Chapter 5: What the Camera Recorded
Elena turned the tablet so the security officer could see.
She didn’t show it to Daniel.
She didn’t need to.
The camera covering the charging area had recorded the entire interaction.
It showed Karen approaching the station before Daniel arrived.
It showed her waiting beside her SUV.
It showed Daniel pulling into the charging space.
And it showed Karen stepping between him and the charger.
But there was something else.
The previous two incidents were also visible.
In one recording, Karen had approached another driver and told him the charger was reserved.
In another, she had directed a couple toward a different parking area.
She had not asked them for money on those occasions.
But she had still acted as though she controlled the station.
Elena lowered the tablet.
“Karen, this has happened more than once.”
Karen’s expression hardened.
“I was helping.”
“Helping doesn’t mean inventing rules.”
Karen looked toward the waiting cars.
One by one, drivers were beginning to move forward.
The queue was finally clearing.
For Karen, the crowd’s attention had become a different kind of pressure.
She had wanted everyone to believe she was in charge.
Now everyone knew she wasn’t.
She turned toward Daniel.
“You could have just paid me and avoided all this.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That would have made the problem worse.”
“How?”
“Because then you’d believe you had the right to keep doing it.”
Karen’s eyes narrowed.
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at the charger.
“I think everyone should know who actually has authority and who doesn’t.”
That answer seemed to stop her.
Elena told Karen she was not permitted to collect money or represent herself as a representative of the shopping center.
She also told her that management would document the incident and review whether additional restrictions were necessary.
Karen didn’t apologize.
She didn’t admit she had been wrong.
Instead, she walked toward her SUV.
Daniel thought that was the end.
Then he noticed she had left something behind.
Her fluorescent handbag had been placed on the hood of her SUV.
She was standing several feet away, staring back at the charger.
The charging screen showed Daniel’s car was nearly halfway charged.
The line behind him was moving.
The system was working exactly as designed.
But Elena was still studying the security footage.
Daniel walked over.
“Is something else wrong?”
Elena shook her head.
“No. I’m thinking about how easy it was for someone to create confusion here.”
Daniel understood immediately.
A rule that was obvious to management had not been obvious to ordinary drivers.
If one confident person could stand beside a charger and convince people she controlled it, then the problem wasn’t only Karen.
The system itself left room for confusion.
Elena looked toward the entrance of the shopping center.
“We’re going to change that.”
She had already begun making a list.
And one of the changes would affect Daniel before he drove home.
