Laid Off: The Sales Champion's Revenge

I, Helena Hawking, was being laid off without even getting what was supposed to be my yearend bonus despite working really hard to be their top saleswoman. Not only I didn’t get my yearend bonus from the Neoform, the CEO and his useless cronies dared to humiliate me!

“Gosh, sales are just about talking! Everyone can do it, not just you, Miss Hawking!”

As I was being consumed by revenge, I made a decision by joining their archrival named The Oracle.

To my surprise, I ended up becoming the CEO of my former company’s CEO and their relatives. Who got the last laugh then?

——

[Neoform HR Department Leader Leticia Warren: Miss Hawking, please come to my office as soon as possible.]

When I, Helena Hawking, saw this message from the HR Officer, Leticia Warren, my mind went blank.

Just this morning, people in the Neoform were talking about a massive wave of layoffs that allegedly would happen at the end of the year. Like any company’s layoff, most of them came without any hints at all. In fact, the HR Department might fire any of us on what was supposed to be an uneventful day.

Obviously, everyone panicked because of that. However, my coworkers believed that there would be someone that would never be laid off. That someone happened to be me.

After all, I won the Best Saleswoman last year because I managed to get projects that worth of tens of billions of dollars for the Neoform a year ago. Everyone had a blast because of my victory. In fact, I could still remember when we celebrated my victory for getting those projects on last year’s company dinner party as the CEO, Jonathan Warren, praised me.

“Miss Helena Hawking is the most hardworking saleswoman that Neoform had ever had! I hope she’ll continue to set a new high for other Neoform employees to bring on more projects for us in the future!”

Yet, the reality slapped me hard in my face the moment I walked to Alan’s room just to see the HR Department Leader taking out what looked like a severance letter. The moment the company expanded its wings, I was nothing important but indispensable. Not even the Best Salesman could be protected from the layoff.

I couldn't help but look at the faces of my HR Department Leader and the CEO before me with mixed feelings.

As soon as I graduated, I landed a job as a saleswoman here and worked extremely hard for about 10 years. I had sacrificed my entire youth to work with Neoform. The truth was I accompanied them from when it used to be an unknown small company to a huge company that became wellknown as a dark horse in the IT industry.

Yet, what did I get from them after all those 10 years with them? They paid me with nothing but a severance letter that stated that I only got a severance pay worth my one month's salary. Seeing this couldn’t help but make me laugh in frustration.

“Sir, Ma’am, I’ve been working extremely hard for this company for the last 10 years. How could you lay off the Best Saleswoman in the company when I haven’t made any fatal mistakes? And … how dare you only give a severance pay for my onemonth salary?” I asked the HR Department Leader and the CEO angrily.

Personally, it seemed that Leticia, the HR Department Leader, got used to laying off too many employees at the end of the year.

In fact, the woman surely had gotten used to it to the point that she became so cocky as he talked to me in a very arrogant tone, “Well, Miss Hawking, this is the company’s rules. May I remind you that your job is a saleswoman, which is a very salesoriented job that is mainly based on commissions? Since you’re leaving the company, you’re not contributing to any of the company’s sales. So, why would the company need to give you more money?”

Whoa! Was that something that an HR Department Leader could say easily?

Realizing that I would only waste my time talking to such an arrogant and stupid HR Department Leader who seemed to not understand any labor law, I stared at Neoform’s CEO, Jonathan Warren, in anger and asked him, “Sir, why me?”

Jonathan Warren, the current CEO of Neoform, used to be an employee just like me. Surely, that man could see how I managed to rise to my current position with his own eyes. Not to mention what happened this year because we all managed to go through the pandemic which caused such strong market competition that had never happened before.

Since we were dealt with such a strong competition, I often had to work overtime for the company until very late. In fact, I was still even responding to customers’ inquiries until 3 or 4 a.m. the next morning. Not only that, I even lived inside the company for a period of time while I continued to work overtime to think of better solutions as well as built connections for the company.

I was very confident that Jonathan could see how hard I worked for Neoform.

Yet, what he said really slapped me on my face, “Helena, you should’ve realized what the company’s interests lay by now. You can see that our company’s performance isn’t very good. Unfortunately, it means that we must cut costs to increase our efficiency in performance. We’ve made calculations, showing that you staying here will be extremely expensive … unfortunately, you have to be laid off.”

“Besides, you need to understand that our company is in a crisis. You’re still young, so other companies will hire you in no time. Don’t you think you shouldn’t think about the severance pay a bit too much?” he asked me again.

Jonathan kept talking, “Helena, you’re a saleswoman. Obviously, your job is to make people buy the products. But if our company’s products aren’t good, can we sell them? Since you’re able to bring projects worth billions of dollars, our products have shown how good they are. That’s why you become the Best Saleswoman!”

“Instead, you should’ve thanked Neoform for giving you a platform to show yourself,” he concluded arrogantly.

His bullshit did nothing but convinced me. Yet, the man seemed to be deluded into believing his own lies. Besides, he said every one of his words with a strong conviction as he stared me right into my eyes.

In the past, Jonathan was also a salesman just like I was. But he then married the former CEO’s daughter. From then on, his career progression was smooth sailing. As soon as he became the current CEO, he seemed to forget that he used to be an employee as he began putting guilt into his employees like any other CEO.

Then, realization suddenly dawned on me as I looked at the CEO’s face. Out of nowhere, I remembered what he said during last year’s company dinner party. Although I managed to sign projects worthy of billions of dollars, I recalled that the other companies who cooperated with us specifically asked me to handle negotiations with them in the future.

It reminded me of what Jonathan said about hoping that I would continue to set a new standard for other employees at last year’s dinner party. It turned out that he meant it to boost other employees’ morale to get projects as good as mine.

More realization came. I remembered that I just finished negotiating with the other companies’ representative early in the morning before I was told that I would be laid off this afternoon. As soon as they got what they wanted, they kicked me off just like that.

When I thought of the new year’s plan for sales that I just wrote wholeheartedly, my heart sank. In a company like this, such sincere efforts would never ever be rewarded justly.

At this point, I made the decision that I didn’t wish to stay in such an inhumane company like Neoform any longer.

“Make my severance pay as worthy as 11 months of my salary. I will not accept even a penny less.”

“What? Did you say 11 moths of your salary? Did you want to rob us?” Alan, the HR Deparment Leader, asked angrily as he stood up.

Then, the woman angrily mocked me as she shouted, “You’re just nothing but a scammer! How dare you ask Neoform that huge amount of money!”

I just glared daggers at the curlyhaired woman before me who looked pretty similar to Jonathan. After all, it was no secret that Alan was Jonathan’s cousin. In fact, both Jonathan and her were rumored to change several company’s employees several times with their relatives.

Not only that, Alan was infamous for being extremely rude when she was laying off employees. That woman would repeatedly attack employees’ personally, hurting them even more. I was able to see how true that gossip was with my own eyes as I currently experiencing it.

At this point, I realized that how Neoform was a really terrible company. The employees were filled with no one but people with connections from the bottom level to the top one.

“We can only give you severance pay worthy of two months of your salary,” Jonathan eventually said.

The man then continued to speak as he said, “Miss Hawking, our company’s reputation is pretty fearsome. If you still refuse to take this severance pay, it’ll make your life even harder. Don’t try to defy us, okay?”

“That’s right!” the HR Department Leader shouted arrogantly.

She kept continuing, “Let me tell you, you only get 3 days at maximum to think about it. Also, I already kicked you out from our Slack group. If you refused to take the severance pay within three days, we would consider that you were absent. Thus, the company would have legitimate reasons to fire you.”

Jonathan kept persuading me as he continued, “That’s right, Helena. I remembered that you just paid the down payment for your new house. Don’t you still need to pay the mortgage? So, why don’t you take the severance pay instead of wasting your time with us?”

However, I just ignored that man as I took out my phone. Sure enough, it showed that I was kicked from the Sales Department and the whole company’s Slack groups. These two people were truly evil. They kept pushing me to take the severance pay. Surely, they already planned how to kick me out of this company.

In the end, I ended up signing the severance letter.

What Jonathan said was indeed my weak point. After all, I came from a poor family. Recently, I spent many years of my savings to pay my house’s down payment. Hence, I had no extra money with me anymore.

I remembered when Jonathan found out that I was paying my mortgage as he comforted me by saying, “As long as you really work hard for our company, I’m sure that it wouldn’t even take three to five years to pay off your mortgage.”

At the time, I thought that he was being caring about his subordinates. However, I would never expect that it turned out that he wanted to use this as my weak point to force me to agree to be laid off. That man was surely slick as hell by using my weakness to make me agree with him.

Eventually, I came back to my cubicle in frustration as I had to prepare to pack my things up. To my shock, I saw that my things were already stuffed carelessly in cardboard boxes and put aside without care. Then, I could see that there was a man who seemed to be in his midtwenties who sat on my chair. Not only that, this asshole was eating my snacks!

I hadn’t even gone through the whole process of being laid off, but why people were so rude to me?

It made me so mad that I immediately grabbed the snacks from the man’s hand as I angrily asked, “Who are you, Sir? Why do you think you can treat my things away like this?”

But the man just scanned me with his eyes as he smirked evilly before he asked me back, “Are you Miss Helena Hawking? The Top Saleswoman?”

“Well, you look pretty. But you’re already wrinkling, don’t you think? Women as old as you should just stay at home to please their husbands and raise children. So, why would you still work at the office?” he continuously asked me in a mocking tone.

After that, he loudly mocked me more, “My cousin, Jonathan, is right. Sales are just about talking. You women are nothing but being pretty because you still need us men to get the sales!”

When I looked at the nametag he wore ‘Alan Warren’ before I continued to look at his face which was also pretty similar to Jonathan’s, the realization hit me all of a sudden. This man might be another of Jonathan’s relatives.

“And,” he then said.

In an arrogant tone, he continued, “I wasn’t the one who touched your things. In fact, your things were all stuffed by your coworkers that sat next to your desk.”

“I just told them that I was Jonathan’s cousin and I would join Neoform to replace you, then they quickly rushed over to stuff your things and put them on the floor,” he said, ending what he said.

When I heard it, I couldn’t help but look at my own coworkers who were helping to stuff my things away. These were all young men whom I had brought with me since I joined this company. They always followed me and greeted me with respect. In fact, the youngest one had been following me for around three years.

Yet, they were all lowering their heads in silence.

This was bonechilling.

Except Violet Brown, who had just been promoted to be the Neoform’s fulltime employee.

The young woman stood up and spoke for me as she tried to defend me by saying, “You guys have been helped by Helena here, but you dare to betray her like this?”

She angrily shouted, “If Helena leaves, I’ll leave too!”

Just when I was about to stop her, Violet took out her own resignation letter as she said, “Helena, you don’t have to say anything. I already made up my mind to resign from this place.”

As she was helping me pack my things carefully, she whispered to my ears, “Helena, I’ll go wherever you go. I’ll never ever forget your kindness in helping me here. Pay no mind to Alan Warren’s bullshits. Remember, I’m here. Helena. You’ll always be the best!”

What she said truly brought tears to my eyes. Frankly, Violet had only been in this company for half a year. Not to mention, I wasn’t actually very close with her. I could remember what she said about my kindness in helping her was actually a small thing that I helped her, which was actually no big deal for me as I was already experienced.

However, her sincere expression was far better in friendship than the others who spent three to five years of working with me only to betray me.

People’s hearts were indeed unpredictable.

I was busy informing several major clients through Slack, telling them that I would no longer work with Neoform.

Every major client responded, telling me that they were upset about this news. In fact, a few clients were asking where I would work as they wished to continue to work with me. Some even criticized Neoform for making such a shortsighted decision by letting me go.

Just then, I received an unexpected email.

[Dear Miss Helena Hawking,

Do you have any thoughts on joining our company?

Best regards,

The Oracle]

The sender was The Oracle, which was the archrival of Neoform. In fact, The Oracle was known as the rising star for the past few years because it developed rapidly. However, they were still inferior compared to us who had been leading the market for years.

Before I had time to reply, another email came to my inbox from the Oracle.

[Dear Miss Helena Hawking,

Please note that we will double the amount of your salary. Not only that, we offer many benefits. Furthermore, we offer the freedom to form your own team and lead it yourself.

Best regards,

The Oracle]

In the meantime, Violet was still talking about our traitorous former coworkers, “Helena, I still can’t believe how they could betray you like this! Look at Mark! He has been so careless, but you’ve helped him so many times.”

She then kept talking, “As for Jeremy, you helped his task which was writing the company’s quarterly report because he had to accompany his wife giving birth to their child. So, I just can’t believe …”

After the young woman finished speaking, she lowered her head again as she stared at me in confusion before she asked, “Helena, what will we do now?”

When I thought about the emails that were sent by the Oracle, I couldn’t help but smile as I patted Violet’s head and told her, “Just relax!”

“From now on, I’ll help you to get our new jobs!”

Unlike the Neoform, Oracle seemed sincere.

As soon as I responded to their email, their HR Department Leader immediately added my contact information. Not only that, the HR Department Leader quickly arranged for me to join their company as soon as possible.

I couldn’t help but be curious as I asked him, “Don’t you need an interview, Sir?”

To my surprise, the HR Department Leader simply replied, “Everyone knows about you, Miss Hawking. In fact, your performance in Neoform is enough for us to accept you instantly.”

On my first day as The Oracle’s employee, I already had my own office. It had large windows that spanned from the floor to the ceiling with a full set of office equipment. Most importantly, my new office had an immaculate thermostat that would be very helpful to navigate through hot summers and cold winters.

This was a huge contrast compared to my time at Neoform. Even after I worked extremely hard for around 10 years, I still had to sit next to a loose window. We had to deal with hot summers and cold winters by ourselves. Not only that, they didn’t even give me a company laptop. So, I had to bring my own laptop to work.

It made me remember the one time that my laptop had problems that couldn’t even be run, so I asked Jonathan to see if the company could give me a new laptop.

What did Jonathan say at the time?

“Well, electronic equipment is your property. Our company has no obligation to take care of that. If your laptop has a problem, that’s your problem! You need to solve it on your own!” he angrily shouted at me.

The man then continued, “If it causes a problem with your performance, that’s your fault!”

It turned out that the laptop eventually had severe problems that made it unusable any longer. So, I ended up giving up in anger as I spent a few months of my salary to buy a new laptop to work. When I told this story to my new colleagues in The Oracle jokingly, they seemed to be shocked to hear it.

“Gosh, Helena, how can you endure that?”

“If I were you, I would have just resigned a long time ago!”

Not to mention, the working environment in The Oracle seemed to be very healthy. When I was still working as Neoform’s employee, Jonathan preferred being praised ever since he became the CEO. To put it bluntly, whoever had managed to build a good relationship with him would be seen as performing well and their yearend bonuses were guaranteed.

It caused the environment in Neoform’s Sales Department to be very intense. In order to gain Jonathan’s favor, some greedy people would even stoop as low as making complaints against others in an attempt to make the CEO favor them more.

Hence, The Oracle, my new company, was very much the opposite. The assessment system here was transparent as we could see that the performance was seen as important compared to how good you were at flattering your supervisor. It was clear to me how the staff was treated by their performance instead of their ability to gain favor.

Even Violet told me herself, “Compared to Neoform, The Oracle is so contrasting.”

I was earning double my salary in Neoform as The Oracle’s employee, which made me work happily in my new company. Yet, I would never expect that I would meet Neoform again. This time, I met them as a competitor.