The Reimbursement

"On purpose? How exactly am I doing this on purpose? It's all clearly written in the finance regulations. You can argue all you want, but I'm not wrong. I've said my piece. Submit it or don't. Now get out of my office."

I was so angry I felt like I might have a heart attack.

I glared at Seymour for a long moment, but years of proper upbringing kept me from unleashing anything too ugly.

After a few seconds of thought, I picked up the reimbursement forms from his desk and pushed open the finance office door.

"Fine. You can stick to your rules. I'll go ask the boss right now whether these invoices qualify for reimbursement."

Seymour did not look the slightest bit nervous.

If anything, he looked amused.

"Go ahead. You think pulling the boss into this will scare me? Someone like you, a bottom-of-the-barrel sales rep, should've been kicked off the payroll long ago. I'd love to see whether the boss would offend the company's lifeline over a useless nobody like you."

Back at my desk, I pounded on my keyboard in a fury.

If you did not stand up for yourself when pushed to the brink, you'd be trampled on for the rest of your life.

The next second, I grabbed all my reimbursement forms and marched straight to the boss's office.

But before I could push the door open, I heard Seymour's voice from inside.

It was soft, nasal, and pitiful.

The kind of tone that suggested he suffered great injustice.

"Oh, you're here! Alex Morrison, perfect timing!"

I did not even open my mouth before the boss cut in, frowning.

"What's going on between you two? If there's a conflict, talk it out face-to-face. You're colleagues, after all."

Seymour's voice trembled.

"Ms. Harrington, I really didn't. It's just that, recently, our supervisor held a meeting and specifically told us we must strictly review every reimbursement. You know how finance works. We have to be extremely careful. But Alex seems to have misunderstood me."

He trailed off.

He looked utterly wronged.

I was so furious I felt like I might get a heart attack right then and there. I could not bear to watch his performance any longer.

I stepped forward and placed the reimbursement forms directly in front of the boss.

"Boss, I understand that the finance department needs to be rigorous. But please take a look. What exactly is wrong with my forms? I've already redone them according to Mr. Landon's requirements.

"I changed the pen, the paper, and even the writing format! And now he wants me to replace every single invoice."

Before I could finish, the boss slammed his palm down on the desk.

His expression turned dark.

"That's enough! I already know what happened. Alex, let me ask you: what did Mr. Landon do wrong? Tell me, which company doesn't require invoices to be complete and clean? And replacing invoices is hardly a big deal! Why are you so uncooperative? Are you perhaps using company funds for personal matters?"

In an instant, his suspicion hit me like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head.

In the workplace, nothing is more fatal than distrust.

Sales, especially, is a high-autonomy role that constantly hovers along gray lines.

If the boss started looking at me through tinted lenses from now on, what was the point of staying in this job?

Before I could even think of a response, the boss already turned to Seymour with a smile.

"Seymour did the right thing. This is how a company should operate: by following regulations. Finance is the lifeline of the company. It's only natural that he needs to be strict."