So we might as well wrap up the chapter with this quote:
What do you call a guy who
Webster Tompkins, Chapter 15, Page 195
tells you something you should have known a hundred years
ago, but didn’t.
Is the author trying to excuse himself for making a chapter revolve around pressuring people and then self-realizing: «Doy people do not work as good under pressure.» Have we not had conversations like this one in the story before? Good incentives are always better than bad incentives. Whatever has Webster been doing as a manager all these years if he is just figuring it out until now? I feel I am terribly misunderstanding the point of this chapter. I do not really feel it was a waste, but I am wondering where it is going most of the time with all the graphs and the corelations between previous works, Binda’s graph, etc. since we end up with a «well, duh» note in the last few pages.
All this work just to make everyone see that Belok is more of a douche who not only abuses of workers but also abuses his kids (if anyone would dare to have kids with such a person)? Perhaps the author’s intention was more of a showcase to the readers and I am just distressing on «why are they working so hard to figure out pressure is not good».
On a sidenote: I felt it quite heartwarming to see all the colourful characters we have met until now joining forces to fight off the bad guy (in a way). Markov, Binda, Waldo, Aristotle, and a brief of the Oracle (I am expecting it to be some character we have already met before). It is as if everything was building up to a final battle against Bellok. Taking this into account, we could interpret the team’s meeting as a way to gather evidence that what Bellok is doing is plain hog-wash to make the NNL cut him off or something.
Until now, it has been a fun and endearing adventure. I have enjoyed the growth of the characters and their willingness to run the extra mile to achieve the company’s goals, along with the lessons their giving us altogether.
Coder Bebop 