, Todd remained silent. The second time he brought it up face-to-face, Todd declared he preferred to keep the new system free of prior data for a "fresh start." This has resulted in the Slingshot balances being stuck at Sunday night figures, while every transaction on the Hupp registers continues to push RU Data balances further into the negative.

What would Reece Leibovitz think of this approach? Oh wait, Todd dismissed her. At least they now have Wanda Robinson, who seems competent, but she lacks the influence Reece once held. Wanda has emailed Edgar for clarification on various issues, and he navigates the delicate situation of providing information without throwing current management under the bus. He tells her he can’t seem to get a "definitive answer" on some inquiries but reassures her they will work things out by the time inventory arrives.

However, Edgar is realistic; he expects a last-minute panic on inventory day concerning the issues he had previously flagged, which Todd had brushed off. It’s likely he will be expected to combine Slingshot reports with RU Data reports on the fly. Ultimately, one cannot dwell on potential future issues while dodging the barrage of current problems.

Despite the chaotic two-day training, Edgar has kept up with new item additions. While they learned some things and addressed a few issues, it was hardly the most efficient use of time. Thankfully, since neither Edgar nor Sharon wants to return to the Arcadia hive anytime soon, she volunteers to train Diane Evans over the phone on receiving products at the back dock, allowing Diane to teach anyone else who may need guidance. Next, they must tackle the new shelf tag system.

Todd has connected Edgar with another representative from the software company, HSX. Since Park will design the new tags and Edgar will manage the data transfer, they schedule a conference call with Keith from HSX. Sitting side by side at Edgar's desk, they endure two back-to-back, two-hour sessions on speakerphone with Keith. Watching tutorials on a shared screen, the software appears straightforward enough. The only potential hiccup is the requirement for a central server setup at Bellwether HQ, which Felix is addressing.

"That was informative, but not much of it really pertained to me," Park says with a chuckle, stretching after the final training session concludes.

"Yeah, it wasn’t the most applicable for you. But at least you got a glimpse of how it works, just in case," Edgar jokes.

Concerning the shiny new printer now occupying space in Edgar's office, it will be dedicated to printing the new shelf tags. The existing professional printers, though functional, are outdated and inadequate for producing glossy, perfectly aligned signage. Todd has ordered several more of the new models, one for each store.

As Park begins crafting new designs, Todd and Edgar collaborate on determining the ideal shelf tag size. They send samples of four finalists to the office for testing across various stores, gathering feedback from relevant employees. Ultimately, Todd favors one size and requests a custom template from Keith, incurring extra costs with each order. Meanwhile, Dale opts for the smallest size for his vitamin and HBC department due to the compact nature of the products.

The downside is that HSX requires upfront credit card payments for all orders, meaning Edgar must seek Todd's approval for each one. Fortunately, Park delivers exceptional designs. Edgar finds these to be some of the most visually appealing tags he has ever seen. The regular shelf tags feature an artistic green border on a white background, while the sale tags have a similar red border. They are clean and simple, and he is impressed.

Everything is progressing smoothly on this front, but the RU Data conundrum persists. Todd now demands daily sales figures formatted in a specific way within an Excel sheet on the shared drive. However, RU Data won't automatically export to that drive, and they can't convince the coding experts to create a custom report. Thus, each morning, Edgar downloads the Crystal Reports, converts them to Excel, and populates a file he has created on his computer. The first tab contains the current day's report, while the second tab features a pivot table with the information arranged according to Todd's specifications. He then copies and pastes the formatted report into the shared drive, which he suspects no one is actually reviewing.

Despite these convoluted processes, submitting this report daily (and three times on Mondays, of course) may only represent a slight improvement over his previous routine—provided he could eliminate that dreadful task entirely. However, he foolishly asks, "Does this mean I don’t have to email everyone the daily reports anymore? Since they can just access it on the shared drive?"

"Keep emailing everyone too; that way, we know for sure they have it," Todd insists.

Now, Edgar’s morning routine involves Vince popping into his office, as always, their only interaction of the day. Vince stands there with a grumpy expression, scratching his leg while Edgar reads the sales figures aloud. Vince nods once before moving on without another word. Edgar then downloads the daily sales data from Crystal Reports, converts it to Excel, and pastes it into his file. He also sends the same information via email to everyone, as Todd requested, including it in the email body as Fred suggested to ensure all details are "right there."

Historical factors play a role too. Todd is paranoid about losing sales history once he phases out Slingshot—despite Edgar's ability to retrieve whatever information is needed from various saved files and emails. Since RU Data can't communicate with Slingshot, Todd has asked Edgar to compile all historical sales data—by store, day, and department—into the shared drive, formatted as per Todd's instructions.

At this point, it seems clear they are caught in a web of absurdity. Yet, even amidst the chaos, Todd may still be guiding them in the right direction. The atmosphere remains unpredictable, and they could veer off course at any moment, especially with the initial challenges arising from integrating RU Data and Hupp in place of Slingshot. There have already been reports of sale batches not transferring to the cash register, leading both companies to investigate and blame each other.

On the upside, they are finally opening a new store. After the Indian Lake proposal fell through, the paperwork for a new concept has been signed, marking a significant milestone. Within two months, they are set to launch in Lorena, a town nestled at the foot of the mountains, positioned between Walnut and Boone. Regardless of how this endeavor unfolds, many believe it will ultimately determine whether this management team is truly adept at navigating their challenges.

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