Prompt Word: Proceeds

Penny Collins, Business Manager 3

Penny was not particularly happy, but was trying very hard to keep her cool, “So, you are telling me that Ms. Ismail is getting less than half of Mr. Zhang’s salary?”

Bob Coke, in HR, did not suspect anything, “Oh, yes. As you know, Management is not eligible for union protection, and we’re using the proceeds for special bonuses, of which, you are eligible this year, in part because of this savings you created.”

Penny thought hard about this for a moment, and quickly realized the implications, “Thank you so much for this update, Mr. Coke. I’ll get back to my duties then.”

She decided to do floor rounds. This, was actually Ms. Ismail’s job, but it wasn’t unusual for a higher level manager to do this sort of ‘get to know the workers’ tour.

She made sure to have a few words with each and every station, and soon enough - as expected - the union rep joined her to observe.

“Mr. McMahan. I need …” Penny stopped, and said some greeting to a thread loader, then moved towards the next station, " … a meeting. Offsite … " Penny stopped again, saying hello to a leather loader, and moved on. " … no management … "

Ms. Ismail approached and started excitedly, “Ms. Collins, I …”

Mr. McMahon interrupted, “We’re doing a management tour, for the sake of the workers’ sanity, I’d like to get this over with. Ms. Collins, let’s move on.”

Penny said hello to a teenager pushing a vat of foul smelling glue, and once out of Ms. Ismail’s earshot continued, " … It concerns her, but will … " once again, she found herself at the start of the next line, and gave her greetings to a leather loader, as she moved towards the thread station, " … could mean my job."

Mr. McMahon said, “At Yakob’s, say, Seven?”

She only nodded, and continued the full tour.

Meta (Note)

There are three main outputs from turning raw coal into burnables. Gas, Coal Tar, and Coke. Gas is too on the nose. Coal Tar is a toxic carcinogen, but doesn’t make a good surname. Thus, Bob Coke gets a surname.

Link to first post: https://wandering.shop/@vollink/115726770005156155