I Got A Broom As My Year-End Bonus

During the award ceremony at our annual dinner, my boss, Hank Reid, suddenly announced an impromptu addition to the agenda.

“Annual department competition! The department that ranked last has to come up and receive a little award of motivation!”

The screen lit up. They scrolled through all the departments’ results.

The sales department got first place, the operations department got second place, and the marketing department got third place.

However, there was nothing from the administration department.

That was because the administration department did not have KPIs.

Hank smiled at us. “Let’s welcome our colleagues from the administration department to come up and receive their awards!”

Two of my colleagues carried a whole basket of brooms onto the stage.

Everyone was laughing.

“You should sweep away your bad luck from last year. Let’s hope you won’t get last place again next year!”

Hank personally passed the brooms to all of us. Cameras flashed as people took photos of us with their phones.

The sales department was laughing the loudest. “Finally, the administration department has some recognition!”

After we returned to our work desks, Ben Anderson threw the broom onto his table.

“What are they implying by humiliating our entire department in front of everyone?”

Patricia Leeland whispered, “Lower your voice…”

“Why should I?” Sam teared up. “I’m going to get married in the spring, and I’m looking forward to the year-end bonus for that. Instead, they gave me a broom?”

Autumn hung her head, and her shoulders trembled as she cried.

Patricia sighed and said, “My husband has to go for a check-up next month. Initially, I thought…”

She did not finish her sentence.

My phone buzzed. It was a text message from my boss, Hank Reid.

[Mindy, don’t overthink this. We’re only doing it to hype up the event. You’re an old employee, so you should be generous. Focus on motivating your team. Deliver a good performance next year. Try your best not to be the last.]

Generous?

There were five of us in the administrative department. We handled a variety of tasks from big-ticket items like negotiating with suppliers and authority liaisons to small-ticket items like receiving parcels and fixing the printer. We did everything.

Who were the ones who did the documentation for the sales department’s contracts? Who were the ones who pulled all-nighters to prepare research materials for the marketing department? Who were the ones who arranged Hank’s business trips?

We did all the tedious tasks, and the only feedback we got was that we did not have clear KPIs. Was that a valid reason for them to give us brooms?

Sam stared at me. “Mindy, are we planning to just let this go?”

I placed the broom on the table.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t over yet.”

After the annual dinner ended, I immediately marched into Hank’s office.

It was very crowded when I entered.

The sales director, marketing director, and finance director were smiling ear to ear as they made promises to Hank.

“Mr. Reid, we were only able to double our sales because of your great leadership!”

“Let’s try even harder next year and take our company to the next level!”

Hank’s smile froze for a moment when he saw me entering his office.

“You should all head home and rest. Let’s start again in the new year.”

The crowd dispersed. Hank gestured for me to take a seat. Then, he lit a cigarette.

“What’s up? You look so ghastly. Does someone owe you money?”

I suppressed my anger. “Mr. Reid, don’t you feel like that segment during the annual dinner is a bit too much?”

“Which segment?”

“The one where you distributed the brooms.”

Hank blew out a smoke ring and laughed.

“Mindy, you’re too fragile. Isn’t it just a small game to hype the crowd up? Didn’t you see all the other departments laughing?”

“They were laughing because they weren’t the ones who received the brooms.”

“Hey, why are you being aggressive?”

Hank snuffed the cigarette out on his ashtray and leaned back.

“Fine. Let me ask you this, then. Why wouldn’t your department deserve the last place in our annual review? The sales department managed to drive 300 million dollars in sales. The operations department reduced our costs by 40%. The marketing department tripled our exposure. What data can the administration department show?”

Rage washed over me.

Data, data, data!

During the mid-year increment, every department had gotten their increments except for us. Our salaries remained the same.

I went to learn the reason for that.

[The salary for the administration department is fixed. Your income is not affected by any targets, so we have to delay your increment. Mindy, you’ve been with us for a long time. Don’t be narrow-minded. Just wait until the end of the year. I’ll give you a little more for your year-end bonus, and everyone will be happy about it.]

It was true that we did not receive commissions in addition to our salaries. However, we did not receive increments for over three years despite the huge inflation that impacted our expenses and rent.

He lied to us every single year.

However, as he promised a higher year-end bonus, we stayed and kept quiet.