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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

31

Bjorn was clearly pushing his luck with Ane with his criticism of her low wages, and it was time to change the subject so as not to antagonizing her further. He looked around in the factory, as if looking for signs of suffering and not finding it.

"Well, they do seem very motivated and eager," Bjorn commented, noticing as he said this that he was in fact completely truthful about his observation.
"And so they are," Ane answered confidently. "They are all happy to work for me, or else they would not be here, would they?"

Bjorn had no answer to this, and after a moment of silence he decided to change the topic completely.

"We have found nothing lacking in the way you follow the regulations," Bjorn said, looking around once more as if he was still inspecting the place.
"Good, so you will be leaving now?" Ane replied, giving Bjorn her cold look as he returned his glance to her.
"Yes, I guess so."
"Okay, I'll show you out."

Ane gestured towards the gate, and the two started walking.

"It is quite a place you got here," Bjorn ventured, hoping to set off a better tone between the two before returning to the check point. "Is it all yours?"
"With the exception of some minority owners in Oslo, it is."
"So you got family in Oslo?"
"Family?" Ane answered with a puzzled look.
"Yeah, isn't this a family business?"
"It is. But I'm my grandfather's only grandchild," Ane explained with a smile, realizing what Bjorn was driving at. "My buddies in Oslo are no relatives of mine. They are in on this purely for the money."
"So you sold a part of this to raise capital?" Bjorn continued, happy to see Ane talkative again.
"You could say that, if you count political capital as capital."

The two stopped by the gate with Ane giving Bjorn a telling glance as if she had just revealed a big dirty secret.

"I took some lessons from grandpa, in a way," Ane continued before pulling aside an opening in the plastic curtain. "I don't think they will shut down this place any time soon."

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