Because of my cowardly personality, I was bullied every day by my coworkers and gaslighted by my manager: "Shouldn't young people do a little more?" "With your skill level, do you even deserve a salary? Do you think this company is a charity?" "You have plenty of opportunities in the future. Let the senior employees have the 'Employee of the Year' award this time." "You're just wasting oxygen. Watch your back on your way home!" When I went to the boss to report the bullying, he just sneered: "There's no such thing as bullying among adults. If everyone dislikes you, you need to look at yourself and find out why!" Eventually, my depression worsened, and I jumped off a building to end my life. When I woke up, my coworker Linda was just saying to me: "Hey Chloe, I'm heading out early. Can you stay late and finish this spreadsheet for me?" 1 "Are your arms broken?" I didn't even look up, just fired right back at her. In my past life, this was exactly how it started—the slow, creeping gaslighting over minor tasks. At first, when delegating work within the department, they'd intentionally give me a heavier workload or the toughest, most thankless tasks. Later on, they didn't even bother hiding it. They just dumped their own work on me, constantly saying: "Chloe, can you organize this spreadsheet for me?" "Chloe, take this report over to the client for me." "Chloe, I have a family emergency and need to leave early. Can you finish my expense report and attach the receipts?" Chloe isn't your mother. Will you literally die if you don't boss me around for one second? How shameless can you get? Unfortunately, in my past life, I was meek and thin-skinned. If I was even slightly slow, my coworkers would say: "Oh, Chloe, you're still young. Young people should work harder so they can learn and grow quickly. That's how we all came up." Like an idiot, I thought they actually had my best interests at heart and eagerly ran around doing their bidding. But what exactly was I supposed to learn from spending two hours taping receipts to a piece of paper? On top of that, Accounting would constantly nitpick—either the receipts were facing the wrong way or in the wrong order. They called me useless, saying I couldn't even handle a simple task. It tanked my self-esteem. I started doubting myself, wondering if I really was just that incompetent and needed to tape more receipts to improve. But that was nothing. The fatal blow came later. The data in the contract I delivered to the client for Linda was wrong, causing a massive loss for the project. The boss was absolutely furious. Linda put on a devastated, apologetic face and explained to the management: "Young people are just so careless. I hadn't even finished reviewing it, and Chloe took it upon herself to deliver it to the client. It's my fault. I'll teach her more in the future and make sure she learns to be more reliable." The boss immediately docked my entire annual bonus, and HR sent out a formal, company-wide reprimand email. I hid in the bathroom and cried for hours. I really wanted to travel back in time and slap myself awake for being such a massive pushover! Instead of wasting time crying, why didn't I just rip her a new one? Thankfully, I've been reborn! 2 Linda looked at me in pure disbelief: "Chloe, what kind of attitude is that? We're your seniors. Did you lose your mind today? You were never like this before." Clearly, she still thought I was the same meek doormat from my past life. "Linda, this is your work. How do you have the nerve to ask me to work overtime to do it?" "What's wrong with a young person learning a bit more? I'm giving you an opportunity to gain experience. Besides, you're a single girl, you don't have anything going on at home anyway. Why can't you spend a little more time improving yourself?" "You're right. I definitely need to learn more, especially since this spreadsheet is so difficult. I don't know how to do it. Why don't you teach me? Once you teach me how, then I'll do it for you." I'd made up my mind. If she wanted to play the "young people need to learn" card, fine! I'll learn! I'll spend 5 hours learning how to do this spreadsheet! I'll stay until 11 PM learning! Linda seemed to catch on to my strategy and got a little angry: "You can't even handle a simple task like this? I don't know how HR ever hired you!" "Yeah, you can't even handle a simple task like this and have to ask others for help. I don't know how you've survived in this company for so many years!" "I have something to do and need to leave early, it's not that I don't know how to do it!" Linda started explaining herself. The moment she started explaining, the battle was already won. Take note here, this is a key lesson: In office warfare, never explain yourself. The moment you start explaining, you fall into the trap of self-justification. Just go on the offensive. I didn't say anything else, just gave her a cold sneer. Linda seemed a little flustered. She didn't dare tangle with me any further, went back to her cubicle, and started working on the spreadsheet herself. As she worked, she muttered under her breath: "What's wrong with her? She was fine yesterday..." Although she backed off, she was clearly still resentful. After all, just a few days ago, no matter who asked me to do something, I'd just roll over and take it. Today, I actually dared to refuse her, completely disrespecting her in front of everyone. So, she was determined to win that respect back today. Not long after, she came looking for me again. Of course, coming to me this time was like walking right into a trap. 3 She tossed the client contract onto my desk: "You can't do a spreadsheet, but surely you can run an errand? This is the contract for the client. Go drop it off!" Just as I was about to fire back, a scene from my past life flashed through my mind: It was this exact contract delivery. Linda falsely accused me of submitting the contract to the client without permission, which cost me my annual bonus, got me publicly reprimanded, and made me cry my eyes out. Well, I had to deliver it. Otherwise, what if she noticed the data was wrong and corrected it? So, I pretended to be reluctant and said: "Fine, I'll go drop it off now." Linda looked pleased. She finally got her respect back today. This young upstart dared to rebel and be insubordinate; she had to nip that abnormal behavior in the bud immediately. However, seeing my sour expression, she assumed I was still resentful and wanted to push me down further: "Chloe, this isn't just a simple delivery. You'll get to interact with the client. You can learn how to communicate with clients. You're still very lacking in that area." What a joke. When I got to the client's office, all I had to do was hand it to the receptionist. What was there to learn? Stop using "learning" and "growth" as bait to exploit young employees. Besides, I communicate perfectly fine with my own clients. How am I lacking? Of course, right now, I couldn't wait to get that contract into the client's hands. I just played hard to get: "But I'm worried the manager might need me for something. If he can't find me, he might mark me as AWOL. Could you let the manager know?" My request was perfectly reasonable. The company had a formal "Out of Office" form, but people usually just left if they had urgent business. I diligently filled out the form, made sure both Linda and the manager, Mark, signed it, and then happily rented a Citi Bike to deliver the contract. As for the financial loss it would cause the company, that wasn't my problem. In my past life, when the bullying got so suffocating I couldn't breathe, I went to the boss and told him I felt like I was being bullied by my coworkers. The boss just sneered at me: "Chloe, have you been reading too much fiction? There's no such thing as bullying among adults. If nobody likes you, maybe it's because your emotional intelligence isn't high enough?" I tried to explain, but he waved his hand dismissively: "Look for the reasons within yourself. Don't blow everything out of proportion. You're an adult, stop being so dramatic!" Was I being dramatic? I was being bullied, and I was supposed to find the reason within myself? When will this victim-blaming mentality finally disappear? I looked at the contract in my hand and wished I could change the price to be even lower and the penalty clause to be even higher. I'd love to bankrupt this company in one fell swoop. But I wasn't going to commit a crime. I'd just sit back and watch them destroy themselves. 4 The problem surfaced very quickly. As soon as the client wired the payment, Accounting panicked and rushed to the boss. Soon, both Linda and Manager Mark were called into the boss's office. Roaring and the sound of things being thrown echoed from inside. Everyone in the bullpen was too scared to make a sound. They all sat rigidly at their desks, pretending to be extremely busy, while stealing glances at the boss's office. I felt absolutely nothing inside. I just silently cheered for the boss, hoping he'd lose his mind and beat Linda up. Unfortunately, the tension inside seemed to ease up a bit. A few minutes later, Linda opened the door and called me in. The boss pointed at the contract on the floor and demanded: "What is wrong with you?! You delivered the contract to the client before Linda even finished revising it?!" Trying this trick again? What a masterful deflection! "Boss, Linda told me to deliver it. I have an Out of Office form, and Manager Mark knew about it too." Linda had assumed I'd just silently take the fall like I did in my past life, and then go hide in the bathroom and cry for hours. She didn't expect me to instantly whip out an approved Out of Office form. "I followed company procedure and submitted a request to leave the office. Here is my approved form." The boss shot a look at Mark. Mark's signature was on that form. If he covered for Linda, he'd be taking the blame himself. Mark was shrewd. He immediately said: "That's right. Linda asked Chloe to deliver it. They both told me about it." The boss grew even angrier and glared daggers at Linda. Linda turned pale from fear. She couldn't shift the blame, and her attempt to frame someone else had failed. I thought she was out of moves, but then she suddenly picked up the quote sheet, pointed at the numbers, and said to the boss: "This data is wrong. Someone tampered with it. I've been at this company for years; there's no way I'd make such a rookie mistake!" Then, she glared at me viciously: "Chloe, is it because I asked you to do that spreadsheet? Are you mad at me and trying to get revenge? If it was wrong of me to ask you to work overtime, you could have reported it to management. You can't just use the company's profits to get revenge on me for your own petty grievances!" She even turned to Mark and said: "Manager Mark, you saw me and Chloe arguing that day, right? I never thought this young kid would be so vindictive and have absolutely zero regard for the big picture!" I was a bit stunned. I didn't realize this woman was such a good actress. 5 But if she wanted to put on a show, I'd play along to the bitter end! "Linda, after I got the contract from you, I put it straight into a manila envelope. When would I have had the chance to alter it?" "Who knows if you swapped it out on the way? I have the original version on my computer. Let's take a look and see, won't we?" Saying that, she actually ran out and brought her laptop in. I looked closely, and sure enough, the amount was a full million dollars higher than the contract sent to the client. Linda instantly regained her confidence: "Boss, look, this is the original data. Chloe must have been upset that I made her work overtime, so she altered the contract to get back at me. Thank God I kept the original draft, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to prove my innocence." Then she turned around, putting on an expression of deep disappointment: "Chloe, personal grudges should be settled privately. But what you've done is illegal! If you don't confess right now, we're calling the police!" I didn't expect Linda to be so fast. She had altered the draft in that short amount of time and then immediately thrown the dirty water on me. The boss and Mark seemed more inclined to believe Linda. I could understand that. Linda was a veteran employee who was always kissing up to management, while I had only been there for a little over a year. Of course, they'd side with her. "Call the police then. I can't explain it anyway." Seeing my indifferent attitude, Linda became even more arrogant and actually reached for her phone to call 911. But with her little trick, the company's IT department could easily check when she modified the file. We didn't even need the police. She was just bluffing to force me to take the fall. Mark stopped Linda and said to me: "Chloe, the company doesn't actually want to see you go to jail. If you really altered it, just confess. The company takes a small loss, and it won't affect you." This was exactly how it played out in my past life. The two of them played good cop, bad cop, forcing me to take the blame, which became the catalyst for my worsening depression. Seeing Mark still pulling the same old tricks, I couldn't take it anymore and asked: "Manager Mark, haven't you always kept the company seal locked in your office? I'm just a regular employee. I don't have the authorization to alter contracts, and I certainly don't have access to the company seal. Please tell me, how exactly did I alter it? And how did I stamp it after altering it?" Theoretically, Mark was supposed to review all contracts. But he trusted Linda, so he probably just stamped it without even looking. That meant he had to share the blame, which was why he was so desperate to pin it on me. Of course, the deeper reason was that they both thought I was an easy target, the perfect scapegoat. 6 I had checkmated Mark. He quickly tried to explain to the boss: "I keep the company seal in my office. Usually, people just come in and stamp things themselves. It was an oversight in my management..." This statement not only cleared him of the responsibility of "failing to review" the contract but also implied that I might have snuck in and used the seal when no one was looking. It was incredibly calculating. I was too lazy to keep playing games with them. I took out my phone and pulled up the photos I had taken the moment Linda handed me the contract: "Boss, when I got the contract, I was worried pages might be missing, so I took a picture of every single page. You can take a look." The boss took my phone, checked the timestamp on the photos, and then looked at the content. His face turned ashen. Linda still wouldn't give up and stubbornly argued: "Who knows if those photos are Photoshopped? Photoshop is so advanced these days. Doctoring a photo and changing the timestamp is easy." Even at this point, she was still trying to shift the blame. I wasn't going to humor her anymore: "Linda, when I got the contract, I walked past the front entrance. There's a security camera right there. I held up every single page under that camera. Just have IT pull the security footage!" Linda, who had been trying to put up a brave front, completely panicked. I struck while the iron was hot: "Also, your little trick with altering the file won't fool anyone. The file properties show the 'Last Modified' date. Open it and see for yourself." I really didn't understand how she could delude herself to this extent. The boss finally lost it: "If you made a mistake, you made a mistake! Why are you still lying?! You've caused the company a massive loss. Write your resignation letter. I don't ever want to see you again!" Linda lowered her head, not daring to speak. Not making her pay for the damages was already a huge act of leniency. However, her year-end bonus was definitely gone, her commissions were gone, and she wasn't getting any severance pay either. As she left, she glared at me with pure hatred: "I never thought someone as young as you could be so calculating." I genuinely couldn't understand it. When a bad person's malicious plot fails, they blame the victim for not cooperating? Of course, what I understood even less was the boss. After Linda left, he held the contract, stared at me, and said: "Since you looked at every page of this contract and even took pictures, why didn't you spot the errors?"
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