CHAPTER 17: CHAPTER 17: I REFUSE THIS OPPRESSION!

The department head had never encountered such a situation before. When they were newcomers, they were oppressed, and when they climbed up the hierarchy, they ironically became what they once despised, passing the struggles they had endured onto the next generation of newcomers. No one ever dared to step up and break this unwritten workplace rule that shouldn’t exist.

Do newcomers have the obligation to help seniors with tasks that aren’t their responsibility?

And now, he was being called out in front of everyone, accused of making a fuss over nothing!

Where could the department head’s dignity go?

As a member of the management, he naturally wielded gender discrimination and class superiority, attempting to crush Iris Crawford’s psychological defenses from these angles. He said, "A woman is just a woman, always whining when asked to do a little more, and in the end, you’re not good at anything. You won’t last long in any company!"

Iris Crawford really wanted to laugh, and indeed, she did. As she laughed, she finally stood up. Facing the crowd surrounding her, Iris reached out to take the documents Roxanne Young had given her that morning.

Roxanne Young thought she was giving in, planning to stay overtime to enter the data.

The woman smirked victoriously from the side, "At least you’re sensible. Getting smarter now, are you? But unfortunately, you’ve already disappointed us here."

When you work here, you need to follow the rules!

"What are you talking about?"

Unexpectedly, Iris Crawford casually tossed the documents directly into the shredder next to the computer!

Watching the files being shredded into strips, Iris stared at the last shreds coming out as if they were not merely paper bits but human flesh and blood.

She tilted her head and laughed, "What does it matter to me if you’re disappointed?"

Roxanne Young took a step back, pointing at Iris, her finger trembling at Iris’s audacious action, "What are you doing!" Iris had thrown the documents she gave into the shredder!

"As you can see, it’s almost time to leave. I’m disposing of today’s work trash." With a cold and indifferent expression, Iris refuted Roxanne’s earlier assumption that she was giving in—it was Roxanne who made a huge mistake!

Even the department head began to roar, "Newcomer, what do you mean!"

"I’m throwing the garbage documents into the shredder; why are you yelling at me?"

Iris sharply questioned the department head, "Is it my duty to input the data for your department?"

Her counterquestion stunned everyone!

"I’m not even from your department, so I’m treating these documents that don’t belong to me as trash. What’s the issue?"

Adding to her rhetorical question with a sarcastic smile, like a slap to the face, Iris said, "Are you really so incompetent that you have to drag down other departments to handle what is your own responsibility? How does dealing with my own trash concern you?"

After saying this, Iris’s cold gaze landed squarely on Roxanne Young’s face. She tapped her chin with her finger, appearing to regard Roxanne with a casual air, though the sharpness in her eyes belied her lazy demeanor, "Did you really think that after you came this morning dictating orders, I would obediently comply?"

How could Roxanne Young have guessed Iris would be someone with such a defiant temperament? In today’s world, unspoken rules saturate the workforce, and who dares to rebel? Everyone has become accustomed to being the silent majority, unwilling to break these rules, essentially resigning themselves to being enslaved by them forever.

If they don’t break them, they only endure, hoping one day to climb high enough to enslave others with the same power.

"Besides, do I have to help the department head’s son with his graduation thesis?"

Iris walked directly up to the department head, addressing everyone watching with a slight, possibly mocking, smile, "May I ask, is your son a waste?"

Remarkably, the entire room gasped!

Some were even drawing a sharp breath from the sidelines, "My God!"

"How does this woman dare..."

"Honestly, I’ve wanted to say that to the older employees bullying the newcomers for a long time..."

"So refreshing... so refreshing..."

The department head was outraged, losing control under the public eye. He reached out as if to strike her!

But in that instant, Iris firmly grasped his wrist!

A big man trying to hit a woman, only to be countered by her?

Iris tightened her grip as the middle-aged man felt excruciating pain, exclaiming, "Do you want to hit someone in the company?"

"Could everyone here see who wanted to hit first? Besides..." Iris pointed upward, "There’s surveillance here too, Mr..."

Glancing at the department head’s nameplate, Iris continued, "Oh, Mr. Supervisor."

Her deliberate pause, wasn’t it just to mock his supervisory position?

This upheaval terrified Roxanne Young. They only wanted to isolate Iris, making it tough for her to continue in the company. If it turned into actual violence, then the matter would become serious!

Roxanne immediately stepped in to pull the department head’s hand, "Supervisor, calm down. Newcomer, apologize to the supervisor. How can you attack his family like that?"

"Was I the one who gave birth to his son? Why should I write the graduation thesis?" Iris pointed aggressively at the surrounding staff, raising her voice, "Or are we, the lower ranks, here to serve his son? Are we so overworked we have to write the supervisor’s son’s graduation thesis too?!"

"Exactly... we office slaves are already so tired from overtime..."

"Why wouldn’t he help his own son with the thesis..."

"Who dares to refuse? Refuse, and you’ll be targeted in the company... we’re pathetic."

Hearing the murmuring discussions around, Roxanne Young’s complexion changed. Such workplace oppression was so common; they assumed everyone tacitly accepted and complied. Who would have thought Iris’s presence would stir everyone’s emotions?

Frowning, Roxanne screeched, "Not writing it is one thing, but must you say all that! It’s just helping someone with their son’s paper..."

"If you’re such a good Samaritan, why don’t you do it?"

Iris immediately retorted, "If you’re so eager to help the department head’s son, why don’t you write his graduation thesis? Why assign this task to a newcomer like me? Is his son a moron? Mentally challenged? He’s in college but needs someone else to write his thesis?"

Having said this, Iris swiftly turned her gaze to the department head, "Coming to work at The Wyatt Group, rising to become a department head, you’re given authority and responsibility, and yet you’d use this power to force subordinates to write your son’s graduation thesis?"