The staff deal with dissension like nursery school teachers attempting to keep the peace. “Mr. Duiker, can’t you try being a bit nicer to Miss Slothouwer? Come, won’t you sit down here? Why don’t we all have a nice cup of coffee together?” I’d rather ram a ginger cookie down her throat and watch her suffocate in drawn-out agony, I can just hear Evert thinking. Evert doesn’t really belong in the “good-natured” category. Just so that you don’t think this place is a complete snake pit: there are also kind, courteous and compassionate people in here. Although they’re not usually the ones you
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