Chapter 3
Five minutes later, Director called me up himself.
"Ryan, can you take care of the PrimeLand issue? Mr. Mason is pretty worked up," Director said.
"Mr. Shaw, I'm on vacation," I replied.
"I know you're on vacation, but this client is special. He'll only talk to you. Just make one call, it'll take two minutes," he insisted.
"Work should be handled by whoever's on duty," I said.
"Ryan!" Director raised his voice. "You really think this is okay?"
"Yeah, I do. Annual leave is my right, company rules say so," I shot back.
The line went quiet for several seconds.
"Fine. You'd better watch yourself," he said.
He hung up with a sharp click.
I set my phone down and made myself a cup of coffee.
On the fifth day, the group chat blew up.
Chris: [Mr. Mason's secretary from PrimeLand just called. She said if we don't send the proposal soon, they're going to find someone else.]
Joey: [I've done everything I can, but honestly, I have no idea what Mr. Mason wants. Ryan was the only one handling this before.]
Chris: [Does Director know?]
Joey: [Yeah, he knows. He told me to figure it out myself.]
Chris: [He's not stepping in himself?]
Joey didn't reply.
I noticed something, ever since I went on leave, Director hadn't sent a single message in the group chat.
He used to post work updates every morning at nine sharp, but now he's just gone completely silent.
Either he didn't want to face reality, or he just couldn't handle it.
That evening, Susan came home with some news.
"My coworker's husband works in your company's Administration Department. He said your department has been getting a lot of complaints lately, and the higher-ups are starting to pay attention," she said.
"Who are the higher-ups?" I asked.
"He said it's the VP overseeing your department," she replied.
I took a sip of my coffee.
"It won't be long now," I said.
On the seventh day of my vacation, things started to escalate.
That morning, Chris messaged me on WhatsApp.
Chris: [Ryan, Director just called an emergency meeting.]
Ryan: [What did he say?]
Chris: [He said there have been some problems in the department recently and told everyone to work together more. He also said some people think the company can't do without them, but it keeps going no matter who leaves.]
Ryan: [And then?]
Chris: [Joey spoke up and said a few projects needed someone with the right expertise to handle them, and that they couldn't be handed over clearly in a day or two. Director looked furious and said there was nothing to discuss, follow orders.]
Ryan: [Anything else?]
Chris: [Yeah. After the meeting, Director pulled Joey aside and really tore into him. He told Joey not to follow the example of certain people, and if he couldn't focus on his work, he should just leave.]
I put my phone down, shaking my head in disbelief.
All he does is yell when he can't fix things, but yelling never solves anything.
Around 3 PM, I got a surprise message.
Mr. Parker from Sunrise Holdings hit me up directly on WhatsApp.
Mr. Parker: [Ryan, are you busy?]
Ryan: [Mr. Parker, I'm on vacation, so I'm not really busy.]
Mr. Parker: [What's up with your company lately? They switched the contact to some kid, and he doesn't know what he's talking about. What's going on with our contract renewal?]
Ryan: [Director is the one in charge now. You can reach out to him about it.]
Mr. Parker: [I don't even know who this Director is. You've been handling things for five years, and I trust you. If someone else takes over, I can't relax.]
I hesitated for a moment.
Ryan: [Mr. Parker, I'm honestly on vacation right now, so I'm not really in a position to get involved with company stuff. If you're worried, you can always take it up with the higher-ups.]
Mr. Parker: [Alright, I'll just say it, I'm going to think twice about renewing the contract. If you're not back, I'm not signing.]
Ryan: [Uh...]
Mr. Parker: [Ryan, we've been working together for years. Just level with me, is something up at your company?]
Ryan: [Nah, nothing big. I'm just on my regular vacation.]
Mr. Parker: [Alright. Just let me know when you're back.]
After hanging up, I sat on the couch for a long time, lost in thought.
Sunrise's annual contract was worth over 1.3 million dollars. If Mr. Parker really decided not to renew, this wasn't just my problem anymore.
But honestly, it wasn't my problem either.
I'm a guy who got paid ten thousand dollars, so why am I supposed to worry about a 1.3 million dollar contract? That's not what I'm paid for.
That night, I told Susan about it. She looked at me and asked, "Do you regret it?"
"Nope, not one bit," I said.
"But what if the client actually walks away?" she asked.
"If they do, it just proves one thing, these clients follow the person, not some title like Director," I said.