Chapter 4: Chapter 4

“Oh, are you the manager? Do you know how much I spent here today? Do you think it’s still okay for your employee to ignore us like this?”

“First of all, why don’t we calm down and discuss this-“

“Seriously? Do I look calm to you? I was ignored by that.”

The manager who arrived late and didn’t understand the situation tried to calm down the two first. But the lady cut in, foaming at the mouth.

What I wanted to say was stuck in my throat. The words ’employee’ and ‘that’ were overwhelming.

No matter how many times I encountered such situations, I could never get used to these insults. The whispers and stares of the crowd were also embarrassing.

The lady’s shout drew more attention and was disrupting business. The manager finally turned his attention to me.

“I’m sorry. The staff must have made a mistake. What are you doing, not apologizing to the client?”

The manager’s words, implying that I was responsible for the commotion, left me more discouraged. My eyes burned with tears.

Even though I’d learned to expect this kind of treatment, it was still really horrible when experiencing it first-hand. If there’s a problem, they should listen to both sides and understand the whole situation before dealing with it. But here, all the blame is immediately placed on the employee.

My voice trembled at the injustice. I have to go through all of this when I haven’t even done anything that wrong. But I still bowed low, trying my hardest not to burst into tears while still at work.

“I’m sorry, madam. I am genuinely sorry.”

I still had to apologize, even though I felt like I hadn’t done much wrong.

“Is that all? If you are genuinely sorry, you should show your sincerity. Kneel and apologize!”

I looked up in surprise at the daughter’s words. As far as I knew, you couldn’t usually ask people to kneel so easily.

However, the daughter acted as if it was entirely natural.

When I turned to the manager, he looked sympathetic. His expression seemed to suggest that I should just get it done as quickly as possible.

Despite the buzz her words created, the daughter remained adamant. Besides, the spectators were only looking on with interest. No one appeared to have any intention of stopping the situation.

I shook all over.

“What? You can’t even properly apologize for doing something wrong. What’s this? Do you know how much money I spent in this store?”

The daughter raised her voice when I hesitated. On the surface, she seemed to be out of her mind with anger. But in her eyes, there was a sense of triumph. Inside, she appeared to be laughing at me, taunting, as if saying, ‘Aren’t you going to kneel?’

She was not mad at my behavior. She just enjoyed bringing others down and stomping all over them. It was sick.

“I didn’t do anything wrong enough to merit kneeling.”

I didn’t want to kneel. So I gathered my courage and spoke out. But it was more of a feeble protest.

The daughter’s expression changed.

“What? So are you saying I made up things that didn’t happen? Mom, look at this. They’re blaming me now.”

I wanted to argue since this made it look like I was rebuking them. But it wasn’t a logical argument to begin with. So it was more difficult to refute.

Besides, it was evident that her daughter’s words were gospel to the mother. When the daughter complained, the mother’s voice grew louder.

“Are you done talking? So you’re saying my daughter made up the entire situation. Who are you?! Who do you think you are to talk to my daughter like that? If my daughter wants you to apologize, you should apologize!”

“Ma’am, please calm down. What are you doing? Hurry up and apologize!”

As the mother started screaming, the manager stepped up and looked at me expectantly. As the commotion increased, I felt more pressured to kneel and solve it.

It was so unfair that he didn’t take my side as the manager. The one person who should stand by my side turned around and accused me. Even the gathered crowd seemed to blame me. I felt so alone, surrounded by enemies.