At half past eight in the morning, Zoya stood by the coffee machine looking like she’d just been publicly scolded. Her cappuccino was getting cold in front of her, while a customer in a gray coat glanced at her watch for the second time. Anna took her bag off her shoulder, walked behind the counter, and immediately saw what was causing the delay: six cabbage pies were sitting on a tray, the ones usually served for breakfast, and right next to them stood Inna, her husband’s sister, directing where everything should go.
“We’re not selling these pies today. They look too plain,” Inna said, holding someone else’s work notebook in her hand. “We should have beautiful desserts in the display. And honestly, Zoya, you need to stop arguing with management.”
“Hello, Inna. What’s going on?”
“We’re working,” answered her sister-in-law in a tone that suggested she’d been caught in the middle of something extremely important. “Seryozha will explain everything. For now, I just took a look at what could be improved around here.”
There was a note pinned to the storeroom door: “For any questions, contact manager Inna.” Anna took it down, and only then noticed a new schedule underneath. Zoya, who used to work five shifts a week, now had just two. The rest of her shifts were penciled in as: “Looking for a new employee.”
“Did you make this schedule?” Anna asked.
“Of course. You’re paying the staff too much, and then you wonder why there’s never enough money. I already talked to the girls about it.”
Sergey showed up twenty minutes later and hugged his sister at the door. From his calm smile, it was clear he thought his wife would be delighted with the surprise.
“My sister’s running the café now,” her husband announced. “She’s between jobs. This way it’ll be easier for you, and more peace of mind for us.”
Anna looked at him, still holding the note she’d just taken down.
“When did you find the time to hire a manager for someone else’s business?”
“Did you have to ask that in front of everyone? I thought you’d say thank you. We are family, after all.”
The Coffee Shop That Didn’t Exist Yet
Even before she met Sergey, Anna registered as a business owner, rented a space, and set it up with eleven seats. To open the place, she even sold her car. On the first day, they barely made enough money to restock ingredients for the next morning.
Anna hired Zoya a year after opening, when the cafeteria Zoya worked at closed down. In her very first week, Zoya remembered the habits of the regulars; now she took deliveries and opened the coffee shop every morning.
In her fourth year, Anna met Sergey: he came to fix the refrigerator and quickly solved the problem. They got married a year later. Sometimes Sergey delivered supplies, and Anna helped him out during months with no orders. Back then, no one kept track of who owed what to whom.
Over the past year, Sergey started telling guests, “We have our own coffee shop.” Anna let it slide, thinking he was just proud of her. But at a family dinner, his mother brought up the fact that Inna was out of work and asked them to find her a job.
“Don’t you have your own place? Surely you can find a spot for family?”
Inna used to sell clothes at the market until the rent went up. She knew how to talk to suppliers and wasn’t afraid of customers, but she’d never made coffee and had no experience in the food industry. Sergey suggested hiring her as an administrator.
Anna suggested that Inna work two paid trial shifts alongside Zoya: see how things work, learn about purchasing, and help greet customers. Inna declined the offer.
«I’m forty-two years old, Anya. I’m not a trainee. Either you trust me to run things or don’t bother humiliating me.»
Now Sergei talked about it in the café with Inna present, as if she had never refused.
«I promised Inna eighty-five thousand a month. That’s what she made at her previous job. She’ll put things in order, and you’ll only need to check the results.»
«Where is that money supposed to come from?» Anna asked.
«From the revenue. You keep saying your turnover is good.»
Anna spread out the expense records in front of her husband. After rent, supplies, and salaries, there was nothing left for a new manager. And Inna’s schedule would mean Zoya lost most of her income.
«Turnover isn’t money we can just take home, Seryozha. People work here. And I never agreed to hire anyone new.»
«You always make things complicated. Inna’s family, you know. Is Zoya really more important to you than my own sister?»
The day everyone heard
Zoya heard everything. She has a daughter in college and a monthly rent payment. Two shifts instead of five meant she’d have to look for a second job.
Anna got up from the table and called her employees closer.
«Ladies, the schedule stays the same. I haven’t appointed any new manager. If anyone else speaks to you in my name, call me immediately.»
Inna slammed her notebook down on the counter.
«So you’re making me look like a fool in front of everyone? Sergei, are you listening? I already told the staff who would be in charge!»
«That’s exactly why I have to speak up in front of everyone,» Anna replied. «You told them something that isn’t true. I offered for you to learn about the job. You refused. We never opened the position of manager.»
Sergei’s face turned bright red. He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and told his sister to get ready to leave. At the door, he said quietly but clearly:
«You could have given in, just this once. Remember this day.»
Anna sat down next to Zoya in the break room, where there was a small table for staff meals. Zoya ran her fingers along the napkin for a long time before speaking.
«It’s not the position that bothers me, Anna. It’s just… this morning she said you’d decided to get rid of the senior staff. That younger people would agree to work for less. I’ve already started looking at job postings, thinking you didn’t want to tell me to my face.»
«I’m sorry I didn’t ask you earlier,» Anna said. «You don’t need to look for a new job because of my family’s conversations. If anything changes, you’ll hear it from me.»
That evening Sergei didn’t touch his dinner. He sat by the window and told Anna their mother had cried all day because Inna now had nowhere to work.
«Last year, when I lost a big contract, Inna lent me forty thousand,» he finally said. «No receipts, no questions. I promised I’d help her in return.»
«Why didn’t you ever tell me that?»
«I didn’t want you keeping track of my debts. I already paid her back. At the time, she was the only one who supported me, you know?»
Anna pushed the plate he hadn’t touched closer to him.
— You can help her find a job. You can help her out financially from your part of the family budget, if we discuss it first. But you don’t have the right to promise her my cash register or other people’s shifts.
Sergey was quiet for a moment, then said that his sister wouldn’t be coming to the coffee shop anymore. He asked not to mention the argument in front of their mother. Anna agreed; she wanted to believe they had finally reached an understanding.
A promise that lasted just two days
On Thursday morning, the supplier of cheesecakes and tartlets Anna had worked with for five years called her.
“Anna, is everything okay?” he asked. “A woman phoned me, said she’s the new manager and that you don’t need your usual baked goods anymore. She offered to replace them with items from another bakery. I wanted to check with you before removing your orders from my schedule.”
Anna confirmed the regular delivery and then checked the work chat. Sergey had added Inna there even before the argument. Now, her sister-in-law was demanding sales stats from Nadya and announcing new rules to start on Monday.
Anna removed Inna from the chat and blocked Sergey from inviting new members. She explained to the staff that schedules and orders are only coordinated through her, and she asked the suppliers to confirm any changes by contacting her directly.
Nadya showed Anna another message: Inna had asked her to greet the new bakery on Saturday and promised a salary raise to anyone who “supports the changes.”
“I didn’t reply,” Nadya admitted. “I thought you two had figured things out. Then I got scared they’d put me on the naughty list.”
Anna went to the back room and called her husband. He didn’t even seem surprised by what she had to say.
“So what? Inna’s just trying to find cheaper products. You always complain about expenses.”
“No one asked me to compare prices. She’s canceling orders and making promises about salaries we can’t pay. And you keep telling people everything is arranged.”
Sergey raised his voice in reply:
“That’s because you never agree to anything! You have to control everything. No one can get through to you.”
Anna put her phone on the table. Next to it was an order for twelve staff meal kits for the clinic. Canceling the delivery would let down their regular customers, so she had to call again and double-check all the arrangements.
On Saturday, Inna showed up with a woman who brought dessert samples in clear boxes. There were guests sitting in the cafe, and Nadya was handling payments.
“Let’s try these and decide what to replace your pastries with,” Inna announced. “I’ve already arranged a good price.”
Anna came out from the back. The invited woman stood awkwardly holding the boxes.
“You brought samples for us to consider? Thank you. But I didn’t order new supplies,” Anna said, then turned to her sister-in-law. “Inna, can we step outside to talk?”
Out on the street, Inna adjusted her bag strap before speaking.
“Seryozha promised me a proper job. I told everyone I’d been hired. Now you want me to admit to my friends that my own family didn’t take me in?”
“It was Sergey who put you in this position. I never promised you anything. But you’re already cutting people’s shifts and calling suppliers as if you’re in charge.”
Inna glanced back at the entrance, where Nadya was visible through the glass, busy at work.
“It’s not like you built this all by yourself. He brought you the supplies and fixed the refrigerators. Or did you forget that?”
— I didn’t forget. And I was grateful. But just because my husband helps doesn’t give him the right to make you the boss of my team.
Inna collected the boxes from her friend and left. Anna returned to work, feeling that this situation wouldn’t end with just a simple explanation.
Around the Family Table
On Sunday, Sergey’s mother invited everyone over for lunch. Anna agreed to go after her husband promised it would be a calm conversation. He even helped clean the house in the morning, and once again, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
— Tell me, son, how is it that you’re a married man but you don’t keep your word in your own family? You promised your sister a job. A promise should be kept.
— You can’t promise a job that doesn’t exist, she said. I did offer Inna the chance to try the work. She refused. Then she came in giving orders to people without my consent.
— And who supported you when you spent all your time in that coffee shop?—the mother interrupted.—Sergey carried groceries and waited up for you every night. You’re not alone in this family.
Anna pushed her plate away. The conversation was starting to sound like a tally of every family favor. She didn’t argue about who picked up whom and how many times. Instead, she asked Sergey in front of everyone if he knew that Inna had already called the supplier and tried to change the pastries. He didn’t reply right away.
— I knew. And I thought it made sense. My sister found something cheaper.
— But you didn’t even ask what was included in that price, Anna pointed out. And you didn’t think who would answer to customers if the order failed.
Inna suddenly set down her fork sharply:
— That’s it, enough. She just doesn’t want to see me around! She likes that I don’t have a job.
Sergey looked at his wife.
— Tell my mother you’ll take Inna on, at least for a trial period. I’m tired of having to make excuses for you to my family.
Anna realized that, right now, it was more important to him to look right in front of his relatives than to keep her trust.
— I won’t hire someone who threatens employees and messes with other people’s orders before even being officially on the job. If you want to help your sister, help her. But not at Zoya and Nadia’s expense.
Sergey abruptly pushed his chair back and announced that he’d be staying with his mother for a few days. Anna asked him to return the spare key to the staff entrance—her husband always used it for evening deliveries, but now, work matters needed to stay at the café.
Sergey took the key off his keyring and placed it next to her cup. He waited, thinking Anna would change her mind, but she simply put the key in her pocket. They went home separately.
A Morning With No New Bosses
On Monday, Anna arrived before everyone else, checked the delivery, and rewrote the schedule neatly. Zoya saw her usual shifts and didn’t take her coat off right away.
— So, I’m staying? she asked.
— Yes, you’re staying. And I want to offer you the position of shift supervisor, with a pay raise. You already train the new staff, and you know the customers better than I do. We’ll go over inventory and schedules together at first, so this doesn’t turn into just another job in name only.
Zoya sat down by the staff table and, unexpectedly, burst into tears. Turns out, she’d almost agreed to do night shifts somewhere else just to pay her rent.
That same day, a friend told Anna about a job opening for a department manager at a store. Anna sent the contact information to Sergey. He replied, «Inna thinks you’re mocking her.»
In the evening, Sergey came by to pick up his things for a few days. He didn’t yell or blame anyone. He said his mom was upset, and his sister had stopped talking to him. Then he asked if they could try to start over.
«Let’s talk about us,» Anna replied. «But I need you to understand one thing: I don’t want to keep finding out from other people what decisions you’ve already made for me.»
Sergey wanted to argue, but stayed silent. They agreed to talk on Sunday, just the two of them—without his mom and sister.
The next morning, the woman in the gray coat came back to the coffee shop. Zoya was working behind the counter, and there were cabbage pies on display. The woman ordered her usual breakfast and smiled.
«Are things back to normal here again?» she asked.
Zoya adjusted her badge with her new title, catching Anna’s eye for a brief moment.
«Not quite,» Zoya replied. «Some things have changed around here.»
Anna set a plate with a hot pie in front of the visitor. Her phone buzzed with a message from Sergey: «I’ll come on Sunday. Alone.» She read it, slipped her phone back into her apron pocket, and got back to work.
