For snacking in the office during overtime, I was fined 600,000 dollars by my manager!

She was extremely furious as she pointed at me. “Taylor, don’t be so arrogant just because you’ve secured a deal!

“You should be working in the office. Go home if you want to eat!

“You’re violating company rules. No snacking during working hours! You should be punished since you’re aware of that rule!

“You won’t be getting the 600,000-dollar commission from this deal!”

I looked at her and said indifferently, “Suit yourself.”

Then, I decided to slack. She could not stand it.

Winnie Smith was very dissatisfied with my attitude. “Taylor, you should reflect on yourself! Review your mistakes in our company meeting!”

I looked at her angry, red face and clenched my fists. I then said indifferently, “Sure.”

My colleagues all turned to look at me. They were all in slight disbelief.

Winnie turned around and strutted to the twenty-third floor. I remained at my desk.

After a while, there was a company-wide email.

[Taylor Anderson from the sales department has repeatedly violated company rules. After careful consideration, his commission, worth 600,000 dollars, will be deducted. He will review his mistakes in the meeting at 2 p.m. today. This will serve as a stern reminder for everyone else!]

My colleagues stared at me in shock. Henry Black, who was seated opposite me, texted me separately. [Winnie must be going through menopause and emotionally unstable. You shouldn’t be going up against her. Just apologize to her. 600,000 dollars is on the line!]

I smiled. It was useless to apologize to her. She wanted to get rid of me either way.

Back when the chairman poached me to this company, he promised that I did not have to clock my attendance. I was free to do whatever I wanted as long as my performance was good.

I was responsible for half of the sales in my department.

The agreement with M Corporation was worth ten billion dollars. I only needed a week to get them to sign our renewal agreement.

Winnie probably believed my job was too easy. That was why she was jealous of me.

I texted Henry back. [Just wait and see. It’s not just a humiliation ritual, someone’s planning to replace me!]

Henry was shocked. I pretended not to notice. I stayed at my desk and calmly organized and printed out all my clients’ data.

Then, I wiped all the data from my work phone. After that, I started to write my reflection report.

Winnie came down for a while. She saw that I was writing my report and smiled smugly.

She called everyone over when it was 2 p.m.. The meeting was held in the big meeting room located on the twenty-third floor. More than a hundred employees attended.

Winnie sounded firm. “I want to reiterate that the office is a workplace. Don’t treat it like it’s your house or worse, like a garbage dump. Some people just refuse to listen!

“Don’t think you’re better than anyone else just because you were personally hired by the chairman. You managed to get the agreements signed over simple phone calls or meals. Anyone can do that!

“Taylor, come up and review your mistakes. Tell the others what you’ve done!”

I stood up. While some people looked confused, others looked gleeful. I walked forward.

“Winnie was right, I shouldn’t be snacking in the office. From today onwards, I will adhere to the company rules very strictly!

“Winnie, I’m not highly educated. I can’t say anything else. If you ask me not to snack, I will stop doing it. I’m just a salesperson!”

“It’s good that you know your mistakes! Since this isn’t the first mistake you’ve made, the management has decided to demote you to the position of a regular sales employee.

“This is our new director, Brandon Miller. He’s a real genius, and I believe he’d be able to bring us to new heights!”

People were clapping unenthusiastically. Winnie welcomed an unkempt man onto the stage. Henry and I exchanged glances. He looked speechless.

After that, Winnie said, “Taylor, pass all your clients’ data for the redistribution of work!”

I agreed and passed them the printed documents.

If they could handle those clients, they were free to do so!

Winnie was a little suspicious to see me being so cooperative. She carefully scrutinized the data and only let it go after noticing nothing was wrong.

Brandon looked even more smug. He had just come down from the twenty-third floor when he rapped a knuckle on my desk. “Taylor, quick, pack up your things. Otherwise, if something’s missing, you won’t be able to bear the consequences.”

It finally dawned on me.

As the sales director, I used to sit with the rest of the employees. The only difference was that no one was seated beside me. I had the best view of the office. From my seat, I could see everyone sitting opposite me.

Things had changed. He could not wait to covet my seat. My new seat was opposite him, located closest to the window.

Even though there was air-conditioning in the summer, I was not allowed to pull the curtains close. The blazing sun shone in through the window and reflected off my computer. It was very hot.

However, these were nothing. I packed my things quietly and prepared to walk toward my new desk with my computer. He stopped me. “There’s no need to hurry. I need to review your computer first. What if you kept the clients’ data with you?”

“Sure, you can have a look!”

I switched on my computer and let him go through it.

The chairman, Mr. Davis, had personally hired me. He had told me that I had the veto power in this company.

However, Mr. Davis had not been in good health in recent years. Hence, he went overseas to recuperate. The things they did in his absence felt ridiculous.

I knew what Winnie was thinking. She wanted to withhold my commission from me and reduce the company’s cost. However, it was not going to be so easy to reduce the cost.

Brandon could not find anything suspicious on my computer, so he gestured at me to leave.

Henry sent me a text message. [Taylor, don’t worry. All of us support you!]

I sent a smiling emoji. Their support barely meant anything. The senior management seated on the twenty-third floor definitely knew what Winnie was doing to me, and they had allowed it to happen.

It meant that Mr. Davis would know about it, too. Since that was the case, I did not have to waste my time on them.

From that moment onward, I would follow the company rules strictly. They would have nothing to pin on me.

I usually met up with clients after work, but that practice was going to end.

I directly drove home and gazed at the sunset as I lay on my bed. I had not done that in a long time, so I was in a good mood.

In the past, I would always have dinners and entertain clients. I finally had time to relax and spend my time for myself. I took out my cell phone and ordered a ticket.

My favorite actress had been featured in hundreds of shows, but I had never been to one. I finally had time to watch one of her works.

I was suddenly added to a new sales group chat.

Brandon had created it.

[Hello everyone. All sales employees would need to write a work journal every day, detailing your conversations with your clients. I will read every single one.

[You have to prepare five potential client profiles every month. If you fail to do so, your salary will be deducted by twenty percent at the month-end evaluation.]

Henry texted me separately to rant. [Look at him! He claimed to be a real genius, but why is he using such an old-fashioned KPI method on us?

[Has he not done any sales before? It’s not easy to find potential customers, and he wants us to find five per month! Most of our past agreements came from our old customers!

[The economy is not good now. How is it possible? We can’t deal with big clients. As for small clients, there are only so many people that fit into our market segment. He’s really pushing us into a dead end.]

Looking at Henry’s text messages, I could only comfort him. [Let’s take it one step at a time. You should just do what your boss wants you to do.]

[Taylor, are you really okay with him pushing you down like this? I’m not! If it were me, I’d have already resigned! I won’t be able to take this!]

Henry was very direct. I smiled when I saw what he wrote, but I stopped replying to him.

I was not worried about it. They would soon feel it.

The next day, I sent in my application for annual leave when I reached the office. I had worked in this company for eight years, and I had never once had a vacation.

When I submitted my application, Brandon looked at me. “What are you doing? Taylor, I’ve just got promoted, and you’re already applying for time off now? Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Brandon, you’re overthinking this. With your leadership, we’ll definitely be able to reach new heights. I haven’t taken a break throughout all these years. I can’t take it anymore, so I decided to take some time off to rest. Otherwise, I’d be too exhausted.”

He sized me up in disdain. “That’s true. You’ve had to deal with so many big clients. You’re already over thirty years old. Naturally you would lack the energy to keep up with them.”

His implication was practically transparent. I knew he suspected that I got my clients through despicable ways.

It was hard to change his mind since he already had that prejudice against me.

I did not bother explaining myself. Brandon approved my application.

“Don’t forget about your month-end evaluation! If you can’t hit your target, your salary will be docked!

“If you don’t hit your targets for three months in a row, you’re out of here!”

“I understand. Don’t worry, I won’t be leaving.”

They would be the ones leaving!

After I completed my leave application, I packed my bags for my vacation. I was going to Shine City. It was the day of the show, so I did not want to miss it.

After two hours, I had just alighted the train when Henry sent me a text. [Taylor, Glory Corporation has signed the agreement. Winnie said Brandon will be taking the commission.

[This is going to be his key achievement during the year-end performance review, so Brandon can be promoted to our sales head. With that, Winnie would be promoted too!

[They’re so shameless! How could you bear it?]

[Be patient. They won’t be able to deal with the case. Just wait and see!]

I laughed after I sent that text message. It had not been easy to get Glory Corporation to sign a renewal agreement.

I muted my phone and chose to ignore everything else. I sat in the mall and stared at the stage before me. I felt extremely excited.

My emotions fluctuated with the plot, and I laughed and cried along with the characters.

After two hours, I stepped out of the hall. I took out my cell phone and saw more than a hundred missed calls. I also got a lot of text messages.

The latest text message came from Winnie.

[Taylor, Mr. Williams from Glory Corporation said there are some issues with the agreement. They decided to withdraw from the contract. This will cost a three-billion-dollar loss for our company. Get ready to be fired!]

I snorted and texted back. [I have passed the agreement to Brandon. He couldn’t deal with it, so you’re putting me up as a scapegoat?

[Winnie, if you want to fire me, remember to compensate me.]

After I sent that text message, I put my cell phone in my pocket. Not even Henry could reach me.

I kept walking around while receiving continuous text messages. From those text messages, I roughly knew what happened.

After I left, Brandon decided to build some relationships with some big clients. Hence, he went to Glory Corporation with gifts.

However, when he reached, he bumped into Daniel Williams. When Daniel learned that Brandon was the new director, he asked Brandon a few technical questions. Brandon could not answer any of them. Daniel was losing confidence in our company, so he requested a site visit.

I had already gone through the site visit with Daniel numerous times before. Brandon had never visited the site before. When he reached there, it just so happened that one of the machines was broken.

Brandon had asked an engineer to fix it.

It turned out that no one knew how to fix this new machine. In the past, whenever there were any issues, I had always contacted the right person to service it.

Daniel immediately expressed that the company was a fraud, and that he would not sign the renewal agreement.

The agreement fell through. Not only did the company lose three billion dollars, but Daniel also scolded Brandon and contacted Mr. Davis.

Henry gave me a call. “Taylor, come back. They’re going to file a police report, claiming that you’re a fraud!”