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Redline's Journal (vignettes 1 & 2)


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.....In the morning of (date, 3 days after arrival in FC), Charles Windum the fifth, 'Redline' to his friends, woke early in his immersion tank. He yawned, stretched, and exited it, drying off. 
....."Today is a great day to be alive!!" He stepped out of the cabinet, and returned to full size, then did his morning routine - - stretches, yoga, cardio, breakfast, shower, got dressed. He rode the elevator down, and went to the nearest bus stop. He enjoyed using public transportation when the focus of his day wasn't anything of great import. 
....."Do a few favors for pops, and then I can turn to my own life!"
.....He made his way to the Freedom League Special Circumstances Housing, a quite lovely Art Deco-style apartment tower in South Freedom City. By now it was 10 am, and he hoped that the business office was open. The building was open, so he went in, found the directory, and was soon in a waiting area.

....."Mr. Windum? Please come in."
.....Redline followed the nondescript office worker, middle-aged, balding, glasses, brown tie.
....."Have a seat." Redline sat, and the other man did also, behind a desk whose nameplate said 'Orland Trent'. 
....."And how might I help you today?"
....."I'm here on behalf of my father, Yin Weisheng? He owns a vast number of businesses, among them a company that leases electric vehicles to the general public, and that makes most of its money supplying fully-charged vehicle-batteries. He makes that work not with solar technology or fossil fuels, but by supplying a kind of exercise machine for those who might happen to need work and have beyond normal abilities. When the exercise machine is used or targeted, it transforms the incoming energy to electricity, which it then stores in portable batteries. So! First, we'd like to lease a location here where the exercise machine could be set-up, and people, or whatever, could use it safely. Those using it will be paid five cents per Kilowatt-hour, which certainly shouldn't take an hour! Later, I will have a set of locations that the charged batteries will need to be delivered to. Just so you know, at those locations we will be selling the electricity for nine cents per Kilowatt-hour."
.....As Redline was speaking, Mr. Trent nodded, nodded, his eyes got huge, but then he nodded a few more times.
....."How much were you looking to lease?"
....."Well, the machine takes up about 130 square feet, and we'll need a waiting area, processing, cash register... Do you have anything in the 400 square foot vicinity?"
....."Twenty feet by twenty feet? No problem. $3,000 per month?"
....."Excellent! Six months in advance?"
.....In a trice, Redline had a tiny spot on the first floor, right next to Harry's Barbershop, and had called pop's banker to begin the transfer of funds. Within two days the machine and cash register would be delivered, so Redline called around to Office Team and WeWork to set-up appointments for a day-shift cashier. Those interviews would be the next day.
.....Redline hit the road again, focused on finding a parking lot to lease so that the Ford Focus --es could be delivered and set-up. Pop usually sent an office trailer with a leasing agent for those, so Redline didn't have to worry about them. He actually got that done by two, so there was some possibility of arranging an AeroVironment charging set-up at a fueling station within 50 miles of Freedom City. He'd have to find, lease, and set-up those in the other two directions after he hired the temp. 
.....'Not gonna get that done by public transport!' he thought to himself. 'How many days of plodding thru business stuff am I gonna have to do? I came here to get away from all of that!' He continued as he rode the bus back to his apartment building near Liberty Park. 'Then again, most crimes don't happen during the day, so maybe tonight...' He went right down to the parking garage.
...'Hmmm. The corvette's fast, and stylin', but the Zero Security-Bike is all mine!' Grinning, he put on his helmet and riding gear, then rode NE on I 535, looking for a small town between 40 and 60 miles from FC. 
.....by 6:30 pm, Redline had returned, business done. He ate a quick dinner at a truck-stop and then started cruising the streets, his helmet comm set to the police-band.... It took several hours to get used to how the Freedom City police divided their districts. Several times in a row, Redline would arrive at a 'crime' ten minutes after all the 'action' was over. So he decided to concentrate on the Lincoln area. He was actually able to observe a couple of drug busts, kids selling on street corners.
.....'So that is what that looks like! It's almost midnight, and they don't seem to be able to follow the kid's runner to the drug distribution-place. I'm not part of a team yet, and I don't want to get 'stinky' to the cops just yet...maybe tomorrow night.'
.....Tired and feeling disappointed, Redline returned to his new home.

Edited by Ra-endome
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     "Alright, Ladies," said Redline, looking over the four of them. All four were early 20-s, focused, pretty, and seemed intelligent. "We will have two positions open, but four of you have made it thru the application and interview process. Both positions will be day-shift, three days a week. We'll be closed on Sundays. When we're open, we'll be open from 9 to 6. and you'll get a one-hour lunch. Am I clear so far?" They all nodded.
    "Very good. I'm going to hold up some pictures. It may be necessary for you to deal with beings of this kind as you work here." Then he showed an Avian, a Deep One, a Serpent Person, a Dotrae, and a Piscean. Not to mention several kinds of metahumans." As he was talking, the blonde got up in a huff, and stomped out. 
      "Okay. Down to three."
      "The ad said thirty dollars an hour, how does that work?" asked the luscious redhead, Monique.
        "Ten is immediate, like other paychecks. The other 20 are longevity bonuses. Half of it is collected up and delivered to you once every three months, 1/4 once a year, and the final 1/4 = once per three years. So, ten per hour, 30 hours a week is $300 per week, minus taxes, etc. Your first three three-month longevity bonuses would be $3600 each, minus taxes. Then your first yearly bonus would be $7200, and your second also, and then on your thrid-year anniversary, you would get $25,000. We find it works fairly well."
      "What if I quit before then?"
     "Then your bonuses are toast. That's the point, really.
     "Now, it is very essential to understand the work you will be doing. Many people might think that the beings coming in to use the equipment are our customers, and they are not. They are our extremely temporary fellow workers," Redline puts one of the large desk-drawer--sized batteries onto the desktop. "This is not our product, this is our means of delivery." Redline points to the meter on the front. "There's our product, the electricity inside the battery. Our customers have one or another kind of electric vehicle, and we sell them electricity, housed in these batteries.
     "The three of you are still onboard? Excellent! Who knows the six stars of customer service? Write them down, and hand that sheet to me, please."  There was a quick flurry of writing and passing. "Good, Gloria has six, but one is wrong. Judy has five, and Monique has four.
     "Monique why don't you tell us your four stars of customer service?"
     "Pleasantness, Courtesy, Speed, and Accuracy." she answered.
     "Very good. Judy, what did she miss?"
     "Well, I have two that she missed, Proactivity and Product-knowledge." answered Judy.
     "And you missed 'Pleasantness' or Positivity. Put those two lists together and you have the six." He looked pointedly at Monique and she nodded.
     "Okay, now these are about how you treat everyone that you work with and how you present yourself to the public while we are paying you. Some of your extremely temporary fellow worker or some members of the public that you interact with may not be human, and may not even be Americans, but you have to be Positive to them, Courteous to them, deal with them in a way involving the appropriate Speed, with great Accuracy, Proactively, and with excellent access to Product-knowledge. If you cannot do that, let me know now, so that we can stop wasting each other's time." He looked at the three. "No-one opting out? Very good. There will be a Product-knowledge center beneath each cash machine. While you are working for us and business is slow, you are expected to read and study the Product-knowledge books as thoroughly as you can. Part of getting your longevity bonuses is passing a test of your Product-knowledge. And an easy one is to smile. That's part of Positivity, and when you deal with people over the phone, they can feel it when you smile.
     "Well, I don't know what to do. Three people, two positions. You are all equally qualified, so I have no idea of how to choose."
     After a few moments of silence, Monique raised her hand.
     "Yes?" asked Redline. Monique got up, walked over to him and whispered in his ear.
     "What? Are you sure? Hmm, go out and around to the ice cream shop. I'll join you there in a few moments." Monique got her stuff together and left. Redline turned to the others.
     "You two are hired. I had thought, but I was obviously wrong. I had thought that it was obvious that there will be no fraternization or sexual conduct allowed between employees or between employees and bosses for so long as you are employed here. Judy, you start tomorrow. Gloria, you'll start on the fourth morning from now. Now I'll teach you both to open and close, and give you your keys. Always remember that you are on candid camera!"

     About ten minutes later, Redline joined Monique at the ice cream shop.
     "So! There's no way that I could hire you for that job, BUT! I do have a need for a Personal Assistant, same salary, but probably only three or four hours a day, six days a week. And, especially with that incentive you mentioned...." Monique smiled and nodded, her fireball-red hair bobbing gently.
     "Excellent! Come on down to my car in the parking garage. It'll be your first day of poetry-aiding - - - helping me get my Longfellow straight!"

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