“Good.”
“If you get hurt, I’m moving countries.”
“I’m not getting hurt.”
“You’re a CEO in white sneakers walking into a plant undercover.”
“Compliance observer.”
“Undercover.”
“Legal hates that word.”
“I like legal less every minute.”
Naomi smiled.
Then went inside.
The first surprise was not Linda.
It was how ordinary everything felt.
Workers clocked in.
Coffee machines hissed.
Radios chirped.
Forklifts moved in marked lanes.
Some employees smiled.
Some looked exhausted.
A young Latino temp named Mateo showed Naomi where gloves were stored.
A Black woman in her twenties named Kiara helped her understand the break schedule.
Neither complained immediately.
That mattered.
Bad workplaces are rarely bad every second.
People laugh.
Help each other.
Bring food.
Share rides.
The system can be harmful while the community inside it remains human.
Naomi spent the first two hours helping facilities staff wipe break tables, restock dispensers, collect recyclable packaging, and clean common areas.
The actual sanitation employees were professional and organized.
Their lead, Mrs. Hall, was a sixty-year-old Black woman with silver braids and no patience for people who left half-full drinks in trash cans.
“You pour liquid out first,” she told Naomi.
“Otherwise bags leak.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Mrs. Hall narrowed her eyes.
“You worked cleaning before?”
“Not professionally.”
“That answer means no.”
Naomi smiled.
Mrs. Hall showed her the proper way to separate cleaning cloths.
“You don’t use restroom cloth on food surfaces.”
“I know.”
“You’d be surprised.”
The work was physical.
Not unbearable.
Naomi’s shoulders hurt by nine.
At 9:20, Linda Marsh appeared.
Naomi recognized her from personnel file immediately.
Linda did not recognize Naomi.
She looked over the facilities cart.
Then Naomi.
“You new?”
“Yes.”
“Agency?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
“Naomi Carter.”
Naomi waited.
Nothing.
Linda had probably never seen CEO’s full name in relation to a face.
The company had been founded as Carter Industrial Holdings, but five years earlier rebranded Carter Manufacturing Group. Naomi appeared in quarterly videos perhaps twice a year.
Plant employees rarely watched.
Linda said:
“Naomi.”
“Yes.”
“You move too slow.”
Naomi glanced at clock.
“I’m following Mrs. Hall’s sequence.”
Linda looked toward Mrs. Hall.
“She doesn’t run production.”
Mrs. Hall heard from across the room.
“I run sanitation.”
Linda ignored her.
“The east break room needs done before second break.”
Naomi said:
“It’s scheduled for eleven.”
Linda looked back.
“Did I ask schedule?”
“No.”
“Then do it now.”
Naomi nodded.
Not enough yet.
She followed.
Over the next hours, patterns appeared.
Linda spoke sharply to everyone.
Not only temps.