Part 3The Three Cent Takedown

A collective gasp echoed in the hallway.

Those papers contained hundreds of thousands of dollars in input tax deductions. They were now useless.

I immediately pulled out my phone and started snapping photos of the shredded paper.

"What are you photographing, you pervert!" Skylar lunged for my phone, and the coffee in her hand splashed all over my neatly organized reports.

"Oops! Butterfingers." She covered her mouth, her eyes full of malicious glee.

I stared at the chaos.

"Skylar, this is company property. You are destroying business operations."

Skylar threw back her head and laughed, walking close to my ear. "Why do you work so hard, Vivian?"

"This company belongs to Marcus. Why do you even care?"

She pulled out her phone and shoved it into my face, recording.

"I’m putting this on TikTok right now, so everyone can see your ugly face!"

"Hey, fam, look at this! This is the psycho Director who almost killed an intern over three cents! Now she’s trying to hit me! It’s terrifying!"

She instantly uploaded the quickly-edited video to the company-wide chat and synced it to TikTok. The video only showed the snippet of me locking the door and glaring at her.

The captions were sensational:

WARNING! Psycho Finance Director Pushes Intern to Brink Over 3 Cents, Then Throws Her Coffee!

#GenZCleanUp: Facing Down the Jealousy of an Old Woman—I Will Not Back Down!

The video was sped up and set to a creepy, unsettling background track. The comment section exploded with angry, uniformed strangers.

"That woman's face is so harsh. She's obviously jealous of how young and pretty the girl is."

"Three cents? Is she going through some kind of menopause meltdown?"

"Feel so bad for the intern! Get out of that toxic company!"

Later that afternoon, Marcus played the video for the entire executive team during the weekly meeting. He watched it, shaking his head, though a faint smile played on his lips.

"Vivian," he sighed, "I've got to be honest with you. Look at how poorly you're portrayed online."

"We're going public. Image is everything. Skylar, she’s young, but she’s the 'catalyst' this company needs—a fresh fish to stir up the stagnant water."

"You all need to learn from Skylar. Be brave enough to challenge outdated systems. Be vocal."