78: Chapter 78 Emergency Situation 78: Chapter 78 Emergency Situation Under the blessing of force, the order on the streets suddenly became well-organized and friendly, with the homeless lining up for meals, and nobody thinking about cutting the line or bullying others.
Sieg stood there like a sculpture, with a gaze as piercing as a laser, holding a gun like War God himself.
It made Allen Zhang feel quite inferior.
The two-hour meal service quickly came to an end, yet Allen Zhang dared not relax.
He pulled out his phone, compared it against the photos and portraits, and observed the lined-up Blacks one by one, quickly spotting one in the back of the queue who seemed mentally unwell.
Sieg also noticed something was off and approached to ask, “Is that him?
The mentally ill person?”
He looks pretty much the same as the picture, just changed his clothes—everything else matches,” Allen Zhang confirmed with the photo.
Call the police?” Sieg asked hesitantly, “Doesn’t he carry a lethal weapon on him?”
“It takes some time to call the police, and right now we’re essentially the district officers!
Let’s act after the other homeless have received their meals and left, when there are fewer people around.
You keep an eye on him here, make sure he doesn’t leave your sight, I’ll go report this,” Allen Zhang made a plan and immediately turned around to report to Rena and the shelter manager Cooper.
“Ok,” Sieg nodded, continuing to supervise the homeless lining up for their meals without changing his expression.
Allen Zhang returned to the shelter where Rena, manager Cooper, and other staff were discussing something, with Cooper angrily complaining into his phone.
It seemed to be a problem with the goods transportation?
“What happened?” Allen Zhang approached Rena and quietly asked.
“Why did you come in?
Weren’t you managing the order outside?” Rena was a bit surprised.
“I came to report an issue, but what’s going on here?
Why have the meal distributions stopped?” Allen Zhang noticed the staff in charge of serving meals had also stopped, but there were still homeless people waiting outside.
Rena said with some difficulty, “There’s some bad news.
The truck fleet transporting the supplies slipped on the highway and collided with other semi-trailers and private cars, resulting in an accident with 2 dead and 3 injured.
There might not be any relief coming in today.”
“The worse news is, we’ve run out of mashed potatoes and chicken fillets, and it seems we don’t have enough relief meals,” Rena fretted.
“This is indeed not good news,” Allen Zhang also immediately realized the gravity of the situation.
There were a lot of people outside still waiting to be fed, and many were also waiting on the streets to receive warm clothing, pants, and shoes to be distributed.
If, after all the queuing, they find out they’ve been fooled, they’re sure to get upset.
“The other shelters are facing the same problem.
Our manager is trying to resolve this, attempting to urgently contact other community charity organizations to see if we can urgently divert some supplies over.”
“More importantly, the mayor has urgently convened a press conference and stated that the issues with electricity and water supply will be solved as soon as possible.
Every department is responsible for this, and the mayor also demands that each shelter must provide meals and clothes to the homeless on time, and cannot close for no reason.
If we can’t quickly pacify the homeless and maintain public order, the managers and staff of the shelter might need to be replaced tomorrow,” Rena said somewhat helplessly.
“He’s smart, isn’t he?
Just a word in front of the media, and the people below have to run around till they’re out of breath,” Allen Zhang scoffed.
Now that the shelter ran out of supplies, the only thing left to do was to close.
But by doing so, the upper echelons would blame them, and manager Cooper definitely couldn’t withstand the pressure.
The pressure was on the employees and security personnel.
However, this had nothing to do with Allen Zhang.
What did it have to do with him?
He was just a part-timer.
Allen Zhang suddenly realized that being a temporary worker had its benefits.
At least there was no need to act by looking at others’ faces—just work if you want to and, when it’s done, just pat your butt and leave.
“Hanberger, why are you here?
Is there something going on?” Supervisor Cooper, agitated and flustered, hung up the phone and saw that the staff was still chatting privately.
His face looked rather unpleasant as he walked over and asked Allen Zhang.
“There was a bit of an unexpected incident, Mr.
A mental patient is queuing up for meals in line,” Allen Zhang responded.
“Then chase him away!
Call the Los Angeles mental hospital and have them come over to take him away.
We’re facing a bigger problem right now!” Cooper was a bit irritated, everyone visible to the naked eye seemed worn out.
But Allen Zhang didn’t show any sympathy for him and directly said, “As far as I know, that mental patient is no ordinary person.
He carries deadly weapons on him and last night stabbed two homeless people, currently wanted by the police.
If we can’t handle this, he will definitely hurt other homeless people, causing a larger scale riot, so I wanted to consult your thoughts.”
Cooper was shocked to hear this, “What?
How could such a dangerous individual come here?
Is he here for food or does he have other intents?”
It could well turn into a fatality.
“Supervisor, we don’t have extra food to give him,” Rena said immediately, looking at the supervisor’s panicked appearance.
Cooper’s expression was serious, “Then notify the police, Rena, quickly dial 911!”
Rena immediately did so, taking out her cell phone and reporting the matter to 911 at the Southern Branch, bringing bad news to Cooper after hanging up.
“It may take the police officers about twenty minutes to come here, the Southern police department is seriously understaffed right now, most are in the Sixth District, where many mental patients, lunatics, and gang members need to be arrested, they simply don’t have the time to manage this minor issue.
The police also said if officers don’t arrive in time, let our security personnel handle the problem themselves.”
This might be the slowest police response in Los Angeles history.
Officers dispatched from other branches to the Southern don’t have that level of initiative, after all, it isn’t their own jurisdiction, cross-district action is also restrained, and neither the Police Chief nor the head of the department are their own people.
“Is this a minor issue?
Damn these police officers!
What are they doing squabbling internally at a time !!
We are their own people!
Why won’t they come to help?
Instead, they go to solve problems for ordinary taxpayers?”
Cooper was numbed, cursing loudly at the police department.
Allen Zhang stood by, watching Supervisor’s meltdown, “So?
Can you give us a clear instruction, Mr.
Should anything go wrong in the process, and someone doesn’t control their strength, we, the temps, won’t take the blame, the most we’ll be is laid off.
Earning only a bit over two hundred US dollars a day, why would I risk my life.
Cooper calmed down and thought soberly.
He suddenly realized that this situation wasn’t actually too terrible.
And very quickly made his decision and strategy, “Get ready to take action!
Hanberger, notify Sieg, the two of you coordinate well, and be sure to stop that mental patient before a disturbance breaks out!
Even if you injure or kill him, it doesn’t matter!
I will apply to halt the public welfare relief activities on the grounds that an employee was injured, disperse those homeless people, and report the matter to the higher-ups to apply for workers’ compensation for you.”
Cooper’s eyes shone, “Yes!
We have all been frightened and can’t continue working!!
This way we can avoid a riot due to insufficient relief and also gain the consideration of the higher departments, and earn a sum for workers’ compensation, including paid leave.”
Allen Zhang and Rena exchanged glances.
What a thinker, considering the shrewdness of his thought.
Always finding a loophole.
Not putting himself or the higher-ups in a tough spot, and even securing benefits for the employees.
No wonder he can be a leader!