Male POV Workplace 短篇故事與小說

My cousin, John Anderson, always paid me in tens rather than in thousands. He owned a renovation company, and my team and I always worked hard for his projects. However, he only transferred me thirty dollars for sand and concrete that were worth three thousand dollars. Besides that, he only transferred me one thousand five hundred dollars to finance customized doors and windows worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I did not harp on that. Instead, I bore the cost in full, as he was my cousin. That was until his wife, Rory Anderson, scolded me in front of all the workers. “Peter’s a bloodsucker. He never informs us whenever he buys new materials. He must have scammed a lot of money from us! I saw that he got himself a new house and a new car. I bet these are all bought with money he took from us!” John smoked next to us and sighed, “Never mind. He’s family after all.” I was furious when I heard that. I paid more than six hundred thousand dollars’ worth of material fees for him, and he was accusing me of stealing his money? The next client had a mansion and wanted natural marbles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for his living room floor. John approved the request but only transferred me a thousand dollars to get it sorted out. So, I went to the brick factory located in the countryside and got a truckload of used red bricks from pigpens. Then, I used them for the client’s flooring.

I spent eight years at the company, working my way up from a green rookie to the most expensive expert on the entire East Coast. Then the company gave me an AI assistant. I thought it was a perk. It wrote my weekly reports, answered my emails, and organized my data. I loved using it. Three months later, HR called me in with a termination agreement. "The AI assistant has already distilled you into an AI clone. The company doesn't need you anymore." So that assistant hadn't been helping me. It had been replacing me. I signed and left. Eight years of my life, traded for a cardboard box and two words: "Not needed." Then my old boss called, his voice shaking as he begged. "Meridian's system crashed! The AI gave us seventeen fixes, and every one was wrong. They'll pull the contract if it's not fixed tonight. That's $450 million! Please come back. I'm begging you!" I gripped the phone and heard myself laugh. "It learned every document, every log, every action I ever took. But it'll never learn the one thing that's mine alone: my brain. "When all the data points to A, I have the nerve to pick B. "As for you? Go ahead and keep picking A."

Before the holidays, I visit an authorized car dealership to conduct an inspection. Having noticed that the flowers at the entrance aren't arranged properly, I decide to move them. Suddenly, a man clad in a suit and wears a manager's lapel tosses me a broom haughtily. "You must be the new intern, yeah? Today, the CEO will be conducting an inspection here. You'd better clean every inch of this place meticulously. Even the washrooms must be spick and span!" I don't bother moving an inch. My brows are tangled in a frown as I sink in deep thought. I never told anyone about my arrival today. How did this manager find out about my schedule, to begin with? Upon realizing that I'm not moving, the man hurls a piece of dirty rag at my face immediately. "I'll have you know that I'm your superior here! You can forget about using the Gen-Z workplace techniques on me! "If you slack off one more time, I'll fire you right away!" After graduating from college, I've just started learning the ropes in my family's company for half a year before my dad decides to assign me to a branch company. He even issues me an ultimatum. I'll only get to go home whenever I produce some actual results. Here I am, worried about how I'm going to exert my authority and prove myself to my dad, when the perfect catalyst just comes knocking on my door.

It's my 12th year working in construction, and I have over 600 workers working for me. Every day, we head to Peter Muhl's cafeteria on-site for lunch. One day, one of my employees asks for an extra ladle of soup. Peter's wife, Veronica Grant, slams the ladle down. "You construction workers sure have big appetites, huh? I charge you 18 bucks for a meal, and now you want all of my soup too?" All my construction workers in the cafeteria stop eating. Peter steps out of the kitchen, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "There are construction projects all over town these days, Mr. Walker. We've got more than enough customers now. "Your people are always coming in here caked in mud and getting the floors filthy. And you never settle the bill until the end of the month." I stare at Peter, and memories of three years ago come flooding back. Back then, the site was still in its early stages. He could barely sell ten meals a day. I'm the one who vouches for him so he can keep his cafeteria running. I even ask all my workers to order their lunch from him. These days, he sells over 1,000 boxed lunches a day, yet he looks down on my construction workers who keep his business running. I push my untouched lunch aside. "Fine. We'll settle the entire bill today." Veronica scoffs. "You think that's going to scare me? This site is huge. Without us, your men are going to go hungry every day." I pull out my phone and make an announcement in the project managers' group chat. "Starting tomorrow morning, I want all six project crews to stop ordering from Peter's cafeteria. All meal allowances will be redirected to the No. 2 residential complex."

Just after the New Year, as I was about to return to work, my phone suddenly rang. "Charlie." With just one word, I immediately guessed who it was. Franklin Wood, my former colleague and superior, who had my ex-company and the entire industry blacklist me. We had not been in contact for three years. I did not understand why he was calling me out of the blue. "Is there something you need?" Hearing my response, the man on the other end of the line suddenly took a deep breath, his voice becoming a bit urgent. "Charlie, do you have a job now? What happened back then was my fault. The company needs you now. Can you come back?" 'Needs me?' I thought and laughed. Three years ago, he was the one who told me, "The company's success depends on the connections of its employees, not on their personal merits." 'Now, he's asking me to go back?' I thought, hanging up without replying. After all, the company I was working for now, Apex Systems, was their biggest rival.

I'm a man of principle who doesn't curse someone else without good reason. Even if I do curse them, the curse is only active for three days. In elementary school, my seatmate steals my eraser. When I flippantly tell him that he'll slip and fall in the next three days, he falls into a cesspool on the third day. The class representative accuses me of cheating during an exam during middle school. When I say that the entire school will learn something humiliating about him in the next three days, his love letter to another female student is pasted on the notice board. A bully kicks my desk during high school. When I tell him that his family will fall to ruins in the next three days, his father is arrested for embezzlement on the third day. When my boss, Frank Gordon, refuses to pay me after forcing me to work overtime, I calmly say, "You'll become bankrupt in the next three days." Frank scoffs indignantly before he grabs my resignation letter and tears it to pieces. "Get out of my sight! Either you continue working, or you can kiss your salary for this month goodbye!" He scatters the shredded paper over my head and continues, "I'm curious to see what will happen in the next three days. Will my company fall? Or will you starve to death first?" I lick my lips and say, "You must pay me within the next three days, Mr. Gordon—" However, Frank kicks me out of his office before I can finish my sentence.

The entire company was racing to get the year off to a strong start on the first day after our holiday break. I was the only one openly staring out the window, doing nothing. No one bothered me because I helped the boss make an extra 200 million dollars last year. So, she'd personally given me one special rule. "You can do whatever you want." Unfortunately, the new operations director didn't know that. So, she smashed my computer and ordered me to pay a 20,000-dollar fine in front of the entire office to set an example for everyone else. I didn't say anything. Instead, I made a phone call, packed up my things, and left the company. Early the next morning, the boss personally drove to my house herself. She'd come to take me back to work because the number I'd called the day before was the private cell phone number of a rival company's CEO.

After graduation, my parents insisted I apply for a job at their company. As if that wasn't awkward enough, they casually mentioned that my interviewer would be the same woman they'd tried to set me up with on a blind date. My nerves buzzed as I sat in the waiting room, and that was when I stumbled upon an anonymous post online. "Insider tip! The chairman's son is coming in for an interview today. I work in HR. How can I figure out which candidate he is?" The comment section exploded with suggestions. "Have you met the chairman? Just look for someone who resembles him!" "Ask the candidates questions about the chairman. Like when his birthday is!" As I scrolled through the comments, I couldn't help but think of all those jokes about pampered rich kids who never had to lift a finger in their lives. I grinned as I decided to toss my own suggestion in. "Rich kids are usually lazy and spoiled. Just pick the worst resume in the pile." The original poster hit like on my comment almost instantly. Just then, I heard someone call my name. My interviewer was Natalie Brooks, the very woman my parents had been scheming to set me up with. She was exactly as they'd described as in, she was beautiful, polished, and effortlessly elegant. She skimmed my resume before arching an eyebrow in silent appraisal. "Wow, I'd say your resume is near perfect for the job! All these awards and achievements..." She glanced up at me. "You must have grown up poor." I blinked, unsure if I'd just misheard her. "Wait, what makes you say that?" I blurted in confusion. "You're clearly qualified," Natalie drawled, putting my resume down. "But we won't hire you." I stared at her, utterly baffled. "Whyever not?" She sneered and answered, "Sorry. We only hire rich kids here."

After a grueling year of training abroad on the company's dime, I came home holding an OEM certification for our high-end production line. Only three people in the country had it. I couldn't wait to cash in my stock options and finally give my girlfriend, Nora, a home of our own. But when I got back to the office, there was no celebration waiting. Just three notices. [Finance: $50,000 travel reimbursement rejected. $20,000 in salary frozen as a performance hold, to be released after your review is passed.] [HR: Your sponsored training carries a mentoring obligation. You must train three qualified technicians within one month of returning, as your assessment. Fail, and your travel costs will not be reimbursed and your frozen salary will be forfeited.] [Direct Manager, Kevin: Turn over all core technical documentation. Effective tomorrow, you're reassigned to the factory floor for mentoring.] I gripped the three notices and headed for the manager's office to demand an explanation. I pushed the door open and froze. Nora, my girlfriend of three years, was sitting on Kevin's lap, her clothes half undone. Our eyes met. All she gave me was one cold line. "Ethan, since you've already seen it, let's just break up." I backed out of the office without a word. I walked past all the eager faces waiting for a show, went back to my desk, and finally answered the email that had been sitting in my inbox for a week. [I've decided to accept your offer. I can start in a month.] One month. Everything this company owed me, I was going to take back myself.

Ethan hid his powerful family background to support his wife Victoria, only to watch success turn her cruel and arrogant. On her IPO day, her favorite company influencer beats a poor-looking old man nearly to death, believing he is Ethan's father. But the victim is actually Victoria's own father, and every insult, cover-up, and betrayal pushes Ethan to expose the truth and destroy the life she built on his love.

Our department went on a team-building hike. When it was time to split into groups, I looked at Janet Wiley, the woman I had been secretly dating for two years, sure she would pick me. Instead, she walked over to Nash Fuller, her childhood friend who had just come back from overseas. "You're out of shape. Come with me. I'll make sure you don't fall behind." Nash gave her a crooked grin and rested a hand lightly on her arm. Our coworkers immediately started giving them a hard time. "Childhood sweethearts, huh? Ms. Wiley, you're still single, right? You two actually look pretty good together." Janet didn't move away. She just smiled faintly and said, "Yeah. I'm single." I went still. The night before, she was curled up in my arms, promising we would stop hiding our relationship soon. But after the groups were set, she never looked at me again. I ended up with whoever was left. Halfway up the trail, I rolled my ankle hard enough that I could barely put weight on it, so I texted her, [Janet, I can't keep going.] She read the message and left me on read. Forty minutes later, a photo from the summit popped up in the group chat. Nash stood close beside Janet with an arm around her shoulders, while she smiled brightly at the camera. The chat immediately filled with messages about how good they looked together. Someone even tagged me. [Bryce, you fell behind? Don't hold everyone up.] Another person wrote, [Nash made it to the top and you couldn't?] Then someone else added, [If you couldn't handle the hike, you shouldn't have come.] I made my way back down the mountain alone. By the time I reached the bottom, Janet was calling a ride for Nash. She saw me limping toward them and frowned. "Didn't I tell you not to message me privately? What if someone from work sees it and gets the wrong idea?" That was when it finally sank in. Our secret relationship only existed when it was convenient for her. In that moment, whatever we had between us was over. Janet no longer had a boyfriend to hide.

My boss, Walton Frazier, loves tricking me into wearing tight shirts and having the top three buttons undone before forcing me to entertain the female clients. Then, he drops hints to said that I'm young and have a great physique, only to wait with bated breath for the clients to start touching me. His excuse is that he wants to test the clients' characters to see if they really are worthy to work with. As soon as the clients fall for the trap hook, line, and sinker, Walton will rush out toward them in a righteous manner and slam his wine glass onto the table. After that, he'll start lecturing me as though I've done something awfully wrong. "Is there not a prideful bone in your body? Do you want to hit your sales target that badly that you're willing to forsake your pride as a man?" Walton chooses to trample all over me just so he can build his manly and righteous persona. This time, he specifically prepares a suit with a deep V-line that's made of light material. Then, he forces me to toast to a client with an extremely rich and powerful background in that suit. He even threatens to dock off three months' worth of perfect attendance pay if I don't do this. When I notice the familiar cold-looking yet striking face at the main seat, I can't help but smile. If my older sister, Mable Cobb, were to see me toasting to her in this kind of outfit, I have a feeling she'll clean out the trash for me and make me the boss of this company by tomorrow.

At the company's afterparty, my assistant, Charlie Langford, lodges a complaint against me while holding a stack of racy photos. "Ms. Spencer, after you slept with me, you told me that you'd take responsibility for me. Why are you entering a marriage alliance with another family soon? "Who did you take me for? A plaything? Then I might as well jump off this building right now just to prove my innocence!" H-Hey now! The only time I've made private contact with Charlie is when I had my driver, Lorelei Green, give him a ride half a month ago purely out of convenience! How on earth did Charlie warp that encounter into having physical intimacy with me? Moreover, I'm a straight man! Why would I even have that sort of relationship with Charlie, to begin with?

When I end up oversleeping by one minute during my usual lunch-hour nap, my colleague, Michael Jones, reports me for my "major attendance infraction". Without any hesitation, our boss, Patrick Larkin, cancels my promotion that had been announced three months ago. He says, "Rules are necessary to maintain order. Every employee must abide by company policy." I don't argue or try to explain myself. However, from that day onward, I stop taking naps during my lunch hour. Instead, I use that time to study the employee handbook. Michael mocks me. "What's the point in pretending to be such a diligent employee now? No matter how many times you read the employee handbook, you won't be getting a raise for it." I simply smile to myself. Eight days later, chaos breaks out throughout the entire office. Over 100 employees crowd into the hallway outside the HR department, each one looking pretty frantic. Michael's expression doesn't look too good, either. Patrick storms up to me, glaring fiercely as he confronts me. "What the hell did you do?" I slowly sip my coffee before replying, "I'm just complying with your orders and helping you enforce company policy."

My fiancée of seven years, Scarlett Blair, sits on my boss' lap, peeling grapes for him. At the annual company gala, he stands on stage and beams as he deliberately awards me the title of "Most Selfless Employee". The giant screen behind him doesn't display my accomplishments. Instead, it shows surveillance footage of my fiancée in a skimpy outfit and black stockings, giving him a private work report in his office. It's taken down almost immediately and cited as a technical glitch, but the laughter that erupts throughout the hall is deafening enough to bring the roof down. In an instant, all eyes are on me, yet I smile like a blind man and walk up to the stage to accept the award. "James, a man has to be open-minded if he wants to get ahead in life. Don't you agree?" Zachary Trent pats my cheek, his eyes brimming with mockery. I nod obsequiously. "You're absolutely right, Mr. Trent. Thank you for the advice." The guests think I'm a coward, that I'm willing to swallow my pride and sacrifice every ounce of my dignity for a paltry eight grand a month. Little do they know, my phone's practically vibrating itself to pieces. Once I slip into the deserted emergency stairwell, I wipe the smile off my face and dial the phone number registered to the prestigious family compound in the capital. The call connects almost instantaneously, and a woman's lazy yet aloof voice comes through. "What's the matter? Is my husband showing off your wife in front of the entire company again?"

My boss, Grant Whitlock, removed every table and chair from the operations team's area during the company's holiday party. Then, he placed one stainless-steel dog bowl in the middle of the stage. "Ops is basically the company's guard dog," he announced. "And dogs don't eat at the table." The top sales guy laughed and scraped his leftovers straight into the bowl. After that, Grant threw a black trash bag over my shoulders. "From now on, you're our walking trash can. Make yourself useful." The room exploded with laughter. I didn't say a word. I just tightened my grip around the master access card in my hand. What they didn't know was that the building's emergency utility approvals, maintenance access, and property management favors all went through me. They were all living it up because of this "dog" they loved looking down on. I had had enough. So, I dropped my employee badge into the dog bowl and walked out on them. I thought, 'After the holidays, no one will be cleaning the mess on those two floors. Let's see how well they survive without me.'

Because I ate three of the company's apples, my boss fired me on the spot. "This company has no use for an employee like you, someone who abuses their position to help themselves to company property." For ten whole years, I stood by this studio as it grew from a tiny backroom operation into what it is today. The toughest orders, the most difficult clients, the projects that left everyone gasping for air. Nearly all of them were carried on my shoulders. And now, just three apples had become my boss's "proof" that I was "misappropriating company resources." Worse, they got me branded as a petty freeloader. I didn't argue. I took out my phone and dialed Matt Kilcher's number. "Mr. Kilcher, about that million-dollar photo shoot we finalized, there's no need to sign with this studio. Every order from here on out goes to my new team."

Stanley Porter, my wife Jessica Evans’ close male friend, and I are both competing to be the next fire captain. In my first lifetime, I was chosen by a unanimous vote. On my very first night on duty as captain, Jessica came over to the fire station to celebrate with me. Sticking to my duties as captain, I didn't touch a single drop of alcohol. Yet, after drinking the chicken soup Jessica gave me, I fell into a deep sleep. That night, a massive fire broke out in the old district, resulting in the deaths of 58 people. Because I missed the station's alarm, I was accused of dereliction of duty and labeled as the main person responsible for the tragedy. The enraged families of the victims ended up beating me to death. In my second lifetime, I withdrew my name from the selection for captain. I handed the badge over to Stanley instead, saying, "You're better suited to be captain than I am." I'd assumed that this was enough to ensure that the fire couldn't be pinned on me. Yet, when the authorities looked into the fire, they ended up seeing me appear in the security footage from where the fire began. Everyone assumed I'd deliberately started the fire to get back at Stanley out of jealousy for losing out on the captain position. I now open my eyes again to live my third life. I watch as Stanley excitedly gives his speech on the podium after being made the captain. This time around, I submit a request for annual leave and take a cab straight to the airport.