Chapter 1

After wrapping up overtime work during the Thanksgiving holidays, I rubbed my sore neck and stretched hard.

My boss, Bill Griffin, had promised a hefty overtime pay, which was supposed to hit our accounts any time now. My son was in the middle of transferring schools, so I had to seize every chance to make more money.

"Turn your notifications on, everyone. The bank alerts should be coming soon," I announced.

The team members cheered. Some were already talking about booking a restaurant to treat themselves and celebrate seven straight days of hard work.

The new intern, Trevor Nicolson, grinned at his phone. "Stan Blevins made the most calls in the last seven days. He brought in nearly all the company clients we landed!"

"Exactly! He deserves all the credit for our team's constant number one rank in the company."

"Our car sales doubled compared to last Thanksgiving. You're insane, Stan!"

Compliments from the team came one after another, all lauding my abilities.

I responded with a modest smile and waved my hand. "We only achieved a large volume of clients this Thanksgiving holiday because everyone worked hard."

My voice came out terribly hoarse when I spoke, and Trevor immediately noticed, handing me a glass of water, which I gratefully accepted.

For seven days straight, I'd been on the phone nonstop. My throat couldn't take it anymore; my vocal cords were so strained I could barely speak.

Another order popped up in the system, and I quickly filled out all the details.

As I was getting ready to leave, I noticed Chris Bartlett, the newest hire, looking unwell.

Chris had just turned 18 and hailed from the countryside. His grandpa was seriously ill and in urgent need of money. That was why he'd been pushing himself like a madman from the day he joined the team and insisted on staying late to make more calls, even after hitting his daily call quota.

I helped him to the couch. Looking at him reminded me of my own son, and my heart ached as I gently patted his shoulder.

"You've worked hard these past few days and made almost as many calls as I did. If you're not feeling well, you don't have to join us for dinner tonight."

His eyes reddened at my thoughtful words. "Thank you, Stan. My grandpa's still at home, so I'll skip tonight."

The rest of us quickly tidied up and were just about to book a ride to the restaurant when our phones started pinging nonstop.

Trevor splashed some water on his face, grabbed his phone, and beamed. "It must be the overtime pay! I didn't expect the company to pay us this quickly without holding it back for once."

We all smiled and took out our phones to see how much we'd made. But instead of bank alerts, we saw messages flooding into the work WhatsApp group.

I frowned and felt a bad premonition creeping in.

Sure enough, the announcement that greeted us left everyone stunned when we tapped on the group chat.

"Members of the Operations Department, including Stan Blevins and Chris Bartlett, worked consecutive days over the Thanksgiving holidays and generated an excessive phone bill. They are hereby warned and required to reimburse this month's company phone expenses.

"The head of the Operations Department is to submit a written self-reflection within three days. All other employees are reminded to take this as a warning."

Trevor pointed at his phone and reread the announcement in disbelief. "Wait… What does this even mean?"

The others erupted in anger.

"We were enjoying our holiday before being suddenly called in to work! Now, not only are we not getting the promised overtime pay, but we also have to foot the company's phone bills ourselves!

"Stan made over 1,000 calls a day just to land clients and completely lost his voice!"