100 Billion Dollars In My Rented Apartment

Chapter 4 - The Lady In The Heels

The superstore isn't one of the best places to be employed. The payment was good, but the treatment was absurd. Workers are turned against each other in the most brutal way possible, and almost every employee hates the others and wouldn't hide their excitement when a colleague is fired. It is a toxic work environment to say the least. And for Oscar, it is nothing but hell.

Their pathetic little giggle whenever he walked by, their murmurs and whispers of mockery never seemed to escape Oscar's ears. This is because it's all they ever wanted to do, to humiliate him and make him feel very little of himself, especially having been demoted from a salesman to a janitor.

"How can someone be this shameless? If I were him, I'd never show my face in this establishment ever again," they said, and they couldn't be far from the truth, but Oscar needed money, even if for nothing else but the overbearing landlord needed to be settled.

All they saw was a man whom has been demoted; none of them knew about his internal struggles, or rather, they just didn't care.

Oscar bore the shame for the first four hours of his shift, and couldn't wait to return to the janitor's closet to rest. When he finally did, a fellow colleague, Sammy, a colleague student with black curly hair, sat next to him on the same bench.

Sammy was new and had been keeping an eye on Oscar for most of the day, and he couldn't help but wonder why he was treated like he wasn't human, too. He wanted to ask Oscar directly and had even rehearsed his question before now.

"I know this might be a little bit personal, but... why do they do that to you?" he asked, even though it was a little too direct from what it sounded like in his head.

Oscar was shocked, he looked at Sammy in the eye and then looked away quickly. It was quite new for someone around here to notice anything.

"I once worked here as a salesman. I don't know what I did to the boss and he fired me." Oscar always wished that someone would ask; he also feared that whoever he told would make fun of him like the others, but Sammy looked promising.

"Oh, that must be embarrassing, I'm sorry that happened to you, uhm... and that they are laughing." The young man was trying to be encouraging, but failed miserably. For about a minute, neither of them said another word, just the sound of their breaths and movement from other janitors filling up the silence.

"Why don't you fight back?" Sammy broke the silence once more, "They mock you like that and you don't say anything, you just stay silent, and let them assume that you are a weakling, that is why they keep on doing it. Don't you think you should...

"What's the point?" Oscar asked before the boy could finish, "I am what they say I am, shameless, poor, a disappointment in the form of a man... they are just saying the truth."

"Don't say that!" Sammy cut him off,

"I also don't wish to do this job, but I have to raise money for my mom's treatment. I get mocked in college for it, but who cares? I know what I'm after, and I don't just stay silent and let them bully me. I fight back."

Oscar chuckled, wiping a stream of sweat down his face,

"And do they stop?"

"No," Sammy answered, "But at least they know I'm now weak."

Oscar held back another chuckle, he admired Sammy's innocence and naivety.

"Do you want to know what I believe, Kid?" he asked, and proceeded without waiting for an answer,

"I believe that there is no way to shut them up than to become the powerful figure they least expected, anything else is just a futile attempt to keep your sanity.

Before he could say another word, a lady barged into the room with a furious gaze. She didn't stop until she was standing right in front of Oscar.

"You useless man!" She snapped, slapping Oscar across the face.

Oscar stood up immediately, wondering what the slap was for. The lady before him is a secretary to his boss, and he doesn't recall doing anything to upset her. He hadn't even seen her since he got fired.

"Grace, why did you slap me?"

"That is 'Ma'm to you, address me with respect because I'm not your equal in this company and I have never been!" She nagged, shifting her expensive wig to one side, with pouted lip and furrowed brows.

Sammy sat silently. He wished that he could intervene and stop them from treating his new buddy like trash, but he also had to keep the job.

"Look at this!" The lady continued, lifting up a crumpled piece of paper, "You think we wouldn't notice that you spilt water on one of the boss's papers and tried to hide it by throwing it in the trash can?"

"What?" Oscar was taken aback, and so was every other janitor in the room, Sammy included. "I... I did not do anything like that. I'm not even allowed into the boss's office, it cannot be me. Also, it's just a blank paper, not a reason to slap someone who isn't even guilty."

"Oh?" The lady uttered, a mischievous smile playing on her lips, "So you are calling me a liar, an accuser huh? And you said it's just paper... look at me, Oscar, and tell me, can you even afford paper? You can't even afford good clothes and shoes let alone the paper we use in this company."

"You smell like trash!" She continued, "And that's because you can't afford good perfume, yet you talk about this paper like you can afford it."

Oscar was quick to realise that this lady was looking for a reason to mock him. After all, the boss always liked picking him over her. She was lazy and everyone knew it, but somehow she was promoted overnight and became the boss's favourite, a secretary and would look for any reason at all to make the workspace a living hell for others, even if it meant slapping Oscar over a piece of wet paper.

"Apologise to me!" She ordered him,

"Don't stand there looking like an idiot who doesn't know the right thing to do, kneel down and apologise to me if you want to keep this job."

The entire room was silent, with everyone waiting to know how Oscar would react to the situation.

"Do you want to keep this job or not?" She asked him, her eyes gleaming with wickedness. "All I need to do is file a report to the boss, and he will kick you out of this establishment within minutes. He already hates you so much, you know?"

Without further ado, Oscar slowly got down to his knees, he was beginning to suspect that she was the reason he got fired in the first place. For now, he was going to give her the satisfaction of watching him apologise.

"I..." He paused and cleared his throat, faking a remorseful expression. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he added, and the lady's smile broadened with satisfaction.

"Now, don't you dare talk back to me ever again!" She warned, throwing the paper at Oscar's face. Then, turning to the others, she said, "The same goes for all of you. Respect me if you want to keep your job."

With that, she stormed out of her room, her heels making loud screeched noises as she did. As soon as Oscar got back on his feet, Sammy leaned in and whispered,

"She really hates you, but why?"

"I don't know, and I really want to find out."; Oscar replied briskly and walked out of the room.