Chapter 2: Public Humiliation

“Derek, when you first joined, our salary system wasn’t fully established, and your pay was set hastily. According to HR’s latest calculations, your position should have this salary now—it’s not a pay cut.”

Grant’s tone was all business, his eyes cool as he sipped black coffee from a chipped ‘#1 Boss’ mug. Sunlight slanted through the window, picking out the dust motes. He didn’t even look at the printouts I’d painstakingly put together.

“Actually, you were overpaid before.”

He tossed aside the performance report I’d brought, barely glancing at it. It fluttered off the edge of his desk and landed facedown on the carpet, like my years of work meant nothing at all.

At today’s mid-year meeting, Grant Chandler spent two hours reminiscing about his glorious entrepreneurial journey. It was the kind of family company that used to sponsor Little League teams and Fourth of July parades—until Amazon ate their lunch.

He had that way of spinning old stories, puffing up the company’s past, cracking jokes about the early days, as if that nostalgia could distract us from his tight-fisted ways.

In his closing remarks, he cheerfully announced that, according to preliminary estimates, the company had already surpassed the annual sales target in the first half of the year. Someone popped open a can of LaCroix. There were leftover donuts from the morning—nobody touched them.

The room broke into applause—some genuine, some just going through the motions. My mind was already calculating what the bonus would mean for me, especially with rent due and student loans still on my back.

To reward everyone, all employees would receive a 10% salary increase and an extra month’s pay as a year-end bonus.

A 10% raise didn’t amount to much for my base salary of $3,500, but I was still pretty pleased and joined in the enthusiastic applause.

But then, unexpectedly, he changed the subject:

“But this time, the raise doesn’t include Derek from the Marketing Operations Department. Derek’s salary calculation is incorrect and needs to be recalculated.”

He looked straight at me, stunned on stage. “Derek, come see me after the meeting. I’ll explain it to you.”

You could feel the shift in the air. Every head turned my way—some faces pinched with sympathy, others with that vulture-like curiosity you only see in corporate America. A few people smirked. The room was suddenly ice-cold.

I was dazed, but mostly I was angry.

After the meeting, I gathered evidence of my achievements over the years and went to Grant Chandler for an explanation.

He didn’t even bother to look at them. Instead, he directly notified me of a 30% pay cut.

On top of that, he raised the KPI assessment bar to a level that matched the best performance in recent years.

Given the current market environment, how could that be realistic?

It was clear he didn’t want to give me any bonus at all.

Wasn’t this just a disguised way of forcing me out?