Chapter 130 Trouble Comes Knocking - Part 1

Since the parties involved had already disappeared, Ethan naturally wouldn't stay any longer at Jobs' house. He hit the gas pedal and drove to Los Angeles, delivering the commemorative album signed by Akira Kurosawa himself to little Steve's dad.

Because during their previous phone conversation, Spielberg had informed Ethan that he had left Los Angeles a month ago to shoot scenes for his film all over North America. So, Ethan could only express his gratitude over the phone for now. Of course, even over the phone, Spielberg's excitement was palpable enough to overwhelm Ethan.

After sorting out the relationship between little Steve and little Joe, Ethan returned to the company he had been away from for so long.

He distributed the small gifts he had brought from his trip, and after three months, seeing the happy smiles on the faces of the employees when they saw him again, he felt a sense of joy. After briefly chatting with them, asking about their plans for the celebration and whether their workload had been heavy lately, he returned to his office with a friendly demeanor.

Accompanying him were two supervisors there to report on their work.

The first to speak was the administrative supervisor, Eulise Noble. Because Ethan had asked her to keep an eye on their competitors, she promptly reported on the state of affairs in the North American gaming industry over the past three months.

"Magnavox acquired two gaming companies in August."

"Since those two companies hadn't produced any major hits before and weren't well-known in the industry, we didn't inquire further into the specifics."

"Then, Intel announced publicly a month and a half ago that Magnavox had purchased a large batch of chips from them, with the expected transaction amount around ten million US dollars."

"Oh—these people are really—" Ethan shook his head at Magnavox's actions.

"Clearly, they could have used cheaper chips, but they insisted on using expensive ones from Intel. What are they thinking?" Ethan quipped, his tone light and cheerful.

With a wave of his hand, the financial supervisor, Alan Massey, presented the sales report and began reporting on the company's performance. "Since the official release of 'Pac-Man' in April, the total sales of arcade machines in North America have exceeded nine thousand units in the past five months, reaching nine thousand four hundred and eighty-three. With just thirty-four thousand dollars left, the revenue is expected to exceed nineteen million."

"At the same time, we still have three hundred and sixty machines in backorders, with an average increase of sixty to eighty pre-orders per day. If nothing unexpected happens, the total sales of 'Pac-Man' arcade machines could exceed ten thousand units within a month."

"During this period, the production cost was six million four hundred and ninety thousand, and the sales and management expenses were six hundred and thirty thousand, including giveaways, such as the batch of electronic arcade machines sent to Stanford. After deducting these costs, the company's net profit has reached eleven million eight hundred and forty thousand dollars."

Wow!

This figure caught Ethan's attention! He had always known that electronic games made money quickly, but he was still somewhat surprised when he saw the speed of their in-house production! A net profit of ten million in six months?

What other industry could match this kind of money-making speed?

"Very good! Very good!"

Ethan applauded, "You've worked hard. Alan, go and copy the bonus scheme from HP next door. We'll directly issue year-end bonuses based on their top standards!"

This decision brought smiles to the faces of Alan Massey and Eulise Noble.

Because after working hard for a whole year, this was what they had been waiting for!

Especially since their two bosses were rarely in the office, leaving them to handle all sorts of trivial matters. While it seemed like they were given a lot of power, it also made them quite weary.

As the two of them expressed their gratitude with smiles, Ethan noticed something amiss.

That was the absence of the production supervisor, Damian Dean, who had yet to show up today.

Although after his position changed, he would be stationed at the factory for long periods, today was the day the boss returned! He had clearly informed the company in advance, so why hadn't he come to see him?

Is he being aloof?

With this thought in mind, Ethan asked in puzzlement, "Where's Damian?"

"Is the factory too busy today? So he needs to stay there all day?" Ethan joked, "If that's the case, I'll definitely give him a 'Five-Star Employee' trophy at the end of the year."

However, as soon as Ethan's joke came out, the two standing there simultaneously ceased their joy.

Not only that, they instinctively glanced at each other.

This situation puzzled Ethan, who asked, "What's wrong?"

"I see you both seem troubled?"

"Is there some trouble at the factory?"

The continuous questioning made Eulise Noble purse her lips.

She wanted to speak, but she was also somewhat conflicted.

This behavior made Ethan immediately turn his gaze to Alan Massey. "Alan, you tell me."

"Your father has cooperated with our family for so many years, you should have heard about our family's principles of handling things. As long as it's not someone deliberately causing trouble, people from the Johnson family can accept and understand it, and won't punish them."

What Ethan said was Thomas' way of handling things.

Because fruit, as a product, is quite fragile and often incurs losses during cultivation and transportation.

So, Thomas set some rules specifically for this, stating that if the workers did their jobs properly, he would bear any losses that occurred, and wouldn't hold them accountable.

And when Ethan mentioned Thomas, Alan Massey couldn't help but smile wryly. He sighed and said, "Ethan, it's not really a big deal. There was a minor incident at the factory, and Damian Dean felt that a few workers were causing problems, so he replaced them..."

As Alan Massey explained, Ethan gradually understood the situation.

The troublemakers were the hippies he had advocated hiring before.

Although during recruitment, those guys had behaved very well, and in the first few months of work, they were very honest. However, time is the best revealer of character.

After Ethan left the company, some of the hippies began to show their true colors. They had actually retained their old habits all along. Whenever the factory paid them, they would use the money to buy cola.

Since it was now well-known across the US that Destiny Game had backing from Stanford, they didn't dare to smoke inside the factory.

Instead, after work, when leaving the factory, they would indulge alone or gather to share.

For the managers of Destiny Game, this kind of thing was no big deal.

After all, having received higher education, they were all well aware that once something becomes an addiction, it's hard to quit. As long as those guys didn't cause any trouble, Destiny Game, which benefited from cheap labor, had to accept these things. There was no other way. Everything comes with a price tag.

But the problem was, just because these 'smart people' weren't causing trouble, didn't mean others weren't causing problems.

When news of a few workers smoking spread, the traffickers who knew the factory's pay habits would come to the factory on payday, delivering goods directly to their doors, trying to sell things

to other people.

And when this kind of thing happened...

The production supervisor, Damian Dean, responsible for the production line, felt it was unacceptable.