Chapter 6 Insult from the colleagues
2015 Words
Chapter 6 Insult from the colleagues
"Hi" he muttered shakily, not really sure of what he was supposed to say.
"Where have you been? Where are you coming from? Don't you know there is work here to do?" Lady one asked.
"I was at the director's office taking out some trash" he responded, hoping they didn't catch his lie... Well, it wasn't a lie, he did go to the director's office.
"How long does it take to put out some trash?" She questioned, wrapping her hands on her chest.
"I don't know. This is my first time" he said, already getting irritated.
If they intend to scold him about that and not about what he had assumed then he had nothing to worry about.
"If you will excuse me, I need to get some water" he said and walked away from them. Arthur took out his gloves and took a bottle of water from the fridge.
The Ladies kept on staring at him while he ignored them.
"When you are done with that, you can leave. We don't trust you being here alone" Lady two said and scorned him.
Of course, he didn't intend to spend his whole time there anyways, so he just nodded. He wondered how they had such nerves to talk to anyone in that manner.
He believed in treating humans with respect but he wasn't sure maybe he was the only one treated in such a way.
"I should inform.you that the sanitation supervisor is my cousin. If you dare have any Ill intention towards me, he won't spare you like Mrs. Pierce" the lady warned and Arthur scoffed, fed up with everyone's assumption that he was a bad guy.
"The rumors about me aren't true. They are just rumors spread by ignorant people but whether you believe them or not, it's left to your level of intelligence" and with that, Arthur left them with a gaping mouth while they stared at him with big eyes.
While leaving the room, Arthur ran into someone. At first, he didn't know who it was but his eyes caught the badge on his chest. The sanitation supervisor! How lucky was he?
"So you are uhm..." The sanitation supervisor paused, trying to recall Arthur's name but came up with nothing.
"So you are the guy who was transferred from the marketing department huh?" He asked.
"Yes, I am," Arthur replied.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Zika" he greeted politely, like he hadn't just insulted his cousin.
Mr. Zika, who wasn't one to listen to rumors, studied Arthur and the attitude he received made him frown. He was told Arthur was rude but that wasn't what he had just witnessed. Arthur was polite to him and even greeted him.
He nodded in satisfaction but he wasn't sure maybe Arthur was putting up a performance.
"Well, the men's restroom hasn't been cleaned yet, who do you expect to clean it?" He asked.
"I didn't leave it unclean sir, I was..." Mr. Zika raised a finger, shushing Arthur from speaking.
"Do not waste my time giving me meaningless excuses. Go clean the restroom and while you are at it, unclog the toilets that are blocked" Mr. Zika said.
Unclog? The statement made Arthur frown, he has never had to unclog a toilet before and now he has to do it in the office... He wasn't even a plumber for goodness sake!
"Mr. Zika, I..." Before he could conclude his statement, Mr. Zika interrupted him again.
"What did I just say, do not waste my time with your useless excuses, if I tell you to do something you do it. You are not allowed to leave work until you are done and if you are not okay with that then leave! The company doesn't support lazy and idle workers!" Mr. Zika yelled, his voice an octave that could attract anyone's attention towards them.
"If you feel this work isn't for you" Mr Zika paused, glancing at Arthur from top to bottom.
"Then you kindly walk to the HR and submit your resignation letter, there are lots of hardworking people who need this job," he added.
With those statements, Mr. Zika walked away. Mr. Zika shook his head, he had assumed Arthur was a better person and different from the rumors he heard but instead everything was true and he was only putting up a performance the first time he saw him.
Argue watched him as he left, he wanted to pull him by the collar and question him. What had he done to them? What had he done to Mr. Zika? That was their first encounter and yet the man had treated him like s**t.
As for resigning, Arthur shook his head. If he wanted to resign, he would have done that a long time ago, or he would have done that the first thing this morning as he had been humiliated by Mrs. Pierce but no! He wants to give them such satisfaction.
He won't give them the satisfaction of kicking him out, he won't give them the satisfaction of winning, he would prove to them that they don't rule the world or him.
It was just to unclog the toilet, even if he hadn't done it before, he would learn and try to do it.
Arthur went back to the Janitor's closet to get his supplies. Upon arriving at the men's restroom, he clenched his fists in anger.
On the wall were papers stuck to it. Not ordinary papers, it was photos of him on the wall.
Lots of demeaning words were written on the pictures of him. A pervert, a scum, a piece of s**t and even one had an image of him in trash.
The one that caught his eyes more was the last words, longer than what was written on the other photos of him.
"I am watching you, do not pee on the floor!" Arthur read.
What sort of children are in adult form? He questioned. The whole thing looked like a big joke to him.
First, they had bullied him to his face, called him names and when he didn't respond to them, they decided to do this like they were some bunch of high schoolers.
Arthur began to take down the pictures but whoever had glued those up, had glued it with the intention of not having it removed.
While he was taking down the photos, some of his colleagues walked in and began to take photos of him while laughing incessantly.
"Look at that, it's hilarious!"
"Oh my God, what's he trying to do?!"
"I mean everything there are truths about him. Why is he taking it down?"
Argue focused on what was at hand pretending like he didn't see or hear them. For the moment, he needed to take those pictures of him down.
"Too bad he is still shamelessly clinging on to the company. If I were him, I would have resigned a long time ago"
"Oh he would have nowhere to work and no one would employ him due to his poor performance" that statement incited laughter from the crowd.
"Nah, I definitely would have killed myself if I know I am this useless in life"
"Oh shush! Do not say that too loud. You don't want to hurt his feelings now do you?"
"Feelings? He has none! He is useless"
"I'm pretty sure his dignity is hurt"
"Dignity? He is just a despicable scum, what dignity does he have?"
"If he had dignity, he wouldn't even be a pervert"
"Or did what he did to Miss Lilith"
"Wait, hold on" a lady walked towards Arthur and placed a paper to his face.
"Now, he answers the name" she said and they all began to laugh.
"Aww! He is so cute with that name while he cleans the toilet"
He wished he could wipe away the smug smile and smirk off their face but he knew it was all just wishes after all, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Arthur kept quiet, fighting or arguing with them would only make things worse, they kept on taunting him until they had enough then they left.
But one thing was for sure, Arthur made sure, he committed their faces to memory. He wasn't going to easily forget what they did to him, not now, not ever!
Half an hour later, Arthur had successfully take down the pictures and washed the restroom. He was now left with unclogging the toilets.
***
Some hours later, Arthur finally unclogged the toilet, exhausted and hungry, he tiredly managed to stand up and walk out of the toilet.
Arthur walked out and realized how quiet the office was. He did realize how much time he had spent in the toilet to not have noticed everyone had gone home. So Mr. Zika really meant what he said about him unclogging the toilets before leaving.
He was tired, dirty and starving but he had no appetite even the grumbling noises from his stomach didn't want to make him eat.
He walked to the Janitor's room where he had changed earlier in the day but found the door locked.
Didn't they know he was still around? It wasn't something that was unknown, everyone saw him working, everyone made fun of him in the restroom, so why did they lock the room when they knew he would need to clean up before he left.
Arthur glanced at himself, he was really not a sight for sore eyes and he smelled. He couldn't possibly walk home in such clothes, he needed to get out of it into something cleaner.
The only person he knew would have the key to the Janitor's room was Mr. Zika and he hoped he was still around. But going there might mean more trouble for him but he didn't care about that this time as he was more focused on getting home.
Arthur took down his jumper leaving his vest outside, at least that way he wouldn't look as dirty as he really felt. He decided taking the elevator was a better choice, he would arrive at the sanitation supervisor office on time before he would leave.
Arthur swallowed as he saw people in the elevator, he didn't need a soothsayer to tell him what would happen next.
First, they quickly wrap their finger on their nose while they throw him a look of disgust.
"Oh my God! Did you fall into a cesspit? Have you no decency? You could have at least waited for the elevator to be empty before you got in!" A woman in the crowd who couldn't help the anger and annoyance voiced out.
Arthur didn't reply but that wasn't the end, it was as if the crowd were waiting for someone to speak out before they did. They began to talk about him like he wasn't there and at that moment, Arthur wished he was deaf to not hear a word that was said.
Soon, they began to leave the elevator one by one as they got to their respective floor which made Arthur sigh in relief.
Soon the elevator was empty and Arthur gladly sat on the floor with his head resting on the metal wall.
Just then, his phone vibrated, making Arthur groan and curse under his breath at the disturbance to the little peace he had.
He brought out his phone and realized it was a video call and glancing at the screen properly he froze.
Mrs. Pierce was calling him. She had never agreed to a video call before no matter how much he had requested.
The only time he saw her face was during the live video which then made him confused, why was she calling him now and most importantly why was she video calling him?
Arthur quickly ended the call and decided to stop at the next floor. The good thing was that most employees had left already.
By the time he glanced at his phone, he found couples of messages sent to him by Mrs. Pierce which made his heart beat fast.
- Writer
