The programmer and his woman

"Hey, Dongzi, look over there, that company! Come over here quickly!" Glasses waved his arms excitedly and shouted at me. I looked in the direction of his finger and saw a crowd of people in front of a recruitment booth of a company not far away. The information on the recruitment profile seemed particularly eye-catching.

"What's wrong? What treasure did you find?" I quickened my pace out of curiosity and walked to the side of Glasses. He pointed at the recruitment information, his eyes sparkling with excitement: "Look at the recruitment information of this company, the salary is not bad, and you see, there is no academic requirement, just familiarity with computer operation. Haven't you been studying this field? I think this opportunity is particularly suitable for you, come on, try it!"

I followed the direction he pointed and read the content of the recruitment introduction carefully. Indeed, this company is urgently hiring people who are familiar with computer operation, and the salary offered is also quite good. I was moved and felt that this might really be a rare opportunity.

So I took a deep breath, mustered my courage, and walked towards the interviewer of that company. The interviewer was a middle-aged man who looked amiable. He looked up and smiled at me: "Hello, are you here to apply for a job? Have you read our recruitment requirements?"

I nodded and replied, "Yes, I have looked at it. I think I should meet your company's employment requirements, so I want to give it a try."

The interviewer nodded in approval. "Well, that's great. As you can see, we are in urgent need of talent in this area, so we have set a relatively low threshold. However, we still need to ensure that the applicants have certain abilities. So, if you are interested, I can give you a resume form and a test paper. You can fill out your resume first, and then try to answer the questions on the test paper."

I took the paper and pen from the interviewer and started filling out my resume. However, when I saw the columns about my father's work unit, my mother's work unit, education and work experience, I felt a little depressed. Because apart from my name, gender, age and place of origin, I could hardly fill in the rest. I had to fill in as much as I could and leave the rest blank.

Then, I started to do the test paper. Fortunately, the questions were not difficult, and they were basically what I had learned before. I finished all the questions quickly and handed them to the interviewer.

After the interviewer took my test paper, he quickly glanced at my answers, then nodded and said, "Well, you answered the questions well." However, when he saw my resume, he couldn't help but frowned, "It's just that the age written on your resume, our company requires signing a labor contract, and your age may not meet our requirements." He shook his head regretfully.

Hearing this, I sighed helplessly, my heart filled with frustration. I knew that this opportunity had passed me by again. I stood up and left the company's booth, feeling heavy-hearted all the way, as if I was shrouded in a heavy dark cloud.

Suddenly, I heard someone calling me from behind. I stopped and looked back. It was the interviewer. A glimmer of hope flashed through my mind. Did he change his mind? I looked at him curiously, thinking about various possibilities in my mind.

The interviewer walked up to me and said with a smile, "Young man, I just suddenly thought of a job opportunity that might be suitable for you. I have a friend who is in urgent need of someone who can operate a computer, and she doesn't have an age requirement. If you're willing, I can introduce you to her. The salary is 600, and the main job is to operate a computer for typesetting, etc. It's not tiring, and you have six days off."

Hearing this, my eyes lit up and I felt as if I saw hope again. I turned to look at Yan Jing, and he nodded excitedly to me. So, I agreed without hesitation: "Okay, I'm willing to go."

The interviewer nodded with satisfaction, then took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to me: "This is her business card, just take it and go there tomorrow. I will tell her in advance."

I took the business card, feeling grateful. Glasses shouted happily, "Dongzi, you see, I said that opportunities come to those who are prepared. You read computer books every day, and now it finally comes in handy. You can use the computer tomorrow. I really envy you!"

In this way, we each returned home, and I held the business card in my arms, feeling both excited and nervous. The next morning, I went to a school according to the address on the business card. Looking at the campus in front of me, I was a little confused, thinking that I had gone to the wrong place, but after carefully checking the address and confirming that it was correct, I mustered up the courage to go in.

I was about the same age as these students, and it was also the time for admission to school, so no one stopped me and I entered the school smoothly.

I walked along the campus road for a while, and indeed I saw a bungalow. Judging from the environment at the door, this should be an advertising printing factory. I was delighted, it seemed to be here. I pushed the door open and walked in, only to see a woman sitting in the house, and a baby sleeping quietly beside her.

I walked up to the woman and asked politely, "Are you the boss lady here?"

The woman raised her head, looked me up and down, and then asked, "Who are you?"

I quickly replied: "It's like this, your friend recommended me to work here."

The woman nodded and said, "Oh, I know about this. He told me about it yesterday. I heard that you can use a computer, right?"

I nodded and replied, "Yeah, a little bit."

The boss's wife then asked, "Can you come to work today?" There was some embarrassment in her tone.

I was stunned, thinking, is it so fast to join the company? This is too smooth! So I quickly replied, "Sure."

However, I always felt something was wrong. This female boss was very different from the bosses I had met before. She didn't have the dignity and confidence of a boss, but seemed a little timid. Looking at the baby next to her, I guessed that she probably took care of the child alone and didn't care much about business matters.

At this time, the lady boss took out a piece of paper and handed it to me, saying, "This is what you want to make. I just did a little bit, but there is still a lot to be done. You can just follow the size and font style on the paper to layout it."

I took the paper and saw that what she said was "a little done" was actually basically nothing done. But it doesn't matter, I am confident that I can complete this task. I sat in front of the computer, holding the mechanical mouse awkwardly with one hand, and using the other hand to tap the keyboard with the magical skill of "one-finger Zen". Although I am not very skilled in operation, with my understanding and hard work, it didn't take long for me to master this engraving software and make the layout according to the requirements on the paper.

I turned to the boss lady and said, "Boss lady, I'm done. Do you want me to print it out now?"

She looked at me in surprise and said, "Ah! So fast? Let me see... Yes, yes, that's it! You are quite amazing!"

I felt a little embarrassed by her praise, scratching my head and asked, "Actually, this is not difficult. Should we print it out next?"

The lady boss nodded, but then showed an embarrassed expression: "Oh yes...but I don't know how to print, can you?"

When I heard this, I was stunned. I thought: How does this shop usually accept jobs? Is she testing me? Hmm... it must be like this! I was sure of this guess.

I recalled the instructions for using the printer in the book. After a while of operating it, I heard the engraving machine start up with a "squeak". The sound was harsher than a spoon scraping a bowl, and it gave me goose bumps. But when I saw the boss's excited look, I realized that she might not really know how to operate the printer. This confused me. How did this factory usually operate?

The sharp sound of the engraving machine was still whistling loudly, waking up the sleeping baby. Maybe he didn't like the sound, so he started to protest loudly. The crying of the child and the sound of the engraving machine mixed together and filled the small room.

The lady boss picked up the child, patted him gently, and hummed softly. Seeing that it didn't work, she unbuttoned her shirt and began to feed the child. This smooth and normal action was a great visual shock to me as an outsider. She put the nipple into the child's mouth and then raised her head. Seeing my dull eyes and red face, she realized the embarrassing situation and immediately turned around and said, "I'm sorry, you've been here for so long and I forgot to ask your name. I've been so busy these days that my mind is a little confused."

My name is Wang Dong. Facing this sudden working environment, I felt a little awkward. I looked at the boss's wife, smiled awkwardly and said, "Well..., how about I go out for a while and come back when you're done."

The proprietress waved her hand and said with a smile, "No, I'll be ready right now. I think you should just call me Sister Zhang, it sounds more friendly. As you can see, I hardly come to this store usually, it's always your eldest brother who runs it. After he passed away, the store has been closed for several days, and these orders on the table are from last week. Fortunately, these are old customers, they said there's no rush, let me take my time. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know how to do these. Don't laugh at you, before you came, I had been tinkering with it for a long time and didn't get anything done. But fortunately, you are here."

Hearing this, I suddenly understood and the doubts in my heart were solved. I looked at Sister Zhang with sympathy. A woman who lost her husband and had a young baby to take care of the business at the same time, the hardship can be imagined.

I stood up and said to Sister Zhang, "Sister Zhang, please sit down for a while. I will finish the orders on the table first. However, I may not be familiar with the subsequent procedures."

Sister Zhang looked at me gratefully and said, "Okay, Xiaodong, I can do the rest. I did it with your elder brother when he was here, but I just can't figure out how to operate the computer. It's great that you're here, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief."

With the experience just now, I was more comfortable with the following operations. I checked the requirements of each order one by one, and then printed them out one by one with the engraving machine. Before long, I had completed the cloth label printing orders on the desktop one by one.

At this time, I saw that Sister Zhang had just finished cutting a whole sheet of paper printed by the engraving machine. She nodded with satisfaction, took the cut paper and walked out of the house, ready to proceed to the next step.

I also became interested and followed her to the yard outside the house. I saw her take out a large roll of cloth from the yard, spread it flat on the ground, then covered the cloth with the whole piece of paper she had just cut and pressed it. She took out a can of spray paint and sprayed it on the hollowed-out place where the words had just been carved. In an instant, a strong and pungent smell filled the yard, making it difficult to breathe. I tried to cover my mouth and nose and said, "Oh, my God, I'm choking. Sister Zhang, this is too choking. Do I need to wear a mask or something when spraying paint? Will I get sick if I inhale this for a long time?"

Hearing what I said, Sister Zhang silently shed tears, as if she was thinking of something sad. She was silent for a while, sighed softly and said, "Alas, Xiaodong, you are right. Your elder brother is a rough man and didn't prepare these. I will buy some masks for protection when I have time." Then she went into the house to continue cutting characters.

Sister Zhang looked up at the clock on the wall, then walked towards me with a smile and asked softly, "Xiaodong, what are you going to eat at noon? Are you going home to eat?"

I nodded and replied, "Yes, I'll go home and eat."

"Is your home far from here?" Sister Zhang asked with concern.

"It probably takes more than half an hour to ride a bike," I answered truthfully.

Sister Zhang thought for a moment, then said, "You can cook here. I'll cook for myself at noon. If you don't mind, I'll cook more and we can eat together."