Page 12 of Rich and Bossy

In the meantime, I think I may do some work of my own to fix this before it starts.

I absolutely shouldn’t do it. It’s insanity.

But I think I’m going to pay my new hot little friend Hazel a visit.

CHAPTER 4

Hazel

This is goingto be one hell of an expensive print job.

It’ll be worth it. I have to believe that.

I don’t have a printer at home, though, and I couldn’t do this at work. They watch every page that runs through the copy machine, since it’s all supposed to be paperless.

A passing employee at the office store glances my way, eyes widening when he sees how many copies I’m printing of the flier I made up. It’s a copy store. Shouldn’t he be happy about it?

Even now, standing beside the machine watching page after page slide out from between the rollers, I can hardly believe this is real. I’m really doing this.

I have to do it now. I already talked to people. They’re broken down and fed up, so to see a little hope in their eyes was worth it, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll be the sacrificial lamb. I can be fine without this job. They can’t.

Was it the smartest way I could have done things? Probably not. Talking about unions while on company property was a huge risk. It was either that or find some way to get a list of employees and chase them down on social media. It’s not likeI can email our distribution on Outlook and be like, “Hey, you guys tired of being treated like garbage? Let’s form a union!”

Talking to anyone about this stuff is risky, but I was as discreet as I could be. Definitely looked around to make sure management was nowhere in sight. I probably talked to twenty different people about it, just to see. Every single one was like, yeah, I’d like to hear more, and I’d be interested, as long as I don’t get in trouble.

That’s how it is. People walking around in fear. It’s ridiculous.

I’ll take the lead and take the blame. I’ve done the research to make sure we follow all the rules, and everything is legally protected. So Rapid can just get bent out of shape if they have a problem with it. The law is on our side, and if they think about targeting anyone for participating, I found a legal group that does pro bono work for this kind of stuff. Plus, I have professors I can consult with about it too.

Right now, I need to educate people on just how bad the warehouse is at the moment. Some people think that’s normal, that it’s just how the job goes. You go along with it if you want to get paid. I have to remind them that Rapid wouldn’t exist if weren’t for us, the people on the ground, doing the work, making sure people get their packages on time. The drivers, going nonstop, all hours of the day to get things where they need to be.

Paxton Briggs and his rich friends sit up in their tower downtown, risking nothing, just finding new ways to squeeze more and more blood from a turnip.

I was actually excited and liked my job when I first started there, when I was sixteen. What a difference five years can make. I used to look at the wave and think of us as this giant force, providing an awesome service to people.

Now, when I look at it, all I can think about is drowning. All of us are being pulled under. I’d say it’s just a matter oftime before someone gets seriously hurt, but people have already been seriously hurt. Someone is going to die if some changes aren’t made.

They’re going to find out that waves can come back at them, and we’re bigger than anything they can send at us, if we stick together.

I know this. I just need to convince everyone else. It’s easy for me. I’m not risking much by doing this. Other people will have to risk everything. I know that. I don’t expect them all to go along, and some of them will probably be mad at me. But if I can get this win, I know they’ll thank me later. I know they will.

At the same time, fear is ripping through my insides. Is this going to be like that story where the frog gets slowly boiled to death? The whole thing about how you can put a frog in a pot of water and raise the temperature a degree at a time, and the poor thing won’t even know it’s being cooked.

They could easily make a few changes, and everyone would be fine, content. But working conditions have become impossible. The labor laws are all going to crap because people like Rapid keep buying everyone off to get their way. I’m pretty sure company lobbyists actually write their own laws now.

Sorry, but I’m not going to stand around and watch mothers be unable to pump, and people peeing in cans. I’m not going to watch people wear trackers and get write ups if they don’t move fast enough to meet the quotas that keep getting more and more impossible.

That’s just the stuff I know about.

“What’s this? A school assignment?”

My entire body freezes.

Wait. I know that voice.

I’ve only heard it once, but I know it.

Once again, pure fear rushes through my veins. My head snaps up at the sound of his voice, and my heart tightens at thesight of his face. There he is, towering above me, wearing the same amused expression he wore in the elevator.

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