Free Dark Avenging Angel by Catherine Cavendish Page A

for whatever reason. The material was familiar; I had delivered elements of this session many times at the Chronicle .
    I moved around the room and involved each of them at one point or another. I even involved Stuart, although I only did that once, as his frown told me I’d made a mistake there.
    I got them performing role-plays, initially with me as the customer and then in pairs, while I circulated the room, listening, making notes. Then I held a final session where we ironed out some common answers to objections frequently raised by customers.
    As I concluded, they gave me a round of applause. Unexpected, but gratifying. There had been laughter, participation, and a number of them made a point of telling me not only that they had enjoyed it, but also that they felt they had learned something they could immediately put into practice.
    “That was brilliant, Carly.”
    “I really enjoyed that.”
    “I can use that. It feels really natural. Thanks, Carly.”
    It couldn’t have gone better and I felt exhilarated at their newfound enthusiasm. Had I turned a corner here?
    “Carly, can I see you in my office, please?” Stuart wasn’t smiling, but surely he couldn’t be angry with me this time, could he?
    “Close the door. Sit down.”
    A hand of fear clutched at my gut. Now what?
    He steepled his fingers and rested his elbows on the desk.
    “I’m not sure what I witnessed there, but that is not how I expect you to deliver a training session.”
    I stared at him. “Pardon?”
    “You move around far too much. You should stay in front of the class and sit down so you can refer to your notes easily. I can see I’ll need to show you.” He sighed. “I really thought training was something you could do, but now I see I was wrong. I had high hopes for you, Carly, but they seem to have been sorely misplaced. You may have reminded me of Fizz initially, but any resemblance to her was clearly coincidental.”
    I couldn’t find any words. I swallowed. Had we been in the same session? Was this because I had called on him at one point? And why the constant harking back to this woman, Fizz? Right now, I was sick of the sound of her name.
    The silence lengthened.
    Finally, I trusted myself to speak. “This is the way I was trained at the Chronicle . We found that training was much more effective if we made sure everyone enjoyed it, and people remember more when they learn by practicing, rather than just being lectured.”
    Stuart laid his hands flat on the desk. “That’s not the way I want it done here. In future, I expect to see you sitting behind a desk at the front of the room. Clear?”
    I said nothing. I stood and marched out of his office. I didn’t slam the door, but I didn’t close it too quietly either. This didn’t go unnoticed by one of the telephone-sales staff.
    “I just want to thank you for that training we just had,” she said. “I really enjoyed it. Much more than his sessions.” She nodded towards Stuart’s office, where he sat, head bent, reading some papers. “He just sits there, going on and on. And he never opens a window. I fell asleep once and he didn’t even notice. I’d have fallen off my chair if Hazel hadn’t nudged me and woken me up.”
    “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
    She smiled and one of her colleagues let out a whoop.
    “I just sold this customer a series. I did what you said, Carly—instead of asking him if he wanted to advertise, I asked him whether he wanted to promote his gas fires or his cookers. He’s advertising his cookers for a whole month. I’ve been trying to get him to do that forever. I’ll get my bonus now!”
    Stuart opened the door of his office. “Well done, Sandra,” he said and avoided my eyes.
    My angel showed me a vision that night. And I wished to God she hadn’t.
    I had been watching TV. More accurately, TV had been playing in the background while inside my head, thoughts whirled and I seethed. My anger against Stuart welled up, and now I wanted to