Ch 2:Office
*Unknown POV*
It had been 10 hours since I started my day and now the sun seemed to shine at my face as I handed 17 stacks of papers to my boss all of them already having been skimmed through 3 times and each word having been taken into account.
My boss seemed to eye the documents but unlike how he usually asked new employees 'Which usually didn't last long' if they had checked them thoroughly he just nodded and went back to work. But as I exited the office one of the new employees ran up to me hurriedly. She wanted to enter the office but I stopped her knowing fully how angry my boss could be if provoked with unrequired sounds in his workplace.
"What seems to be the matter?" I asked with a calm voice befitting my tall and strong stature.
The woman seemed surprised by my appearance but decided to speak nonetheless.
"One of the new employees." She spoke hurriedly
"What of it?" I asked trying to keep the conversation at the minimum volume and maximum professionalism possible.
"Well he got drunk and we had to call an ambulance. He has been charged more than all of us have combined." She said hurriedly probably worried for her young colleague.
I myself was just 25 but my voice neither changed nor did my tone.
"What did they do for him?" I asked. Wanting to know the problem first. Whatever may have happened I needed to know.
"Well, they gave him some water."
"Yes," I said asking her to continue
"And told him to not drink so much."
"And?"
"And they charged him 5K."
'Holy mother of God. I can buy a new vehicle and drive myself to the colony of Virginia with five thousand bucks.' I thought at the absurd price.
The price may now even be a drop in my bank account but for new employees it was absurd.
My company hired at least a 100 employees each year and out of that 50 percent dropped each subsequent year. Their wages were not like pennies to mine and even if the pay increased exponentially each year most decided to save their sanity and find work elsewhere. I myself had felt like each year was another chunin exam.
"Can I go in now?" she asked hurriedly but I stopped her and handed her the money. She seemed surprised by my actions, probably because of my reputation.
"Just pay for him," I said and went back to my work.
I was called 'Scrooge' in my office by those that were of the same and lower position as me because except for coffee, grocery, and my bike no one had seen me buying anything else. They thought of me as a hoarder but I simply had fewer demands.
'If I don't mind them buying crystal dildos with their money why do they bother me for not buying one?' had been my thoughts every time someone had called me 'Scrooge' even though I had chosen the perfectly common name for myself.
It was around lunchtime when some of the employees started to move out of their work desks and but the look of horror and smirks on everyone's face that had worked in the office for more than a year I knew that they were all new employees. My boss seeing the commotion came out and stopped everyone.
"What's going on here?" He asked
"We're going to eat sir." The group replied in unison seemingly having practiced or something.
"Oh, and where do you want to eat today." My boss asked with a sweet smile on his face.
"Oh there's this new coffee place right around the corner and they've got good pastries too." And just like that all of them had started chattering and the smile on my boss's face dropped faster than light.
"I'll break my foot up in your ass if you don't go back to work." My boss shouted.
"But it's chris..." One of them started but my boss seemed to open his phone and clicked a single spot three times and put the phone on his ear.
"Hello, big man. Yeah." My boss was having a conversation while the employees seemed shocked to their spots.
He then ended the call and looked the one that had refuted him straight in the eye.
"I talked with Santa. You're getting fired for Christmas." My boss said while pointing at the pale faced employee and going back to work. I simply continued to work my way through the day.
By 6 PM the office was mostly empty with me and the boss going downstairs for a PR meeting. The conference hall was filled with reporters but none had been able to catch even a glimpse of out working space. As soon as my boss arranged the mic towards his face the questions started pouring in.
*30 minutes later.*
"Sir what are your thoughts on the increasing violence throughout the city?" One reporter asked.
"Don't be a dick." My boss replied unfazed at the reporters scribbling furiously at their notepads.
"What about the increasing number of failed orphanages."
"Everyone should treat other with kindness." My boss said while looking at me from the corner of his eye "and Don't be a dick." He said and stepped down from the elevated spot and went to the parking lot with me.
He didn't speak to me and neither did I and in that comfortable silence with the night sky already risen I mounted my bike.