Chapter 2

In under two hours, Trent's post was trending on the local job boards.

He wrote:

"Our boss organizes a company trip every Founders' Week and calls it an employee benefit. In reality, it's just so he can take photos, post them online, and feed his own vanity."

"Anyone who doesn't go gets remembered by management, and interns are too scared to say no."

"Founders' Week is supposed to be our time off, but the boss hijacks it for pointless team building."

He attached three photos.

The first was a group picture from last year's trip to the Wildgrass Plains.

The second showed me speaking in front of a tour bus.

The third was this year's promotional image for the Northreach route.

He didn't include the registration form.

He didn't include the $150 stipend language.

Worse, he labeled employees by name in the group photo.

Some were on vacation, some had brought family, and one had just been walking past when the photo was taken.

Trent described all of them as "employees forced to attend company team building."

The comments ignited immediately.

"Classic performative boss."

"Why not just give people the holiday off?"

"Intern has guts. Respect."

"Taking over people's time off and calling it a perk? Shameless."

Within thirty minutes, people had dug up our office address and the company's social media accounts.

The recruiting line rang nonstop.

Strangers messaged our front desk demanding a public apology.

Then messages started popping up in the company group chat.

"Is that post about us?"

"Trent, why did you put internal information online?"

Trent replied almost immediately.

"I'm just saying what everyone else is afraid to say."

A few people joined him.

"I don't really like long trips, but it feels awkward to refuse."

"Travel can be exhausting. I'd rather stay home."

"If the company really cares about people, just let us rest."

Then someone else wrote:

"You posted our names and sign-up information. Can you take that down first?"

Trent didn't answer.

Ten minutes later, he posted:

"Anyone who is afraid to be seen knows this whole thing is shameful."

I read the chat without replying.

Paula sat across from me, red-faced with anger.

"The policy clearly says there's a stipend. Why did he leave that out?"

"Because the stipend ruins his story. He isn't talking about a benefit. He's selling a story about a boss who exploits his employees."

"So do we put out a statement?" Paula asked.

I didn't answer right away.

First, I asked finance to pull five years of travel budgets, registration lists, stipend payments, and performance data.

An hour later, the files were on my desk.

Year one: forty-six employees traveled, twenty-seven didn't.

Year two: fifty-two traveled, thirty-one didn't.

Year three had the highest participation: sixty-seven.

Every year, employees who skipped the trip received the stipend.

Across five years, the company had spent more than $430,000 on travel and alternative stipends.

Then I asked IT to review Trent's access logs.

Around the time of his post, he had logged into the administration shared drive six times and downloaded budget files, registration lists, vendor quotes, even the employee emergency-contact sheet.

Paula's voice tightened.

"He downloaded emergency contacts?"

I nodded. "Shut off his access first."

"What about the post?"

"Have legal preserve it."

And Trent claimed I only organized the trips for the photos.

I turned to the final page of this year's benefit document.

One sentence appeared in bold.

EMPLOYEES MAY CHOOSE EITHER THE COMPANY HOLIDAY TRIP OR THE $150 ALTERNATIVE STIPEND. NEITHER CHOICE AFFECTS EMPLOYMENT STATUS OR WORKPLACE OPPORTUNITIES.

Trent's signature sat at the bottom.

The system also showed when he had acknowledged it: yesterday at 3:17 p.m.

He hadn't missed the rule. He'd seen it, then deliberately cropped it out.

I looked at the page for a moment and messaged HR.

"Preserve the signed original."

Paula looked up.

"Jordan, what are you going to do?"

I placed my phone on the table.

"If the trip is vanity, cancel it."

Her eyes widened.

"More than forty people already registered."

"Notify them."

I paused.

"Cancel the stipend too."

Her expression changed completely.

"The stipend too?"

"The trip and the stipend are one package."