Ever since I started working, I spent more time at the company than at home. So much so that Ngọc Lễ and Duy Long joked, “This room is basically just your sleeping spot now. What, you planning to sell your soul and body to capitalism too?”
Every time, I’d just laugh and reply, “If the price is good, then it’s worth selling!”
Truth be told, I’m not some kind of workaholic. It’s just that I’ve reached a point where I need to put in more effort if I want to move up at work.
My department only has six employees and one department head. This morning, a new employee joined us—apparently an intern. She’s a very cute girl named Thúy Diễm, with a good sense of style. On her first day, she already won over everyone, including the big boss. The only downside was that she didn’t really have any basic knowledge related to the job. But we all understood—back when we were interns, we didn’t know much either.
Work went smoothly for over two months, and Thúy Diễm was officially hired. We were pretty surprised; we didn’t expect her to get the hang of such a difficult job in a relatively short time. Everyone had their own tasks, so I rarely worked directly with her. There was only one time—and that time didn’t go very well.
Thúy Diễm and I were assigned to create a plan for an upcoming campaign. We didn’t seem to share the same viewpoints on quite a few aspects, but at work, that’s something you can’t avoid. I felt that arguing wouldn’t get us anywhere, so I decided to let Thúy Diễm present her own plan first, then I’d give feedback and fill in whatever was missing.
Today was Sunday. After waiting a whole week, I finally received Thúy Diễm’s plan—even though Monday was already the presentation day for the entire department. When I opened the file, I was horrified to discover that she had spent an entire week writing just three lines:
“50% discount for customers purchasing a 24-month plan”
“25% discount for customers purchasing a 12-month plan”
“12.5% discount for customers purchasing a 6-month plan”
I nearly lost my mind and immediately texted her, “Did you send me the wrong file?”
Thúy Diễm replied calmly, “I sent the right one. A promotion like this is enough already, ah!”
I asked, “What’s the campaign objective? What’s the message? Who’s the target audience? What are the conditions—new or existing customers, first-time users or not? What’s the budget? What’s the campaign tagline? Which channels are we using? How long will it run? Do you even realize that 50% is a number the company has never used in promotions before? Why did you decide all this on your own without discussing it with me?”
Thúy Diễm said, “But you told me to do it! I thought I had full authority to decide?”
I said, “So tomorrow, how are we supposed to present these three lines to the whole department?”
Thúy Diễm replied, “Well, I’ve already done my part! You do yours! I’ve been working all week, I’m tired now, so I’m turning off notifications, okay? See you Monday! Byeeee!”
I was so furious I wanted to smash my phone. Why didn’t she just say from the start that she couldn’t do it? Every time I asked about the plan, she said she was working on it—I even thought it’d be something impressive. But this was also my fault. I shouldn’t have trusted someone I’d never worked with that much.
With no other choice, I had to “sacrifice” my Sunday to redo the entire plan. If anyone got blamed, I’d definitely be the one taking the hit. I worked nonstop until 5 a.m., and only then did everything finally fall into place. Letting out a sigh of relief, I sent the file to Thúy Diễm with a message, “I’m taking the day off tomorrow. You handle the presentation, okay?”
After that, completely exhausted, my eyes aching like they were about to explode, I passed out without even realizing it.
When I woke up, it was already 3 p.m. The first thing I did was check my phone. My Messenger was exploding like fireworks during Tết. The group chat with my coworkers kept buzzing nonstop. But what caught my attention most was a voice message over an hour and a half long.
I scrolled all the way up to the oldest message and tapped the first audio clip. It was the voice of our department head, Quang Lân, asking, “Huh? Where’s Hưng? Why are you presenting the plan alone?”
Thúy Diễm replied, “I don’t know what Hưng did yesterday. He took today off, so I’m presenting instead.”
Something immediately felt off. “Did what to me, I don’t know”—what was that supposed to mean?
Then the presentation began. Everything went smoothly from start to finish. Even the budget I’d proposed was approved without hesitation.
Quang Lân clapped loudly, “Great! This is what a real plan looks like!”
Suddenly, Thúy Diễm burst into tears. The whole room panicked, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Through her tears, Thúy Diễm said, “I’m just so happy! I was scared I didn’t do well! Hưng told me to make the plan for him to review, but at first he tore my plan apart. I almost gave up on this idea completely. But luckily, in the end, I managed to save myself!”
Quang Lân snapped angrily, “Then what the hell did Hưng do in this plan?”
Thúy Diễm replied, “Please don’t say that. Hưng did make some small edits and suggestions!”
Hearing that, my heart started pounding so hard I could barely breathe. “Small?” Just small???
Quang Lân slammed the table, furious, “I assigned this plan to the two of you together. Who does Hưng think he is, ordering you around like a superior?”
Thúy Diễm tried to smooth things over, “I know Hưng has been working here for a year, so I didn’t dare talk back. Besides, it turned out fine, didn’t it? Thanks to that, I even got a chance to show my abilities!”
I couldn’t listen anymore. Not only had my hard work been blatantly stolen, I’d also been turned into an arrogant, power-abusing asshole in someone else’s story. Any good image I had built up in everyone’s eyes probably shattered at that very moment.
Later in the recording, several coworkers spoke up to defend me. But instead of believing them, Quang Lân insisted on trusting Thúy Diễm. He even threatened to fire me over my “inappropriate attitude.” Thúy Diễm then stepped in again, “Please don’t be angry! In the end, the plan turned out well, right? Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Hưng has been here a long time—I hope you’ll go easy on him!”
Quang Lân replied, “I’m only letting this go out of respect for you. After this campaign, we’ll discuss how to deal with him.”
Inside, all I could do was curse. Missing one day was all it took to turn me into the villain. If it weren’t for a coworker of mine who had the habit of recording meetings to write minutes later, I’d probably have ended up looking like some random troublemaker who dropped in from nowhere.
I scrolled back to the messages Thúy Diễm had sent me earlier, planning to screenshot them as proof of the “plan” she’d given me—only to discover that all those messages had been recalled.