Next to her stood a man in his early thirties, sharply dressed in a tailored suit, radiating the kind of smugness that came from unchecked authority.
I glanced at his name badge. Rupert McClain, HR Director.
The second Maureen saw me, she darted forward to block my path and turned to him.
"That's him, Rupert! That's the one!"
Rupert looked me up and down with the slow, deliberate appraisal of a man who believed he held all the cards. "So you're the factory worker who disrespected my cousin?"
"Who hired you in the first place? I don't recall ever seeing your face."
To avoid the tedious formalities that came with my position, I always kept a low profile at the branch office. Plain clothes, no entourage, and the cheapest car in my garage. Only the core executives knew who I really was.
An HR director didn't come close to qualifying.
When Rupert said he'd never seen me before, Maureen's eyes lit up like she'd just stumbled onto the find of a lifetime.
"Rupert, even you don't recognize him? Then he definitely got in through the back door!"
"Fire him. Right now!"
Rupert let out a short laugh, his expression dripping with contempt. "A back-door hire. That explains the attitude."
He tilted his chin up, every inch the petty tyrant savoring his moment.
"Tell you what. Out of the goodness of my heart, since you did chauffeur my cousin to and from work for a month, I'll let you keep your job. But you'll need to agree to a few conditions."
"First: a placement fee. Fifty thousand dollars, wired directly to my personal account. Otherwise, one word from me and you're gone."
"Second: from now on, you drive my cousin to and from work every single day. You do whatever she says, whenever she says it. No questions asked."
"Third: last night, you ignored my cousin's request to come pick us up. That requires compensation. Cab fare, one thousand. Drinks and karaoke, four thousand. And since my cousin was so upset she couldn't sleep all night, that's another ten thousand for emotional distress."
He held up a hand, ticking off the total like a loan shark settling accounts.
"That puts you at sixty-five thousand. Cash or transfer?"
I stood there, taking it all in.
Never in my life had I imagined that as the owner of this company, I'd have my own employees shaking me down for a hiring fee.
Right outside the gates of my own company, no less. Broad daylight. Not an ounce of shame.