They Mocked the Wrong Woman

1: 1

Company retreat. I was nice enough to give my coworkers a lift on the way.

They sat in my car like it was owed to them for a whole year.

Then one day my car was in the shop and I couldn't pick them up, so they all showed up late and got docked pay.

And in return, they reported me for using a company car for personal use.

When the administrative director heard, he called me into his office alone for a talk.

"Miranda Gilbert, several employees have filed complaints against you lately."

"Write me a formal apology, and be more careful from now on."

I asked who it was. He said that had to stay confidential.

So I quietly pulled out the vehicle registration and set it down on his desk.

"I bought this car outright, myself, in full. Driving them every day was just because it was on my way."

"Do me a favor and pass this along to them."

"Starting today, it's not on my way anymore."

A year ago, right after I'd been hired, the company organized a retreat.

I drove there, and it happened to be on my way.

So I gave a few coworkers from my team a ride.

They laughed and chatted in the back seat the whole way while I sat up front like a hired driver.

We got there, and they climbed straight out.

Not even a thank-you.

Slammed the door and walked off, like it was their due.

I didn't say anything at the time.

What I didn't expect was that this was only the beginning.

The next day, Lucia Chavez, the one who led the pack, came to find me.

"Miranda, since it's on your way anyway, just give us a ride to and from work from now on, yeah?"

I froze for a second.

Before I could even answer.

She went on, "It's settled then. Eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

And with that she turned and walked off.

I figured, it was only the cheapest little runabout in my garage anyway.

A bit more on gas, at most. Call it building good relations.

But that one ride turned into a whole year.

Every morning I was at the corner by eight, right on time.

Every evening I picked them up outside the office at six.

Rain or shine.

They rode along without a shred of guilt and never once mentioned gas money.

The odd time I was five minutes late, they still had complaints.

"What took you so long? We've been waiting forever."

I'd explain there was traffic, and they'd roll their eyes.

"Just leave earlier next time, problem solved."

Until last Saturday.

They made plans in the group chat to go out over the weekend.

Lucia tagged me.

*Same place tomorrow, meet at eight.*

I told them I couldn't go tomorrow, my car was in the shop.

The chat went dead quiet.

Five minutes passed.

Lucia sent back a single word. Oh.

Just the one word. I didn't think anything of it.

At work, the second I walked in I could tell something was off.

Coworkers were giving me strange looks.

People were whispering behind my back.

I hadn't even sat down.

When the administrative director's secretary came and pulled me away.

"The director wants to see you."

I pushed the office door open. The director didn't look pleased.

He gestured for me to sit. "Miranda, several employees have filed complaints against you lately."

I'd never done anything wrong, so I didn't understand why anyone would complain.

The director tapped the file on his desk.

"Personal use of a company car. That's a serious matter."

I blanked for a couple of seconds, sure I'd misheard.

Personal use of a company car?

That beat-up Volkswagen of mine?

"Write me a formal apology, and be more careful going forward."

His tone was flat.

Like he was talking about something that didn't matter at all.

I asked, "Who filed the complaint?"

The director shook his head and told me these things had to stay confidential.

Honestly, even without him saying, I had a pretty good idea.

"Director, may I ask, this company car they say I used for personal use..."

"Which company car exactly is it?"

The director frowned. "Don't you know that perfectly well yourself?"

"The one you drive your coworkers to and from work in every day."

Without hesitation, I pulled the vehicle registration out of my bag and set it on the desk.

When he flipped it open, his expression shifted a little.

In the box for the owner's name, my name was written, plain as day.

Purchased outright, in full, by me.

Not a single cent of it had anything to do with the company.

He was quiet for a moment, then said, offhand.

"Well, a company this size, the odd thing like this is bound to happen now and then."

"Sometimes taking the short end is a blessing. Don't be so hung up on it."

The short end is a blessing?

Those four words genuinely made me laugh.

The director added, "We'll drop the apology, but..."

His tone changed direction.

"There's also a report that you've been coming in late and leaving early. This month's bonus will have to be docked."

"Be more careful from now on."

I thought, well, if we're already at personal use of a company car, one more won't make a difference.

So I asked the director, "Would that be the 6th of last month? I was on approved leave that day."

That was the day I went to headquarters to hand over some work.

The director's face darkened. "More excuses?"

"You didn't explain the situation to me, so it doesn't count as leave."

"Fine. If there's nothing else, get back to work."

I just looked at him, quietly, and didn't explain any further.

My staring started to unnerve him.

"Is there something else?"

I shook my head. "No."

With that, I turned and walked out of the office.

Lucia was already waiting outside the door, and the moment it opened she came right over.

Wearing a look of pure concern, too.

"Miranda, what did the director want to talk to you about?"

"You don't look so good."

It was her. She was the one who'd led the pack in mooching rides off me.

And I knew better than anyone that she was the one who'd quietly reported me.

I didn't lose my temper. I just answered mildly.

"Nothing much."

"Just some staffing changes."

Lucia paused, then let out a sigh.

"Such a shame."

"After all this time together, finding out all of a sudden that you're leaving."

"I really am going to miss you."

There was a smugness hiding at the bottom of her eyes. She thought I was about to be fired.

I curled my lips into a smile, but I dropped my voice very low.

"Lucia, aren't you forgetting to ask me one question?"

She took half a step back without meaning to.

"What question?"

I smiled. "Who told you the one being transferred out was me?"

2: 2

Lucia's smile froze on her face.

It only lasted two seconds before she was smiling again.

"Miranda, honey."

"You're still talking tough, even now."

She shook her head and sighed.

"Young people, you like to prove yourselves. I get it."

"But sometimes, honey, facing reality matters more than anything."

She kept at me, all earnest concern.

"I'm older, I've been through it, so let me say a few hard truths. Don't get upset."

"When you get to the new place, rein that temper in."

"Don't be so petty like you are here."

"Otherwise you'll just get burned."

I looked at her and said nothing.

Seeing me stay quiet only egged her on.

"I mean, look at you. All you did was give a coworker a ride."

"Such a tiny thing, and you had to make a face about it."

"Coworkers helping each other out, isn't that just how it should be?"

"Once you're in another department, you can't keep acting like this."

"Otherwise, who's going to bother with you?"

Three sentences.

Every one of them a hint.

She might as well have written I'm the one who reported you across her forehead.

I asked her flatly, "Lucia, do you not understand what I'm saying?"

Her face changed.

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

"I said all this purely out of the goodness of my heart."

"And you throw it back in my face!"

"With an attitude like yours"

She jabbed a finger at me and started laying into me.

"you'll get the same result no matter where you go!"

Beside her, Rita Fox set down her coffee and drawled, "Miranda, I'm not trying to pile on."

"Lucia's saying all this for your own good, you know."

"How can you just not take it in?"

I opened my mouth to speak.

She waved a hand, cutting me off.

"Enough, stop being stubborn."

"In another department, nobody's going to make allowances for you the way we did."

"Think about it. Using a company car for personal errands."

"Small thing, sure, but it's still the company's car."

"You've been driving it for a year without a word to anyone."

"So who eats the wear-and-tear cost?"

Terence Dickerson, sitting across from me, jumped right in.

"Exactly."

"They didn't fire you outright, that's already generous."

"And you've got the nerve to sit here talking big."

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.

"If I were you, I'd start packing right now."

"Save yourself the embarrassment later."

Three of them, working in perfect sync.

I waited two seconds.

Only when I was sure they were done did I speak.

"Are you finished?"

All three went blank at once.

Probably hadn't expected me to be this calm.

I held up one finger. "First, I'm not the one being transferred."

"I'll be staying right here in this team."

The three of them frowned, one after another.

I held up a second finger.

"Second, this past year, weekday or holiday, I've been driving you all around almost every single day."

"If we're going to talk wear-and-tear costs,"

"shouldn't your share get counted too?"

Rita shot to her feet.

"Why should it?"

"You drove us because you wanted to!"

"Nobody forced you!"

"And besides, you're the one who was driving, not us!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at us.

Lucia's face darkened, and she rounded on me in front of everyone.

"Miranda, have you fallen into a money pit or something?"

"Letting you drive us was a compliment. We wanted to build a good relationship with you."

I laughed.

For a whole year, eight in the morning I waited at the gate of their complex.

Six in the evening I sat parked at the curb.

When it rained, I brought the car right to their door.

When it snowed, I warmed it up ahead of time.

And in the end.

That was me being done a favor?

"Then let me do you a favor too."

I pulled out my phone and opened the calculator.

"This past year, I drove you to and from work more than six hundred times."

"At market rate, a carpool runs three hundred a month per person."

"Add in gas, maintenance, wear-and-tear."

I turned the screen to face them. "Not much. Five thousand each."

Seeing every one of their faces go sour,

I raised an eyebrow and went on. "You're the ones who said personal use of a company car."

"So today, the account on this company car gets settled in full."

3: 3

When I named the price, five thousand, all three faces changed.

Lucia's mouth twitched. Rita's eyes went wide.

Terence thought he'd misheard.

It came out to about a month's salary for them.

It wasn't that they couldn't pay.

They just didn't want to.

Anyone willing to pay would never have mooched rides off me for a whole year.

I hadn't raised my voice, but the office was too quiet.

Every word came through, clean and clear.

People from the other teams started leaning in to listen.

Someone murmured to the person beside them.

"What's going on with Team Three?"

"Don't tell me they're having some kind of blowup."

"Who knows. Let's go over and hear it."

Lucia was starting to panic.

The last thing she wanted was for this to get around.

Because what I'd said was true.

They had mooched my rides, and they'd done it for a year.

If this spread, they'd be the ones who looked bad.

She kept shooting me looks, and the meaning was clear enough.

Keep it down. Stop making noise.

I acted like I didn't notice.

I just kept asking, at the same normal volume.

"Did I get the math wrong, Lucia? Five thousand is already cheap."

"And that's only because we're on the same team."

"For anyone else, it'd be seven or eight thousand, at least."

Lucia's face went scarlet.

She ground it out through her teeth.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Then she turned to walk off.

Rita and Terence turned too, ready to bury themselves back in their work.

Not one of the three showed any sign of paying.

That was when the Team Two leader wandered over.

"Hey, what's the deal with you three over here?"

"Everything was fine. What's this infighting about?"

Lucia stopped. She let out a sigh.

Put on a look of pure helplessness.

"It's nothing serious."

"It's just that Miranda takes everything so seriously."

"She's about to get transferred out, and she still insists on settling scores with us."

The Team Two leader tried to smooth it over.

"Come on, you're all on the same team. Is it really worth it?"

"Coworkers are like teammates. A little give-and-take and it blows over."

But Rita wasn't having it. She jabbed a finger right at my face.

"Give-and-take, how?"

"Go ahead, ask her what she's done!"

"Teammate, my foot. She came here to make our lives miserable!"

"I can't even look at her anymore!"

Her voice was shrill.

The whole office heard it.

Not just Team Two. Team One crowded over too.

"She's got herself a company Volkswagen CC."

"Nobody said a word, so she drove it every single day."

"If that's not using a company car for personal errands, what is it?"

The more she talked, the more worked up she got.

"We gave her a friendly heads-up, out of good faith."

"And what does she do? Turns around and demands money from us!"

The coworkers from the other two teams traded glances.

Their expressions had gone a little strange.

The Team Two leader especially, staring at Rita, completely baffled.

Then he looked at Lucia.

"You've got that wrong, surely!"

"Our company only has two business sedans. I've never heard anything about a Volkswagen CC."

4: 4

Those two lines from the Team Two leader stopped Lucia cold.

Then she forced out a smile that was uglier than crying.

"Murray, you've got it wrong, haven't you?"

"We bought it last year. That was a whole year ago."

"How could there only be two business sedans?"

Murray shook his head, his tone flat and certain.

"I've been here six years."

"I've seen every purchase order admin's ever put through. Two Buick business sedans. That's it."

"One for the boss, one for client visits."

"Where's this Volkswagen CC supposed to have come from?"

The words had barely landed when someone from Team One jumped in.

"Right, I've never seen it either."

"When did the company ever buy a CC?"

Lucia's face changed.

Rita and Terence were starting to look rattled too.

I chose that moment to speak, unhurried.

"Honestly, I've been wondering about this myself."

"Last year I gave them rides out of goodwill, since we were headed the same way."

"And they decided the car had to belong to the company."

"Then demanded I ferry them around every single day, rain or shine."

"So let me ask..."

I looked at Lucia. "What exactly made you all so sure the car was company property?"

Her lips moved, but not a word came out.

I pressed on. "In the whole past year, did I ever ask you for gas money?"

"Did I ever make you chip in for maintenance?"

"Waited at eight sharp every morning, dropped you off at six every night."

"You can't even tell which cars actually belong to the company."

"And then you turn around and report me for using a company car for personal errands?"

The three of them went red all the way to the ears.

The coworkers watching started murmuring to each other.

"Seriously? Mooched rides for a year and then reported her?"

"That's beyond shameless."

"And a minute ago she had the nerve to say the woman was tormenting them."

Lucia's head snapped up, and she dropped her voice low.

"So what if the car's yours? Big deal."

"It's just some junky CC. You act like it's something nobody else could afford."

That actually made me laugh.

"You're right, it's nothing special."

"It's the cheapest thing in my garage, which is exactly why I use it for the commute."

"Anything pricier, I'd have thought it was a waste."

The three of them weren't stupid.

They caught what I was saying.

Lucia thought I was bluffing and couldn't help scoffing.

"Fine. The car's yours, we'll grant you that."

"But so what?"

"You do come in late and leave early, don't you?"

"You can't wash that off."

I gave a noncommittal nod. "True. On the sixth of last month I did come in late."

"But..."

She cut me off.

"Save your excuses. Nothing you say now will change anything. The outcome's set."

"You're leaving whether you like it or not."

The words had barely left her mouth.

The office door down the hall opened.

The director walked out, face like iron, and swept a glance over me.

Then his eyes settled on Lucia.

"Lucia Chavez."

Lucia jolted and hurried to answer.

The director went on. "The Third Store is short a salesperson."

"Pack up your things and go report there early."