A Battle? Everyone stared at Hazel, they did not know how to respond, they were wondering if she was joking. She was a woman, but Chris was relatively thin and weak, so they couldn't even venture a guess on who would win if they fought.
"Nonsense! Ridiculous!" Chris was livid. "How could such an important matter be decided by fighting? What do you think this is, a tournament?"
"You misunderstood." Hazel shrugged helplessly. "If it was a real fight, then I would clearly be bullying you. Don't worry, I'm not that kind of person."
"You...!" Chris's face was flushed with anger again because Hazel's words were nothing short of humiliating him.
"I'm not talking about fighting face-to-face, I mean, we can make a plan to boost sales, respectively," she said simply. "Three days later, let's have a look at our plans. Whoever has a higher approval rating will win."
"Oh, you are really shrewd!" He sneered. "Whoever wins, you can end up with a scheme to boost sales and say it's your credit, right?"
She wasn't angry at all. She knew far from admitting her identity, they doubted her.
She said quietly, "Didn't I say whoever wins will have a say. If I win, you all have to obey me. And you'll have to apologize to all the women who are present today, plus write a letter of apology, which will be posted on the bulletin board for six months. If I lose, I'll let you take my place. Don't you already think that I've robbed you of your position as a manager?"
Chris's face looked pale. He was constantly trying to embarrass Hazel, only because he thought he might have been the new manager if it hadn't been for Hazel's sudden emergence. But he was very embarrassed when he was called out on his personal thoughts.
Additionally, it was true that he went too far in shaming Hazel. Some of the women in the room didn't say anything because they were also dissatisfied with Hazel, but now they seemed less inclined to dislike her, even hoping she would win.
Chris struggled in his heart for a bit because he was also moved, but just as he hesitated, a deep voice suddenly sounded.
"Even if Director Livingston says yes, how can we know if he is competing with you or helping you behind your back? How unfair will it be to him if you have a group of people behind you to help? If you want to compete, let us determine your ability first."
"Yes, yes." The other people hastened to agree.
Hazel's eyes darkened as she looked at the man speaking.
"My name is Clark Nelson, and I'm just a little manager in the warehouse department," Clark Nelson said as he looked undauntedly at Hazel. "Manager Crowe, if you think I have offended you and want to dismiss me, I have nothing to say."
"It's the personnel department's job to fire you, and if you want to quit, you just need to give in your resignation," she said quietly. "You do not need to cause drama for yourself because I may not remember you even if you won't leave an impression on me by acting like that."
Clark Nelson's face turned a little unsightly because he felt Hazel was really difficult to be dealt with. Her simple words made his questioning look like a deliberate attempt to stand out from the crowd.
"But you all agree with him, don't you?" Hazel swept over the other people. "Even if I prove my ability, you'll think I had someone helping me to win."
Everyone was silent because that was exactly what they were thinking.
"Well, I'll reveal a little information." She asked quietly, "What do you think of canned coffee in the factory?"
The people immediately looked miserable. The sales of the canned coffee seemed to be almost the most difficult to improve because of the large quantity and affordable prices.
"I bought a can yesterday, studied it, and had a rough idea," she said simply. "Canned coffee does not sell well because customers drink little each time, leading to longer consumption. I was also lucky enough to ask a passer-by who had been drinking it, who said that canned coffee did not taste as good as bagged coffee..."
"Don't we know that?" Chris complained disgruntledly, "We also noted on the packaging that canned coffee requires two scoops at a time, but customers are only using one, so they think it's not delicious enough. You can't ask us to force customers to use two scoops, can you?"
"Yeah, don't we know that?" Other people echoed his words. They looked at Hazel like they were looking at an idiot.
"Don't you know what the problem is?" She took out a small spoon and shook it lightly. "The problem of canned coffee is that the spoon is too small. If you make the spoon twice bigger, can't the problem be solved?"
There was dead silence in the room. Chris's face went pale, and even the looks of others had become very eerie.
This solution... was really great and maybe even a stroke of genius. Just making the spoon bigger, and they wouldn't have to remind the customers of using two scoops. They would consume the coffee quicker at that time, which would naturally trigger the double explosion of sales and word of mouth. But most importantly, the idea didn't increase their cost at all.
They had all been working in the company all the time, so their train of thought predictably became rigid. Besides, their ways to improve the sales all increased the attraction to customers, but they had never thought about how to solve the problem with such a simple method.
Hazel's solution was really too simple, but it would work well. They suddenly felt as if they were idiots. Everyone looked at her with complicated expressions, and Chris felt even worse. He had thought Hazel was just an ignorant woman, but a simple idea from her showed the difference between their ways of thinking.
Maybe she could really make a wonderful plan!
"Even if this method of opportunism really works, it's simply not presentable!" Clark Nelson, whose words had been deliberately provocative, said sulkily.
Hazel looked at him seriously. Chris was just unconvinced, but Clark Nelson clearly had evil intentions.
She ignored it and just stared at Chris quietly, "Director Livingston, do you think so, too?"
"No..." Chris bit the bullet. Though he didn't want to, he ended up saying, "It's a great idea, and it's very valuable. Manager Crowe, your line of thinking is active enough to be my rival. I accept your challenge. No matter what the result will be, I will try my best!"
A smile curved her lips. "Thank you very much, and I'm going to try my best, too."