Not even halfway through the Thanksgiving holidays, my boss, Bill Griffin, calls me back to work. He demands I cold-call customers for sales and promises generous overtime pay.

Eager to give my son a better learning environment, I seize every chance to earn more money and agree without hesitation.

But once the holiday ends, the management posts a notice.

"An employee has generated an excessive phone bill working overtime during the Thanksgiving holidays and incurred company losses. Please reimburse the phone bill immediately."

Bill, whom I had worked alongside since graduating from college, swiftly turns on me. "Some people in their 30s are about to be laid off. Having a job at all is a blessing, yet they don't know how to appreciate the opportunities the company gives them."

Refusing to bow to the absurd demands and open threats, I hand in my resignation that very same day.

A company that discards its employees the moment the job is done isn't worth a second of my time. They will learn the hard way who holds the leverage.

After wrapping up overtime work during the Thanksgiving holidays, I rubbed my sore neck and stretched hard.

My boss, Bill Griffin, had promised a hefty overtime pay, which was supposed to hit our accounts any time now. My son was in the middle of transferring schools, so I had to seize every chance to make more money.

"Turn your notifications on, everyone. The bank alerts should be coming soon," I announced.

The team members cheered. Some were already talking about booking a restaurant to treat themselves and celebrate seven straight days of hard work.

The new intern, Trevor Nicolson, grinned at his phone. "Stan Blevins made the most calls in the last seven days. He brought in nearly all the company clients we landed!"

"Exactly! He deserves all the credit for our team's constant number one rank in the company."

"Our car sales doubled compared to last Thanksgiving. You're insane, Stan!"

Compliments from the team came one after another, all lauding my abilities.

I responded with a modest smile and waved my hand. "We only achieved a large volume of clients this Thanksgiving holiday because everyone worked hard."

My voice came out terribly hoarse when I spoke, and Trevor immediately noticed, handing me a glass of water, which I gratefully accepted.

For seven days straight, I'd been on the phone nonstop. My throat couldn't take it anymore; my vocal cords were so strained I could barely speak.

Another order popped up in the system, and I quickly filled out all the details.

As I was getting ready to leave, I noticed Chris Bartlett, the newest hire, looking unwell.

Chris had just turned 18 and hailed from the countryside. His grandpa was seriously ill and in urgent need of money. That was why he'd been pushing himself like a madman from the day he joined the team and insisted on staying late to make more calls, even after hitting his daily call quota.

I helped him to the couch. Looking at him reminded me of my own son, and my heart ached as I gently patted his shoulder.

"You've worked hard these past few days and made almost as many calls as I did. If you're not feeling well, you don't have to join us for dinner tonight."

His eyes reddened at my thoughtful words. "Thank you, Stan. My grandpa's still at home, so I'll skip tonight."

The rest of us quickly tidied up and were just about to book a ride to the restaurant when our phones started pinging nonstop.

Trevor splashed some water on his face, grabbed his phone, and beamed. "It must be the overtime pay! I didn't expect the company to pay us this quickly without holding it back for once."

We all smiled and took out our phones to see how much we'd made. But instead of bank alerts, we saw messages flooding into the work WhatsApp group.

I frowned and felt a bad premonition creeping in.

Sure enough, the announcement that greeted us left everyone stunned when we tapped on the group chat.

"Members of the Operations Department, including Stan Blevins and Chris Bartlett, worked consecutive days over the Thanksgiving holidays and generated an excessive phone bill. They are hereby warned and required to reimburse this month's company phone expenses.

"The head of the Operations Department is to submit a written self-reflection within three days. All other employees are reminded to take this as a warning."

Trevor pointed at his phone and reread the announcement in disbelief. "Wait… What does this even mean?"

The others erupted in anger.

"We were enjoying our holiday before being suddenly called in to work! Now, not only are we not getting the promised overtime pay, but we also have to foot the company's phone bills ourselves!

"Stan made over 1,000 calls a day just to land clients and completely lost his voice!"

"Exactly! No one would want to make cold calls all day if it weren't for work! Getting hung up on is child's play; some short-tempered people curse us out instead!"

When I noticed the anger on my teammates' faces, the pent-up anger in my chest finally broke loose. I immediately abandoned the dinner plans and stormed straight into the management's office.

It was the first day back after the Thanksgiving holidays, and the company was holding its routine monthly meeting.

I aggressively shoved open the conference room door and thrust my phone in the face of the manager, Warren Rose.

"You'd better explain that announcement in the WhatsApp group chat."

Moments ago, everyone in the conference room had been listening to his pumped-up motivational speech. My sudden interruption instantly shattered the harmonious, laidback atmosphere.

Once Warren knew why I was there, he awkwardly rubbed his nose before slipping back into his usual, arrogant demeanor.

"Watch your tone. Why do I owe you any explanation? The group chat's announcement is clearly written. Are you trying to go against the company?

"You people camped out here for seven days straight over the Thanksgiving holidays and made calls nonstop. The company's already being generous by only charging you for phone expenses. If you have any more complaints, maybe you should cover the water and electricity bills, too!"

I laughed in anger at his words and didn't bother to hold back.

"Before the holiday, Bill promised us overtime pay. Now, not only is there no overtime pay, but you want us to pay out of the pocket instead. Is this how you treat your employees?

"One of our team members nearly collapsed after work. Just earlier—"

I didn't get to finish because Warren cut me off in a matter-of-fact tone. "The company cares about results, not your process. I don't care what you went through these past few days; all that matters to me is how many new orders showed up in the system.

"Given how well you completed the task, the company's going easy on you by deducting your overtime pay. If you're even complaining about covering the phone bills, how can the company trust you with future tasks?"

He took a sip of water and looked utterly certain, like he had us cornered.

Furious, I immediately called Bill, but the phone kept ringing without an answer.

Warren sneered. "Save it. These announcements came straight from Bill himself."

I stiffened, feeling as if all the blood in my veins had frozen.

It struck me that years of friendship couldn't outweigh profits either. Bill had decided I was no longer useful and was ready to toss me aside.

Seeing how shaken I looked, Warren grew even more brazen. "It doesn't matter that you and Bill were college classmates. That was years ago, and now, he's the owner of a listed company, while you're still here making cold calls every day.

"If I remember right, you're planning to transfer your son to Spark Academy, aren't you? The tuition is 50,000 dollars per year. Can you even afford that?

"You're middle-aged with no real skills, and all you can do is make calls. Your family wouldn't survive without this company, so what makes you think you're in the position to have an attitude?"

Furious, I was breathing so hard my chest heaved. As I stared at Warren's smug, petty expression, I wanted nothing more than to smash my fist into his face.

Seeing how mad I was and knowing I couldn't touch him, he laughed out loud.

After seven days straight of nonstop work, my teammates and I looked worn out and hollow. Even our clothes carried a sour, stale smell.

Others in the room dared not speak up after witnessing the way Warren humiliated us. They just laughed along and whispered among themselves.

I felt like I was walking on glass, with every stare from others a fresh humiliation. My phone kept ringing with failed attempts until Bill finally decided to block my number.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down as soon as possible before blocking all of Bill's contact information in return. Then, I logged into the company's system and submitted my resignation without a second thought.

When it was immediately approved, I let out a cold laugh.

"At least try to hide your greed, Bill. You aren't even bothering to keep up the pretense anymore," I muttered under my breath.

I shook my head at the thought and smiled bitterly.

Humans really are the most fickle creatures—but a man shouldn’t spend his life living under someone else’s thumb.

Deep down, I vowed that Bill and Warren would surely regret today's decision.

Once I'd made peace with that, I couldn't be bothered to waste another second on them. So, I turned and walked out of the conference room.

Warren's mocking voice followed. "Wow, look at you being so principled. Do you still think you're some strong, young hotshot?

"Face it. You're just an incapable middle-aged man now, so leave the company, and we'll see what job you can even find."

I ignored his proud words behind me and returned to my desk to pack up.

Another order notification popped up on the system's interface on my computer, but this time, I did nothing and continued gathering my stuff.

A young woman hesitantly approached. I glanced at her badge and noticed that she was an intern, Goldie Chambers.

When she saw me looking at her, she awkwardly said, "Mr. Rose sent me here to keep an eye on you. He's worried you might take the company's valuables before you leave."

Before she could finish, she dropped her head with her ears burning red.

I could feel how uncomfortable she was. There was no point making things hard for an intern, so I let her check before walking out with my belongings.

Before leaving, I made an official announcement on my feed. "I've officially resigned from Nutty Auto. Please be informed that all future communication will be handled by my colleagues."

Attached was a photo of my freshly cleared desk.

Within minutes, likes and comments flooded in.

"What? Are you quitting? In that case, I'm canceling the car I ordered through you."

Similar comments immediately poured into my comment section. When Goldie happened to glance at my phone screen, her eyes widened in shock.

"Stan, w-what are you doing?"

"These are clients who've supported me for years. Now that I'm leaving, there's nothing wrong with letting them know, is there?"

She stiffened and immediately lowered her head. "Y-Yes…"

I ignored her and turned to leave. Behind me, I vaguely heard her on the phone saying she'd resign today, too.

I smiled faintly. Even an intern knew my value, yet the company's upper management couldn't wait to get rid of me.

In that case, they'd better be ready to pay the price.

I'd brought in nearly all of Nutty Auto's current clients and built deep relationships with them over the years. Many of them had only heard of the company because of my calls, and through constant promotions, I'd turned them into loyal clients.

With me gone, Nutty Auto was nothing but a hollow shell and a ragdoll stripped of its stuffing. It was only a matter of time before it was eliminated by the market.

Our main competitor was a used-car platform, but their order volume lagged far behind us because I held the keys to the entire client base.

Both companies had been fighting a dirty war for market share.

Today, Marinia was hosting an offline used-car sales competition. The company that landed the most orders would earn the title of Marinia's leading enterprise.

To help Nutty Auto win the competition, I'd lined up a large number of clients and waited for the competition day to secure first place. But now, none of that had anything to do with me anymore.

I quickly got home, where my wife had dinner ready, and my son was doing homework in his room. After the meal, I collapsed onto the bed and slept like the dead.

I didn't wake up until late the next morning when loud banging on the door jolted me awake.

Still groggy, I got up and looked through the peephole.

As Bill's anxious face filled my vision, he pounded the door hard enough to shake the whole house.

I let out a cold laugh. As expected, he couldn't help coming to find me.

Now, I was curious to see what excuse he'd come up with.