*Chapter 14: I Think the East End is Safer*

After a quick and bizarre five-minute interview, Cody officially became a member of the "Red Dragon Restaurant" staff.

"You come in at 10 AM every day, put on your uniform, and start work on time. You can come earlier if you want. You can eat breakfast and lunch in the employee mess hall. You get a two-hour break starting at 2 PM. Your job is greeting customers, taking orders, serving food, wiping tables. You're off at 10 PM, working five days a week, at 25 bucks an hour."

"Sometimes unexpected things happen at the restaurant. You don't need to do anything about it. Just stay calm, try your best to soothe the customers, and don't let things escalate. Someone will come specifically to handle the issues quickly."

A manager walked Cody around the restaurant, inside and out, getting him familiar with the place. "Stay sharp. There's a lot to get used to here. If a customer asks about the menu, you need to be able to answer. Even requests outside the menu, you should try your best to fulfill."

"Any kind of request?"

"That depends on who the customer is. If 'The Roman' or some other big shot comes in, even if they ask you to lick their shoes, you'd better just do it. But if some entitled rich jerk who doesn't know his place tries to raise hell here, you can put a bullet in him after he leaves – but remember, don't let the blood splatter near the place."

"I mean, that's a bit extreme..."

Hearing that, the manager looked at the new employee with a slightly sheepish smile. "The boss told me to give you a few extra pointers, so I'm giving you a few extra pointers. Remember to practice your shooting. In Gotham, people without some savagery don't survive."

With that, he pulled out a card and handed it to Cody. "Call this number. Our restaurant staff get 50% off shooting practice here. Of course, if you've got the guts or the connections, you can find cheaper ways to practice shooting in the East End yourself."

Great, the basic employee benefit at a high-class Gotham restaurant is a shooting practice discount, Cody grumbled to himself as he took the card.

"Also, after you get your first paycheck, find yourself some transportation as soon as possible," he continued. "The boss told me to tell you that if you hadn't joined the restaurant, riding that bus all day wouldn't exactly be safe, but now that you're a restaurant employee, you need to find a different way to get around ASAP."

Fantastic, the second basic employee benefit is becoming a magnet for trouble. Anyone looking to attack the restaurant might just attack me first.

"Can I get an advance on a month's salary?"

The manager frowned slightly. "Haven't you lived here before? Payday is bi-weekly here. The boss is letting you get an advance on the first two basic paychecks, that's four weeks' worth, five thousand dollars before tax. You have a bank account, right?"

"Yeah."

"We'll transfer the money to you after you finish the onboarding paperwork, but it'll be after tax – or you can get cash if you prefer, it's up to you."

Alright! he thought. My stereotype of Gotham was right after all. It's brutal here, but it's definitely not poor.

In reality, due to monopolies held by tycoons and exploitation by gangsters, the wealth gap in Gotham is huge. The vicious poverty of the East End is real, but the opulence of areas like the Diamond District is also real. If you look at Gotham's overall economy, it's actually one of the top cities in the entire United States.

And the four thousand-plus dollars left after taxes from that five grand wasn't even his full salary. Because he was a server, his pay was a base salary plus tips from customers. The tips usually made up the bulk of a server's income, and since it was cash, tips weren't taxed.

Besides having to be at the restaurant for up to twelve hours a day, working ten hours, and facing the safety issues of the night streets when taking his tips home at 10 PM, this job could basically be called perfect.

At least, that's how it looked for now.

Cody also considered the problem of not having anywhere to live after Drake left, so he asked the manager if he could stay at the restaurant overnight.

The manager's expression was quite telling. He looked at Cody with a half-smile and replied, "The restaurant does have a night scene, but you're not qualified to be part of it yet."

It was obvious that the customers the restaurant's night scene catered to were definitely the type of people Cody wanted to avoid, so he didn't ask any more questions.

Since he wasn't starting work until tomorrow, Drake just left the Red Dragon Restaurant with Cody. The most pressing matter was getting some transportation or finding a nearby place to rent, since he couldn't take that bus from the East End to the Red Dragon anymore.

Drake actually knew a good bit about renting around Otisburg. After all, this was originally where Mr. Freeze and the pharmaceutical company collaborated, and it was where he first settled when he came to Gotham.

However, because he had to juggle taking care of his wife, looking for Dr. Victor, and making a living, the jobs he could find didn't pay very well. Not seeing Dr. Victor for a long time, the rent prices in Otisburg quickly became hard for him to handle.

Although he thought that given Cody's current situation, he could totally find a small place to rent near the Red Dragon for guaranteed safety and commute, Cody wasn't too keen on the idea.

He and Drake calculated the cost of living. Most Americans were used to living off credit cards and loans, but he had absolutely no such habit. Renting here would eat up most of that four thousand dollars, and he'd probably have to borrow money just to get by day-to-day.

If the money issue was acceptable in the face of safety, then the abandoned Ferris wheel here and the pharmaceutical company that screwed over Mr. Freeze made him a bit nervous. He even specifically asked about that chemical plant and confirmed that there had been an accident there where someone fell into a vat of chemicals.

Plus, he also knew there was a botanical garden area here, and immediately thought, Holy cow. Joker, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, plus the local mob bosses who probably ate at the Red Dragon. Who knows if Penguin or Falcone ever show up? Anyway, this is no place to stay long. Nothing happens usually, but when something does happen, it's gonna freakin' blow up, and the kind you can't solve.

He'd already checked. The system shop had options to buy shooting skills and one-time saves. These things would probably get him instantly killed against psychopaths in tights and psychopaths who murder and burn things, but they should be fine against regular folks in the East End, right?

"Anyway, I thought it over carefully. I still think the junkies, goons, prostitutes, gangsters, and thieves in the East End suit my living environment preferences better," Cody said firmly to Drake, waving him off. "There's no way in hell I'm living in Otisburg. Let's go."

Drake couldn't do anything about it. Cody had made up his mind, and he couldn't really argue. Seeing that it was still early, the two of them didn't wait for the bus and just went to help Cody pick out some wheels.