I received my January paycheck—only 600 dollars. When I went to the finance department, she gloated: “The Manager Logan said you’ve been working overtime every day and using the company’s electricity, wasting public resources. Naturally, the electricity bill needs to be deducted from your salary!” I went to find Logan to explain the situation. I’d been working overtime because the company had suddenly expanded its business. As the head of HR, I needed to work through the nights recruiting and onboarding people, coordinating everything. But Logan just shrugged: “Melissa, if you can’t complete your work within the designated time, how can you expect the company to foot the bill?” I smiled, looking at the new message on my phone. It was from the high-end technical specialist I’d hired, asking when he should start. I calmly replied: “Don’t bother coming.” The company had suddenly expanded. Without funding or sufficient staff, they’d blindly launched a new business venture. They’d taken on a program design project for a major gaming company. The client required all work to be completed within fifteen days. Because the money was good, Manager Logan hadn’t consulted anyone—he’d just accepted it directly. As the head of HR, I had no choice but to recruit people through the night. I’d even brought in my cousin,Bob—a renowned game server development engineer in the industry—at a salary far below market rate. To build the project team, I’d worked overtime for ten nights straight. Finally, I’d secured all the personnel. If nothing went wrong, the project could be smoothly completed in five days. I never expected to have my salary docked for using the company’s electricity while working overtime. Right after Logan kicked me out of his office, I received a text message. It was from Logan in the project group chat: “After comprehensive consideration, HR head Melissa has been found to have excessively used company public resources while working overtime, causing this month’s electricity bill to exceed by $10,600. This amount will be deducted from HR Melissa’s salary.” “However, to demonstrate the company’s humanitarian care, we’ve only deducted $10,000. I hope everyone takes this as a warning!” I looked at those cold words and laughed bitterly. What humanitarian care. What a warning. The phones of my nearby colleagues rang one after another—clearly they’d also received the message. Someone whispered: “Serves her right! Who told her to work overtime until late every night, showing off like that? Acting like the company can’t survive without her.” “Exactly. The company asked her to recruit people, and she brought in seventeen or eighteen people, all of whom she knows. Isn’t that just nepotism?” “The project hasn’t even made a profit yet, but she’s already spent all the funds!” I slammed my hand on the desk: “Which person I recruited is useless?” My colleagues immediately fell silent. Just then, Logan walked over. “Oh, Melissa, I need to inform you of something else!” “Because the company has expanded its personnel and is short on funds, starting next month, your base salary will be reduced to $1,500!” “After all, you’re the one who recruited all these people, so naturally when their salaries aren’t enough, you need to bear part of the burden.” I looked at his matter-of-fact expression and laughed in disbelief. I didn’t argue back. I just quietly opened my phone’s recording app: “Logan, I need to confirm with you—are you now, without any work errors on my part, arbitrarily reducing my salary to $1,500?” Logan replied arrogantly: “What? You don’t accept it?” “But I’m the general manager of this project. How much each person’s salary is—I have the final say!” His lackeys sucked up to him: “Logan is thinking about our project. The funds are limited, so shouldn’t they be used where they’re most needed?” “Exactly! If it were me, I’d have accepted it gladly! Melissa, you need to think more about the company!” Logan nodded with satisfaction. Seeing me holding my ground stubbornly, he asked: “You don’t accept it?” I looked at him silently, wordlessly protesting. He snorted and called out several more names. These people were all new recruits I’d brought in. “You few—your work abilities are mediocre. Each of you gets a $1,000 salary reduction!” Those people looked at each other and protested: “On what grounds? Our salaries were agreed upon when we joined!” Logan didn’t answer. He just looked at me triumphantly: “Melissa, do you have any objections to my arrangements?”
I took a deep breath and answered with a smile: “No, you have the final say on salaries.” But whether we actually work or not—that’s our decision. The people he’d just called out: There was Marcus, who did engine development, and Katie, who did tool development. Every single one was an industry talent, each capable of doing the work of three people. And they were all people I’d recruited at salaries far below market standard. It was only because they were my underclassmen from university who had received my help before, and were willing to help out in an emergency. They’d only signed short-term contracts to work until this project ended anyway. But now it was even better—they could leave directly. I just wondered whether the company could afford the breach of contract penalties if the project couldn’t be completed on time. Right after Logan announced his series of “brilliant decisions,” he received a call from the client. “Oh, Mr. Quinn, you can rest absolutely assured! We’ll definitely complete the task in five days, and we absolutely won’t delay your subsequent development!” “We’re definitely foolproof!” He made these promises without any psychological burden. After finishing the client’s call, he returned to the office. “Everyone, stay sharp! There’s less than a week until the delivery date. Everyone must ensure nothing goes wrong, okay?” His lackeys all agreed. Just then, Marcus, who did engine development, stood up: “Logan, I won’t be staying sharp.” “I just arrived today, and I haven’t even signed the employment contract yet. Then I ran into your brilliant display of power reducing my salary, so I’m leaving now!” With that, he left without looking back. Logan was shocked and turned to look at me: “Melissa, he’s your university classmate, right? How can he just leave like that? No credibility at all!” I shrugged: “But weren’t you the one who showed no credibility first?” “The contract hasn’t even been signed. He wants to leave, so he left. There’s nothing I can do.” Logan’s face darkened. He turned to his lackey number one, Derek: “Derek, you take over Marcus’s work!” I looked at this actual “connection hire” who’d been given special recruitment because he was Logan’s cousin, and I almost wanted to applaud. Brilliant! Having a high school dropout who’d never touched program development do engine development. What kind of pig brain could come up with such a wonderful idea? Sure enough, Derek repeatedly refused: “Logan, I have too much work on my plate already. I can’t handle it!” I smiled. His work consisted of picking up packages and takeout food for Logan. He was indeed busy. Logan’s gaze shifted, landing on Katie, who did tool development: “Then you! Can you take over Marcus’s work?” Katie spread her hands: “Can’t do it, Logan. Everyone has their specialty. I do tool development—I can’t do other things!” With that, she winked at me with a knowing smile. Tool development and engine development were both core R&D positions with significant differences. But this university classmate of mine was an all-around technical talent—whichever one it was, she could handle it with ease. But now she wasn’t willing, and no one could force her. Logan was so angry he was seething, shouting at Katie: “You’re fired!” Katie couldn’t have been happier: “Great! I’m out of here!” Then, Logan, breathing heavily, said to me: “Melissa, come with me!”
Those lackeys of Logan’s were whispering again. “Why’s he calling her again?” “What else? The people she recruited aren’t useful, so she’s going to get chewed out again!” “Haha, I bet that’s it! Best if he fires all the people she recruited and divides their salaries among us!” I couldn’t be bothered with them. I followed Logan into his office with neither humility nor arrogance. As soon as I entered, he pounded on his desk: “Melissa, what’s the deal with these people you found? Not a single one of them is useful!” “Forget it, I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Go recruit someone else, preferably someone who can do both Marcus’s and Katie’s work!” I shook my head: “Logan, I can’t do that.” He jabbed his finger at my temple: “Can’t do it? What does the company pay this HR for—to do nothing?” “Do you know how much the company will have to pay in breach of contract penalties if the project can’t be delivered on time?” I dodged his finger jabbing at my forehead and steadied myself. I looked up at him: “I can’t means I can’t. What kind of person do you expect me to recruit for $3,000?” “Why don’t you get your cousins, nieces, and nephews to do it? They seem pretty smart to me.” This project team was already short on funds, and the relatives Logan had brought in had taken up a large portion of the salaries. After I finished speaking, I slipped out quickly before Logan could throw files at my head. Ten minutes later, my phone rang. It was Mr. Harrison from headquarters. I knew Logan must have tattled. Harrison had given me a job opportunity when I’d fought with my family years ago and refused to go home to inherit the family business. So all these years, I’d worked hard for the company with all my heart. I resolved that if Harrison would agree to fire the parasites Logan had brought in and let me use their salaries to recruit people, I’d be willing to try again. The call connected, and Harrison’s voice came through: “There you go being impulsive again! The company’s been tight on funds lately—you need to understand!” “How about this: I’ll privately reimburse you the $10,000 that was deducted, and you just pretend it didn’t happen, okay?” “I know you have a wide network. Hurry up and find two more people to help with the emergency!” Harrison spoke as if he’d bestowed some tremendous favor upon me. For the sake of his willingness to reimburse my salary, I decided to give him one more chance: “Harrison, our salaries are really too low! The people I recruited before were all my classmates who came as a personal favor to me.” “Now they’ve all left. If we don’t raise the salary a bit, I don’t have the confidence to convince them again.” “Could we take the high salaries that Logan’s relatives are getting—when they can’t do anything—and use that money…” Before I could finish, Harrison interrupted me. “Enough, Melissa! Logan is a veteran employee of the company, and he’s also my brother. Isn’t it normal for me to have a few trusted people around me?” I was stunned. So Logan and Harrison were also relatives—no wonder he was so fearless. “Besides, didn’t you also recruit people you know? Who doesn’t have their own interests?” “Didn’t I just reimburse you $10,000? You can use that money to recruit people! Why can’t you learn to be flexible?” I smiled. So that was his calculation. Then don’t blame me for completely giving up on this company that recruited a bunch of freeloading relatives. “Yes, yes, yes, you’re so smart!” “Hurry and transfer the money to me. I can’t wait to use it to recruit people!”
The $10,000 was quickly transferred to my payroll account. As soon as I got the money, I turned around and applied for seven days off on the company app, combining my overtime compensatory leave and annual leave. I’d just worked overtime for ten days straight—I could use a good rest. Right after I sent the application, Logan called me to his office again. “Melissa, what’s the meaning of this?” “This is a critical time for the company, and you want to quit?” “I won’t approve this leave!” I shrugged: “I’ve completed my task. Why can’t I take leave?” “In just ten days, I built a complete game program development team.” “I’m impressed with myself!” Logan roared: “What bullshit are you spouting?! Everyone’s left—who’s going to develop the game?!” “And didn’t Harrison just give you money to recruit people?” I smiled: “That’s my salary! Logan, get this straight—I’m only responsible for recruiting people. Is it also my fault if the company can’t retain them?” “Besides, didn’t you think their salaries were too high and wasting funds? Go find more suitable people yourself!” Logan was so angry he couldn’t get a word out. If they couldn’t complete the client’s project requirements on time, not only would the branch office’s reputation be ruined, they’d also have to pay ten times the contract amount in breach of contract penalties. This project was going to leave a colorful mark on Logan’s career. I magnanimously offered: “Logan, if you’re willing to admit your decision-making mistakes and apologize to me in the group chat, I can consider helping you out one more time.” His face darkened like water about to drip out. Just when I thought he was going to compromise, his phone rang. After the call ended, that familiar smug expression appeared on his face again: “Melissa, did you think the company can’t function without you? That you’re the only one in the whole company who can recruit people?” “Let me tell you, you’ve miscalculated! Headquarters just onboarded a high-end technical specialist who’s being transferred to us to help with the emergency!” “I’m approving your leave! Let me tell you, don’t expect a single cent of this project’s bonus!” I paused, then thought of something. I asked nonchalantly: “Fine, fine, fine. Amazing! Since you don’t need me anymore, I’m going on vacation!” After leaving the company, I pulled up a contact and sent a message. Then I bought a plane ticket home. And embarked on my journey home for the holidays. When I got home, I had a wonderful long sleep. When I woke up, I saw countless messages and missed calls on my silenced phone.
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