New Gods of North America.

Chapter 749 "Recipe"

As noon approached, Anne Auster arrived at the detective agency's temporary location in the dock area.

For Wayne, this distant cousin wasn't exactly the "difficult to get along with" type.

She's a rich heiress, beautiful, and although she's a bit arrogant, she's well-mannered and at least so far doesn't seem hostile or malicious. She's also very generous with her sharing.

For example, the new carriage she gave Wayne was the kind that would make pedestrians unconsciously walk around it or turn their heads if parked on the side of the road in the dock area during the day.

Wayne thought it wasn't a good idea, so he arranged for someone to purchase another "common" local carriage to avoid making his daily travel too conspicuous.

Regardless of the circumstances, at least the act of giving gifts demonstrates "goodwill" in the current context.
Even if Wayne returns the item to the other party for whatever reason, according to basic etiquette and common sense, there is no need to unnecessarily strain the relationship.

But Wayne really had a lot to do today. After confirming the food procurement situation, he needed to go to Seren in the Elland community to urge and follow up on the recruitment of staff for the cannery.
If there's still time, we should probably take a look at the restaurant and make some preparations in advance.

Wayne even temporarily forgot about the gangsters in the dock area.
Anyway, the monks can run away, but the temple can't; the tax collection issue has already been "achieved," and the recent public security situation doesn't seem to have deteriorated.
As long as the gangs don't retaliate, and once organizations like labor unions are formally established, the rest will be a matter of "boiling the frog slowly." At most, they'll need to deal with any troublemakers that emerge, and that should be enough to maintain the superficial peace of the dock area.

So Wayne didn't treat Anne Auster as an outsider and chose to get straight to the point: "Our detective agency welcomes you anytime. Even if I happen to be away, someone will take care of you. However, I have some business to attend to today and may have to leave soon. If you have something to say, we can talk now."

Anne Auster's face remained expressionless. She turned her head slightly in a gesture, and the housekeeper then had two maids come forward carrying boxes.
“You didn’t seem to like those two outfits from yesterday, so I had someone buy a few more that are closer to your usual style. As for more formal attire, we’ll have some of those decent tailors make bespoke suits for you when we get back to New York. That should be fine for the short term.”

Wayne: "..."

What kind of domineering CEO style is this?
Fortunately, the detective agency alone has accumulated some wealth, so as long as the gifts aren't too outrageously valuable, Wayne can both "accept" and "return" them.
Even if the other party doesn't care about money, considering the kinship between the Auster family and Mrs. Constantine, Wayne can reciprocate by bringing some souvenirs from his home.

He didn't dwell on it, glanced at it briefly and nodded in approval. Doug next to him accepted it for him, and Wayne joked, "I thought you were going to talk to me about 'when to head to New York State' or something like that."

"From what I've observed, you probably won't want to leave Richmond until that cannery is successfully in operation, so urging you probably won't do any good. If you have something to do, then go ahead."

Anne Auster seemed quite reasonable in this regard. After speaking in a flat tone, she picked up the black tea that Doug had just brought over, took a sip, then frowned and put it down. She then instructed the housekeeper to bring over something "more appropriate" next time.

Wayne wasn't encouraging her to continue doing this, so he made up a reason, saying that the temporary base should maintain the status quo as much as possible, and that if she ever visited the workshop again, the detective agency could make special arrangements for her.

The young lady didn't insist, nodding slightly in agreement. Then, she didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. Instead, she stretched on the sofa, leaning back and lying down a bit. Compared to her state at the banquet last night, she seemed quite relaxed.

One to say one,

The downside of her treating the detective agency like her own home is that she's a bit too controlling, as if she can dictate everything, which makes her seem somewhat distant.
However, it wasn't entirely without its advantages. It felt like she didn't need Wayne to treat her like a VIP and keep her company all the time; it really did feel like she was "visiting relatives."

After Wayne confirmed that everything was alright, he instructed Doug to keep a close eye on the young lady and not to neglect her, then quickly left.

When Wayne arrived at the cannery construction site, he didn't bother the people from Brooke's factory or the carpenters. Instead, he found the guide, Seren, and asked him to gather all the temporary day laborers he had recruited in the dock area. Then he went to get a sense of the situation and make some promises.

Wayne already has ideas for this.
The workshop's workforce currently relies almost entirely on the "part-time" slaves on the Beaton family plantation. In the medium to long term, this is unsustainable.

Therefore, from a relatively long-term perspective, some of the workers in the dock area, especially some of the workers in the Airland community, are one of the better alternatives.

Therefore, the promises Wayne made to them became increasingly concrete.

For example, if a worker doesn't want to work too far from home, the wage increase path within the cannery is "long-term employment" and "skills training".
It's really just a stable employment system with a base salary plus commission, plus seniority and technical subsidies. The higher the efficiency, the longer you work, and the better your skills, the higher your income will be.

If they perform well and are willing to leave the dock area, then we will consider arranging for another group of people to go to the workshop. It is not practical to arrange for them to travel back and forth there every day, and it is also troublesome to manage. Therefore, there are corresponding subsidies, which are slightly higher than those in the cannery. For key positions, the treatment will definitely be different.

Both workshops and canneries are geared towards large-scale operations, so there aren't many trade secrets. After being separated, the technology required isn't that advanced either; any normal person willing to do it should be able to manage.

As for truly "trade secrets" such as sauce and reconstituted cheese recipes, there are well-established practices in modern society that can be adopted. For example, those who can master the most critical processes should be on a "whitelist," and each person should only be responsible for a certain part of it.

As long as the detective agency, the "backbone," doesn't have any problems, the cannery and the workshop won't have any major issues. The detective agency is professional at dealing with bad guys, and if things get really bad, they can always resort to dirty tricks.

Legitimate business competition relies mainly on technological innovation and supply channels, which are not so easy for ordinary people to learn, and even those who are qualified to imitate cannot completely hide their flaws.

Wayne is also willing to provide free technical training and general education for its employees and their families, and plans to even teach them a little management.
One difference between industrialized production and traditional workshop production is that the former expects all employees to understand the relevant specific knowledge. Apart from core secrets, the clearer and more proficient everyone is in the remaining processes and key points, the better. There is absolutely no need to set artificial limits.

In modern society, this cannot even be considered a "benefit" for employees; rather, it is more like an "obligation."

"Mr. Wayne, is it true? My children can receive a free education if I work for you?"

To Wayne's surprise, in addition to providing stable employment and relatively good salary, free technical training and general education were also among the most anticipated parts of the pie.

Think about it too,

In the United States these days, a large part of general education for the poor is delivered through church schools that also have ulterior motives.
Many of the illegal immigrants who can only stay in the dock area and live together are unwilling to come into contact with the Holy Spirit Church. They rely entirely on "family education" or "prenatal education" in this regard. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people in the Erlan community who only speak "foreign languages".

Wayne quickly recalled some effective practices from the past and soon nodded in a formal reply: "Not only will education be free, but I can also provide free lunches for the children, which may alleviate some of the burden on families. Children who complete the training will also be given priority in employment."

A free lunch?!

"Really?! That's great!"

"I'll bring my son over to work with me tomorrow!"

"Hey, your son is so young, he'll hardly earn any wages even if he comes here," someone whispered nearby.

“Idiot, at least it’s better than hanging out with those thugs in the community all day. And participating in the development here might even give you priority for school admission,” someone else retorted.

Seeing the excitement on the faces of some of the "parents" after hearing the story, Wayne hesitated for a moment.

Well……

Should we also make "signing a long-term employment contract" one of the requirements for children's school enrollment?

It doesn't seem necessary.

Childhood recipes can last a lifetime, which, in a sense, can be seen as a disguised way to promote luncheon meat and subtly resist gangsters.

Moreover, once this line of thinking is opened up, there are many things that "schools" can do.

(End of this chapter)