(no subject)
The brief case has seen better days. My eyes are glued to it though. Lucius lent it to me. Just something to keep the papers together. Employment records. For the plant in San Diego.
"Something wrong, sir?"
Alfred's voice almost startles me. Not sure why. We talk frequently on the trips back from the tower. I look up at him in the rear view. His gaze shifts from the road to the mirror in regular intervals. He looks concerned. I guess I've given him reason to be.
If I grip this brief case any harder, I'd rip the handle off.
"I just finished attending a meeting with the head of our aerospace division. Something Lucius asked me to sit in on. The west coast plant seems to be making quite a profit."
There's a pause from the front seat. My eyes go to the brief case again but I can feel Alfred looking me over.
"One would assume this is good news, sir. You don't appear to be pleased."
There's a burning sensation at the pit of stomach. After a deep breath, I tell him the rest of the story. "They've been cycling through the employees. Hiring them on as temporary workers then letting them go after a year."
"Not an uncommon business practice, sir," he reminds me. He knows where I'm going though.
"I don't care how common it is," I spit. "Doesn't make it right. Those people receive no benefits. Whatsoever. Even after the management staff took a raise, they had a pretty profit to report."
My jaw begins to ache. Workers are being gouged in my company just so that some pencil pushers can protect their bottom line.
"What do you intend to do, sir?"
"Have a plane ready for me tomorrow morning, Alfred. I'm making a trip to San Diego." A silence hangs between us in the Bentley. "I'm going to fire every last one of them. Then I'm going to find people to replace them that care as much about my company as I do."
I turn my head away from the mirror. Out onto the fields as we come into Bristol.
"Something wrong, sir?"
Alfred's voice almost startles me. Not sure why. We talk frequently on the trips back from the tower. I look up at him in the rear view. His gaze shifts from the road to the mirror in regular intervals. He looks concerned. I guess I've given him reason to be.
If I grip this brief case any harder, I'd rip the handle off.
"I just finished attending a meeting with the head of our aerospace division. Something Lucius asked me to sit in on. The west coast plant seems to be making quite a profit."
There's a pause from the front seat. My eyes go to the brief case again but I can feel Alfred looking me over.
"One would assume this is good news, sir. You don't appear to be pleased."
There's a burning sensation at the pit of stomach. After a deep breath, I tell him the rest of the story. "They've been cycling through the employees. Hiring them on as temporary workers then letting them go after a year."
"Not an uncommon business practice, sir," he reminds me. He knows where I'm going though.
"I don't care how common it is," I spit. "Doesn't make it right. Those people receive no benefits. Whatsoever. Even after the management staff took a raise, they had a pretty profit to report."
My jaw begins to ache. Workers are being gouged in my company just so that some pencil pushers can protect their bottom line.
"What do you intend to do, sir?"
"Have a plane ready for me tomorrow morning, Alfred. I'm making a trip to San Diego." A silence hangs between us in the Bentley. "I'm going to fire every last one of them. Then I'm going to find people to replace them that care as much about my company as I do."
I turn my head away from the mirror. Out onto the fields as we come into Bristol.