Chapter 309: The Silent Auction
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Big Quinn was vexed at the Human Resources manager when he heard that he could get a pay raise.
Big Quinn had requested for a pay raise numerous times, but the company always rejected his requests outright, citing reasons like poor profits and unfavorable market conditions.
At one time, the honest Big Quinn had believed that the company was not doing well because of the economic downturn.
Now the company had offered to increase his pay when they realized that they could not keep him. But being honest did not mean that he was foolish. Big Quinn now understood that the company had earlier refused to give him a pay raise because they had been sure that he would not leave the company!
Exasperated, Big Quinn said, “A pay raise? Now?”
Big Quinn was already ferocious-looking to begin with; now that he was angry, his eyes looked so dangerous that the manager was petrified with fear and unable to answer him.
Big Quinn wouldn’t have cared if the manager had replied. He stood up and said, “Forget it, Manager Sura. I thank the company for trying to retain me. You should offer the pay raise to my colleagues so that you won’t regret it when they resign.”
Sura tried hard to calm himself down. “O’Quinn, my friend. You need to calm down,” said Sura. “Please sit down so we could talk it out. Just say it, what amount of salary would make you stay?”
“No, Manager Sura, thank you for trying to keep me,” Big Quinn said stubbornly, “but I must quit.”
The manager replied, “Okay, I understand. Wait a while here, I’m going to get someone to do an exit interview for you. Then I’ll get your resignation processed.”
Not long after, the door of the conference room opened; several elderly men entered the room.
Big Quinn was surprised to see them. He stood up and said, “Sandy, Sal, what are you doing here?”
“What are we doing here?” laughed Sandy. “That b*st*rd arranged for us to come and persuade you into staying.”
Sal said, “Old pal, don’t say that—”
“Then what should I say?” Sandy drew a hip flask from his pocket and said, “You want me to tell Big Quinn to stay and work his *ss off just to earn a few hundred bucks a week?”
Sal muttered, “If he leaves, we’re really going to work our *sses off.”
Sandy patted his shoulder and said, “Sal, we can’t be too selfish. Big Quinn has helped us enough. We can’t latch onto him like leeches, right?”
Sandy turned to Big Quinn and continued, “You’ve made the right decision. You should quit. My friend, if I had your size and age, I would have let the company go to hell sooner!”
The rest of the men sighed helplessly. They were old and unskilled, some of them had gone to jail before. Where could they go to get better jobs?
But under Sandy’s lead, they started to encourage Big Quinn:
“Yes, Big Quinn, if you have better prospects, just go for it.”
“Pal, the company wants us to play the sympathy card to stop you from leaving. But if we do that, we’re no different from those b*st*rdly blood-sucking capitalists.”
“Just go, son. Although I have no idea what you’ll be doing, I know you’re a smart man and won’t choose the wrong path.”
Big Quinn was deeply moved. “Thank you old pals, thanks for supporting me,” he said.
Sandy took a sip of wine from the hip flask and passed it to Big Quinn. “Here—without you, we’re going to be busier. I don’t think we can give you a farewell party anytime soon. Let’s drink to our farewell here!”
The group of men living at the bottom of the society gathered together; each of them took a sip of the cheap wine, and waved goodbye to Big Quinn. They left the office with their heads held high.
The company saw that Big Quinn was still adamant about resigning his job and wanted to continue pestering him to stay.
Big Quinn did not know how to handle the situation and called Li Du.
Hans called Godzilla when he learned of the situation and said, “My room has a pair of Kukri blades: put them on your waist and help Big Quinn get all those exit documents signed.”
The next day, when the duo went to attend the silent auction, both Big Quinn and Godzilla arrived together with the Iron Knight.
Big Quinn was not wearing his blue overall cleaner uniform, but just like Godzilla, he was wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt and jeans. That made him even more intimidating than usual.
He hopped down from the truck; the treasure hunters who were at the auction avoided him like the plague: they spread out in all directions, not wanting to come in contact with Big Quinn.
Li Du laughed when he saw this and remarked, “Cool. Now we won’t hear all those annoying remarks.”
Both Godzilla and Big Quinn came over and nodded at Li Du when they saw him.
The Playboy Akkalou also came over and exclaimed, “Are these two your men?”
Li Du nodded and said, “Yes, my two good men. What about them?”
“Nothing, I’m just curious where you found them?” asked the Playboy with an envious expression. “Hey friends, are you interested in working for me? I’ll pay double.”
Big Quinn and Godzilla shook their heads in unison; the former had just experienced an episode of turbulent resignation drama, and he did not want to experience it a second time.
The Playboy sighed with regret, then said to Hans, “You’re going to be so much safer when you go clubbing now.”
Hans wore a proud smile and said, “Thanks to Li, our team is getting bigger.”
He was mindful not to poke fun of Big Quinn’s size and extraordinary appearance. After all, they were now working together as a team.
Just then, the auctioneer came up to Li Du and said, “Big Li, could you get your friend to remove his sunglasses? We’re at an auction, not fighting for turf.”
Li Du nodded. “Big Quinn, remove your shades.”
The husky black guy took off his shades, revealing the short, broken eyebrows, and narrowed eyes; the enraged way he seemed to look at people sent creeps to everyone, no matter what angle.
The auctioneer had just casually met Big Quinn’s eyes for an instant and he felt that he was about to p*ss from fright. He hastily said, “Forget it. You should leave the shades on, pal.”
Li Du was displeased and knitted his brows. “What do you want?”
The auctioneer wore an uncomfortable smile and said, “Nothing—today your team will be the last to view the units.”
There was no one else around them. Big Quinn laughed bitterly and said, “D*mn, do I really look so detestable and scary?”
Li Du comforted him. “Don’t be bothered by it. You’re unique and have a charm of your own. Anyway, I like it.”
Godzilla chimed in, “If I had your looks, I would be the top dog in Mexico.”
Big Quinn sighed with a look of despair.
At nine a.m. sharp, the auction started.
The auctioneer spoke quickly: “This is a silent auction. Everyone should know very well by now how this works so I’m not going to elaborate if you don’t understand the rules you can come to me personally I need to save time and let’s begin with the viewing…”
The treasure hunters queued up and when they finished viewing the unit, they dropped off a piece of paper into a box after one minute.
That piece of paper was double-layered. The treasure hunters would write down their bid, the auctioneer representing the company would stamp it, and both parties would each keep a copy of the paper.
Ultimately, the storage unit company would then sort the papers according to the amount of bid and award the unit to the highest bidder.
The whole process was silent, and that was why it was called a “silent auction.”
