Chapter 4

Brittany ignored them all entirely and just kept clinging to Nico's arm, chattering away.

"Nico, what do you like to eat? French? Italian?"

Nico didn't even look at her.

But she pressed on, undeterred. "Let's do Italian. You're so fit, you must work out a lot, and it's all protein at an Italian place. You could eat as much as you want and never gain a pound."

I scanned every employee's face carefully, one by one, and filed each expression away in my memory.

Then I clapped my hands. "All right, today's topic is team-building. But let me say this first: 200 dollars a month might not mean much to some of the people in this room.

"But for most of you, that amount is your commute for the whole month. It's whether you can buy your kid an extra container of formula. It's a week's worth of groceries for a family of three.

"And another thing: you come to a company to earn a living, not to make friends. If two people genuinely hit it off, they're always free to grab a meal on their own time. That's fine too.

"Personally, I believe a company's cohesion and its employees' drive come from one thing: how much bigger their bonus was than last month's, how much their pay actually went up."

I hadn't even finished when Brittany cut me off.

She lifted her phone and aimed it straight at me. "Mr. Jordis, you're not trying to back out of this now, are you? Honestly, I have to wonder how someone with your management skills ever landed a position at a company as impressive as Pyatt Group."

I smiled and turned to address everyone in the room. "In that case, the company will reinstate team-building. Does everyone agree?"

"Yes! Yes!"

I nodded. "Good. Since no one objects, we'll bring team-building back. And since everyone here, plus every viewer watching this stream, is a witness, I'll have HR write this into the company handbook right now. No objections from anyone, I assume?"

Brittany laughed loudly. "Of course not! The more team-building, the better!"

Five minutes later, the head of HR posted a notice to the group chat and projected it onto the big screen.

[Effective immediately, the company will hold team-building every Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday evening. Location: the grill stand outside the office. Anyone who misses it without a valid excuse will be marked absent and docked pay.]

[The 200-dollar monthly team-building stipend will no longer be issued.]

The notice bore the company's official seal, making it a binding part of the company handbook.

Everyone froze where they stood. Brittany was the first to snap out of it, letting out a shriek.

"Wait, what? The grill stand? Did you even watch the videos on my account? Did you see the places my best friend's company goes?"

I sighed. "200 dollars split across everyone barely covers a decent meal at a grill stand as it is. I was only thinking of you all."

Carl slammed the table and shot to his feet. "Brittany's a huge influencer! How could you send her to some street grill!"

I smacked my forehead and pointed at him. "Right, speaking of which, there's a notice about you too. It's about to go out to the group chat."

The next second, every phone in the room buzzed at once.

[Out of concern for the psychological well-being of his staff, and to avoid harming any employee'sdignity, Mr. Jordis has ordered that, effective immediately, Carl Stewart's f500-dollar special assistance stipend and hundred-dollar hardship subsidy will no longer be issued. This notice is final.]