America 1982

"Fifty yuan plus thirty yuan of Target supermarket coupons." A man put on his somewhat dirty Target discount supermarket chain delivery worker uniform and threw a few banknotes and three discount coupons from his wallet.

Susan Curtis buttoned up her bra and said dissatisfied: "Hey! The price we agreed on is eighty yuan, all in cash!"

"Baby, that's because of the "Happy Hunter" commercial and when I called you to inquire, you said you had a big F-level number, but you actually only had a C. The service I encountered when I was consuming was discount, then I will also enjoy the discount when I pay." The man turned his head and said in a cold tone to the woman who had just hugged each other affectionately.

Seeing the angry expression on Susan's face and wanting to rush over to her, the man shook his huge fist and showed a sinister smile: "Baby, there is more than one place in my body that is hard enough."

"You are a bad guest." Susan finally didn't have the courage to argue with the other party. She just walked over, opened the door coldly, and complained.

The man grinned and walked towards the door: "Your bad breasts are only worthy of a bad customer like me. See you next time."

When the door closed again, twenty-four-year-old Susan lay back on her bed with a numb face, fumbled for the cigarette case next to her, lit one and held it in her mouth, rolled her eyes, and looked out the window.

Only at sunset can light briefly shine through the windows of this dilapidated apartment, making her look a little more warm and desolate.

The phone on the bedside table rang again. She held a cigarette in her left hand and picked up the receiver in her right hand. Although her face was still cold and numb, she said in a sweet voice: "Baby, I want to have some fun." ?"

The laughter of several young people came from the other side of the phone. It was obvious that they were just a group of bored young people, not the guests who were preparing to patronize her. Susan hung up the phone directly, and the room fell into silence again.

After enjoying a moment of silence, Susan threw away the cigarette butt and picked up the "Happy Hunter" magazine next to her, ready to see if any other sisters in the same industry had come up with more attractive advertising slogans. She took it and copied it.

Susan just flipped through the thirty pages of "The Pleasure Seekers" one by one. By the tenth page, tears were already covering her numb face. Every time she read this magazine, she would shed tears. She I don't know why, maybe it's because I found that on just one page, there were dozens of women with the same fate as myself logged out. They were just as desperate as myself, lying on the bed waiting for the next customer.

Thirty pages, plus the number of people working in entertainment companies, that's thousands of women, put on the shelves in the magazine like discounted products, waiting for customers to choose.

Soon, she turned to the last page of the magazine, and then she saw an advertisement that was completely out of place with the other advertisements. Susan didn't even know if it was an advertisement:

"Here is free computer technology training, free job recommendation here, and here we will teach you to use technology outside the body to gain a foothold in this world. If you are not completely disappointed with this world, please give us a chance to help you. This is Stanford University Women for Equality, give us a call, we’d like to listen.”

Below is a line of phone numbers.

Susan lives in San Jose, only forty kilometers away from Stanford University in Palo Alto, and she certainly knows the name of the university.

My father, who had disappeared from his life for many years, once angrily cursed Stanford University for causing them to lose their jobs.

Many years ago, Palo Alto was the largest food machinery and military weapons production site on the West Coast, with tens of thousands of workers making a living. However, with the end of the war and the development of the times, various factories established during World War II were closed, and then Stanford The university bought the land and renamed it the Stanford Industrial Park. The unemployed workers always thought that Stanford would open factories in this industrial park, but in the end, only various physics, high-tech and other companies were established in the park. Don't mention it. When construction begins, even the security guards who guard the industrial zones need to have a high school degree.

Susan has a high school degree, but she has no job and no place to live. This apartment belongs to a friend of hers. This friend who kindly provides the place will take 30% of every business she makes.

"Please give us a chance to help you, Stanford." As she read the slogan, Susan finally had an expression of ridicule on her numb face, but she picked up the phone by mistake. She wanted to be like those young people. Just like calling to tease yourself, calling Stanford was just for fun.

…

With a straight face, Tommy glanced at the girls in front of him, including Renee, who were answering the phone. Finally, he looked at the person in charge, Gary Goode, and slowly walked up to him, staring at him: "I don't understand. Why do you call these people, and after they answer the phone, everyone has a hypocritical tone that deserves to be beaten! There is no need for those women who have been tortured by the fucked up life to question, even when I hear that tone, I think you are damn liars. !”

Renee subconsciously covered her mouth. It was the first time that Tommy spoke such vulgar words in front of her, and this was also when there were several girls nearby. You know, these are all members of the Women's Equality Promotion Association.

Gary was startled by Tommy's tone and did not recover. However, a girl next to him said to Tommy dissatisfied:

"Hey, you have to watch your tone, we..."

"I pay attention to my tone? I pay attention to my tone? You guys need to pay attention to your tone!" Tommy interrupted the girl directly and pointed at several phones not far away with a fierce expression:

"What are you worried about? What are you being hypocritical about! Are you really liars who are going to deceive them? No! You obviously want to save them! But why do you sound like you want to drag them into a pit of fire!"

The girl lowered her head due to Tommy's sharp eyes, but her companion immediately plucked up the courage to speak and explained to Tommy:

"We just don't want to hurt their self-esteem when communicating, so we have to think of more appropriate wording in our minds to avoid..."

"They have been tortured by this world to the point where they have no self-esteem. What they need is not politeness or politeness. They are calling to see if there is still a little bit of hope and opportunity in this world that can make them change. Destiny! Only after they know this, will they give us the most precious thing about her, which is her remaining trust!" Tommy turned to look at each other:

"Do you really understand equality! Do you understand respect? You know nothing! Your tone is the greatest disrespect for the woman on the other side of the phone! Three phone calls! Three phone calls! You wasted three opportunities! Those three Women have a chance to change their destiny, but because of your bullshit tone, they will continue to sink. It's your fault~, fuck you Equality Association, a group of stupid* college students who have eaten enough, they only know how to shout A play-house organization with slogans! I use the money to purchase computers to help those women, not to help you people add a shiny resume to your resume!"

"Tommy, calm down." Renee nervously reminded Tommy in a low voice, because two girls were already in tears because of Tommy's rude curses.

"Wipe your tears and listen carefully. Let Tommy Hawke from the country teach you rich ladies how to deal with such scarred women. That is to treat them as equals instead of looking down on them." Tommy lowered his head and lit the fire. He took a deep breath from the cigarette, and then walked to the phone:

"If I fail, feel free to complain to me, but if I succeed, you better fucking do as I say, otherwise I will complain to the Promotion Association. You just want to hypocritically gild yourselves, and don't want to fucking save those people." Poor woman!”

Soon, the phone rang, and Tommy answered the call, with anger still in his voice: "Stanford University Association for the Advancement of Women's Equality Computer Training Classroom, I'm Tommy Hawke."

"I saw a strange advertisement on "Happy Finder", free computer training? Isn't that an April Fool's Day joke for college students?" The woman opposite asked: "You should know that the advertisement on that page has nothing to do with it. No sane person would see that, so everyone at Stanford is going crazy?”

Tommy Hawke took a puff of cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke into the receiver: "Listen, madam, you are not the first person to doubt. I am exhausted mentally and physically to deal with skeptics like you, so I am allowed to smoke. Let me make a long story short for you, I won’t take the initiative to ask your name, but I need to ask you two other questions, and if your phone has a recording function, you can start recording now.”

"I'm listening," the woman said.

Tommy said in a direct tone: "When you take a business, how much does the customer pay you?"

As soon as this question was uttered, everyone present showed a look of horror.

"Fifty yuan." The woman was silent for two seconds, and when everyone was shocked, she answered Tommy's question with a self-deprecating smile: "And a thirty yuan discount coupon."

Tommy flicked the ash from his cigarette: Can discount coupons also pay the bill? That customer sounds like an asshole, but I'm worse, you know, I sit here and answer the phone my fucking part-time job, and I only make four bucks an hour answering dozens of calls, but the good part is, I'm sitting here In the office, I only need to explain the problem to suspicious ladies like you, without having to take off my clothes to deal with those difficult customers, and I don't have to worry about the police coming to my door. Besides, I know computers. After graduation, I will find a decent job in one of those big companies. Of course , don’t lose heart, ma’am, you can do it too, so my second question is, do you know where Stanford University is? "

"Yes."

"Very good, let me say it again. Computer training is provided here for free, and job recommendations are free after graduation. The location is in the classroom on the Stanford University campus. You can come directly and verify it for yourself. If it turns out that this stupid* promotion association I spent money on advertising just to make fun of you women. Just give the phone recording to the police. They will send me and the people from the promotion association to where we need to go. Then we will find a lawyer willing to make money and sue Stanford University for severe compensation. A sum of money that is enough for you to live for the rest of your life, don't be soft, Stanford University is very rich." Tommy said in a vulgar tone: "And I guarantee that there will definitely be lawyers who are willing to help you do this kind of thing without charging consulting fees, just for the sake of Share that big sum of money with you.”

After the woman heard Tommy's words, she laughed happily: "You mean I can take classes in Stanford University's classrooms for free? If it's not free or they cheated me, can I still sue Stanford University? You’re quite interesting, and there are very few people who answer the phone who are as interesting as you.”

Renee blinked her eyes not far away. When she first met Tommy, she also said that Tommy was very funny, but Tommy at that time was definitely not like he is now. He seemed like... like someone who drank in a low-end bar. A middle-aged alcoholic after two drinks.

"Yes, Stanford's money is not mine anyway. I will be very happy if I have the opportunity to see it go bad. So, madam, you come to Stanford University and see for yourself. I don't have time to explain too much to you. People are very interested in this for free." I'm curious about the word. I have to explain it dozens or hundreds of times a day. I guess if you have so many guests a day, you won't be able to maintain a good temper. Do you have any other questions? I'm going to hang up." Tommy said with a hint of amusement in his tone. I am very impatient and ready to end this call.

The woman thought for a while: "I don't have a car. If I go there by bus, will anyone be there to greet me at the school gate? I heard that Stanford University's campus is very big."

"Of course, we have a reception desk at the school gate, but you have to tell me your name before I can register you." Tommy picked up the pen on the table and said.

The woman didn't hesitate and said directly: "Susan Curtis."

"Okay, I'll register for you, Miss Susan Curtis, see you tomorrow." Tommy said a perfunctory goodbye, hung up the phone, then raised the paper with the other party's name and walked over to In front of several women:

"This name may be a fake name, and maybe she won't come tomorrow, but at least she was willing to listen to what I said, and at least she had the urge to come and see it, so she asked if there was a reception desk at the school gate, and you guys Concerns will only make them worry that you are going to defraud them of their money, so remember it clearly, respect is not about looking down and giving alms, respect is very simple, look them in the eyes."

Second update ~ 4,000 words ~