Chapter 182 – Trial Period
For a second, I almost believed her when she said she never lied. Why else would she show me documents that were so disadvantageous to her? Still, I stayed prudent.
“Why would you allow me to see this? These are not exactly the best evaluations.”
“I have nothing to hide.”
Maybe she had some kind of mental disease or at least some sort of psychological issue. That wasn’t the thought process of a normal person.
“Why would companies hire you, even knowing your reputation?”
“Greed. All of them wanted to acquire someone with my skills.”
“Would you be fine working for a small, starting company like mine with your level of competency?”
“Yes.”
Her neutral face made it truly hard to read her. If only referring to her eyes, they were the purest I ever saw in any adult, but I couldn’t base my conclusions only on that. I chose to move the conversation forward.
“I understand. Before we continue, do you have questions or remarks?”
“I do.”
I got myself ready for anything.
“Please tell me.”
“I am interested in working for you, but I have some conditions.”
“What are they?”
“First, I don’t want my work to be micromanaged. I don’t want you or anyone else to look at what I am doing over my shoulder all the time.”
“That seems fair with your level of experience. What else?”
“I want 25% of my working time to be dedicated to research.”
“What sort of research?”
“This is something for you to decide, since I will be working for you. However, my research time needs to be strictly respected.”
“Hmm. We’ll need to do some research to create new products anyway, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Is there more?”
“I want to minimize the number of meetings as much as possible.”
“What about one progress meeting per week?”
“I accept. Also, you mentioned building a factory later. I strongly advise building it in dome 2 if you want to recruit any decent selnic engineers and technicians.”
“In dome 2… Yes, I’ll think about it. Anything else?”
“No, that will be it. If you agree with those conditions, I will provide the quality of work you can expect from the best engineer on the market.”
“All right. It seems we might be a good fit. Should we talk salary?”
“3,762 lods per week. This is my current worth, not a lod less and not a lod more.”
“…That’s a lot. How did you come up with this number?”
“I calculated it.”
It was a lot more than what she earned on the three contracts, but those were from a few years back. As a test, I asked her something a normal person would hesitate to answer in an interview.
“May I ask about your previous salary? I can’t read the local language.”
She showed me one of the documents, and more specifically, a number on one of the pages. Even though the alphabet was different, the characters for the numbers were the same.
“3,100 per week.”
“Does that mean you believe you weren’t paid enough previously?”
“Correct.”
Was she crafty or unable to lie as she claimed? I was confused. I took a short moment to organize my thoughts.
“When would you be able to start working?”
“Immediately.”
I nodded. Frankly, I wasn’t too sure about her, but it wasn’t like I was gambling my whole life on this.
“Here’s my proposal. I’d like to employ you with a season of trial period.”
“I accept.”
That was quick. Just like in my world, trial periods were very common here too, so my proposal wasn’t any special.
“I’ll write the contract and come back to you tomorrow. Let’s meet again here at the same time.”
“Yes. I want all the things we talked about to be written in the contract.”
I wasn’t too sure who was making demands on whom, but I never cared about hierarchy too much, so it didn’t bother me.
“I’ll do so. Ah, and the workshop is still under construction, so you won’t be able to start working immediately.”
“I will help with that, too.”
“You don’t need to. You can take your time to travel and settle in dome 82.”
“I will help with the workshop construction.”
She spoke as if there was no other possible outcome. I started to understand why she had trouble with previous colleagues and superiors.
“…Please do so. There’re probably a few days of work left before it’s completed.”
“I understand.”
I wished I could say she looked satisfied, even though that wasn’t the case. Her expression was as still as a lake in a windless valley.
We separated, and I went to buy a gate ticket for 82. After that, I went back home to write the contract. I carefully included everything we both mentioned and read it several times to be sure everything looked correct. It helped that I had a look at her previous contracts for inspiration. I then made a copy for myself.
The following day, she arrived strictly on time, and I showed her my masterpiece. She read both copies quickly and signed them without any hesitation. I did the same when she was done, and our deal was set in stone.
“Welcome aboard, Miss Baimart. I’m glad to have you with me.”
“Call me Minsto, boss.”
“Then feel free to call me Tila, Minsto. There’s no need for too much formality when we’re only a few people.”
“I understand, Tila.”
“Great. Here’s your ticket.”
I handed her the piece of paper and wished her a good trip.
“Feel free to travel anytime you want. I’ll see you in dome 82.”
“Are you not traveling with me?”
There was no way I would spend 10k lods for no reason.
“No, I’ll go a bit later. Please use a few days to find some accommodation and move between domes.”
She stared at me for a long time while I gave her one of my best smiles. She eventually opened her mouth.
“Tomorrow, same time, in 82’s city hall. I will be ready to work.”
“What about moving your furniture?”
“I will take care of everything.”
I wasn’t even surprised anymore.
“Got it. I’ll be there. See you tomorrow.”
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