At the contract signing, a major client asked my newly hired male colleague if he could hold his liquor.
He poured red wine over the client’s head on the spot and said coolly,
“Drinking culture is a bad habit. I’ll start by cleaning up the workplace.”
Mr. Li, a client who brought the company 300 million yuan in profits a year, flew into a rage and tore up the contract right there.
As the project lead, I bowed and apologized profusely, then drank with Mr. Li until I started bleeding internally, just to salvage the deal.
When I explained what happened to the boss, he scolded me instead:
“You were in charge, and you nearly ruined the project. Forget the three million yuan commission I’d planned to give you. Think of it as a warning!”
Afterward, I added Xu Yuanhan to the department’s list of employees under review for layoffs.
He only sneered.
“I’m the talented professional the boss poached at a high salary. I’m nothing like a useless nobody like you, who only knows how to talk big at drinking parties!”
“Firing me would be like cutting off the company’s lifeline. Just wait and see how you beg me to come back!”
I ignored him, but on the day the review period ended, I was the one on the layoff list.
The boss took the opportunity to announce that Xu Yuanhan would replace me as the new sales director.
“Clients are company resources. You really think closing those deals was all thanks to you? Yuanhan has a great education and knows the technology. He’s bound to be better than you.”
I just smiled and turned to make a phone call.
