Ren
The extra work was written beneath his ordinary shift in smaller letters.
Ren read both lines before signing either.
"Until the lower store is counted?" he asked.
"Until the evening bell," the supervisor said.
"And if it isn't finished?"
"We record where you stopped."
Ren kept his finger on the smaller line.
"Five Crowns in addition to my usual pay."
"Yes."
The supervisor looked tired already. Ren did not want to spend the morning arguing with him. He wanted to avoid spending the evening discovering that they had meant different things.
He signed.
The supervisor turned the page toward the next worker. Ren kept his copy beneath the list, where the smaller line would remain visible when he came back tired.
He had once thought asking twice made him look slow. Now he preferred looking slow in the morning to being told at night that everyone else had understood.
The worker beside him glanced at the copy.
"Same terms?"
"Until the bell. They mark what's unfinished."
