An $8.80 Bonus? The Tech Team Bails Chapter 1

On the day our annual bonuses were supposed to be paid out, the boss suddenly tagged everyone in the company-wide group chat.

【In the face of intensifying external competition, we must adapt. Starting this year, bonuses will be allocated based on contribution. High contributors get more, low contributors get less, and those with no contribution get nothing!】

The moment the announcement dropped, cheers erupted from the departments around us.

“The boss is a legend! I’ll work for this company for life!”

“A fat bonus puts your mind at ease! I’m taking my wife to Hawaii for the New Year!”

But in our tech department, there was only a dead, heavy silence.

Mike, our most senior engineer, looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Boss… is there a mistake with the bonus payout?”

“This amount… it’s eight dollars and eighty-eight cents… it’s nothing…”

Sarah, one of the younger developers, had tears welling in her eyes.

“Yeah, boss, my mom is waiting for this money for her surgery… Can you please go and check?”

Jake, who had the shortest fuse among us, slammed his hand on his desk and shot to his feet.

“What do you mean, a mistake?! Didn’t you see the boss’s announcement? He was talking directly to us!”

“Eight dollars and eighty-eight cents! That won’t even buy a damn sandwich from the deli downstairs! Is he throwing scraps to beggars?”

My phone buzzed. A private message from the boss.

【The tech department’s contribution this year was insufficient. However, out of humanitarian consideration, the company has issued each of you an $8.88 bonus. Your department needs to reflect on this and strive to contribute more next year.】

All fifteen of us in the tech department, from the seasoned veterans to the fresh-faced juniors, got the exact same insulting amount.

Meanwhile, every other department was celebrating, their pockets bulging.

As the technical backbone of the entire company, our department was always on call. We handled every request, pulled countless all-nighters, and worked ourselves to the bone.

And in the end, we were deemed the department with the least contribution.

The atmosphere was so thick with despair you could cut it with a knife. I could hear one of the younger engineers trying to stifle her sobs.

I clenched my fists, my knuckles white, and took a deep, steadying breath.

“I will get to the bottom of this. I will get us the justice we deserve.”

I shot up from my chair and stormed towards the boss’s office.