In the morning, the fat boss prepared the formula and left. He rarely left in the morning because it was also a peak sales period.
The streets outside were dirty and messy. A customer who came to buy bread said that cleaners throughout the city were on strike today.
This is a more polite way of saying it. In fact, the street cleaning work in LOS City is basically done by illegal immigrants.
The income they asked for was very low, twenty-five dollars, which allowed them to sweep the streets twice a day.
It costs at least thirty-five dollars to hire a local person. Ten dollars may not seem like a lot, but if the base is large enough, it is an astonishing number.
There are two types of city cleaners. One is managed by the City Administration, and these people work for the federal government.
Standard salary income for government employees, social insurance, medical insurance, social security, various welfare benefits similar to those for government employees, plus more holidays and shorter hours.
There is also a private type, for example, a cleaning company contracts the street cleaning work of a certain block from the city hall at a relatively low price.
They would hire illegal immigrants to do the work and pay them only a small amount of money, and the remaining difference would be their profit.
When the city hall finds that the cost of hiring cleaners is much higher than contracting it out to these private companies, they will hold a meeting and then contract out this part of the public service.
The purpose of saving money is not to better serve the society, but just to put more money in your pocket.
Now the conflict between locals and illegal immigrants in the city is intensifying. Even if some cleaners are locals, they dare not go out to work alone.
As a result, forced strikes occurred. Of course, this may also be another political appeal, telling citizens through such means that it is time to calm down.
After just one night and one morning without cleaning, the streets looked much dirtier, and the donkey and horse manure on both sides of the road emitted a constant stench in the high temperature.
It would be best if it didn't rain today, otherwise the rain mixed with the faeces of these animals would make the whole street and the whole city smell bad.
Today's sales peak ended quickly. People came early and left after buying. Few people chatted here.
At about eleven o'clock, the car that Fordis had driven last time stopped outside the store.
He sat in the car and looked at Lance through the window, honking the horn, "Boy, get in the car!"
Lance took off his apron, handed it to the fat boss's daughter, asked for leave casually, and got in the car.
"The boss wants to see you." Fordis started the car and tried to avoid the animal faeces.
Although this thing will not damage the car, it is very troublesome to clean after the faeces are squeezed into the tread of the tire.
But the road is full of this and there is no way to avoid it.
"About what?" Lance actually had some idea in his mind, but he still asked.
Fordyce shook his head. "The cigarettes are in the drawer. You'll know when you get there."
On the way, Fordis didn't say a word and kept driving seriously. Demonstrators could be seen everywhere on both sides of the road. In some alleys, some people could be seen beating up a few people.
During this time, Lance also saw police officers enforcing the law. They simply tied several demonstrators who participated in the beating of black immigrants to lampposts on the roadside and then left.
Fordyce glanced at them, as if explaining for Lance, "The police station is full of these people. It can't hold them anymore, and we can't send them to jail, so the mayor signed the 'Executive Order on Local Disposal' this morning."
"This kind of behaviour will result in being chained directly to a nearby lamp post for twenty-four hours."
Lance found a cigarette and lit one, "Big fuss?"
He curled his lips, "A lot of people from other places are flocking here, so you can see how big it is."
Joining in the fun has always been a favourite extracurricular activity for federal people outside of work, but there are also some professionals who do things for money, and the federal government has no shortage of such groups.
No matter when, where, or how big a demonstration you want to hold, as long as the money is in place, there is nothing they can't do.
Here, luxury cars also have privileges on the road. No one stopped them and they entered the alley behind the financial company. This is their parking lot, which contains many luxury cars.
There were two burly men sitting on chairs at the back door, drinking coffee and bragging. After greeting Fordis, they stared at Lance curiously.
"This is Howard, and this is his brother Howard Jr. Their dad had a little drink when he was filling out the birth certificate."
Howard, the elder brother, raised his hand and made a gesture to drive him away, "Don't fucking say that!"
Fordyce shrugged and held Lance's arm as they entered the back door.
The back door leads to a large room that's like a lounge, with sofas, chairs, a small round table, a dart board, a pinball table, and a pool table.
There are quite a few people sitting here, probably because everyone stays here most of the time, so the floor here makes a creaking sound when you step on it.
They greeted Fordis, who responded to them, but more of his eyes remained on Lance with curiosity.
Many people are afraid of these people, but in fact, they are not scary at all before their "switch" is triggered, and they are even easy to get along with. This is Lance's experience.
He also imitated Fordis and greeted others with a smile, while flying around with Fordis' cigarette.
"Is this the new employee in the company?" an old guy really liked Lance and couldn't help asking.
The first impression when you meet someone is very important. Lance is very likable, young, handsome, and clean. There is nothing wrong with his smile and attitude. There is no reason not to like him.
Fordyce snatched the nearly empty cigarette from Lance's hand and said, "The boss wants to see him."
The others were silent at this time and could only wish him good luck.
When I entered the finance company from the side door, the pretty girl at the front desk was putting on makeup in front of the mirror. She glanced over when she heard the voice. Fordis explained again, "The boss wants to see him."
She then turned back and continued to put putty on her face.
Walking to the end and turning left, Fordyce opened the office door, but he didn't go in. "Good luck, Lance."
He also liked Lance, but now he could only wish him good luck.
The boss was watching the news. In the news, the police chief repeatedly warned the public not to commit crimes easily and showed the results of their work that day on the screen.
How many people were arrested, how many crimes were stopped, but there was no mention of when the city would be able to stabilize.
"Do you watch the news?" Without turning his head, he raised his hand to Lance, motioning him to sit down. "If you want a drink, go to the bar. I'll finish watching this news. I remember you smoked, and the cigarettes are in the cigarette box."
Lance took a cigarette and lit it, then leaned back at the table, also watching the news.
At the end of the news, the chief said that he would do his best to restore order in LOS City as soon as possible. What surprised Lance was that he actually saw the policeman who was looking for the fat boss to collect fees standing behind the chief.
"What does this guy do?" Lance pointed at the man.
The boss was a little surprised, but he still explained, "His name is John. Don't think this name is ordinary. He has a nickname here, called 'Vulture'."
"Now he has been transferred to the branch as an assistant director. Anyway, he is not a good person."
Who accepts bribes and who doesn't is actually no secret to people in this circle.
But there is something inexplicably funny about a loan shark saying that a policeman who accepts bribes is not a good person.
After the news was over, the boss turned around and motioned Lance to sit down. "I forgot to introduce myself last time. My name is Alberto Cotiz. You can call me Alberto, or Mr. Cotiz."
Lance nodded to show that he understood.
Alberto touched his lips and said, "I've been watching the news these days. There was a large-scale conflict at the port yesterday. I heard that you guys are no longer allowed to work at the port?"
"Temporary!", Lance explained.
The creditors certainly have more power to ask him to explain all the problems, and he also needs to give Mr. Coty some assurances.
He laughed twice without explaining why he laughed, and then sighed, "Now this group of outsiders has messed up the city, and we don't have enough manpower."
"You made me a promise before that you would come to work for me if needed. Is this promise still valid now?"
Lance felt a little surprised, but not too surprised. "Of course, Mr. Coty, my promise is valid at any time."
"It's just... you know, the situation outside is a bit complicated right now, and we may not be able to do certain things well."
Alberto raised his hand to stop Lance from continuing, "I'm not stupid. I know what work to assign you."
"I have two accounts here. These two guys are planning to run away, so can you get back the money they owe me?"
"If you can handle these two orders, then the money you owe me will be written off."
Lance didn't agree immediately, "How much do they owe you?"
Alberto took out two loan contracts from the drawer and threw them on the table.
When Lance picked it up, he found that it was a very formal contract. It seemed that they had also consulted a legal advisor.
A loan of one thousand yuan now amounts to three thousand five hundred yuan including principal and interest.
There is also a loan of two thousand dollars, which is now five thousand dollars.
He blew a whistle. There was no business direction with higher profits than usury!
"Before I decide whether to do this, Mr. Coty, do they have the money to pay this debt they owe you?"
Alberto spread his hands. "Of course. If you can't squeeze any money out of them, just bring them to me. You'll have done your job."
"So now, what's your answer?"