FB: Chapter 55 – Quant Z

“Thank you for the suggestion. I will take it into consideration. As you probably know, I am Guild Leader Foxy Blight, and this is Vice Leader Don Anthony,” I introduced us.

“I am Quant Z, super genius. Your name is terrible. I suggest Don Corleone since that is a classic. Don Anthony sounds like you are trying too hard.”

“Are you always this rude to everyone?” Don Anthony asked.

“Yes. My parents told me to get a hobby to better enjoy life. I decided that truthful observations and sharing such useful insights into others was a great hobby,” Quant Z said with a smile.

“Please, let us go to my office to discuss the staff position we are interested in hiring you for,” I said.

“Lead the way. Who designed this place. The aesthetics are off. The columns shouldn’t be circular but hexagons which are the bestagons. Embracing the angular nature of this place would be much more in line with the militaristic vibe with all the uniforms,” he said.

“I designed the building,” I replied.

“You clearly never went to design school. Or any school for that matter if my research is correct,” he replied.

“I did go to high school.”

“Public high school. There isn’t a bigger cesspool out there. In fact, I suspect your intelligence has been damaged by such an institution. Do you want me to quote you the relevant journal articles so that you may better inform yourself of your failures?” Quant Z asked. I could tell that Don Anthony was trying not to burst out laughing at how I was being verbally assaulted.

“No. Since my time is more valuable performing other tasks than reading journal articles, which you should clearly know,” I countered. The best way to deal with Quant Z was to fight fire with fire.

“How embarrassing of me. I will take your time value into account. Do you want to hold the rest of the conversation in hyper speak?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, I have not mastered hyper speak and Don Anthony needs to listen in as Vice Leader of the guild,” I said.

“You need more competent subordinates. Wasting your precious time, when interactions can be sped up by an average of 12% with hyper speak.”

“What you aren’t saying is that it increases misunderstandings by 23%. You should read the entire journal articles instead of just the highlights,” I countered. I only knew this, since I dug up an obscure journal article on this topic just to be able to fire back at him and I had wondered what hyper speak actually was.

“Oh, you truly are a woman of culture. I expected a slobbering brute,” he said as we entered my office. We all took seats around a table off to one side. I pulled out a contract and placed it in front of him. He spent ten seconds flipping through it and then looked back up at me.

“No budget constraints. Triple the salary offer. And a bonus structure of my own creation,” he immediately countered.

“The budget constraints are nonnegotiable. You will be allocated a budget, but anything beyond that will require the approval of a Vice Leader or myself. Money is a strategic resource due to consumables. Double the salary after the first year. Triple the base after the second year. No more increases after that. Write up your bonus structure and I will look at it,” I countered back. He pulled out a sheet of paper with the bonus structure he wanted already written down on it.

I went through and made some changes, since he was clearly trying to take advantage of me. Profit margin after capital projects instead of revenue would be considered the benchmark for development. Otherwise, he would just keep reinvesting to drive the revenue up as high as possible without generating any money for the guild. There were other minor changes that I made.

Once I was done, I turned the sheet around and pushed it towards him. He looked it over and then looked back up at me. “You found all my traps,” he said.

“Give the sheet back to me, clearly I missed one,” I replied. He pushed the sheet back.

“How did you know?” he asked. Thankfully I knew all his moves in advance, so I could make sure he didn’t get ideas.

“You have a terrible poker face.” He had an excellent poker face, but I had left one trap in the bonus structure on purpose to make him doubt himself and get some revenge on him. Quant Z was an even more annoying boss than a subordinate. I didn’t hate him, but he just made me want to murder him in pure rage. He was S level in aggravation. The only reason he got away with it was because he really was a super genius in organizational management in game, at least that was what I was choosing to mentally think of it as. He was polite to NPCs since he didn’t consider them real people and his understanding of really annoying construction and logistics minutia was second to none.

His aesthetic choices wouldn’t be part of the bonus structure and would be overseen before being implemented. He liked small doors since they were harder to break down and invade. But it would make a building impractical to actually use having to crawl everywhere. Then he would complain that the requirement was for the highest level of defense while being usable and complaining about design specifications.

Now he would get a bonus for designs that were approved by a design committee he would arrange for from members of the guild to be part of the committee. I would let them know, that if they let through anything stupid, they would lose the easy job that paid them extra money and be banned from any promotions within the guild. I needed to keep Quant Z inside strict boundaries or there would be a lot of trouble.

I pushed the bonus chart back towards him. “Clever. Very well, I can accept these terms. I will require a staff, office, and a welcoming packet.”

“Of course. And I know just the perfect person to help you get settled into your new role,” I said with a grin and Don Anthony frowned. “Don Anthony will introduce you to the rest of the officers and get you sorted as our newest Officer in charge of Development.”

I began looking over the reports that had piled up in my office from my various officers after the pair left. There was a lot of information I had to be constantly made aware of. The movements of other guilds, current leveling trends, general economic trends and guild specific trends, the list went on. I was just about finished reviewing everything after half an hour when Don Anthony showed back up, clearly exhausted.

“Have fun?” I asked him as he entered my office.

“You did that on purpose,” he said, and I nodded.

“I didn’t hire Quant Z for his winning personality,” I replied. It certainly would be entertaining, but that wasn’t why I had brought this asshole into my guild. Even with his super genius, that wouldn’t have been enough. He was a super asshole that was going to make me fat stacks. His creative genius in certain areas were second to none. But that wasn’t what I brought up with Don Anthony. I had a much more visible and sinister plan for Quant Z, to make certain people suffer.

Don Anthony took a minute to think over why I had recruited him while I finished reviewing everything. “You want him to report to Hamid and possibly the board if they annoy you. Which was why you dragged me along.” Don Anthony certainly wasn’t stupid since he realized right away why I had hired Quant Z and why he was hired by my super guild in the past, or at least one of the reasons.

“Yes. If they bother me about profits and dividends, I will be sending Quant Z to give them a presentation. If they think they can yank my leash, then I will yank right back and unleash that human terror upon them,” I replied.

“You are evil. Truly, you are evil,” Don Anthony said with a chuckle. Such a meeting would end in tears of course. But that was their problem for being annoying and causing me trouble. That was a strategy certain executives used in the super guild I used to worked for, wielding Quant Z as a human shaped club to frustrate others. The fact that Quant Z was too good at his job, meant he was impossible to fire, and he was too smart to trap in some basic scheme.

“Also, he will play Sim City better than anyone else. We just need to make sure our instructions are clear, as well as checks and balances. Otherwise, he will only maximize to our requirements and nothing else. That is why practical aesthetics are number one and they will be reviewed by a committee he selects.”

“The insane amount of pay you are giving him compared to other people?” Don Anthony asked.

“Are there any super geniuses besides myself that we have hired? People who have done such an amazing job, that they have boosted this guild single handedly? I know you are incredibly capable, but you have a massive staff backing you up and the support of the board members.” I asked. Don Anthony gave a negative, since he knew that they were competent, including himself, not super geniuses.

“Quant Z is someone who could act as a pillar of a guild like myself. A super genius of immense value if leveraged properly. As long as we keep an eye to prevent any misunderstandings, I have no doubt that the guilds development will be the best possible and even beyond that,” I replied.

“How can he go beyond?” Don Anthony asked. I smiled at that question.

“I will let Quant Z demonstrate such talent in due time. I suggest you keep an eye on how effective he is if you can stand the headache of being near him.” There was a knock on my office door and then my father entered.

“No. Quant Z is an officer of this guild, and you will have to learn to work with him,” I knew what he wanted to complain about.

“Really?” my father asked. I gave a shooing motion, and he closed the door to my office as he left.

“He has an impact on guild cohesion,” Don Anthony said.

“He is an acquired taste, best taken in small doses. Your faction can dislike him, but no internal sabotage,” I stated. Don Anthony didn’t try to deny he had an internal faction within my guild. “Now that I have gotten through all the paperwork and reports, it is time for me to invest in my personal growth.”

“Any hints about what you will be doing?” Don Anthony asked me.

“Paying to win of course. My 6,000 platinum won’t be spending itself,” I said with a smile as he went bugged eyed. “Garren Tine was quite the opponent.” After leaving with that parting remark, I departed from my office.

People would look into her and learn that she was the top ranked player of Supreme Commander. Then they would try to find out how to face her and eventually learn she was in the Capital Casino and in the Room. Knowing I had beaten her would make other people wonder about my depths in game while increasing my mystery. If they were looking backwards, they wouldn’t be looking forwards at my next move. Also, it would be money wasted since anything related to the Room was a blackhole for money, which would only be to my benefit.