"Do you have any idea how bad this looks? You storming in here like that?"
"Finance saw it. Strategy saw it. Everyone saw it. You set this precedent, and what—now anyone with a workplace grievance can just barge into my office and make a scene?"
"If everyone acted like you, how is this company supposed to function?"
I clenched my jaw, glaring at him.
"I'll write a self-criticism. But only after our department gets the full bonus we're owed."
He slammed his palm on the desk.
"Everyone says you're one of the honest ones. Guess that was all an act!"
"So honest people deserve to get screwed over?"
When I was hired, they promised annual raises of at least five percent. In all these years, that never happened. The best we ever got was three percent.
Every time, it was the same line: Wait until the company's doing better. We'll make it up to you.
Year after year. The company caught the AI wave. Revenue soared.
But our salaries in the tech department? Flatlined. Not a ripple.
"Screwed over? You think you can talk to me like that?"
"Claude, let me make something clear. You know what 'pay for performance' means? All your department does is write a little code and fix the occasional bug. What kind of contribution is that? The fact that I'm giving you people $8.80 each is me being generous."
Write a little code? Fix the occasional bug?
All those late nights. All that brainpower poured into every line. And to him, it was worthless—just like that.
My face burned. I yanked the badge from around my neck and threw it onto his desk.
"That's not what you said when you begged us to pull all-nighters for your precious business growth!"
"You called us the backbone of the operation. Said without us, all the deals in the world wouldn't mean a damn thing because nothing would actually work."
"But now that it's time to share the rewards, suddenly we're the most useless department?"
"You want to burn the bridge after crossing it? We're not going to stand for that!"
I kicked over the trash can and stormed out, slamming the door behind me.
The moment I stepped out, all the rubberneckers ducked back behind their monitors.
Let them stare. I didn't care.
All I could think about was how I was going to face my team.
They were my people. They'd followed me, learned from me, pulled countless late nights without a single complaint.
And I couldn't even get them the bonus they'd earned.
My eyes stung.
"Come with me."