Badges and New Managers.

Yulia knew she couldn’t get away with going to her store before Derek left for work, so she contented herself with studying cooking while her daughter played nearby.

Derek, for his part, exercised with some customers at the home venue,

which reached Rank 2 that morning.

Yulia picked “Manipulation” (though her mother’s book advised against ever using it because, though it helps sales, it also causes customers to lose a star).

Yulia developed enough enthusiasm in Cuisine to gain admission to the hobby lot (though she didn’t have time to go),

then went to bed mid-afternoon.

Yevgenya, a resourceful child who already had all her skills, napped when she was tired,

and otherwise took care of herself while her mother slept, leaving the butler free to keep the sports venue neat and tidy.

Derek checked on his wife as soon as he came home,

then played with Yevgenya. “How’s my little cupcake?,” he asked her.

“Was Mommy a good girl—did she stay home all day?”

“Oh, yes, Daddy!” the girl answered. “Mommy read the yummy book ALL day. I want to read the yummy book, too!”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do about that, princess,” he told her.

Derek made some dessert, left it in the fridge,

then went out to socialize with some of the customers.

While Yulia showered, the sports venue reached Rank 3,

and she took the “Network” perk. She didn’t care much about instantaneously meeting all the acquaintances of another Sim, but was happy to get the relationship starting bonus.

She poked through the refrigerator for a snack. ‘Hmmm, THIS looks good,’ she thought.

The next morning, Derek bowled with some of the venue’s customers,

while Yulia repeatedly practiced cooking macaroni and cheese.

Late morning, Yevgenya was happily playing with her bunny,

and Yulia announced to the butler that she was heading over to her store.

“Just to open it and call in the employees, then I’ll just sit there and read,” she assured him, figuring Derek would probably quiz the butler as to her activities later.

Almost true to her word, the most work Yulia did was “Sales – May I Help You?” on a few customers (which was always good for a customer loyalty star).

The rest of the time, she really did sit in the back room and study cooking.

It was worth going in, though, because both Troy and Shelby gained Silver badges in their relative assignments:

Yulia immediately gave them both raises,

and promoted them both to Manager,

and they both became controllable while at the store.

The store reached Rank 6,

and Yulia picked “Head for Numbers” (though she didn’t much care about it).

She did get a bit fatigued, so took a short nap,

Eventually she needed only 2 more stars to get her store to the next rank, but she wanted to get home for Yevgenya’s birthday, which the family had planned to celebrate that evening.

____________________________________

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

Once an employee gets a total of 5 Badge points (each Gold badge is worth 3 points, each Silver is worth 2, and each Bronze is worth 1), you can promote him to Manager, and he becomes just as controllable as your business owner. You might even consider a prospective employee with badges that aren’t relevant to your business—if, say, you’re looking for a cashier, but can’t find any prospective employees with register badges, you might consider hiring someone with a Gold in Toymaking and a Silver in Robotics, just to make him Manager and therefore controllable. Running a business with controllable Managers is as easy as cake! (And it beats waiting for all your children to grow up so they can help out in the businesses.)

And—speaking of cake--how about that cheesecake that Derek sneakily left in the fridge for his pregnant wife to find?