novelraw Chapter 209: Zhang Dongmei Disciplined
Chapter 209: Zhang Dongmei Disciplined
"Mr. Zhang, I have to tell you, is this something you can just joke about? On a smaller scale, it’s your jealousy smearing Comrade Su, and on a larger scale, it’s tarnishing the entire image of our department store clerks."
Yan Guohua looked seriously at Zhang Dongmei.
Zhang Dongmei was unnerved by his stare and couldn’t speak out of fear.
"Comrade Xiao Su’s family managed to win a bid through their own effort. Instead of finding the reasons for your own failure, you’re trying to throw dirt at them, accusing them. That’s really underhanded."
His gaze swept around the room and finally landed on Zhang Dongmei: "Since the rumors started with you, Mr. Zhang, you need to take responsibility. You’re receiving a demerit, and everyone involved in the disturbance will have ten yuan deducted from their salary this month."
At these words, Zhang Dongmei’s face turned even paler. Deducting salary was one thing, but why a demerit?
You know, someone with a demerit can’t participate in any excellent employee evaluations for three years.
How is that acceptable?
She looked at Yan Guohua pitifully: "General Manager, it really was my fault, but I was just joking, I didn’t really mean to target anyone."
Immediately, one of the clerks behind her stepped forward: "Zhang Dongmei, what do you mean, no evidence, yet you incited us to be scapegoats, making us get our salaries docked for no reason, and now you call it a joke, who jokes like that?"
Dragged into this mess by Zhang Dongmei, they gained nothing, got scolded by the bosses, and had their wages cut. No one feels good about that.
"Exactly, if you hadn’t sworn that Comrade Su was going through the back door, we wouldn’t have joined you in this. You used us as tools!"
"This... this..."
Zhang Dongmei was anxious to explain but didn’t know how.
Her face was pale, and she swayed before collapsing backward, fainting on the spot.
After a while, she gradually regained consciousness, grabbed Su Xiaoxiao’s hand swiftly, and knelt on the ground: "Xiaoxiao, it’s all my fault. Please forgive me this time. After all, we’re from the same hometown. Could you please speak to the general manager on my behalf? Deduct as much salary as needed, just don’t let it be a demerit. If it is, all my efforts over the past few years will be in vain."
As she spoke, she slapped herself several times, "Xiaoxiao, you can hit me or scold me. I apologize to you, and I’m sorry. Please say some good words for me to the general manager."
As she spoke, tears streamed down her face, making her look very pitiful.
Su Xiaoxiao sighed, if only you had foreseen this, why did you do it in the first place?
"Mr. Zhang, you shouldn’t be pleading with me, but the general manager. He was wrongfully accused by you of taking bribes to let me take the back door, how unjust is that?"
A clerk suddenly spoke up: "I’m sorry, General Manager, it was indeed our fault for believing Mr. Zhang’s one-sided story."
As she spoke, she deeply bowed to Su Xiaoxiao and Yan Guohua.
The others followed suit.
"General Manager, please be the bigger person and don’t hold it against us, we were blinded by our ignorance and made a foolish mistake."
Several of the clerks who joined in the disturbance apologized to the general manager, then looked apologetically at Su Xiaoxiao.
Comrade Su suffered such an injustice but was still considering them first, quietly hinting that they should apologize to the General Manager, what a big heart she has.
Thinking about their earlier fuss made each of the clerks blush with embarrassment.
Seeing everyone speaking up before her, Zhang Dongmei struggled to get up from the ground and threw herself at Yan Guohua: "General Manager, it’s all my fault, I was blinded by jealousy, creating false accusations against Comrade Su. I’m willing to accept the punishment, you can deduct as much salary as you like, just please, on account of my sincere repentance, could the demerit be dropped?"
Yan Guohua sighed, picked up his lunch box, and stood: "Mr. Zhang, it seems you still haven’t realized your mistake, the matter is settled."
After saying this, he left with his lunch box.
Sitting next to him, Xu Cuilan also stood, glanced at Zhang Dongmei, shook her head, and turned to leave.
After all this fuss, even Su Xiaoxiao lost her appetite. She covered her food container with the leftover food and left with her lunch box.
The clerks who joined in the commotion looked at each other, then all dispersed.
Only Zhang Dongmei was left, like a defeated rooster, standing there dazed.
After a while, she clenched her fists. Su Xiaoxiao had made her lose face so badly today, she wouldn’t let her off the hook.
However, before she could take action against Su Xiaoxiao, she was already having a hard time.
In the afternoon at work, many people pointed and talked about her.
Even some of the female colleagues who had good relations with her were ignoring her.
Zhang Dongmei was frustrated but had no outlet for her anger, so she could only stew in silently.
As a result, the entire afternoon, her face was gloomy, and she didn’t even have a smile for the customers who came in.
Before it was time to leave, Chen Meilan approached her with a serious face.
"Zhang Dongmei, what’s going on with you? You’re here to work, not to laze around. Do you know how many customers have complained about you this afternoon?"
The Director of Human Resources was usually a leisurely position, and it often was.
Who knew that just this afternoon, she received several complaint letters, all about Zhang Dongmei alone.
"If you don’t want to work, then don’t. If you do, show the right attitude. We’re here to serve the people, not show them our bad faces."
Her words made Zhang Dongmei blush with shame; she clenched and released her fists, taking a while to say, "Director Chen, I know I was wrong, I’m sorry, I’ll pay more attention from now on."
As soon as she said that, they heard a commotion outside.
Everyone instinctively looked up to see three well-dressed men with impeccably groomed hair walking towards them.
Zhang Yulan nudged Su Xiaoxiao: "Where are these leaders from? What do they do?"
Su Xiaoxiao shook her head, how would she know?
Just by looking at them stepping in with such calm and confidence, you could tell they weren’t ordinary people.
While everyone was discussing, the middle-aged man leading them scanned the room with a frown and asked, "May I ask who is Comrade Su Xiaoxiao? We are from the Bureau of Industry and Commerce, and we have some matters to discuss with her."
Hearing this, Zhang Dongmei’s expression brightened up again; the investigators from the Bureau of Industry and Commerce had finally arrived, Su Xiaoxiao was in trouble now.