Kat, a walking loyalty extractor.

Kat looked at her phone and swore. She was late for work for the second time this week and knew she was going to get an ass-chewing from her boss. She sped through a yellow light just as it turned red, hoping there were no cops around.

She had been out late with friends last night watching a movie. The rest of her little crew was fortunate enough to have jobs that didn't require them to work on Saturday, so they all got to sleep in. Meanwhile, she was cutting people off wildly at 5:32 in the morning, hoping against hope that her shift manager was late too.

Pulling into the parking lot of the the small coffee shop, she swore again. There was his Volvo, stupid fuzzy dice and all. As she killed the engine and scrambled across the parking lot, Kat prepared herself for yet another lecture.

Sure enough, Chris greeted her with a scowl when she walked in at 5:51. "Good morning, Kat. Thanks for joining us."

She sighed. She couldn't blame him. She was a model employee while she was there, but her tardiness had been a consistent problem. It had to be frustrating.

"Sorry, Chris. I slept through my alarm," she said with downcast eyes.

"Maybe you need a new alarm," he muttered. "Or a new job."

She immediately went to the espresso machine. "Don't bother," Chris said curtly. "I already set it up. The cash register is ready to go, too. Seriously, Kat, this needs to stop. I don't know what I need to say to get you to- um, hang on..."

He trailed off, his expression suddenly melting from anger to confusion. He had put a hand on her shoulder but withdrew it and looked at it with wonder. Kat didn't know what was going on with him, but this was better than the exasperated lecture he had been delivering.

"Sorry, man, I really will do better. You're right, maybe I should get a new alarm clock."

Chris's brow creased as though she'd said something troubling. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He looked at his hand again, then at her. "Hey, you know, that's not really necessary. I think I've been way too hard on you. You're a great employee, Kat, and nobody's perfect. You know what? Why don't you take the day off?"

Kat grimaced. "I'm so sorry, Chris, but can you please keep me on today? Money's a little tight-"

He raised his hands in protest, suddenly defensive. "Whoa, hey, I never said we wouldn't pay you. In fact, I think I need to see what it'll take to bump you up a level. You've been here for almost a year and you deserve a better position."

Kat stared at him, mouth agape. Was this some kind of reverse psychology? He was anxiously waiting for her response. The whole power dynamic seemed to invert instantly.

"Uh, ok. Thanks, I guess?"

Chris smiled broadly, obviously relieved. "Great! Awesome! Let's just, uh, I'll look into that. Sorry! I don't know what I was thinking. Seriously, go treat yourself. In fact, you said money was tight?"

He reached into his wallet and pulled out a pair of twenty dollar bills. To Kat's shock he held them out with a conciliatory look. "This is all the cash I've got. Take it, do something fun! Don't worry about work. We've got it covered."

"Uh, Chris, are you alright?" Kat was starting to worry that he was having a stroke or something. "Do you need to sit down?"

He laughed at that. "I'm fine! Seriously, go get a massage or something. My treat."

She backed away slowly, suddenly feeling dizzy. Was she having a panic attack? "Nah, man, I appreciate it but I think I'm gonna... um, I'm just gonna go home and relax."

Chris shrugged and put the bills back in his wallet. "If you say so. Just give yourself a little TLC. Seriously, do something nice for yourself today."

Kat silently nodded and turned to leave.