My Cruel Boss Wants Me

Chapter 1: As the Rain Fell

As the rain fell harder on the roof, her tears started falling as well. She feels like she has been crying non-stop for a month, and she feels dehydrated already, but somehow it just won’t stop. She has never been much of a crier, and it usually takes a lot for her to shed a tear. Even sad movies do not make her cry. The things that she had to go through recently have made it hard for her to remain impassive.

Elisse Velasquez is a 27-year old single woman from Manila. Both her parents have recently passed away. Her mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer two years ago and has succumbed to her death three months earlier. Her dad, who has stayed with the love of his life for almost 50 years, has fallen apart and died of a heart attack a few months after. He literally died of a broken heart.

Being the youngest of three sisters, and the only one unattached, Elisse is now forc ed to live her life on her own. Her elder siblings both live in the US. They are both married with children of their own. Essentially orphaned, she now lives alone in their two-storey house with three bedrooms. She has been thinking of moving out to a smaller place, but she can’t seem to get her head straight to make any sort of decisions. Plus, this house is the only connection she has left to her parents.

Her sadness has rendered her immobile. She lost her job because she didn’t have the energy to go to work anymore, and she hasn’t gone outside since her dad’s funeral, which is almost a month ago. She was doing better until her siblings had to go back home. She has now completely shut-down, refusing to leave the house and barely eating. She had friends and family visit her every now and then to bring her supplies and help her out in the house, but they don’t usually stay long and she’s eventually left alone for the most part.

Her best friend Hannah has been messaging her and calling her non-stop, but she hasn’t responded to any of it. Suddenly the doorbell rang. She wasn’t up to opening the door to whoever, but the ringing has gotten annoying that she had no choice but to get up and see who it was.

She had to get out of the house to see who it was. Upon opening the gate, Hannah burst inside, through the front door and straight to the kitchen to put down the grocery bags she was holding. She went to the living area and adjusted the blinds to let natural light into the house. She refuses to let her best friend continue wallowing in self-pity and depression. She understands how much pain she must be feeling but she has to move on and start taking care of herself.

Hannah headed to the kitchen and started stocking the fridge and the pantry cabinets with the groceries she brought along with her. Afterwards, she put the pizza and soda on the dining table. She also took some glasses from the dish cupboard. Elisse just stared at her and kept standing where she was. When Hannah looked at her friend, Elisse couldn't help but start sobbing once more.

Hannah rushed to Elisse and just hugged her. There are no words she can say that can alleviate the pain her best friend is feeling right now. All she can do is be there for her, and try to take care of her.

After about 10 minutes, Elisse has stopped crying. She let Hannah pull her towards the dining table, who led her to a chair, and prodded her to start eating.

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Elisse: “That was so good. I missed pizza.” 

That was all Elisse could say while rubbing her tummy. She hasn’t had a full meal in almost a month and has been alleviating her hunger by eating crackers and instant noodles, or drinking water. They’re now in the living room area sitting on the couch while watching Stranger Things on Netflix.

Elisse: “Thanks, Hannah. I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your messages or answered your calls. I just didn’t have the energy to talk to anyone or even type a message. Who knew all I needed was real food.”

Hannah: “Don’t sweat it, girl. I understand. How are you, really?”

Elisse: “Well, it still hurts when I remember what happened. I think it’s a bad idea that I let myself wallow for too long. I haven’t even visited their graves. I just couldn’t muster enough strength to even move. Thank you for visiting me. I really love you.” 

Elisse was smiling when she said this. Hannah was touched and knew that her friend meant every word.

Hannah:  “Aww, you know I love you too. I’m also sorry for not coming sooner. I haven’t had a chance because of my asshole boss who kept giving me additional work. I have barely slept. The only time I get a full night’s sleep is on my rest days, which have been few and far between. I’m supposed to have two days off per week, but sometimes I have to work on Saturdays. I usually have to work 10 hours per day instead of the usual eight.”

Hannah had to take a sip of water before continuing.

Hannah: “There are even days when I’m no longer clocked in but I’ll get an email to work on a project outside working hours, and I have to do it immediately!”

Hannah has been working from home as a remote employee to a software development company. She is a talented coder, and has worked for her current employer for more than two years now. The pay and bonuses are really good, which is why she has stayed with the job, despite her boss. Since working for the company, Hannah has heard horror stories from her co-employees about how mean her boss can be. He doesn’t hesitate to scream at employees and humiliate them during meetings. Sometimes, he even curses at them if he doesn’t get the results that he wants. He often sets impossible expectations so they experience his mean streak quite often.

Hannah works as a level 1 coder, so she doesn’t report directly to the big boss. Instead, she reports to a Supervisor who gives her tasks. She barely speaks to the boss and if so, it’s during conference calls where multiple employees of the company are usually present. She’s never really had the need to talk to him directly.

Elisse: “Didn’t you say that you usually don’t get to work the entire shift since you get to finish what you had to do fairly quickly? You even bragged that’s how good you were.”

Elisse was teasing her friend lightly, remembering how she’s always bragging that it usually takes an hour to finish work that others had to do in four hours. Hannah let out a deep sigh before replying.

Hannah: “Well, for the past month we’ve had coders, and everyone from the customer support team including the boss’ assistant all quit. I think they were in cahoots with each other when they all quit at the same time effective immediately. I guess they couldn’t handle the stress and humiliation anymore. So now, I’m doing the work of 3 coders. Sometimes I even have to answer calls when I don’t know the first thing about dealing with customers!”

Elisse couldn’t help but feel sorry for her friend. She knows that she needs the job, so quitting is not an option.

A lightbulb seems to have turned on and Hannah’s eyes twinkled before looking at her friend.

Hannah: “I have an idea. As you know, we now have some job openings in the company, why don’t you come work for us?”