I figured she was fresh out of college, probably didn't understand workplace etiquette yet. I didn't dwell on it.

I thought that would be the end of it.

It wasn't.

From that day on, Maureen showed up in my passenger seat after work like clockwork. Never asked. Never waited for an invitation.

Before I could even object, she started making demands:

"From now on, stop by my building in the mornings when you're heading in. Pick me up on the way."

"I hate the smell of smoke. I know it's your car, but no more smoking in it."

"I got down here three minutes before you today. Be faster next time. Don't make me wait."

"These seats are too hard. Bring a cushion for me tomorrow. Something soft."

"I don't like the color of this car. When you get a chance, wrap it in pink."

I'd been racking my brain trying to figure out how someone could freeload rides every single day while acting like she was doing me the favor.

Now I knew.

Her cousin was the HR Director.

"Hello? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Are you on your way or not?"

Maureen's impatient voice crackled through the phone again.

I yawned.

"No. I'm going back to sleep. Call yourself a cab."

I hung up.

Before I could even set the phone down, it rang again.

Maureen again.

"Are you out of your mind? You actually hung up on me?"

"Do you have any idea that my cousin is sitting right next to me?"

I replied lazily, "Oh. And?"

She let out a contemptuous scoff.

"You don't even get it, do you? No wonder you're stuck doing grunt work at the bottom of the company."

"Let me spell it out for you. I brought my cousin and his whole family out tonight for karaoke and drinks, to thank him for getting me hired."

"If you had an ounce of sense, you'd get over here right now, settle the tab at Encore, then drive every single one of us home. Make a good impression on my cousin."

"Do a good enough job, and maybe I'll put in a nice word for you. One sentence from my cousin and you'd be transferred out of the factory floor and into an office. Just like that."

What a scheme.

So she didn't just want a personal chauffeur. She wanted me to foot the bill too.

I paused, then asked, testing the waters, "You're sure your cousin can get me promoted and reassigned with a single word?"