1: 1
My manager slapped a sheet of A4 paper down on my desk.
"Did you file a request before you used this A4 paper?"
"That's called embezzling company property."
He announced I was fired, and my seventy-six-thousand-dollar project commission went to his own assistant.
Four-time sales champion. Zero late arrivals. Half the company's numbers had my signature on them.
And there he stood with a single sheet of paper, calling me a thief.
"Taking without asking is theft."
That afternoon, the client I'd landed showed up, and he yelled at me again.
"Where are the client's meeting materials?"
I answered,
"No idea."
"I'm not authorized to print on A4 paper."
The twenty-million-dollar deal collapsed.
His face went sour.
1
Benjamin Sawyer, the sales department manager, stood over my workstation and slapped a few pages of meeting notes down on my desk.
"Gloria Simmons, who authorized the A4 paper you used?"
He pinched the sheet in his right hand like he was interrogating a criminal.
I stared at him, baffled.
"For printing the meeting notes. That's how it's always been done."
"I didn't ask about before."
He flicked the paper onto my keyboard.
"I'm asking you now. Did you file a request before you used company A4 paper?"
"Did you go through the process? Who signed off and gave you permission?"
The coworkers at the next stations all dropped their heads, but their ears were up.
Meryl Hughes, the assistant, stood behind Sawyer, fighting a smirk like she was watching a circus act.
I had a pretty good idea what this was.
He was picking a fight.
Last month I'd taken the quarterly sales title, my numbers double everyone under him combined.
Word from headquarters was that my name was on the list for the next round of manager promotions.
From that day on, Sawyer never gave me anything but a cold face.
He left me off the morning meetings, sat on client lists instead of passing them along, even cropped me out of the team photo before posting it to the group chat.
Now he had a sheet of A4 paper in his fist, and at last he could talk to me about "rules and regulations" out in the open.
"Gloria Simmons, this company isn't yours to run."
He raised his voice.
"If everyone helped themselves to company property without filing a request the way you do, that's embezzlement."
"Taking without asking is theft."
I gave a little smile.
"Mr. Sawyer, when you print your son's summer homework on the company printer, do you write up an application first?"
His face darkened.
Meryl jumped in at once.
"Gloria, how can you talk like that? The manager is discussing policy with you."
I had to take it from the manager, and now from his assistant too?
I didn't hold back.
"Is this any of your business?"
Meryl's eyes went red on the spot, and she took half a step back, looking wounded, like I'd slapped her.
Sawyer only got more worked up.
"Look at the attitude on you."
"If we don't discipline you for this, we can't make an example of anyone."
"You're fired. Finish the project handover, then you're out."
Everyone in the office froze.
Some pretended to sort through files, some drifted around their workstations like they'd lost their way.
Nobody said a word.
The coworkers who ate lunch with me, stayed late with me, cursed out clients with me, now didn't dare meet my eyes.
I drew a breath.
My stomach turned.
"Mr. Sawyer, in four years here, the deals I've signed for you every month could buy tens of tons of A4 paper."
I gritted my teeth.
"And you're going to make a federal case out of this?"
Sawyer's face hardened.
"Signing deals is your job. Did you not get paid for it?"
"What we're talking about is your violation. Don't muddle the two."
"This company isn't yours to run. Don't wave a few signed deals around like a get-out-of-jail-free card."
Sawyer glanced back at Meryl.
"Once the handover's done, that big project of yours goes to Meryl. The commission goes to Meryl, per procedure."
Per procedure.
His procedure was firing the sales champion over a sheet of printer paper and slipping the seventy-six-thousand-dollar commission to his crony.
Meryl tossed a box of tea onto my desk.
"Gloria, don't sulk about it."
"What good are all your signed deals? You can't read people or situations, you were never going to last."
She jerked her chin at the tea.
"There's a client coming in a bit. Brew this and serve it. And be quick about it."
I didn't move.
"That's an admin job."
"Admin's busy."
Meryl straightened up and tipped her chin toward Sawyer.
"Besides, the manager said you have to cooperate with me during the handover. So cooperate."
Fine. This is how you want to play it?
I'll cooperate.
I went to brew the tea, and Hailey Fox from the front desk came over, sympathetic.
She couldn't help herself.
"Mr. Sawyer is a real piece of work..."
"A while back Meryl printed the wrong client file and wasted hundreds of sheets."
"He said it wasn't on purpose, no big deal."
I shook my head.
"It's fine."
Once the tea was brewed, I picked up my phone, went into the stairwell, and pulled up the number for Mark Chavez, the client on this big project.
The company's whole second half of the year was riding on this deal.
"Mark, it's Gloria Simmons."
"Just giving you a heads-up. Someone else will be handling this project from now on. I've been fired."
The line went quiet for two seconds.
"That Sawyer kid fired you? Who does he think he is?"
Mark's voice dropped low.
"Everyone in the business knows he's taking kickbacks and skimming margins. And he's got the nerve to squeeze someone else out?"
"This deal, I signed for you, Gloria Simmons. Let me settle this score for you."
I answered,
"All right. Thank you, Mark."
