April 4: A Different Perspective (28 page)

"Perhaps we should start with the restrooms then," he said making a come-along gesture and heading for them. "We have a large enough combined staff and customer occupancy, to have two restrooms. Rather than designate them men and women we kept both unisex. That is because we find women use the facilities at a higher rate than the men. We also instruct all staff to use the restroom nearest the kitchen first and they are responsible for leaving it in a condition it is ready for use by a customer next if that is necessary. They are however identical. Tell me what you think," he said opening the door.

The room was small, but not claustrophobic in its compactness. "Ladies often go to the restroom in twos," he informed her. "Otherwise they might be just slightly smaller." There was a commode cantilevered from the wall behind a screen, with no visible pipes or sensors. The seat was lightly spring loaded to rise unless you pulled it down to sit.

The basin was ample and had a single spout supplying water but no valves. It had a visible slant to drain from the edge all around to the basin. The flat was slightly pebbled and the basin shiny. There was both a hot air dryer and a paper towel dispenser and by the toilet a paper dispenser and sani-wipe dispenser too. The floor was a confetti dot pattern of different bright colors lightly textured for traction. Everything but the floor was various tones of white.

"There is no baby changing station," Linda noticed right away. "You have to have them by law down below. But there is a handicap handrail. I'm still getting used to the differences. How do you get water?"

"Warm water, please," Phillip enunciated rather distinctly. The spout immediately gave forth a light flow. "Go ahead and feel it." He urged. Linda stuck a cupped hand under it. "Warmer please," he commanded. It got hotter very quickly. "More flow, please," he requested and the volume increased. "Thank you, done," he said and it ceased. "It understands most languages," he added. "You can also do things like summon help, since it is tied into the house computer. I have to say also, if someone wanted to bring an infant in the club, I'd advise them that it wasn't an appropriate venue for a young child. Perhaps a exceptionally mature ten-year-old and by twelve I'd hope a child could behave in public, certainly, but not an infant."

"The colors make it feel clean and it
smells
clean. It looks like it has never been used. Is it always this spotless?" she asked, surprised.

"When a customer uses either room it posts a notice in
all
the worker's spex. Whoever is free to do so checks the room as quickly as possible, then clears the notice from everyone's spex. If anything needs cleaned, the supplies to do so are in this cabinet," he opened a door by pressing on it and when he let up it sprang open. "It won't open to a customer of course. It will read our spex address. You should always run a wet flat wiper on the walls first and then the floor. There should never be any accumulation of grime and nothing really visible, unless somebody used the room right at closing and it was never attended."

"I was worried for nothing," Linda concluded. "This is easy. My daughter leaves a bigger mess for me than this, except I just assigned that duty off to her as her chore," she added.

"Ah, it's good for children to learn responsibility. I commend you."

"Thank you. What do I have to do in the main dining room?"

"The floor must be vacuumed," he said leading her back in there and to the cleaning supply closet. "If there is a food spill you may need to use the steamer on a spot. It has instruction on the machine," he pointed out. "It doesn't happen every day, but it does happen now and then. The pull down seats have to be wiped, as do the tabletops and the salt and pepper. You need to examine the folding chairs," he said taking one off the wall hook and opening it.

 "All of them need to be opened. If there are any food stains, or if there is a visible soil along the edge where people grab them to open them, then the cloth needs stripped off the tube frame. There are two snaps  at each corner locking the pocket on the frame. You just need to toss them in the laundry hamper with the napkins and things," he said, pointing it out.

"Behind the bar here are some trays that are taken to the table as appropriate with condiments. Mustard, catsup, steak sauce, malt vinegar, hot sauce. The kitchen is responsible for keeping them full. The kitchen also adds onion or mayonnaise and such if needed for the order. You are asked to wipe down the bottles and the tray itself and the salt and pepper grinders."

"The most difficult thing to get across to the crew I've found, is to be
thorough
. We don't want a customer to find a sticky spot on the table, not even if they put a hand around the edge to brace themselves getting up. So we need the table scrubbed well, even on the edges and for a hands breadth or so in on the bottom even. We're
fussy
," he admitted. "That's also why we don't ask for a set price bid for cleaning. If it's a little dirtier for some reason, we'd rather you take the time to get it right and we'll pay for that. We expect you won't abuse that by running up the time. We'll try to treat you fairly and expect it to be reciprocated. This is your address to log on the clock," he said, offering his business card with it handwritten on the back.

"If you feel anything the evening crew has left you to do is unreasonable, call me on com or come talk to me and I'll listen to the problem," he promised. "If we have any complaints about you, expect to hear them too," he said, but smiled to soften it. "Do you still want the job?"

"Yes, I'd like to do it," Linda agreed.

"Let's introduce you to the house then, it will know your hand and voice. The Home Social Club is usually a four-thousand dollars USNA annual fee to join. While you are employed here you are welcome to come any time you are off duty and bring up to three guests. If you should decide to terminate your employment with us on good terms, you will be offered a one time opportunity to buy a membership at half price. Any questions?"

"Do you withhold anything? Any fees or taxes?"

"Taxes on Home are voluntary. You can find out all about that on com. You need supply nothing and we don't have any dress requirements since you are not dealing with customers. Any tax due to your being a USNA citizen is entirely your concern."

"We're set then," Linda concluded.

* * *

"Thank you," Jeff looked at the bag of laser reflectors Mo gave him. It was like the Chinese used up all his anger with the ship theft and he just couldn't rouse himself to get angry with the Americans. Not that he planned on just letting it go. Oh no.

For starters he planned on sending one reflector to each of the other lunar outposts, with an explanation, just as soon as Mo didn't return on schedule.  They should be aware they might have similar little gifts planted on their bases. and he set two aside just in case he was ever able to identify the two agents who had intimidated Mo into placing them. That might take awhile, but it was worth trying.

"Am I still clear to go back next week and have some time with my family?"

"Of course."

"You're not worried I'll go all wobbly and switch sides again?"

"Nobody will watch you. Nobody will stop you if you get on a shuttle and leave," Jeff assured him. "I'll even send flowers to the funeral," he promised. "I'm absolutely sure that's how forgiving they'd be." He wondered if Mo recorded that and would run it through some verification software? It would be good if he did. Jeff believed every word.

* * *

"What interests you?" Faye asked Lindsy. "Is there anything you miss about Earth you'd like to see here? Your brother mentioned he likes to be outside. That's pretty hard to arrange here. We have a gym with a running program that simulates outside, but he didn't
run
, he just liked to walk in the park and sit on a bench reading sometimes. We haven't been able to afford a park yet. I may be able to get some folks to take him out in a suit, but even that will be a onetime experience, not something you can go do casually, because you are in the mood."

"I miss being with kids my age every day," Lindsy admitted. "There are only two near my age in your school and I haven't met any others. Back home I called my friends every day and talked about what was happening in the evening. Stuff that you had to be there to see. Who wore new stuff to school that was interesting, crazy shoes, or new music and who was going with who. We had some shows everybody watched and talked about." She was obviously still not reconciled to the loss.

"I have com again now at home and can call, but it's amazing, the few days I was gone I got disconnected and it seems impossible to link back up again. I called a couple old friends and it was awkward. They had to keep telling me people weren't together now, who I didn't know had broken up. It was all about what's happening down there and I had nothing that would be  interesting to them to add from this end. They got tired of telling me stuff a week old and getting nothing back."

She looked at Faye funny and hesitated. "It all seems kind of stupid now. What do I care if Jackie broke up with Steve and is flirting with Ed? She'll be batting her eyes at somebody else in another week anyway. It seems unreal that I ever cared"

"I had much the same happen when I was on Earth," Faye reminisced. "I graduated high school and couldn't imagine I wouldn't stay close to all my pals from school, but they scattered to different universities, or got jobs, or got married. A couple of them did all three pretty quickly. I had their numbers on my phone, but nothing I was doing really mattered to them anymore. I'd give them a call every week or two and give them the short version of what I'd been up to, but that sort of tapered off to one call around the holidays, to tell them I still thought about them. A few of them I lost their number when they changed it and then when we all graduated university and got jobs and got married, a few more got disconnected. A few even died and I only heard roundabout. But there are a handful who still get a New Years call from me."

"That's so sad."

"Not really," Faye insisted. "I just couldn't imagine how much would change. I hadn't experienced anything else like graduation, to anticipate how different my life would be. I couldn't stay frozen in time. Although there were a few people who did. They had a brief moment of glory in high school, because they were athletes or very popular. But not good enough to become professional athletes, or with that power of personality to go into show business beyond high school. They just sort of plugged along
diminished
as adults and lived for the next class reunion. Now
that's
sad. "

Lindsy looked surprised, but then thoughtful. "I can think of a couple in my class, or the seniors ahead of us, who might end up that way."

"You're interested in clothes?" Faye plucked from the conversation. "Might you like to
study
fashion and clothing?"

"I think my mom would wonder why you are wasting her money, teaching me about something as frivolous as clothing."

"And yet she doesn't send you forth into the corridors naked," Faye marveled.

Lindsy looked at her astonished and then burst into laughter. "On Earth it is
very
bad form to use that word. If your students told their parents the school would probably warn you sternly not to be vulgar. But I see your point. If it isn't that important, why do we all wear them so faithfully?"

"Yes and why do they throw you in jail if you skip them? These things come and go in cycles. That's part of the history of clothing and fashion, which is well worth knowing. In the Victorian era it was so shameful to acknowledge one had
legs,
that you couldn't say the word in polite company. Not even to refer to table legs. You had to substitute the general term of 'limbs'. It was daring to even allow a glimpse of one's ankle beneath your skirts. North America is headed back that way now, with bare arms being grounds to bar you from a business or other public place."

"You can't go to a public pool now if your trunks don't come down over the knee," Lindsy said.

"Yes, I know. I could show you pictures of high school students from eighty years ago, who are wearing low slung pants that show the navel and tops that expose the arms and shoulders."

"Where? At a beach?"

"At
school
," Faye assured her. "When things move away from that, then such pictures disappear from public media and may even be reserved for 'serious' researchers and scholars, in the supposedly public archives."

"I never thought about clothing having a history. I wonder if we'll
have
a history the way they sell stuff now. It seems like they change things for no reason. It's frustrating because they think it has to be all new, all the time, to sell. If I buy something I really like, I can't find another one a month later," Lindsy complained. "I have a few favorite pieces I hardly ever wear, because I don't want to wear them out."

"That's true of consumer goods," Faye agreed. "But most of them are simplified copies of designer clothing. The really high end stuff is custom cut to fit your measurements, bespoke they say and then the design copied in standard sizes for retail and done in cheaper fabrics most of the time. But even the better made cut-to-size sellers will alter a piece to fit you better."