Page 44 of The Side Road
‘It’s after seven,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realise you opened this late.’
‘We had a social media post go viral,’ April said. ‘It was the chicken – Quinn, the Quirky Chicken. Chickens are universally adored, and Mia thought we might get a few hundred orders, but no. It’s ten thousand. She had to take the post down.’
‘Ten thousand!’ Oliver said. ‘Do you have enough stock?’
‘I’ve ordered more. Right now, we can put together about one thousand,’ Mia said.
‘Do you have a distribution system?’
She shook her head.
‘A warehouse?’
‘You’re taking up my time when I should be…’
Oliver slipped off his jacket and hung it over the back of a chair. ‘Let me help. What can I do?’
‘That’s not necessary. We can?—’
‘Quality control,’ April said. ‘We don’t want any returns or complaints.’
‘I’m hyperventilating,’ Mia said.
She wasn’t kidding. ‘Breathe,’ he said.
She glared. ‘I know how to breathe.’
Oliver couldn’t help smiling – her seriousness had that effect on him. He cast his eyes over the production team. This was not the best way to go about filling orders. ‘Can I make a suggestion?’ he said.
‘Is it helpful?’ Mia asked. She smoothed down her hair as she said this.
‘It’s the Ford production line.’
‘Standardised labour!’
‘Like a conveyor belt, everyone does one task,’ Oliver explained. ‘April opens the post packs and sticks on the labels. You,’—he pointed to Saige—‘add the kits to the packs. I’ll add the patterns and check we haven’t missed anything. Mia can make up the kits. If each person does one thing, you can process more orders in a shorter amount of time. And who is that person standing over there on his phone?’ Oliver pointed at Connor, who had moved away from the Spectacle of Socks and was now leaning against the wall.
‘That’s Connor,’ Mia said.
‘Well, Connor can come over here and make himself useful.’
Mia agreed to give Oliver’s method a try. Industrialisation had reached Hook & Knot.
Around the table, the workers reorganised themselves. Instead of six or seven kits a minute, they were processingfifteen. After an hour, they ran out of stock. One thousand orders were on their way to the bulk post depot.
‘Not as much fun, but more efficient,’ April said as she slipped on her coat. ‘I think we should unionise.’
‘This is how robots feel,’ Saige said.
‘Everyone is getting a bonus,’ Mia said. ‘Connor, if you send me your bank details, I’ll pay you.’
‘Sweet.’
As far as Mia could tell, this was the only word Connor had spoken all day.
April, Saige, and Connor collected their belongings and left the store.
Oliver lingered, resting a hip on the table. ‘Ten thousand orders. That’s so impressive.’
