Chapter 12

"I don't care what your relationship with Mr. Stout is. Everyone at the sales department can only stand on their own feet, you hear?" Faith said firmly inside the elevator. There was a stern and stoic look on her beautiful face. She emitted a powerful and domineering air as well, as though she was a queen. "Three months, Perseus. I'm only giving you three months. If you still can't hit your KPI in the third month, you'll resign immediately." "Okay." Perseus wasn't angry at all. On the contrary, he admired Faith's style of doing things. She didn't fear authority, not to mention she was very decisive and knew what she wanted. It was always a nice thing for colleagues to be nice to one another, but niceties weren't enough to keep the company running. Faith was like a general who conquered land after land for her kingdom. "Faith, I'll carry your purse for you." Perseus took Faith's purse from her. "Please give me a briefing on how this job works. I'll need you to share some tips and tricks when it comes to making sales, too." "I like your attitude." Faith shot Perseus a surprised look. People who got in via connections were very difficult to handle. Faith couldn't gauge Perseus' working capability, but he at least had a good attitude toward work. He wasn't like any other man who loved staring at her chest and butt. "You'll attend the daily morning assembly in the sales department. Once the assembly is dismissed, I'll arrange for you to take on a list of basic tasks. As for tips and tricks on how to seal business deals, I'll slowly teach them to you in the future." Faith lifted her wrist to look at the time displayed on her Cartier watch. The elevator doors slid open at that moment, so she strode out immediately. Perseus trailed behind her hurriedly. There were many people greeting Faith on their way to the meeting room. It seemed that Faith had a pretty solid reputation in the company. The people they came across would always greet her before stepping out of her way. The sales department was located on the first floor of the building. Its office was huge as it took up about 1,100 square feet worth of space. There were two rooms located on either side of the big office. One of them was a small meeting room meant for the sales department, while the other was Faith's office. "Good morning, everyone," Faith said as she opened the door to the meeting room. A brilliant and confident smile adorned her lips at that moment. "Good morning, Faith!" "Good morning, Faith." Everyone applauded while greeting Faith at the same time. "Settle down, everywhere. Before I begin today's assembly, I'd like to introduce a new colleague to you all." Faith then called out to the door, "Come on in!" Once Perseus entered the room, she introduced him to everyone else. "This is Perseus Caitford, our latest newbie in the department. I hope you'll help each other out and take care of each other at work. That way, we'll be able to improve and get rich together." "Got it!" A round of thunderous applause rang out in the meeting room once again. However, two people in particular didn't share the same sentiment, judging from their dark expressions. Catherine glanced at Raymond in puzzlement. Didn't he make all the arrangements in advance? Why did Perseus still get hired? Also, why was he in the same department as them? Raymond was confused as well. He could only shrug helplessly. Catherine and Raymond's silent conversation didn't escape from Perseus' attention. He didn't care about what they thought of him. Hence, he introduced himself in a neutral tone. After that, Faith spent a few precious minutes introducing each and every employee of the sales department to Perseus. There weren't many people working in the department. In fact, there was only a total of eight people, with Perseus included. Pete Manson, who was in his 40s, was tremendously good at his job. He'd always hit his KPI and surpass it, though he was second to none other than Faith, the manager. Pete was the leader of the first group. He only had one group member—Alicia Brown, who was in her 30s. The leader of the second group was Catherine, with Raymond being her group member. Finally, the third group was led by a geezer in his 50s named Gary Lloyd. His sales performance was extremely steady, for he always took the last place in the ranking. Since Perseus was a newbie, he was set to join the third group. However, Faith would act as his mentor for the first three months. Once he passed the probation, he'd officially become a part of the third group. The assembly started after the brief introduction. Faith didn't say anything at all. She gestured for Perseus to hand her purse over. After that, she pulled out seven stacks of green dollar bills. One stack seemed to hold 10,000 dollars at first glance. "Everyone gets a stack each. Spend this wisely, alright?" "Yay!" "Cheers, Faith!" Everyone's smiles expanded even more at the sight of the bills. "Perseus, you've just joined the department today, but your enlistment is quite sudden. I prepared the money yesterday, so I'll wire your share into your bank account." Faith didn't notice any trace of displeasure in Perseus' eyes. Even though he had just joined the sales department for less than an hour, she still insisted on giving him his bonus because he was now one of her people. "I don't think it's a good idea, Faith. I've just joined the department, yet I'm already given a share of the bonus of my own. I can't accept this. I'll feel guilty if I do," Perseus replied, clearly shocked by the treatment. He kept waving his hands at the same time. "You're a man, Perseus. Don't ever say the words 'I can't,'" Faith shot back, an eyebrow already raised. She shot Perseus a sharp glance before continuing, "Especially not to me." "Um…" "Give me your bank account number and your phone number. Make sure to add me as a contact on WhatsApp." Since Perseus couldn't turn down Faith's bonus, he could only accept the 10,000 dollars helplessly with his mouth slightly twitching. "You'll get off work an hour earlier this afternoon. Buy some clothes for yourself. As sales executives, we need to portray ourselves as decisive and well-kept people." Faith put away her phone after that. "You're an employee of the sales department. It only makes sense that you're eligible for the bonus as well. "I don't like to beat around the bush. Everyone works for money. I only care about efficiency, so I don't care what you do as long as you hit your KPI. "Let's start the assembly for the day." Faith didn't give Perseus a chance to speak up. She started the assembly right away by summarizing last week's work progress. After that, she made arrangements for the current week's work tasks. "Everyone, do your best. I'll reward this month's winning team with 20,000 dollars right out of my pocket." "You're amazing, Faith!" "We love you so much, Faith!" The moment Faith stopped speaking, everyone burst into cheers right away. Perseus just sat in a corner quietly. His admiration for Faith grew exponentially, for he now knew that she was charismatic enough to motivate her subordinates despite her domineering personality. The fact that Quantum Innovations had such an amazing asset on its side was a huge blessing for both Perseus and the company itself. "Alright, that's enough! Stop kissing up to me! Off to work now, you all! I want to see new customers, stat! Now go!" Everyone left shortly afterward. Perseus and Faith were the only ones in the meeting room. "There are plenty of vacant desks, so you can just select one of them as your workstation. Also, here are the company's files. I want you to finish going through everything before you get off work. Make sure to circle the important parts." After Faith placed a stack of files in front of Perseus, she clapped her hands while continuing, "It depends on your capability whether or not you get to stay as an employee. From tomorrow onward, you'll be tagging along with me to meet clients. "Also, if you can't finish going through the files by the time you get off work, you must continue reading them tonight. I don't care if you don't get to sleep tonight as long as you finish them. That's all for today." Faith didn't even give Perseus a chance to speak. She grabbed her purse and left the meeting room hurriedly after that. "I knew that the 10,000-dollar bonus doesn't come with a catch," Perseus muttered as he stared at the stack of files, which towered over him. He shook his head, clearly speechless at the task he was issued. Still, he decided to go through all the files seriously. Perseus felt that it was impossible to hit his KPI just by going through the files, but he could still learn more about Quantum Innovations by reading up on it. He let out an abrupt sneeze at that moment. "Who the hell's talking smack about me?" he mumbled. … A Mercedes Benz cruised away from Quantum Innovations. Catherine's brows were tangled into a deep frown, her expression stormy. "What the hell? I thought you'd already made all the arrangements! Why did that ex-convict get hired instead? To make things worse, he even joined the sales department!" "I don't know!" Raymond snapped, his expression equally thunderous. "Hold on, I'll call Dean right now." He pulled the car to the side of the road before dialing Dean's number. "Hey, Dean! What happened when you were interviewing that ex-convict, huh? Didn't we agree that—" "Fuck you, Raymond Miller! Get lost!" Dean began cursing at Raymond angrily before the latter could finish his sentences. His voice was so loud that Raymond's ears began to hurt. Even Catherine could hear Dean's voice coming from Raymond's phone speaker. "Huh?" Raymond was puzzled.