ADVENTURERS SCORE ANOTHER VICTORYby HazedLast week's report on the lowering of the AK jobs required to promote to Merchant finished with the line: "Which just goes to show that not only can you not please all of the people all of the time, you can't please most of the people at all, ever!" Boy, did that turn out to be true! Armstrong Cuthbert officers throughout Sol found themselves besieged by complaining akaturi couriers clutching calculators (or, in one case, an abacus) and demanding a pay rise. It seemed they had discovered that with the current average payment for AK jobs, doing only 200 (which was the new promotion requirement) did not pay enough to cover the fee required by the Trading Guild to become a member. At first, the management at Armstrong Cuthbert were unsympathetic. They pointed out that Adventurers do not, usually, start the rank with zero groats but should have a healthy bank balance as a result of they work they do as Captains, unless they had frittered away their profits on loose living (or bought a big, flashy, unnecessarily large ship). They told Adventurers to go talk to the Guild and get them to reduce the membership fee. They threatened to sack all AK couriers and outsource the delivery of special packages to aliens. But it turned out the Adventurers had the public on their side. Members of the Guild pointed out that the fees for AK jobs hadn't been looked at for some years (if ever!) and it was about time they were adjusted for current conditions. Even popular celebrities got in on the act and there was talk of a charity concert to raise awareness of the issue, organized by Brix Chanterel, the heartthrob holo star and starring Galaxy-famous comedians Rebo and Zooty. Faced with this opposition (after all, who wants to have Rebo and Zooty as enemies?) Armstrong Cuthbert gave in with good grace and have raised the pay for AK jobs by 500 groats. |