To be the QCO at Roundly's you had to have a working knowledge of each facet of the pool ball production process. China was spending three days at each of the twelve stations in the plant. But it didn't take her half a day to master the skills she needed in each one. It wasn't that hard. Any moron could do it. Except maybe the ones they hired at Roundly's.
If she could of been bothered, she could of recommended stuff to improve the system and increase their output too. But she couldn't be bothered. She knew she wouldn't be around long enough to pick up her end-of-year bonus, or reap the fruits of any wasted effort she put into the place.
By lunchtime she was so moody she didn’t even head for the cartons. She was pissed at the fat man, but she was more pissed at herself for letting it get to her. He didn't mean no harm. He was just some dumb ass, small-minded hick whose whole life rotated round this shitty factory. Weren't his fault.
She walked over to where he sat on a sack reading the paper and eating a long sandwich. She crouched down in front of him in a way Waldo couldn't of crouched in a million years.
"Lao," she said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I ain't Chinese. I'm Lao …from Laos." She pronounced the 's' at the end so he'd understand it. He thought about it for a bit. His sandwich hovered in front of his mouth like one of them spaceships waiting to dock.
"The country?"
"Yeah," she laughed. "The country." The sandwich spaceship still hung there, susceptible to attacks from alien raiding parties.
"Landlocked."
"You what?"
"Laos. It ain't got no coast. Surrounded by Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Thailand."
She made them little eyes as round as they'd go.
"That's right. How the f … how the rather you know that?"
"Me and Aretha got atlases and maps and stuff. I like to look things up when I read them in the papers. When they talk about our boys in Nam, I like to see where they're talking about."
He finally took a bite of his baguette. She made eye contact with him for the first time that week. It looked like she was gonna get into a conversation, but it only looked like it.
"Right." She stood up. "Just so's you know I ain't Chinese." And off she walks.
Waldo was all ready to get into that conversation they didn't have. He already had questions queued up to ask. But he was too slow. By the time they'd worked their way up to his mouth, she was over there curled up on her packing cases.