After Alexander had finished inspecting the close to two hundred women working under Gelene, who were engaged in spinning yarn, making the fabric, and then finally stitching the underwear, the duo decided to have lunch in Gelene's office situated a bit further away from the hustle and bustle of the workshops.
From the outside, it appeared completely normal, no different from a little wooden hut with a small door and few windows.
"Master, please make yourself comfortable," Gelene politely gestured for Alexander to enter before her, to which Alexander complied with a light smile.
Alexander found the inside to be though small, but not tiny.
Instead, there was a cozy feeling.
In addition, it was quite luxuriously decorated, with thick woolen carpet covering the floor, an expensive mahogany table at the back that was likely Gelene's office table, and two small, but very comfy-looking leather couches in front of it.
"Master, here, you must be thirsty," As Alexander felt his butt sink into the soft leather cushion filled with goose feathers, Gelene quickly fetched Alexander some iced diluted ale, which Alexander accepted with a "Thank you."
And then as Alexander took some time to look around and view the mosaics and paintings, he asked a bit surprised, "You don't have any slaves to help you?"
Alexander noticed that Gelene was all alone here.
He had assumed she would at least have a few extra hands to help her, as was the norm among all businessmen.
Alexander had banned his women from owning male slaves due to obvious bloodline concerns, but he had allowed them to own female females to help them in day-to-day work.
And thus his surprise.
"Hahaha, how could a mere slave like me dare serve master with one's own slaves?" Gelene turned to give the reply with a charming smile.
While internally she revealed the real reason, 'Hmmp, there are already three bugs around you. What if you get ideas for more?'
Gelene already had enough competition in the bedroom.
And that's why, the few girls that were under her, who worked as clerks and handled the various chores around the workshop., were asked by their mistress to make themselves invincible so that Alexander did not have the chance to even glance at that.
Alexander was not aware of this, and, he would not likely lust after slaves anyway.
But he did not have much time to dwell on such issues anyway, as Gelene called out,
"Here master, please have some. I kept it warm for you."
As soon as Alexander had entered, Gelene had quickly taken out a large cooking pot from the cooking cupboard and prepared a cut piece of the pie inside it on a plate for Alexander.
"Thank you. And please join me," Alexander politely asked, as he then took his fork to start his lunch.
"Then excuse me, master," By Alexander's request Gelene too started her meal, as the clink-clank of cutlery sounded from inside the room.
"So how are the seamstresses I gave you?" Alexander asked about the quality of the working women as he cut into the flaky pastry of the pie.
It had a venison filling, accompanied by chopped vegetables, and spiced liberally with salt and pepper and tasted exquisite.
"They are good. Very experienced." Gelene quickly replied to Alexander's inquiry, while making sure to hide her chewing of the same, delicious dish.
But then, taking a large gulp to swallow the food, she produced a slight bitterness and added, "But it's too bad they can only work half the day. Most have families and household chores to take care of."
"Hmmmm," Alexander nodded understandingly.
Alexander had stopped giving free cooked food and instead opted to give out free rations from the start of December.
And the reasons for this were several.
First, he simply did not have enough large pots and pans to cook for hundred and fifty (150,000) people two times a day, morning and evening, every day.
Second, the amount of time to distribute this food took too long.
And if he were to increase the number of food delivery points to rectify this, it would take too many men.
And lastly, the free food was complained to be bland by many.
Alexander had chosen that menu due to its simplicity and ease of preparation, and after eating 60 times the same old gruel with some vegetables chopped in, the populace seemed to have grown tired of it.
So, Alexander decided to change it to just giving the raw grains and vegetables to individuals or families on a weekly basis.
And though it solved all the above problems, it inadvertently created another problem, the problem of requiring the women to stay home and cook the food.
But Alexander did not attempt to change his decision after knowing this.
For this was the norm.
Someone had to stay home and take care of the chores after all.
As it would be ridiculous to expect Alexander to arrange restaurant-type meals for all his citizens till eternity.
"But I remember Azijak employing a lot of women to make paper. And they seemed to be working full-time." Alexander then pointed out something different he had noticed.
And Gelene explained this action while waving her hands, "That's because he has a huge kitchen preparing the meals for the women and their families. And he has employed enough women to make such an arrangement worthwhile."
It seemed that Gelene had done her research.
"Mnnnn," Alexander then remunerated on this problem for a while chewing on the tasty meat, vegetables, and onion mixture.
And after a while, decided to look at his problem from a different angle.
"These women that work for you," Alexander began, "And how much do they earn?" Came his question in a curious tone.
"A lot." Gelene said this with an exasperated tone, elucidating, "The spinners who make the yarn, and the weavers who make the clothes get 50 ropals a month, while the seamstresses get 60 ropals. And that's for only half a day's work!" Gelene sounded surprised even when she said it herself, her tone sounding incredulous.
According to her, making so much money for any woman was almost unheard of.
And she had offered this much because manpower was really short.
'A lot? That's 100 or 120 ropals a month of full day's work. Even a farmer makes 150 ropals.' Alexander only rolled his eyes at Gelene's stated number, seeming to be able to almost smell Gelene's stinginess.
A typical male tailor would get about 200 ropals for the same job, it would seem here was the ever-present gender pay discrimination.
Alexander deliberated if he should advocate for equal pay for equal work.
And though ideologically he was motivated, he ultimately stopped himself.
Because he did not want to spoon-feed every single small solution to others.
Sometimes learning through trial and error was the best.
And if the women did not want to fight for their rights, Alexander did not feel he should just give them away for free.
'If I give such raises out of nowhere, instead of being grateful, they will likely take it for granted. And then they will come asking for more.' Alexander knew how human psychology worked.
'Give them an inch and they will ask for a mile.' was a time-tried and tested truth.
But also did not want to let these poor women suffer either.
And thus he decided to drop some guidance to help Gelene push in that direction.
Alexander began, "This amount is okay for the spinners and weavers. They likely produce enough yarn for us in that half a day anyway."
He then gave Gelene a suggestive look and said, "But the stitching and tailoring need skill. Perhaps you should rethink your pay scale regarding them."
Gelene took a bit of time to think after hearing this.
She had great respect for Alexander's abilities and was smart enough to understand what he was pointing to.
And though she did not necessarily agree with what he was proposing, after a little she prudently asked for his input, "Then what does master advise?"
Alexander answered with a light smile, "As I have seen during my shop inspection, it is the tailors who actually need to do the most technical work, which is sewing the clothes. So, pay them as much as the men. In that way, they will she able to afford a slave to do the household chores for them, while they can concentrate on sewing clothes."
"But master, a slave cost a minimum of five thousand (5,000) ropals!" Gelene had an alarmed and shocked tone to her voice as she barely stopped herself from jumping up.
Slaves at this time were almost like modern-day houses.
An average man would need his entire life savings to even begin dreaming of affording one.
So what Alexander was basically proposing for Gelene was to gift her tailors a free house.
And in this context, her reaction did not seem so extreme.
Alexander certainly understood where Gelene was coming from.
And he was a bit disappointed that she was not quick enough to figure out the math for herself.
'Well, she might be scheming, but not very business savvy,' Alexander evaluated.
Though it was to be expected as Gelene, though by the standards of this world very literate, was still very green with maths and mental arithmetic.
And hence Alexander decided to help her.
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