Plujo arrived at the entrance to Nut-ro-Soft at precisely eight o’clock. He entered a main lobby that was decorated with simple but comfortable chairs, a larger than life statue of Mr. Filbert. Hanging on the walls were several pretty, framed posters with motivational captions like “COURAGE” and “PERSISTANCE”, and a copy of The Woodland Times with a front page picture of a young woodchuck and a scary-looking hawk shaking hands. At the far end was an official looking desk, behind which sat a bat. Above the desk was a sign that read, “Security—New Hires Check In Here”.
Plujo approached the desk. “Excuse me, sir. I’m Plujo. Today’s my first day at work.”
The bat checked a list he had behind the desk and squeaked, “Yes, Mr. Plujo, they’re expecting you. Please sign in.” He handed Plujo the list, and Plujo checked off his name and jotted down the time he had arrived—eight a.m.
As he returned the form, Seedler arrived, and approached the security bat, “Excuse me, my good bat, could you be so kind as to tell me where I might find Mr. Filbert. I have an important meeting with him today at eight o’clock.”
The bat handed Seedler the check-in list, and he checked off his name and wrote “8:00” next to it. The bat turned to look at a clock on the wall behind him and noticed it was 8:05. But Seedler was important-looking enough that the bat didn’t make a big stink out of it.
He gave back the list to the security bat, who gave them both badges with their names and titles. Plujo’s read “SHIPPING,” and Seedler’s read “MANAGER”. As he did, a door opened behind the desk, and Plujo recognized Ms. Hazel, accompanied by a distinguished-looking woodchuck dressed in a suit, with small round glasses and a handlebar mustache. He looked just like the giant statue behind them.
“Seedler, Plujo, right on time, I see.” The bat overheard this and rolled his eyes. “This is Mr. Filbert, CEO of Nut-ro-Soft.”
Mr. Filbert shook paws with Seedler and Plujo and said, “Welcome aboard, gentlemen. I’m sure you both will be great assets to Nut-ro-Soft. Let me show you around the plant before you get started.” He turned to Seedler and spoke directly to him, “Ms. Hazel tells me you’ll make a great manager. I’m putting you in charge of the production line. Come this way.”
The four of them left the lobby through the door in back of the security desk, and they entered a long hallway with burrows and hollows on either side. As they entered, Mr. Filbert continued, “Plujo, you’ll start off working in Shipping. Seedler, I need you to take over Nut Production. It’s the most important department in our entire company.”
As they walked further down the hall, Mr. Filbert began to point out different departments in the company. He directed them to a hollow on the left, “Over here is our sales office where we take the orders.” They peeked in and saw a busy room with a group of small desks in a line, with munks taking calls using crickets. They continued on to the next hollow
“And over here is our Bean Counting department.” Again, they peered into the hole, and saw four munks with visors in cubicles. They each were typing on an adding machine, a small box with mosquitoes scratching important-looking numbers on leaves. They continued further to a small burrow.
“Out here’s our new website.” Mr. Filbert proudly announced. Through the hole they saw a gigantic spider web, with a large but exhausted spider flinging acorns into the distance, using the webbing as a slingshot. “I don’t really understand how it works, but it’s the wave of the future!”
“Back here is the break room.” It was a small room with a table and two chairs. At the table, there were two gophers drinking from mugs, and a vending machine labeled Almond Joy. “You can take two breaks every day.”
“Through here is the shipping department. Plujo, you’ll start out here.” They looked through and saw a large warehouse. On the well-organized shelves were thousands of nuts of various types, as well as grasses, pebbles, shells, sticks, and leaves that served different purposes within the company. Across the warehouse, there were two large bay doors leading outside. Both were open, and the group could see delivery hawks outside the door, delivering harnesses full of supplies and shipping harnesses full of acorns. Plujo noticed that there were munks loading and unloading the harnesses for the hawks, and gasped with fear, but Mr. Filbert noticed and reassured him, “Don’t worry, son. They look mean, but they won’t eat you. We signed a contract with the hawks from The Peaks last year. Nuts for Air Transport. The Hawks can fly shipments of nuts all the way to The Plains. It’s what they do best, and it’s very efficient.
“We ship nuts all over The Land. We ship to east to The Plains, for grasses and pebbles. Grasses are The Woods’ biggest import. We use bentgrass for ropes, cables, and belts. We use hollow reeds for pipes and plumbing. Bluestem and grama come in handy, too. Almost all of it comes from The Plains. The gophers are terrific farmers. Nut-ro-Soft is their biggest customer. We’d be dead in the water if we couldn’t get any.
We ship north to The Peaks, and in return we get shipping services. And we ship down to The Caverns for security. We have trade agreements with the gophers, the hawks, and the bats.
They reached the end of the hallway, and there was a large hollow at the end labeled “Nut Production”.
“And finally, Nut Production! This is where it all happens!” Mr. Filbert was very proud. “Gentlemen, I built this company from the ground up. Started out with just a little burrow and a lot of sweat. At first I didn’t know if it would work, and I worked twelve-hour days gathering nuts all by myself. But, I made a few smart decisions, hired a few good munks, and here we are today—the number one supplier of acorns and chestnuts to The Land. Next year, we’re going to really expand our new berry division!”
They entered the enormous factory-like hollow and it was alive with activity. Munks with hardhats rode elevators up to dizzying heights to large branches from trees just outside the production room. There were automatic conveyor belts carrying acorns from higher limbs to the floor below. At the base, several munks were running in place in wheels, powering the elevators and conveyors above them. On the floor, there was a railway system, and more munks loading the nuts from the conveyors into rail carts that transported them out to the warehouse. Toward the left of the room to the rear, there was a lizard making a presentation to a group of other lizards, showing them blueprints for a new conveyor belt that would be built on that side of the room. This was an operation that could produce thousands of nuts every day.
Plujo gazed out with wonder and excitement. He remembered what Mr. Filbert had said, that all this had started from one small burrow, probably one like Plujo himself had now, and that with hard work and smart decisions, Mr. Filbert had created the top nut producing company in The Land. And that gave Plujo hope. If he could do it, so can I.
“Ms. Hazel, take Plujo down to Shipping and get him started,” said Mr. Filbert. “Seedler, I need you to keep this operation running smoothly. We need to gather four thousand nuts a day. I will be away for a while…I’m going on vacation next week, and then on a long business trip. I’ll be looking for the best places in The Woods to gather berries. I know I’m leaving my Nut Production department in capable hands. Come on, I’ll show you to your office.”
Ms. Hazel and Plujo returned to the Shipping Department, where Ms. Hazel introduced Plujo to the shipping foreman, a large gopher named Fex. She left and Fex began to train Plujo for his new job.
“Glad to have you, Plujo. You’ll be taking orders from the Sales Department and loading the product for shipping.” Plujo listened intently.
“First you take the order,” Fex continued, and, on cue, a dragonfly carrying an order written on a leaf flew overhead. Fex reached up, plucked the dragonfly out of the air, and took the order. The dragonfly flew back towards the Sales Department for another order. Fex elaborated, “We use these dragonflies for inter-office memos…very efficient.”
He continued the training, “Then you read the order carefully…
“Then you pick…” he pointed to the nuts on the shelves.
“pack…” He pointed to a stack of nuts, bagged up with leaves and tied up with reeds in front of the service bays.
“and ship it with the hawk,” and he finally pointed to a bored-looking hawk waiting outside with an empty harness.
“Then you come back, and do it again, all day long. Got it?”
Plujo nodded his head energetically. “Got it!” Then he reached up and snatched his first dragonfly, and Fex walked away to do other foreman duties, leaving Plujo to his new job. As the day progressed, Plujo must have shipped fifty orders. He was a natural, and as Fex checked in on him from time to time, he complimented Plujo on his great attitude and persistence.
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