Chapter 160 - Allocating Positions

"Violence is not a joking matter. Don't use it as some sort of your entertainment," Sofia sternly eyed Derek. There was a tiny spark of anger in her eyes that the man noticed. 

"I-- I'm very sorry," Derek quickly apologized. He was accustomed to seeing anger every day. But the fury that he saw in Sofia's expression had almost petrified him.

Unlike the kind of anger when someone shows irritation openly, Sofia's face turned blank and emotionless. It was something that only a few could possess.

These two frat leaders bent their bodies and gave Sofia a genuine bow to show the sincerity of their apology. And by the time they looked up, Sofia had already regained her composure.

"I know that you may be exposed to some violence and I don't blame you. But, I hope we all can act professionally if you wish to work with me. Otherwise, I cannot tolerate slow-tempered people. Calmness and self-discipline are required in my business," Sofia announced softly. Her tone switched to the formality and seriousness of her words.

"Yes, we will remember! We will not use violence as part of the entertainment. The two of us had already decided that the entire fraternity would start fresh by accepting the work that you have offered to us," Danny affirmed almost instantly. He knew that his older brother had really offended Sofia by his joke, but it would seem that the young lady was not petty and had moved on already.

"Good. I sent the contract. Have you read the contents already?" Sofia asked. Although deep inside her, she was fully startled by Derek's action, she still managed to look calm.

"Yes, we have!" the two of them responded.

Soon after, they settled on their seats and the owner of the noodle shop approached their table with a menu in his hand.

This owner was already a grandpa and had unintentionally listened to Sofia while she was lecturing the two about violence. He could not help but gawk at the young lady with an appreciative look.

After the three of them placed their orders, the waiter silently left to prepare their food. Then, the discussion of their work resumed.

"My plan is to make that building a hostel. On the ground floor, there would be a dining area. On the second floor, it would be studio-type accommodation. The intersection street is perfect for travelers to choose to stop by and rest in the facility," Sofia explained every detail of her plans as well as what she had envisioned to happen once they would start operating.

"That... I am not a business expert. But, I could tell that your plan sounds effective since most tourists and locals would pass by along the intersection street," Danny commented.

"It will work out. I am telling you about the plan so that you can help me determine which work do you plan to take?" Sofia stated. Since she was not familiar with the entire fraternity, she could only let those people pick their position in their business.

"I can be the cook for the dining," Derek presented.

"Alright, a cook. What experiences do you have in this field? Can you cook a full course meal?" Sofia probed further.

"Yes, I can. I have a recipe book when I was young. I can take charge of the kitchen," Derek answered.

Sofia looked thoughtfully at him. "Cooking and taking charge of the dining is different. Can you manage to cook and also draft the entire budget of how much the meal could profit in a day?"

Derek suddenly went in silence. He initially thought that it was easy to manage the kitchen than anywhere else. In his mind, he would only cook. 

But, when Sofia mentioned making a draft budget and report of their profits per meal, he suddenly felt embarrassed.

"I only want to cook the meals. Hehe, I don't really want to manage the kitchen," Derek admitted. 

"We are not good at Maths. So, we are not reliable in terms of budgeting," Danny added.

"You are the leader of a fraternity. How come you are not familiar with budgeting?" Sofia questioned. She assumed that these two men must have their real-life experience of balancing expenditures. 

"Hehe, we don't have many expenses, so we did not bother to do the math," Danny stated.

Sofia glance at Derek then at his younger brother, Danny, as she tried to make considerations in her head.

"I will let you cook then and will assign other people to make a financial report. Just pick three members of your fraternity to be in your cooking group," Sofia stated as she look at Derek.

"T-three members, to help me?" the man questioned.

"Can you do the cooking alone? Or maybe you are overestimating your ability. This job is not just plain cooking a specific meal for the diners. You will be cooking under pressure especially when there would be an influx of demands," Sofia asked stated.

"You are right! Okay, I will take three members to join me " Derek answered and finally agreed with the arrangements after he realized that Sofia was right. 

"We can also take responsibility for the security. You can hire us as guards of the hostel," Danny offered but Sofia shook her head in disapproval.

There is no need for a guard. I prefer to get older people to handle the matters that involved the security of the business,"

Sofia boldly told them.

"Alright, then, I could wait tables and serve food for the diners," Danny expressed as this was the only position that he could imagine himself in work.

"That's settled then. You will be the cook and you will be the waiter," Sofia gazed at them one after another. "Now, do you have members that can handle the matters about the accommodations? Perhaps, someone that can do housekeeping?" Sofia questioned.

"If there is none, are you going to replace us with other applicants that are more qualified with the job?" Derek cautiously asked.

"No, that's not the reason why I am asking you about the matter. The reason is for me to allocate the possible works. If you don't have a member to fill in this position, then, I'll just have to hire others," Sofia answered.

"Okay. Then, my members are really not best associated with housekeeping," Danny took the initiative to tell Sofia about.

Sofia nodded. "It's okay. The fact that you and your members could cover the dining is fine with me. For the salary, I am reasonable as long as I can see that there is an effort and produce result," Sofia stated. 

"Yes! We will not waste the opportunity that you have offered for us," Derek expressed. He was secretly praying that Sofia wont ask any educational attainment for the final questioning.

Luckily for him, the young girl did not really brought up the matters about academic background. 

As their noodles were served by the grandpa, they became silent for a while and concentrated on eating. Sofia was observing the two and was slightly amazed on their table manners. These fraternity leaders seemed to have decent character based on their actions.

"Is this it? Are we hired?" Derek asked after his noddle's was finished and they were done eating.

"I am not hiring you today to work right away. The business had not yet started and your payroll will only start once we start operating. So, its up to you if you want to be hired," Sofia expressed clearly to avoid any misunderstanding. It would be more convenient to emphasize this arrangement so that they won't expect too much from her.

"Hehehe, that is reasonable. Then, we will work for the position that you have mentioned. You won't regret having us as your employees," Danny stated while his older brother nodded in agreement.

Sofia smiled at the two. "Just one thing that I would also require. Please don't use violence and do not quarrel with the customers. Can you give me the assurance that there would be no trouble in the dining?"

"You can trust us. We will keep the business have a satisfied customers," Derek and Danny stated in unison.

"Yes, that's the spirit and enthusiasm. I will expect the two of you to have this behavior even in the most intolerable situation. Especially when a customer will provoke you, you must ignore them and just think of the profit that we will be earning. As long as the flow of profit is continuous, we will progress," Sofia spoke softly. She felt the need to repeat the importance of the behavior of her workers while on duty.

"You can trust us on this matter. We will act accordingly," Derek responded at her.

"Then, we are done with this meeting. Anyway, if you have troubles that you felt would affect in the business, please inform me right away so that I could make preparations," Sofia expressed. Employing a fraternity was indeed a dangerous matter for these men may have their personal conflicts with other group.

Sofia had thought about this danger and was still willing to take the risks. She thought that the benefits of employing these group would weigh more than its danger. To employ them meant her squad had helped lessened the unemployed locals in their district. This was why she did not ask about academic qualifications to them. Her goal was to help the community to progress by giving them employment.