One Rigid Time Card, One Terrified Boss

I'd only been slacking for three days before Mr. Clooney came rushing over to me. "What's going on, Wendy? Why are all the deals you had lined up getting snatched up by competitors?"

I glanced at Felicia standing beside him and chuckled coldly. "I have to strictly follow the company's check-in policy, Mr. Clooney. Where am I supposed to find the time to negotiate deals?"

She caught the jab immediately and bit her lip. "I set up that check-in system for the good of the company, Wendy. Cut the sarcasm!"

Mr. Clooney's expression darkened when he looked at me. "You've got your priorities completely backwards, Wendy! You need to check in on time, but you also need to get your deals done.

"Do you have any idea we've lost half of the our business these past few days because of you? And you're just sitting in the office enjoying the AC? You'd better get out there and win those clients back now!"

I almost laughed at his words.

This man really wanted me to bring in business, keep me under his thumb, and still find excuses to dock my pay.

You couldn't run a car on an empty tank and expect it to go.

Instead of answering Mr. Clooney directly, I touched my chin slightly and said, feigning concern. "I'd love to, Mr. Clooney. But Ms. Lane requires a check-in every ten minutes, and the rules are so strict. Meeting a client takes hours—how many check-ins would I miss during that time?

"Each missed check-in is a 200-dollar deduction. Won't my entire salary be gone if I miss that many check-ins? I'm only earning six thousand dollars a month, and I've already been docked 1,600 dollars by Ms. Lane. If this keeps up, I won't even have money to eat. Maybe you should assign this to someone else."

Mr. Clooney clearly didn't expect his own system to backfire on him. He shot Felicia an annoyed look.

Sensing the tide turning against her, she immediately started tearing up. She raised a hand to wipe away tears, putting on a pitiful act. "I was only trying to boost employee productivity and prevent them from slacking off, Mr. Clooney."

As expected, the moment Felicia played the victim, Mr. Clooney couldn't bring himself to press her further. And with me using the check-in policy against him, he had nowhere to run.

In the end, Mr. Clooney fell back on pulling rank. "Wendy, I'm ordering you to go win those clients back. I'll make an exception so that you won't be required to check in for the next few days."

Did he really think that would make me fall in line?

I scoffed quietly, yet I kept a straight face on the surface, acting like I was just sticking to the rules. "You can't be playing favorites like that, Mr. Clooney. People are going to have a problem with it if you bend the rules for me. It's bad for company management."

Everyone had already been driven crazy by Felicia's ridiculous check-in policy. They all jumped on the opportunity when they heard my words.

"That's right, Mr. Clooney. You can't play favorites. If Wendy gets an exception, then sales should too. We're also out getting sales all the time. The check-in thing is messing with our work!"

"Marketing needs that exception too, Mr. Clooney. We have to do field research!"

"There's also the content department too—"

Mr. Clooney's head was practically buzzing. He slammed his hand on the desk. "Enough!"

Swallowing his frustration, he gritted, "What's it going to take for you to go win those clients back, Wendy?"

Mr. Clooney was finally asking the right questions.

I pointed at Felicia and slowly said, "She needs to publicly apologize for targeting me."

In order to appease me, Mr. Clooney had no choice but to agree. "Apologize to Wendy, Felicia."

Felicia was unwilling at first. But she finally gave in under his pressure, apologizing with humiliation written all over her face. "Sorry."

A flash of something vicious crossed her eyes when she looked up.

I knew Felicia wouldn't let this go, but I'd clearly underestimated her shamelessness.