America 1982-Chapter 132 - 42: Cheap Stuff is Always Junk
"Jason, The Stanford Daily really did you a solid with that call-girl ad, they praised you to the skies, saying you were willing to sacrifice yourself by taking on unconventional side jobs to subsidize the company, so have you actually put any money into the company or not?"
In his own garage, Tommy looked at the Actor interview in The Stanford Daily, and yelled at Jason, who was crazily making up homework while lying on the table:
"You’ve been working at Actor Corporation as a partner for so long and still haven’t handed over the money you earned as a gigolo, an irresponsible behavior. I’ll take you and this newspaper to court someday, you’re deceiving people."
Jason kept on writing his homework without looking up and cursed, "Tommy, you’d better be glad, if it weren’t for the fact that you, the idiot, gave me twenty thousand, I guarantee you’d be in a worse state than that Mussolini tyrant from your Italian homeland!"
Not until he had finished his assignments did he lift his head and let out a breath of relief, then moved his neck around and asked, "Speaking of which, Tommy, should a startup just distribute the little money they’ve earned right away? Shouldn’t it be invested like other companies do? And the money you gave me is odd, having Mark hand it over to me."
"If the company just earned some money and we split a share immediately, that kind of news wouldn’t look good on us. That’s why I had Holly set up a feminist organization before, so we could donate to it under the guise of supporting women through Actor Corporation. This way, it looks like Actor is immediately putting its earnings into supporting women’s employment and other charitable causes instead of splitting the profits, right?"
"As for your money, Holly’s organization had Mark contact his old one-day movie company under the pretense of purchasing films that harm women, to destroy them or whatever, you know, a whole accounting ordeal, but all you need to know is one thing—your twenty thousand isn’t from Actor, got it? It’s what you earned under the guise of a part-time movie gig, buddy, and now you’re a member of the California adult film actors guild, so don’t worry, your money is already taxed and yours to spend." Tommy said, looking at the newspaper in his hands:
"What’s the point of us starting a business? To make money. Have we made some already? Of course. So, we take a bit first. Holly, Susan, Mark have been slugging it out with us for so long, if we told them when the company made money that they get nothing, that the income will continue to be invested in the company and they have to keep working for free at Actor, what do you think they’d do if you were them? They might just crack and rob me blind! Just eighty thousand, each of them gets twenty thousand, have them smiling and it’s worth it to me."
"I’m a f*cking member of the California adult film actors guild? There’s a damn union for that sort of film actor?" Upon hearing Tommy’s words, Jason lost interest in the other issues, his eyes widened as he looked at Tommy, and his hand shot to grab the baseball bat resting on the desk corner!
"You just said that for twenty thousand..." Tommy bounced up from his seat in no time, confronting Jason, who was holding the bat across the desk, and said.
Like a baseball player warming up, Jason swung the bat lightly, glaring maliciously at Tommy, "Twenty thousand just lets me overlook you and The Stanford Daily, not enough to let me overlook this, I swear..."
"Another party, the kind you like, how about that?" Tommy made placating gestures with his hands while upping the offer.
At the mention of the party, Jason seemed tempted. Tommy’s parties were the talk of the SSD brothers; it was just that the bastard hadn’t thrown one in ages because of the startup: "You sure? The kind I like? Not some damn nerdy gathering of the computer science crowd, sitting around computers, playing marbles, and sipping juice?"
"Positive. A dozen high-class girls, each with big digits, you’ll definitely love it." Tommy spoke with confidence, "I swear, it will be like entering paradise."
"You know, if I find out you’ve lied to me, I can send you to meet Mussolini anytime, right?" Jason pointed the baseball bat at Tommy, his face darkly threatening.
Tommy saw Sophia getting out of his car, holding a stack of files, and said to Jason, "Of course, so calm down, put down the weapon, don’t let Sophia get the wrong idea. She’s the only one in this company who doesn’t know your sensational news."
"Good evening, Jason," Sophia called out with a smile while holding the files, without a free hand to close the car door she opted for kicking it shut with her leg instead.
Jason caught his breath and managed a smile at Sophia, "Good evening, Sophia."
"I remember when I lent you that car. I told you, Sophia, that car was a college gift from my dad and brother. I really like it, so please avoid any damage. Your performance just now clearly proved that you’ve forgotten my advice." Tommy settled back into his seat, expressing his displeasure with Sophia.
Sophia placed a thick stack of documents in front of Tommy’s desk and with annoyance asked Tommy Hawk who was currently engrossed in Actor’s feature in The Stanford Daily: 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
"Just like you forgot to pay my salary, Tommy. Are you really insisting that there’s no money in the company, that you will keep delaying my meager eighty-dollar weekly wages, even after Holly and Jason excitedly told me that your software sold nearly five thousand copies in a week?"
