America 1982-Chapter 112 - 27: The World Needs Social Workers Like You

Tommy Hawk stood in front of the dressing mirror, carefully adjusting his blond hair, trying to make it look more imposing, while turning to his girlfriend Renee, who was waiting by his side, and asking, "How do I look now?"

"Quite charming," Renee watched Tommy’s face for a few seconds before frankly expressing her feelings.

Tommy thought for a moment, took off his T-shirt, and put on a floral shirt, leaving the top two buttons undone, "How about now?"

"Like a local man from Texas or California, a bit untamed, carefree," Renee finally figured out what Tommy was doing and spoke up.

With his girlfriend’s answer, Tommy nodded in satisfaction, "Great, let’s go."

That weekend, James Dunn, the first employee of Symantec Corporation and the disgrace of SSD, arranged for Tommy Hawk to meet with the HR manager of his company, Ian Nort, in an unofficial, relaxed weekend gathering.

Since it was the weekend, the three men certainly brought their girlfriends along, first going to a restaurant for a meal, then shopping at a mall, where the men became mere followers until they reached the go-kart track. There, the women excitedly engaged in a racing competition, finally giving the men a chance to rest.

In the lounge area of the Silicon Valley go-kart track, the three men watched their girlfriends scream and drive the go-karts past them at high speed on the nearby track, each of them raising their drinks to loudly cheer each other on. As the women chased each other away into the distance, the men immediately slumped into their seats, not wanting to talk.

Ian Nort turned thirty-two this year and, just like Gary Hendricks, the thirty-five-year-old founder of Symantec, came from Texas. Both graduated from the University of Texas and joined the same fraternity during college.

"Tommy, I wasn’t as lazy as you are now back in college," Ian Nort saw the world-weary expression on Tommy’s face and laughed, "Especially with a girlfriend this beautiful. It proves that only after you’re thirty do you end up with a perfunctory expression like mine. Of course, James is not included, that guy has a unique XP. His girlfriend isn’t as appealing to him as the company’s Frankie. Every time I see James looking at Frankie, it feels frightening and scary, as if he could strip off his pants and pounce at any moment."

Frankie was the name of an artificial intelligence robot project developed by Symantec Corporation after receiving a significant investment from the United States national funds.

Although Symantec had only been founded for a year, it was definitely not some small startup. After all, no small startup could secure an eight-figure investment without any products.

Symantec was able to secure an investment of ten million US Dollars to start up in Silicon Valley thanks entirely to founder Gary Hendricks’ connections. His Ph.D. advisor was hired as the chief scientist for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) computer artificial intelligence project.

In the United States, everything is business. DARPA’s annual budget for such projects is only two million because of supposedly insufficient national funds.

But if a private company undertakes a similar project, they can receive substantial investment from the state and military. The reasons are obviously to keep the technology in their own hands, and it’s also convenient for officials to make money through such companies.

Gary Hendricks established Symantec Corporation exactly in this way, with mentors, some people from DARPA, and some from national funds holding stakes in the company in various ways. DARPA’s R&D had nearly come to a halt, while Symantec’s progress continued smoothly. Once reaching certain key milestones, the United States Government would continue to pump money in to support Symantec. The end result was that DARPA’s artificial intelligence project was canceled, and the United States Government ended up paying a premium to buy Symantec’s products.

In this land, such operations are hardly a secret. In Silicon Valley, if you see a new company that didn’t start in a garage but instead rented an expensive office from the get-go, hired a lot of people, and purchased large computer clusters, then you could be pretty sure that the new company is similar to Symantec. Either they have high-ranking officials as shareholders, or they’ve received national investment, which means that it’s not a nerdy techie startup but real business maneuvering.

Tommy took a sip of juice and looked at Ian and James beside him, "I thought of a joke. A reporter interviews a man and says, ’Sir, may I do a random interview with you? Whom would you like to spend a pleasant weekend with? A, your wife, B....’ Before the reporter could finish, the man immediately shouted loud and clear: ’BBBBBB!’"

Ian and James both laughed, nodding in agreement, "Absolutely, B is the choice to make! That’s definitely the wise choice."

After the laughter, Ian reached out and patted Tommy, then said, "James said that you and your girlfriend are doing some social work at Stanford to help women find employment. He hoped I could arrange some jobs for women. Kid, for the sake of that joke, you can talk to me about it."

"Yes, James said that at Symantec right now, in departments like administration and secretarial staff, there are about forty clerks, not to mention other assistants in various departments. I’d like to ask Mr. Nort to give those women a chance. They will work harder and value their job more than anyone currently at your company, and they will also be more efficient than your current high-priced clerks, yet their compensation would only need to be two-thirds of what you’re paying now," Tommy said, looking at Ian as he brought up the topic, putting away his smile and speaking earnestly.

"Most of those women only have a high school diploma. They haven’t been to college, don’t know what a campus job fair is, and aren’t aware of the various benefits that other college students understand during campus recruitment. They are as pure as blank sheets of paper, yet they can do the ordinary tasks that we previously thought only college graduates could handle, such as entering documents, spreadsheets, preparing speeches, printing reports, making coffee for you, etc. Currently in your department, how much does Symantec pay an administrative specialist whose main job, for most of her time, is just to make coffee for you, Mr. Nort, and enter attendance into the computer?"

"$300 weekly," Ian Nort replied, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, placing one in his mouth, and lighting it up.

Tommy asserted, "The women I recommend will only need $220, and if you give them tasks that aren’t their responsibility, they will dutifully complete them because they don’t even know how much work they should be responsible for. All they know is to do all the tasks the company has assigned them."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Ian Nort smiled at Tommy Hawk and said, "If women’s employment is to be driven by individuals like you, Tommy, no company would refuse. Saving $80 per person in salary expenses, that’s $3,200 saved per week for forty people, which amounts to $156,000 a year. These numbers are more enticing than any words. I’ll consider it and then talk to Gary about it."

"Oh, I also forgot one thing. The $156,000 saved can still be credited to their account. That’s the blank slate I was talking about, Mr. Nort," Tommy said, as if he’d suddenly remembered an omitted point, speaking to him.

Looking into Tommy’s deep eyes, Ian finally extended his hand and said earnestly, "When is the soonest I can see these women eager for employment you mentioned? Symantec Corporation has always believed that women are the greatest existence in the world and that we should extend a helping hand to them as quickly as possible, within our means. Tommy, the world needs more social workers like you, the more the better."

"You can carry out internal assessments now and decide who stays and who goes. We will have ten women ready for the first batch," Tommy said as he shook hands with Ian: "Thank you for your help in providing employment opportunities for women. I believe that the Stanford Women’s Equality Promotion Society would be pleased to present Symantec Corporation with a letter of thanks."

Ian said earnestly, "Symantec Corporation is honored to make a small contribution to women’s employment."