Zac said, "I hope I'm wrong too. I know that Yamato's economy has been stagnant for a long time and that it really needs outside investors to help. So, to get the investors here we are offering incentives.
While it does look like the government is favoring foreigners, all of the money is going to help our country. With things like taxes and required hiring standards the boost to our economy should be substantial."
"Man, you really know your stuff. Have you done a lot of studying for this?"
"Pretty much. It's hard to start a business here. To start mine I had to do a lot of work and take a lot of loans. I've managed to pay back the loans, but it wasn't easy. I ran the store completely on my own and ate lots of ramen."
"Well, you did a good job. Do you have employees now?"
"Yeah, I have one. A pretty girl manning the counter."
"Oh? A pretty girl huh? Are you interested?"
"I mean… I guess? I don't want to push anything. Just take it slow."
"Just be careful not to let her get taken by someone else because you were taking too long."
"Yeah yeah. Anyway, how many employees will you have to get?"
"Changing the subject, huh? Well, ok. I will need…"
I waved my hands in the air as I used the AR glasses to open the information. There was flour dust poofing off of my hands. We were making dough while talking. It is a mindless task that requires arm strength.
When I had the information I said, "Um, it looks like I will need 88 people."
"Damn."
"Honestly I will probably need more than that as a manager. I forgot to add that to the equation."
"That's got to be expensive."
"Yeah. There will be 40 factory workers, 48 security guards, and now 1 manager. The total will be $2,070,000 or around ¥327,000,000 a year. So, yeah, it's pretty steep."
"Damn. All of that and without including any insurance. You must be opening a big factory."
"Not at all. It will only have two production lines. The main problem is having a revolving staff to keep the factory running 24/7. With each line only needing 5 people, but having them rotate out every 8 hours and then having an extra group to let them have a day off every 3 days. The amount of people you need really jumps up."
"Wait. You have them working 8 hours and then have a day off every 3 days?"
"Yeah. Why? Is something wrong about that?"
"Not really wrong. But, is the work taxing? Like hard work?"
"No. It should be the easiest job they have ever worked. Almost everything is automated and what isn't is just putting the materials in and taking what it makes out. Honestly if I wasn't required to hire people I would have just made robots to do it."
"Well, never tell that to who ever you hire. They probably lost their jobs to machines. Plus, there may be some trouble. You don't have a way for them to get over time do you?"
"Not unless someone calls in sick or can't come in. Then I would have to call for someone either on their day off or already working to stay later, like two people working 12 hour shifts. The work hours are capped at 8 hours by law."
"Yeah. The problem with that is that Yamato people like hard work. They actually prefer hard work over easy work."
"Why?"
"That's just the culture here. It is actually considered a form of bullying if you don't give someone any work. That person will actually feel bad for not working."
"Really? That doesn't make any sense?"
"Like I said, it's a different culture. Even my own employee works overtime everyday. The shop is open for 12 hours everyday. I don't even know what I would do with a day off anymore. But, we work, we enjoy the work and we have fun while doing it."
"Yeah… I don't think I will ever come to understand that."
We finished making all of the dough we were going to need to make. Now we put it away to rise and grab the dough that has been sitting for 2 days. Zac makes his own bread for the sandwiches he sells.
The shop is like a coffee shop cafe. It sells coffee, sandwiches, and little pastries.
Zac is a guy that takes pride in his work. So, everything must be done to perfection. We made little cakes, tarts, rollcake, and some stuffed breads.
While making these we kept talking.
We managed to finish everything before opening.
Zac remembered something then said, "Oh, right. I saw you waving your hands around like a lunatic. Was there a reason for that?"
"Waving my hands around? Oh! Yeah, I'm wearing AR glasses. I was using my hands to open my notes and see exactly what I needed. Here put them on."
I handed them over and Zac put them on.
He said, "Ok, now how do I… Oh? Oh!"
Zac was waving his hands around, laughing, while looking at nothing. He looked like an escaped mental patient. And wouldn't you know it, exactly at that time, a girl walked in and froze at this sight.
She seemed to be struggling on how to process what was happening.
Here was her boss laughing and flailing his arms about, while a random unknown foreigner was standing there enjoying the show.
I looked at her and could see her gaze shifting around the room as she analyzed what was going on. I could see the little hamster running on his wheel as hard as he could, going fast enough to create smoke. Smoke that was coming out of her ears.
I would have loved to try and explain but Zac had my translation tool. So, I did the only thing I could, I smiled and waved.
That was apparently the wrong decision as she looked mortified and started slowly backing out of the kitchen.
I panicked, I raised my hand in a stop pose and used my anime knowledge to say, "Stop." in the Yamato language.