I, Helena Hawking, was being laid off without even getting what was supposed to be my year-end bonus despite working really hard to be their top saleswoman. Not only I didn’t get my year-end bonus from the Neoform, the CEO and his useless cronies dared to humiliate me!

“Gosh, sales are just about talking! Everyone can do it, not just you, Miss Hawking!”

As I was being consumed by revenge, I made a decision by joining their archrival named The Oracle.

To my surprise, I ended up becoming the CEO of my former company’s CEO and their relatives. Who got the last laugh then?

——

[Neoform HR Department Leader Leticia Warren: Miss Hawking, please come to my office as soon as possible.]

When I, Helena Hawking, saw this message from the HR Officer, Leticia Warren, my mind went blank.

Just this morning, people in the Neoform were talking about a massive wave of layoffs that allegedly would happen at the end of the year. Like any company’s layoff, most of them came without any hints at all. In fact, the HR Department might fire any of us on what was supposed to be an uneventful day.

Obviously, everyone panicked because of that. However, my coworkers believed that there would be someone that would never be laid off. That someone happened to be me.

After all, I won the Best Saleswoman last year because I managed to get projects that worth of tens of billions of dollars for the Neoform a year ago. Everyone had a blast because of my victory. In fact, I could still remember when we celebrated my victory for getting those projects on last year’s company dinner party as the CEO, Jonathan Warren, praised me.

“Miss Helena Hawking is the most hardworking saleswoman that Neoform had ever had! I hope she’ll continue to set a new high for other Neoform employees to bring on more projects for us in the future!”

Yet, the reality slapped me hard in my face the moment I walked to Alan’s room just to see the HR Department Leader taking out what looked like a severance letter. The moment the company expanded its wings, I was nothing important but indispensable. Not even the Best Salesman could be protected from the layoff.

I couldn't help but look at the faces of my HR Department Leader and the CEO before me with mixed feelings.

As soon as I graduated, I landed a job as a saleswoman here and worked extremely hard for about 10 years. I had sacrificed my entire youth to work with Neoform. The truth was I accompanied them from when it used to be an unknown small company to a huge company that became well-known as a dark horse in the IT industry.

Yet, what did I get from them after all those 10 years with them? They paid me with nothing but a severance letter that stated that I only got a severance pay worth my one month's salary. Seeing this couldn’t help but make me laugh in frustration.

“Sir, Ma’am, I’ve been working extremely hard for this company for the last 10 years. How could you lay off the Best Saleswoman in the company when I haven’t made any fatal mistakes? And … how dare you only give a severance pay for my one-month salary?” I asked the HR Department Leader and the CEO angrily.

Personally, it seemed that Leticia, the HR Department Leader, got used to laying off too many employees at the end of the year.

In fact, the woman surely had gotten used to it to the point that she became so cocky as he talked to me in a very arrogant tone, “Well, Miss Hawking, this is the company’s rules. May I remind you that your job is a saleswoman, which is a very sales-oriented job that is mainly based on commissions? Since you’re leaving the company, you’re not contributing to any of the company’s sales. So, why would the company need to give you more money?”

Whoa! Was that something that an HR Department Leader could say easily?

Realizing that I would only waste my time talking to such an arrogant and stupid HR Department Leader who seemed to not understand any labor law, I stared at Neoform’s CEO, Jonathan Warren, in anger and asked him, “Sir, why me?”

Jonathan Warren, the current CEO of Neoform, used to be an employee just like me. Surely, that man could see how I managed to rise to my current position with his own eyes. Not to mention what happened this year because we all managed to go through the pandemic which caused such strong market competition that had never happened before.

Since we were dealt with such a strong competition, I often had to work overtime for the company until very late. In fact, I was still even responding to customers’ inquiries until 3 or 4 a.m. the next morning. Not only that, I even lived inside the company for a period of time while I continued to work overtime to think of better solutions as well as built connections for the company.

I was very confident that Jonathan could see how hard I worked for Neoform.

Yet, what he said really slapped me on my face, “Helena, you should’ve realized what the company’s interests lay by now. You can see that our company’s performance isn’t very good. Unfortunately, it means that we must cut costs to increase our efficiency in performance. We’ve made calculations, showing that you staying here will be extremely expensive … unfortunately, you have to be laid off.”

“Besides, you need to understand that our company is in a crisis. You’re still young, so other companies will hire you in no time. Don’t you think you shouldn’t think about the severance pay a bit too much?” he asked me again.

Jonathan kept talking, “Helena, you’re a saleswoman. Obviously, your job is to make people buy the products. But if our company’s products aren’t good, can we sell them? Since you’re able to bring projects worth billions of dollars, our products have shown how good they are. That’s why you become the Best Saleswoman!”

“Instead, you should’ve thanked Neoform for giving you a platform to show yourself,” he concluded arrogantly.

His bullshit did nothing but convinced me. Yet, the man seemed to be deluded into believing his own lies. Besides, he said every one of his words with a strong conviction as he stared me right into my eyes.

In the past, Jonathan was also a salesman just like I was. But he then married the former CEO’s daughter. From then on, his career progression was smooth sailing. As soon as he became the current CEO, he seemed to forget that he used to be an employee as he began putting guilt into his employees like any other CEO.

Then, realization suddenly dawned on me as I looked at the CEO’s face. Out of nowhere, I remembered what he said during last year’s company dinner party. Although I managed to sign projects worthy of billions of dollars, I recalled that the other companies who cooperated with us specifically asked me to handle negotiations with them in the future.

It reminded me of what Jonathan said about hoping that I would continue to set a new standard for other employees at last year’s dinner party. It turned out that he meant it to boost other employees’ morale to get projects as good as mine.

More realization came. I remembered that I just finished negotiating with the other companies’ representative early in the morning before I was told that I would be laid off this afternoon. As soon as they got what they wanted, they kicked me off just like that.

When I thought of the new year’s plan for sales that I just wrote wholeheartedly, my heart sank. In a company like this, such sincere efforts would never ever be rewarded justly.

At this point, I made the decision that I didn’t wish to stay in such an inhumane company like Neoform any longer.

“Make my severance pay as worthy as 11 months of my salary. I will not accept even a penny less.”

“What? Did you say 11 moths of your salary? Did you want to rob us?” Alan, the HR Deparment Leader, asked angrily as he stood up.

Then, the woman angrily mocked me as she shouted, “You’re just nothing but a scammer! How dare you ask Neoform that huge amount of money!”

I just glared daggers at the curly-haired woman before me who looked pretty similar to Jonathan. After all, it was no secret that Alan was Jonathan’s cousin. In fact, both Jonathan and her were rumored to change several company’s employees several times with their relatives.

Not only that, Alan was infamous for being extremely rude when she was laying off employees. That woman would repeatedly attack employees’ personally, hurting them even more. I was able to see how true that gossip was with my own eyes as I currently experiencing it.

At this point, I realized that how Neoform was a really terrible company. The employees were filled with no one but people with connections from the bottom level to the top one.

“We can only give you severance pay worthy of two months of your salary,” Jonathan eventually said.

The man then continued to speak as he said, “Miss Hawking, our company’s reputation is pretty fearsome. If you still refuse to take this severance pay, it’ll make your life even harder. Don’t try to defy us, okay?”

“That’s right!” the HR Department Leader shouted arrogantly.

She kept continuing, “Let me tell you, you only get 3 days at maximum to think about it. Also, I already kicked you out from our Slack group. If you refused to take the severance pay within three days, we would consider that you were absent. Thus, the company would have legitimate reasons to fire you.”

Jonathan kept persuading me as he continued, “That’s right, Helena. I remembered that you just paid the down payment for your new house. Don’t you still need to pay the mortgage? So, why don’t you take the severance pay instead of wasting your time with us?”

However, I just ignored that man as I took out my phone. Sure enough, it showed that I was kicked from the Sales Department and the whole company’s Slack groups. These two people were truly evil. They kept pushing me to take the severance pay. Surely, they already planned how to kick me out of this company.