A smile in purgatory 火海一笑 (BxB)

I'm sorry for my face

(Timeline: Week 4 Friday)

Since his first day was on a Tuesday, it is now Friday therefore Tom worked 4 full days this week.

On Tuesday when Tom started, Hanson actually gave Tom an almost identical speech to the one he gave Kexing on Kexing's first day.

"My name is Hanson Zhou Zishu. I'm not your manager. Our manager is Brian. If you need to come in late or call out, don't tell me, tell him. I'm not easy to work with so if you can't work with me, just tell Brian to move you to another department. He knows I'm difficult. If I have problems with you, I will tell you, but if you got problems with me, don't tell me because I won't change. I work 6 am to 6 pm five days a week, but they only pay me for 40 hours. If you want to work just 40 h, that's fine. I don't mind at all."

Then the four days that follow, Tom indeed worked 8 am to 4 pm. It was not a surprise to Hanson, it's normal. Why would anybody want to work hours that they don't get paid for? Only Kexing is foolish enough to do that. Hanson on the other hand, does it because he doesn't have anything to do outside of work. He follows a strict work schedule, and when he has a day off, he follows a strict holiday schedule.

Hanson also noticed a few more things about Tom, but he did not say it. He is a man of few words. He was rather surprised though, when Kexing started complaining about Tom quite a bit.

For example, Tom came in late by 10 minutes on Thursday, so he worked an extra 10 minutes that day. But Kexing was quick to remind Hanson that Tom came in late. Then whenever it's break time, the allowed time slot was 10 minutes, but Tom always took 15 minutes. Kexing pointed that out to Hanson three times already in the last 4 days. He thought Hanson did not notice but he didn't realize that the man was more observant than he thought. Also, twice this week, Kexing and Tom went to other building to work. That was where the other site was located. But it being a new building, it was not fully staffed at all time. Usually only a handful of people go there everyday, and the office staff only goes there twice a week. The rest of the time, they worked at the main site. In that sense, if somebody says they are going to the new site to work, nobody knows whether they really did, or did they slack off.

Kexing told Hanson that when Tom goes to the other building, he spends a lot of time in the bathroom, coffee room, and parking lot. And that Tom is very lazy. Every opportunity he had, he would tell Hanson what Tom did, that would make Hanson like Tom a little less.

However, Kexing never made up anything, he always only spoke the truth, which is what he observed with his very own eyes. But given that he tells Hanson almost 4-5 times a day about how lazy Tom is, one cannot help but wonder, did Kexing do that so he looked better than Tom before his 30-day review.

Despite Hanson never responded when Kexing complains about Tom, he knew everything Kexing said was true. He did not add or make up stuff.

Friday, around 1 pm, which is 2 hours before Kexing's 30-day performance review...

"Hanson, Tom took over 35 minutes lunch today. He left at 12.20 pm, and it's now almost 1 pm and he's not back yet. Lunch time is supposed to be 30 mins." Kexing complained again to Hanson about Tom.

"Why do you keep complaining about him?" Hanson finally asked the 64,000 dollar question.

"I'm not complaining, I'm telling you the truth."

"I don't need you to tell me."

"Why are you protecting him?" Kexing asked with an annoyed look on his face.

"I'm not protecting anybody. And why do you dislike him so much?"

"I don't dislike him. I just don't want you to like him. You're nicer to him than you are to me."