The manager had long been fed up with these people's lazy and undisciplined attitude. They were always late for work and wouldn't listen to anything she said. Today, the supervisor came to inspect, and the supervisor was also angry. She took the opportunity to give them a good beating.
Yu Jiu was the best candidate to be used as a scapegoat. She was absent from work yesterday and late today, but the manager glanced at her and still didn't call on her first. She randomly pointed to a woman in her 30s or 40s and asked her fiercely.
"Sister Wu, what's wrong with you? Count how many days you've been late and how many days you've left early this month! Are you here to work or on vacation? Do you think you can get paid without doing any work?!"
The manager transformed into an angry bird and angrily questioned her. Sister Wu stammered and offered an embarrassed explanation.
"Manager, as you know, my mother-in-law is paralyzed at home, and my husband has to go to work early in the morning. My child also has to go to school, and he has no other siblings. I have to feed her in the morning and turn her over before I can go out."
So it made me late, but it was only less than 10 minutes. I promise I'll try to come earlier next time, okay? Manager, please don't transfer me.
Hearing this, Sister Wu really did seem like a pitiful person, and the manager was unsure whether he should lash out at her. After a moment's hesitation, the manager, with a dark expression, pointed to another person, Uncle Wang.
Uncle Wang is one of the few male employees at the counter.
"And what's wrong with you? Of all times to be late, you have to be late today. The boss is watching, do you know how difficult this is for me? Do you not respect me at all?"
"No, manager, you've misunderstood. I didn't know there was an inspection coming down from above. If I had known earlier, I definitely wouldn't have been late. Please let me off this time, manager. I'm rarely late; this is the first time."
I had already left when I remembered my wife told me to turn off the stove, and I forgot to turn off the kitchen fire. So I had to go back. I couldn't possibly burn the house down, could I? This back and forth took a bit of time, which is why I'm late. I'm really sorry, manager.
Uncle Wang was flexible and yielding, bowing and apologizing profusely. Besides, it seemed to be his first time being late, so the manager shouldn't have been so harshly criticizing him. She suppressed her anger and looked at the young girl again.
"And you, Liu Xiaomei, you wouldn't forget to turn off the stove too, afraid of burning the house down, would you?"
She refused to believe that they couldn't find someone to build a raft!
“I was late because a blind date came to my house. I had already turned them down and told them I wasn’t interested in him, but he wouldn’t believe me. Today he came to my house and blocked my door, preventing me from leaving. I was scared.”
"He also said he would come to see me every day from now on. My family had all gone out, so I had no choice. It was only after my neighbor helped me go to the police station and find a police officer that he finally left. Otherwise, I don't know if I would still be alive today."
He was still holding a knife in his hand, making noises.
The young girl was clearly terrified. She explained while covering her face and crying. She was the last one to arrive, but after hearing that the man she was supposed to meet had followed her and blocked her door with a knife, it seemed too cruel to scold her, since she didn't want to be late either.
The manager sighed. What a mess this was! She looked several years older in an instant and looked helplessly at Yu Jiu.
"And you? What happened to you? You're so beautiful, you haven't been bothered by some man, have you? But I remember your man is Xu Zijiang, he's tall and strong and can fight, who would dare to make a move on you?"
It has to be said that Yu Jiu is so beautiful and often comes to the commune. In the eyes of those with ulterior motives, this is called swaggering around. It's not like no hooligans have had designs on Yu Jiu, but after inquiring, they found out that she is one of Xu Zijiang's men!
It's that Xu Zijiang guy, who's like the King of Hell! The thugs instantly shut up. They were joking, they didn't even dare touch the girls in Xu Zijiang's gang, let alone Xu Zijiang's women!
So apart from those two brainless idiots, Chen Yuan and Li Nannan, no one really dared to mess with Yu Jiu, whether it was intentional targeting or just being a scoundrel.
"Well... Manager, you might not believe it, but I was indeed harassed by a man. However, it wasn't the kind of harassment. He fell into the water, and I was riding my bike by. There was no one else around, and he kept pestering me to save him. But I can't swim, and I'm too scared to go down. I can only try to figure something out from up here."
Yu Jiu helplessly spread her hands. She felt quite innocent, but this explanation was indeed hard to believe. Yesterday she skipped work to find someone, and today she was late to save someone. How could she be so busy every day? She must have done all the good things in the world.
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Sure enough, Yu Jiu saw a look of disbelief on the manager's face.
"If you saved someone, how come your clothes aren't wet? It's impossible that they're not wet at all, right?"
The manager wasn't deliberately picking on her, but if he really had to find someone to scold, Yu Jiu was definitely the most suitable. She was absent yesterday and late today; no matter the reason, she was going to be criticized.
"Because I didn't go into the water, he was already on the lakeside. Actually, he could have stood up and gotten up, but I don't know what happened to him. He said his legs were cramping and he had no strength, so he just couldn't stand up. He was drowning on the lakeside. So I found some tree branches and some soft vines that look like ropes, tied them to the branches, and threw them in to save him."
My hands got a little wet when I pulled him, and my sleeves got a little damp too, but it's so hot. By the time I rode my bike here from the road, my sleeves were almost dry. You can't tell they're wet now, but you can still feel a slight dampness if you touch them.
Yu Jiu reached out her hand, gesturing for the manager to touch her cuff. The manager touched it with some skepticism and found it was indeed a bit damp, as if the clothes hadn't been dried properly.
Well, all four of them had very good excuses, and the manager just couldn't find a reason to get angry. She put her hands behind her back and paced back and forth. The four of them, including Yu Jiu, fell silent and lowered their heads, waiting for the manager's punishment.
"No matter what, you were late today and got caught by the higher-ups. It wouldn't be right for me not to punish you. Here's what we'll do: deduct five yuan from each of you today, and after get off work tonight, you all clean this building together. That'll settle the matter."
"You absolutely cannot be late or leave early again. If it happens again, no matter the reason, even if the sky falls, you still need to come to work properly, do you hear me?!"
The manager spoke with a strong voice
"What! Deduct five yuan! Manager, did I hear that right?!"
Sister Wu's eyes widened in shock. She was the first to protest. They only earned twenty or thirty yuan a month, and now five yuan was deducted. That was equivalent to working for nothing for a whole week! And they still had to stay and clean. This building was four stories high and so big. It must be a nightmare for several of them to clean it!
"Yes, manager, so many people are late, and this is the first time I've been late. Why should I be fined five yuan? Ask everyone if anyone is as punctual as me. I was only late once, and you fined me five yuan!"
Everyone else is late every day, and they don't get fined a penny, but I get fined! I don't agree to this! My family depends on my meager salary to make ends meet, and now they've deducted five yuan; our whole family will go hungry!
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