Chapter 10 - The Floor Speaks
The heavy doors shut. The mechanical clunk of the elevator descending resonated through the walls, leaving behind a silence so thick you could hear the air conditioning vents humming above.
Evelyn Vance slowly turned her head toward the rest of the floor.
Forty-five employees remained glued to their stations, terrified that looking the CEO in the eye might cost them their health insurance. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
"Listen to me," Evelyn said. Her voice didn't need to rise; the room swallowed every word instantly. "For four years, this division has posted record profits while simultaneously logging the highest rate of turnover in this entire skyscraper. I was told people left because of burnout. I was told young people didn't want to work anymore."
She walked down the central aisle between the rows of modular desks, her eyes sweeping across the frozen faces of junior analysts, copy clerks, and department assistants.
"If any manager in this building has ever threatened you, retaliated against you, or forced you into servitude under the guise of 'paying your dues,' my door on thirty-four is unlocked starting today. HR reports will no longer go to local supervisors. They go directly to my personal staff."
She paused at the desk of an intern who had been trembling behind her monitor since seven-fifty AM.
"What's your name, young lady?" Evelyn asked gently.
"M-Maya, ma'am," the girl stammered, clutching a ballpoint pen like a weapon.
May you like
"Maya, call facilities. Have them bring up a trash compactor for Brenda Sterling's personal office. Every file, every chair, every piece of her vanity gets cleared out by noon. You're heading the transition inventory. It comes with a thirty percent bump in your stipend. Can you handle that?"
Maya’s jaw dropped, then snapped shut with a determined nod. "Yes, Mrs. Vance. Absolutely."
