 When Brice left, however, Marla had no one else to fall back on; Crystal, in spite of her counter-cultural beliefs, was the only other person who had any retail management experience, having worked as an assistant manager at the Pewter and Incense store for 6 months before they closed down.Unlike Marla's previous assistants, Stuart had no hand in her getting hired, not even interviewing her, as he was too busy trying to replace all the managers that were let go for embezzlement at another store in his district.Marla noted the irony that Stuart decided to trust her instinct the one time she had to pick someone out of desperation.