Sam had just finished leaving the manager's office with a smile that did not show joy, but the realization that he could not trust the very system that was meant to protect him. He walked down the stairs with what was supposed to be a grim as he came out of the shopping complex while replaying every single conversation he had with the manager. He began to recount how diligent he had been in his job, but how the manager found ways to make him suffer for things he knew nothing about. His salary had been deducted for the simplest reasons. A client complained he did not smile enough, another complained he smiled too much, one even complained his smile was as though he was thinking evil of them and for all those reasons and less his manager would deduct from his salary.
Today was supposed to be pay day, but the manager decided it was going to be the day he fired him without pay because a customer picked a dress and tore it while trying it on and seeing her mistake decided to play the victim to avoid paying for it. For Sam, it was just another opportunity for his manager to blame him for something instead of checking the security cameras to confirm, the manager apologized to the customer, and the uncontented customer refused to accept the apology unless Sam was fired simply because he pointed out her mistake and was ready to get the truth by searching the security camera. She had claimed that Sam had given her the dress like that whereas she yelled at him when he tried to explain that the dress she was picking was too small for her. She claimed he was body shaming her and when she saw he was right she turned the story around.
Sam had faced such customers a lot of the time, but his pain was simple, his manager hated him and would not think twice to side with the customer even when it was crystal clear that they were lying. To Sam, even though he was in pain, it was a normal day for him, but now he would need to start looking for a new job. This was the 7th job he was changing in 1 year, he barely lasted more than two months in any of his previous work places and it was for the same reason, the managers or supervisors just seemed to hate him. It had become a norm for him and he was doing everything to change his fate, but it seemed the cosmos itself was against him. As he had done the last six times, Sam told himself this was just a normal day and he will get through it as usual again. He would try to get a new job and see how long he would last. But unknowingly to him it was the last normal day before a change that would rock the world.
Upon getting home, Sam just took off his clothes and went to bed. He did not eat this night not because he wasn’t hungry but because he had exhausted the groceries he had at home and was hoping he would be paid today so he could get food. But now he realized the world had other plans. The next morning his phone was buzzing, waking up to the familiar ringtone of his phone he saw the caller was a foreign number and out of curiosity decided to pick up. The conversation left him speechless with tears running down his cheeks. After dropping the phone call another call came in, another foreign number and another and before he could fully grasp the entirety of everything that was happening, he had spent two hours answering calls from foreign numbers. It was then one solid thought out of the dozens roaming in his head finally settled, his life and status had not just changed, but had skyrocketed from where he was a night ago.
The first call was a call to congratulate him on being the majority stakeholder of a multibillion dollar company that had gone bankrupt a couple of years ago. His father had bought shares with the company and had put Sam’s name as the direct owner of the shares. His father had spent his life savings buying those shares because he believed they would rise but instead the company folded and his father died from the shock. A lot of shareholders had sold to cut their losses apart from Sam who did not even know he had shares in the first place and when the company bounced back up due to a sudden high demand of their products, only Sam and a few others were left standing. The company had called him to congratulate him on being the highest shareholder with them and believing in them even when all odds were against them. The calls that followed were from different high profile people, from businessmen worth millions and billions to government officials and secret agencies calling to see if Sam was willing to sell a small portion of his shares because the world knew one truth, this rise was just the beginning of those shares and only those who have it will benefit from it. And luckily Sam had it in abundance but for everyone that called, his answer remained the same, NO, I am sorry I have no intention to sell.
THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO THE INKWELL COMBINED WRITING PROMPT #49
