All Chapters of Fired over Three Apples: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Three days earlier, I'd pulled three all-nighters with my team and finally landed the company a million-dollar photo shoot.To show his appreciation for our professionalism, our client, Matt Kilcher, had a big box of premium imported Honeycrisp apples sent over to the office.That afternoon, when the courier carried the box in, Rick McCutcheon eagerly sliced it open with a box cutter himself, right in front of the entire studio.The bright red apples gave off a sweet, tempting fragrance.Standing in the middle of the office with a magnanimous grin, he announced, "This is a holiday gift from Mr. Kilcher. You've all been working hard lately, so help yourselves."He acted as though he'd paid for the expensive fruit out of his own pocket to reward his staff.But none of the studio's veteran employees even dared to look up.Every one of us knew exactly what was going on.Rick had no bottom line whatsoever. The only thing that defined him was his downright pathological stinginess.J

On the third day, I was supervising an outdoor shoot on location in the suburbs that afternoon when the weather turned against us and a sudden downpour hit.To protect the studio's expensive camera equipment, I took off my jacket and wrapped it tightly around our two main cameras and the full set of lenses.Not a single drop got into the gear, but I was drenched to the bone.The cold October rain chilled me straight through. By the time I got back to the studio, I'd started running a low fever.My soaked clothes clung to my body, and my old stomach problem flared up with a vengeance. It felt like I'd swallowed a handful of broken glass, and every breath brought another wave of twisting pain.I dug out the stomach medicine I kept in my drawer.But when I took a cup to the break room, I found the water cooler had long since run dry.To save money, Rick had ordered the bottled water delivery canceled two months earlier.He claimed boiled tap water was healthier, but really, he jus

On the other end of the line, after a brief silence, Mr. Kilcher suddenly let out a hearty laugh. "Come on, Josh, what kind of talk is that? I handed over a million-dollar project because of your skills in the first place. If you're going out on your own, of course I'm coming with you."Honestly, I wouldn't trust that rinky-dink studio of theirs with someone else behind the camera. Send me your new company's account details. I'll have my accountant wire the advance this afternoon."Mr. Kilcher's words landed like a sledgehammer to Rick's face.I calmly said into the phone, "Thank you for your trust, Mr. Kilcher."Then I hung up.The dial tone echoed through the office.Rick glared at me, his eyes bloodshot. He was gulping for air, as if he were suffocating."Josh! How dare you poach the company's clients!" He jabbed a finger at my nose, practically spraying spit in my face. "This is a serious breach of professional ethics!"You stole the company's clients! You want me to call

A month later, Rick's studio hit rock bottom.With so many longtime clients gone, the company's revenue fell off a cliff.Books that had once reliably cleared several hundred thousand dollars a month now glared back in deep red.When rent came due at the end of the month, Rick had to scrape together the hundred-thousand-plus to cover it.To cut costs, he started docking his employees' pay even more aggressively.Even printer paper in the office was rationed to a set number of sheets per day.As for toilet paper in the restrooms, he stopped stocking it altogether.The two interns, Terry and Buck, were the first ones to crack.They'd watched firsthand as the boss used a few apples to drive me out. They'd also seen the cold, mean-spirited man Rick really was.Now they were getting yelled at for no reason every day and taking the blame for an endless pile of problems.After talking it over, the two of them slapped their resignation letters on Rick's desk.They didn't even ask fo