Chapter 8: The Consequences
1854 Words
The next morning, Victor arrived at work earlier than usual.
After seeing Mercy again, he had expected the day to feel different. He had her full number now, and for the first time, he knew he could actually reach her whenever he wanted.
But the moment he stepped into the office, he noticed that something was wrong.
The atmosphere was unusually quiet.
A few of his colleagues looked at him, then quickly looked away.
Victor frowned.
“What’s going on?”
Nobody answered.
Before he could ask again, the manager’s secretary came to him.
“Victor, the manager wants to see you.”
Victor nodded.
“Okay.”
He walked into the manager’s office without knowing what was waiting for him.
The manager was sitting behind his desk with several documents in front of him. He looked serious.
“Sit down.”
Victor sat.
The manager picked up one of the documents and looked at him.
“Victor, do you know why you’re here?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“I’ve received another complaint about you.”
Victor sighed quietly.
The manager continued.
“And before you say anything, this is not the first complaint. Customers have complained about your attitude several times. They’ve complained about the way you speak to them, the way you respond when they correct you, and the fact that you hardly apologize when you are wrong.”
Victor remained silent.
The manager leaned back.
“We have spoken to you about this before. More than once.”
Victor looked down.
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes.”
“Then why haven’t you changed?”
Victor didn’t answer.
The manager placed the document on the table.
“You are very good at this work, Victor. In fact, I will say it clearly: you are one of the most brilliant workers we have here.”
Victor looked up.
“You understand this work better than most people here. You know how things are done. You have been here for a long time, and you are the only person who has served in this place continuously for this long.”
He paused.
“That is why I have continued to tolerate certain things from you.”
Victor swallowed.
“But being good at your work does not give you the right to disrespect customers.”
Victor nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
The manager’s voice became firmer.
“If you know how important customers are to this business, then you should understand that every customer you send away affects this place. You have been warned repeatedly, yet you continue behaving as if nobody can correct you.”
Victor looked uncomfortable.
The manager continued.
“You act like a brilliant man, but sometimes your behavior makes you look like a fool.”
Victor looked at him.
The words hit him hard, but he said nothing.
“You know the work very well,” the manager said. “You deserve to be respected for that. But respect goes both ways. You cannot demand respect because you are intelligent while refusing to show respect to the people around you.”
Victor lowered his eyes.
The manager picked up another document.
“Because of your repeated attitude and the latest complaint, you are suspended for one week.”
Victor’s eyes widened.
“One week?”
“Yes. One week. The suspension starts today and continues until you are officially cleared to return.”
Victor sat quietly for a moment.
Then he remembered something.
“Sir…”
The manager looked at him.
“My salary.”
The manager frowned.
“What about it?”
“I was supposed to collect my salary soon. Won’t I collect it before I go? What am I supposed to use to sustain myself during the suspension?”
The manager stared at him for a moment.
Then he shook his head.
“Victor, I have no salary to give you because you didn’t work for it.”
Victor’s face changed.
“But I’ve worked throughout the month.”
The manager raised his hand.
“Listen to me.”
Victor became quiet.
“All the people who were supposed to bring work for us, you have sent them away with your attitude. Customers came here and you treated some of them badly. Some of them complained. Some of them left angry.”
He leaned forward.
“So where did you expect me to see your salary?”
Victor didn’t know what to say.
The manager continued.
“You want to be paid for work, but you don’t seem to understand that your behavior has affected the very work you are supposed to be doing.”
Victor looked down at his hands.
The manager shook his head.
“Honestly, Victor, sometimes I wonder if you even fear consequences.”
Victor remained silent.
“In fact,” the manager continued, “when you come back, you will be notified because I will be questioning your authority in this territory.”
Victor looked up.
“My authority?”
“Yes. You heard me.”
The manager’s voice was firm.
“You behave as though nobody can question you. You don’t even fear me.”
Victor opened his mouth but closed it again.
The manager pointed toward the door.
“You are suspended for one week. During that period, think about your behavior, your customers, and your attitude toward correction.”
Victor stood up slowly.
“Okay.”
“And Victor?”
He turned.
“Don’t make me regret keeping you.”
Victor nodded.
He walked out of the manager’s office quietly.
For the first time, he had nothing to say.
He returned to his own office and sat down for a few seconds.
He stared at his desk.
A week.
He couldn’t believe he had actually been suspended for a whole week.
He had never imagined that things would get to this point.
David had warned him.
The manager had warned him.
Even some of his colleagues had noticed the way he treated people.
Yet he had continued doing things his own way.
Victor rubbed his forehead.
“Why did I behave like that?”
He didn’t expect anyone to answer him.
Then he remembered the salary issue.
That one worried him even more.
His salary was supposed to come within the week. He had already planned around it. There were things he needed to take care of, and now he wasn’t even sure what would happen.
He picked up his phone and checked the time.
He sighed.
“Seven days.”
Seven days without work.
Seven days without knowing what would happen to his salary.
Seven days of staying at home with nothing productive to do.
And the worst part was that he couldn’t even argue that he had been treated unfairly.
He had been warned.
Repeatedly.
Victor stood up and began packing his belongings.
His notebook.
His charger.
A few documents.
His pen.
The things he normally kept around his desk.
He opened one of the drawers and removed a few personal items he had left there.
He checked the drawer again to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything.
Then he looked around the office.
This place had become familiar to him over the years.
He knew the work.
He knew the procedures.
He knew almost everything that happened there.
There were times when new workers came to him for help because they didn’t understand something.
There were times when even the manager depended on his knowledge of certain parts of the work.
That was probably one of the reasons they had not fired him.
He knew too much about the job.
He was experienced.
He was brilliant at what he did.
He was one of the people the company could rely on when difficult tasks came up.
But none of that could excuse his behavior.
Victor placed the last item inside his bag.
As he stood, David walked closer.
“Vee.”
Victor looked at him.
David glanced at the bag.
“So it’s really a suspension?”
Victor nodded.
“One week.”
David sighed.
“I warned you.”
Victor looked away.
“I know.”
David was quiet for a moment.
“You should use this time to think about everything.”
Victor nodded.
“I will.”
David wanted to say more, but he stopped himself.
He knew Victor was already dealing with enough.
Victor carried his bag and stepped out of the office.
As he walked past his colleagues, the room became quiet again.
Samuel remained at his desk.
John glanced at Victor’s bag, then looked away.
Favor was also there.
She saw him packing his things, but she didn’t approach him.
Victor noticed her.
For a moment, he wanted to say something.
Maybe he should apologize.
Maybe he should tell her that he never intended to hurt her.
But he wasn’t sure she wanted to hear anything from him.
After everything she had said to him, he knew an apology wouldn’t suddenly erase what had happened.
So he said nothing.
He simply walked out.
Outside the building, Victor stopped for a moment.
He looked back at the place where he had spent so much of his time.
He had entered that building countless times without thinking about how important the job was to him.
Now, walking away with his belongings in one bag, everything felt different.
One week.
Seven days without work.
Seven days without his salary.
And seven days to think about everything he had done.
His mind went to Mercy.
Then to Favor.
Then back to the manager’s words.
You are very good at your work, but your behavior makes you look like a fool.
Victor sighed.
Maybe the manager was right.
Being brilliant at something did not mean he was right about everything.
He started walking home.
On the way, his phone vibrated.
He checked it.
It wasn’t Mercy.
He put the phone back in his pocket.
For some reason, he had expected to see her name.
He smiled slightly at himself.
“Already?”
He shook his head.
He had only just met Mercy properly.
There was no reason to start expecting messages from her.
Still, he couldn’t deny that seeing her again had made him happy.
Then his expression changed.
He remembered the suspension.
His smile disappeared.
He had a lot to think about.
Maybe this week away from work would give him the chance to understand himself better.
Maybe he needed to change the way he handled people.
Maybe being the best at his job wasn’t enough.
Victor continued walking.
Behind him, the office continued with the day’s work.
But for Victor, everything had suddenly changed.
He had lost a week of work.
He had no clear answer about his salary.
He had hurt someone who genuinely cared about him.
And he had just met someone new who had already begun occupying his thoughts.
For the first time, Victor understood that his actions had consequences.
And this time, he could not simply walk away from them.
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