American Entertainment 1982

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

Susan Curtis buttoned up her corset and said dissatisfiedly, "Hey! We agreed on a price of 80 yuan, all in cash!"

"Honey, that's because of the "Happy Seekers" ad and when I called you to ask, you said you had a big F grade, but you actually only had a C, and the service I was consuming hit a discount, then I will also enjoy the discount when I pay." The man turned his head and said indifferently to the woman who was still hugging each other affectionately just now.

Seeing that Susan wanted to rush over with a resentful expression on her face, 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 didn't have the courage to entangle with the other party in the end, she just walked over, opened the door coldly, and complained.

The man grinned and walked out the door: "Your bad chest is only worthy of a bad customer like me, see you next time."

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

Only at sunset, the light can briefly shine into the window 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 with her right hand. Although her face was still cold and numb, she said in a sweet and cloying voice: "Baby, I want to have some fun. ?"

There were a few young people laughing on the phone. It was obvious that they were just a group of young people who were bored, rather than customers who were going to patronize her. Susan hung up the phone directly, and the room fell into silence again.

After enjoying the silence for a while, Susan threw away the cigarette butt, picked up the "Happiness Seeker" magazine next to her, and was going to see if any other sisters in the same industry thought of a more attractive slogan, so she took it and copied it.

Susan just flipped through the 30 pages of "Happiness Seeker" page by page. By the time of the tenth page, tears had covered her numb face. Every time she read this magazine, she would shed tears. I don't know why, maybe it's because I found that there are dozens of women with the same fate as me who have logged out their phone numbers on just one page.

Thirty pages, plus the number of people working in those entertainment companies, is thousands of women, which are put on the shelves in magazines like discounted goods, waiting for customers to choose.

Soon, she turned to the last page of the magazine, and there was an ad that was so out of touch with the rest that Susan didn't even know if it was an ad:

"Here is free computer technology training, free job recommendation here, here will teach you to use technology outside the body to gain a foothold in this world, if you are not completely disappointed in this world, please give us a chance to help you, this is Stanford University Women's Equity, give us a call, we'd like to listen."

Below is a line of phone numbers.

Susan lived in San Jose, only forty kilometers from Stanford University in Palo Alto, of course she knew the name of the university.

His father, who had disappeared from his life for many years, once angrily scolded that it was Stanford University that caused them to lose their jobs.

Many years ago, Palo Alto was the largest producer of food machinery and military weapons on the West Coast, where tens of thousands of workers made 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. Those unemployed workers always thought that Stanford would set up factories in this industrial park, but in the end, only various physics and high-tech companies were established in the park, let alone go into it To start work, even the security guards who guard the gate of the industrial zone have to have a high school degree.

Susan has a high school degree, but she does not have a job or a place to live. This apartment belongs to a friend of hers. The kind friend who provides the house will take 30% of her business.

"Please give us a chance to help you, Stanford." After reading the slogan, Susan finally had a mocking expression 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, call Stanford as a pastime.

...

With a straight face, Tommy glanced at the girls in front of him, including Renee, who were in charge of answering the phone, and finally looked at the person in charge, Gary Goode, walked slowly in front of the other party, and stared at him: "I don't understand, Why do these people you have found have such a hypocritical tone after they get on the phone! Don’t ask those women who have been tortured by the fucking life to question, even when I hear that tone, I think you are a damn liar !"

Renee subconsciously covered her mouth. It was the first time Tommy had spoken in such a vulgar way in front of her, and it was with several girls beside her. You must know that these were members of the Women's Equality Promotion Association.

Gary was taken aback by Tommy's tone, and didn't recover, but a girl next to him spoke to Tommy dissatisfied:

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

"I pay attention to the tone? I pay attention to the tone? You need to pay attention to the tone of the mother!" Tommy directly interrupted the girl, pointing to several phones not far away, with a fierce expression:

"What are you worried about? What are you being hypocritical about! Are you liars who are really planning to cheat them? No! You are obviously trying to save them! Why do you have the tone of dragging them into a fire pit!"

The girl looked down at Tommy's sharp eyes, but immediately her companion mustered 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 words in our mind to avoid..."

"They have been tortured by this world to the point that they don't have self-esteem. What they need is not politeness, not politeness. They call to verify whether this world still has the last bit of hope and chance to make them change. Destiny! Only after they know this, will they give us the most precious thing in her, which is her little trust!" Tommy turned to look at each other:

"Do you really know equality! Do you know respect? You know shit! Your tone of voice is the greatest disrespect to that woman over the phone! Three phone calls! Three phone calls! You wasted three opportunities! Those three This woman has a chance to change her destiny, but because of your shitty tone, they will continue to sink, it's your fault~, fuck your equality promotion association, set up by a group of stupid college students who are full and only know how to shout Play house organization with slogans! I use the money to purchase computers to help those women, not to help you people add a glamorous resume to your resume!"

"Tommy, calm down." Renee whispered to Tommy nervously, because two girls were so frightened that they shed tears because of Tommy's rude cursing.

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

"If I fail, go ahead and complain about me, but if I succeed, you better fucking do what I say, or I'll complain to the Promotion Association that you just want to hypocritically gild yourself, and you don't want to fucking save those Poor woman!"

Soon, the phone rang, and Tommy answered the phone, with undiminished anger in his tone: "Stanford University Women's Equality Promotion Association computer training classroom, I'm Tommy Hawke."

"I saw a strange ad on "Happy Seeker", free computer training? That's an April Fool's joke for college students, right?" The woman on the opposite side asked, "You should know that the ad is not No normal person will see it, so everyone at Stanford is crazy?"

Tommy Hawk took a puff of his cigarette and exhaled into the receiver: "Listen, ma'am, you're not the first to be suspicious. I'm exhausted from dealing with skeptics like you, so allow me to smoke." To cut a long story short, I'm not going to ask you 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 directly, "How much will the customer pay you when you accept an order?"

As soon as this question was uttered, the other people present instantly showed panic expressions.

"Fifty yuan." The woman was silent for two seconds, and in the shock of everyone, she answered Tommy's question with a self-deprecating smile: "And a discount coupon of 30 yuan."

Tommy flicked the ashes: discount coupons can also pay bills? That customer sounds like a jerk, but I'm worse, you know, I'm sitting here answering the phone fucking part-time, and I only make four dollars an hour answering dozens of calls, but the good thing is that I sit here In the office, I only need to explain the problem to skeptical ladies like you, instead of undressing to deal with those difficult customers, and don’t have to worry about the police coming to the door, not to mention I know computers, and after graduation, I will go to those big companies to find a decent job, of course , don't get discouraged ma'am, you can too, so my second question is, do you know where Stanford University is? "

"Yes."

"Very good, then let me say it again, computer training is provided for free here, and free job recommendation is provided after completion of the studies. The location is in the classroom on the Stanford University campus. You can come directly and verify it yourself. If it turns out that this stupid *promotion association Spend money on ads just to joke around with you women, just give the tapes to the cops, they'll send me and the promotion people where they need to go, then find a lawyer who's willing to make money, sue stanford for serious damages A sum of money that is enough 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 are definitely lawyers who don't charge consulting fees and are willing to help you do this kind of thing, just for Share that large sum of money with you."

After the woman heard Tommy's words, she laughed happily: "You mean that I can take classes in Stanford University's classrooms for free? If it's not free, or if it deceives me, I can still sue Stanford University? You're kind of funny, and there are very few people who answer the phone that are as funny 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 what he is now. A middle-aged alcoholic after two drinks.

"Yeah, Stanford's money isn't mine anyway, I'd be happy to have a chance to see it unlucky, so ma'am, come and see Stanford for yourself, I don't have time to explain it to you, people are all over this for free 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 maintain a good temper, do you have any other questions? I’m going to hang up.” Tommy’s tone was a bit Very impatient, ready to end this call.

The woman thought for a while: "I don't have a car. If I take a bus, will someone from you meet me at the school gate? I heard that the campus of Stanford University is very big."

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

The woman said without hesitation, "Susan Curtis."

"Okay, I've registered for you, Miss Susan Curtis, see you tomorrow." Tommy said a perfunctory goodbye, then hung up the phone, then held up the paper with the other party's name on it, walked to In front of several women:

"Maybe this name is a fake name, maybe she won't come tomorrow, but at least she is willing to listen to me, at least she has the urge to come and see, that's why she asked if there is a reception desk at the school gate, and those of you Worries will only make them worry that you are going to cheat them of their money, so, remember clearly, respect is not looking down and giving, respect is very simple, look into their eyes."

The second more ~4000 words~