Chapter 3

After arriving at the office the next morning, I pressed my finger against the scanner, and the machine beeped. My name and employee ID appeared on the screen. I'd clocked in at 8:27 am, which was three minutes earlier than the designated clock-in time.

I turned on my computer and continued studying the employee handbook. I jotted down more notes, especially from the sections on attendance regulations and the flexible clock-in procedures. My notebook was filling up fast.

At noon, everyone took their lunch before lounging around for the rest of their break. I was the only one still sitting in the office area, still poring over the employee handbook.

Michael and Ian put on a little performance in the break room.

"Today's the second day he hasn't taken a nap during the lunch hour."

"It's obviously because he's feeling embarrassed. Now that he's been caught red-handed once, he's too chicken to take naps anymore. I bet you he's abused company policy like this many times in the past."

"Look at him losing his promotion because he overslept for one minute. What an idiot."

Every word made its way into my ears, but I continued staring at the document, my expression unchanged.

On the third day, I clocked in 15 minutes early. Once again, I spent my lunch break studying the employee handbook without taking a nap.

As Michael walked past my desk, he snorted. "Sure. Go ahead and keep pretending."

On day four, while I was eating in the staff cafeteria, Michael carried his tray over to my table and sat across from me.

"You can't blame me for what happened, Connor. I was just following the rules. Mr. Larkin hates people who aren't disciplined. You walked right into the line of fire yourself.

"If you ask me, you should just accept it. If you keep trying to fight the rules and the boss, you'll just be making life harder for yourself."

I finished the last bite of my food, wiped my mouth, and got up. Eyeing Michael, I remarked, "Michael, do you know that you clocked out two minutes before the official end of the workday on three separate days last month?"

Michael's expression hardened. "What are you getting at?"

"Section 4.2 of the attendance regulations states that leaving work two minutes or more early is considered a half-day absence. You left early three times. Per company policy, that means a deduction equivalent to one and a half days' pay, along with the forfeiture of the quarterly performance bonus," I calmly stated.

Michael nearly dropped his fork. "H-how do you know that?"

I turned around and walked away without answering.

On the fifth day, I continued going over company policy. I'd made 57 notes, each one marked with the corresponding page and section number in the employee handbook. And for every single one, I found a corresponding example of a violation committed by someone in the office.

I put Patrick's 19 flexible clock-in records that had missing approval forms into a table. I also compiled Michael's attendance violations from the past year.

They weren't the only examples I found. Not a single person in the entire company had a perfectly clean record.

The employee handbook was filled with overly complicated and excessive rules. Ordinarily, the HR department turned a blind eye to the more reasonable violations, and everyone was used to that.

However, I was now the living example of someone who'd been punished in accordance with company policy. I lost 200 thousand dollars for missing one minute of work.

This positively draconian punishment now loomed over everyone's head like an ax.

I closed my notebook. It was time for me to get the ball rolling.