Chapter 35 - 34: The Rotten Workplace l
In the main office hall of Chesterton Apartment, people were constantly coming and going.
There were over a hundred workstations, with more than half sitting empty.
As an employee responsible for external resources, Harrison Clark didn’t often need to report to the office.
But with such a large company and numerous workstations, everyone usually had a designated place to work, and Harrison Clark was no exception.
He usually spent his time idling and browsing the internet on the computer at his workstation.
Right now, Harrison Clark was standing in the office hall with his hands in his pockets, looking extremely disgruntled at what lay ahead.
A young stranger was sitting at his workstation, staring blankly at him.
“Are you new? Who allowed you to sit here? Didn’t anyone tell you this was my workstation?”
Harrison Clark snorted and asked.
The young man shook his head, “A senior colleague? Mr. Brown said this workstation was empty and let me sit here.”
“He didn’t tell you it was mine?”
The young man nodded, “No, he really didn’t.”
At that moment, Linden Brown came over.
He was smiling, “What’s the matter? Did you get scolded and still not know how to reflect on it, and now you’re here picking on a new employee?”
Harrison Clark retorted, “What do you mean picking on a new employee? This is my workstation!”
“What’s your workstation? They all belong to the company! As a manager, do I not even have the qualification to arrange a workstation? Austin is new here, so I’m having him sit closer to my office to help him get settled. From now on, your workstation will be over there.”
Linden Brown pointed to a corner in the distance.
Harrison Clark craned his neck to look.
A legendary CRT monitor with a Lenovo computer from ten years ago, exuding an air of obsolescence.
He knew this crappy machine. It had been previously used in the office to connect to the printer, let alone surfing the internet now, even opening an instant messaging app like QQwould be sluggish.
Linden Brown was deliberately trying to make his life miserable.
Harrison Clark lost interest in turning on the computer, and left.
David Mitchell, who had been sneakily watching from a distance, couldn’t help but laugh.
The idea he came up with was to give Harrison Clark enough trouble to choke on and make him suffer!
The best outcome would be Harrison Clark feeling discontented, not showing up at the office for days, and then Mr. Brown could naturally use company regulations to fire him directly.
Unexpectedly, just as Harrison Clark left, Sophia Camp, whose workstation was located in the aisle, suddenly stood up and followed him out.
David Mitchell felt like he was choking on a mouthful of old blood.
He really couldn’t understand what was so good about Harrison Clark.
In fact, like David Mitchell, people would never really grasp the crux of the issue.
It wasn’t that Harrison Clark was good, but that David Mitchell was simply too bad.
“Are you okay?”
In front of the elevator, Sophia Camp patted Harrison Clark on the back and asked.
Harrison Clark turned his head, “I’m fine. There’s not much to do in the company anyway, so I’ll just go and visit some tenants.”
“Mr. Brown was a bit over the line.”
Sophia Camp helped argue Harrison’s case.
Harrison Clark shrugged nonchalantly, “There are all sorts of people in a big company like this, so I’m not surprised.”
“What are you going to do now? You can’t stay away from the office forever, can you?”
Harrison Clark thought for a moment, “I’ll probably just come in every two or three days to check in. As for what to do next, well…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, just casually chatting and discussing various topics with Sophia Camp.
Naturally, he wouldn’t just sit and wait for his fate.
On one hand, he had to wait for the official release of “Boring” and see its effects, so that he could get rid of his worries.
On the other hand, he decided to go on the offensive.
Starting now, Harrison Clark would try to gather evidence and try to find something on Linden Brown.
It just so happened that Sophia Camp had recently transferred to the company’s planning department, and she would be involved in planning events in the High-tech Zone, so there might be some information available through her.
“By the way, Harrison, if things don’t work out, you might as well change positions. Deputy team leader Sun may be going on maternity leave, and our manager intends to have me take her place as deputy.”
“Then my position would be vacant. I’ll help you fight for it, and you can also talk to the manager. If you transfer to the planning team, Linden won’t be able to do anything to you.”
Just as Harrison was wondering how to bring it up, Sophia raised the issue herself.
“But I’m not familiar with the planning side.”
“That’s no problem. I have some detailed information on several planning projects from the past two months. I’ll send them all to you, so you can study them and get a feel for it. But don’t tell anyone.”
“I understand.”
When Harrison returned home, Sophia had already sent him the complete file.
He glanced through it and immediately felt enlightened.
Previously, as a grassroots salesperson in the company, he did not have the opportunity to access company secrets due to his position.
However, the planning department was different. If there were any changes in the company, they would basically have to go through the planning department’s strategies first. These plans involved all aspects of the company and could reveal its important future direction.
What caught Harrison’s attention most was a spokesperson marketing event plan.
He didn’t know whether it was a coincidence or fate—perhaps it was destiny— that he stumbled upon important information.
The company had recently hired a new spokesperson, singer Jenny Hart, who had performed in Oxfordshire.
The two sides had signed a contract just before and after Harrison’s attempt to sell his song was declined.
Once the spokesperson was signed, they had to be utilized.
Next week, Chesterton Apartment would be hosting a large-scale brand marketing event at Ga Ailia Square in the High-tech Zone. Jenny Hart would be performing five songs.
The detailed event plan included everything from the exhibition, to the artists’ accommodation and meals, personnel arrangements, and coordination with performance companies.
Most importantly, due to the marketing event being held in the High-tech Zone, many money-related items were handled by Linden Brown.
Harrison thought about Linden’s big belly and the new watch on his wrist that cost over twenty thousand. It all made sense.
Linden must have made a good amount of money from this project!
The total budget for the marketing event reached 1.2 million, with expenses at every stage.
Harrison couldn’t believe that Linden hadn’t benefited from it, just as there were no procurement personnel in the world who wouldn’t take kickbacks.
It was an unspoken rule that everyone knew but no one was willing to admit; the boss was too lazy to pursue it.
If Harrison could break this hidden rule, Linden would, at the very least, be exposed.
People who did bad things thought they were flawless, but they overlooked the fact that if someone wanted to investigate them, there were loopholes everywhere.
However, Harrison’s investigation had to be subtle. Over the next few days, he could only use his own resources or personally call those suppliers who had won the bid to test the price difference between their quotes and the planning documents.
Admittedly, although Linden Brown was an annoying person, he was quite capable and meticulous in his work.
The quotes given by these suppliers to him as an anonymous customer were hardly different from the ones in the planning documents.
In that case, Linden would have to hide his kickbacks even deeper.
Time flew, and before he knew it, an entire week had passed. While Harrison saw no results in his investigation, on the other hand, he finally received a call personally from Howard Bruno.
“Mr. Clark, at twelve noon today, Carrie Thomas’s ‘Boring’ will be officially released. Don’t forget to check it out.”
The fact that Howard Bruno, with his status, made this call himself could only mean one thing.
He wanted to show Harrison and Carrie Thomas how much he valued this song.
During the week, many colleagues from the internal auditing department at No.l Fly had heard the song and had written music reviews in advance.
No. 1 Fly’s attitude towards “Boring” had become increasingly important.
Almost all professional reviewers with above-average taste have said unequivocally that it would be an injustice if the song did not become a hit!