Bennett watched as Joe Griman pretentiously took off his gloves and sat down. He also sat in the chair opposite Joe Griman. There was a huge desk between the two of them.
Although everyone, including themselves, knew that there was an irreconcilable conflict between them, no one would show it. They would even pretend that this conflict didn't exist.
"You can go to the court to play. You'll get a better experience than here …" Bennett pursed his lips. "You know, the feeling of swinging the club and hitting the ball with all your might is completely different from the feeling of having to control the ball so that it doesn't fly away. Plus, you can get other kinds of fun there."
The fun here referred to the more complex terrain environments. These complex terrains also became a way to attract people's attention and gain pleasure in golf.
The feeling of hitting a ball into a hole on a flat ground was completely different from hitting a ball into a hole on a complicated sandy ground or in shallow water. That kind of sense of accomplishment was definitely much more than what he got in the office.
In fact, there was another layer of meaning behind these words. It was probably similar to, "Since you have already given up, why don't you give up more completely?"
In Bennett's opinion, Jorliman's concession meant that he had withdrawn from the game. Before the outcome was revealed, they already knew the result.
Since they had already chosen this result, they should be more straightforward and not drag it out. No one would be happy about it.
Jorliman smiled indifferently. "Before the new transfer order is issued, I must abide by my work principles and let people find me at any time during working hours."
He paused for a moment and missed the topic. "So, why are you looking for me today?"
Bennett, who had returned to business, did not continue to dwell on the open and secret confrontation. He put the document on the table and pushed it over. "The president wants you to sign this document."
Jorliman nodded and picked up the document. He did not sign it as quickly as he had done recently. Instead, he read it slowly. This made Bennett feel a little uncomfortable. He felt that Jorliman only needed to sign his name. There was no need to do this.
However, he also knew that he could not rush Jorliman at this time. He had to preserve the last bit of dignity for Jorliman.
Thinking of this, his mood improved again. He silently hummed a passage from the opera he had heard the night before.
About ten minutes later, Joe Griman put down the document. He didn't start writing. He just looked at Bennett calmly. "I can't sign it."
In that instant, Bennett's mind went blank.
"Can't sign?"
"Why can't I sign it?"
Bennett stood up, picked up the document, and quickly read through it. As he read, he asked, "Is there anything wrong with this document?"
Joe Griman's sudden change of attitude was hard for Bennett to accept. It was like a man who had been saying "Yes, sir" all the time suddenly saying "No, sir."
The huge contrast was enough to make many people speechless. Their minds would go blank for a short while. This was the shock caused by the destruction of their habits and normality.
Jorliman sat upright, his arms resting on the armrests on both sides of the chair. His fingertips were pressed together. "There are many problems, but before that, we need to deal with some other things."
He reached out and pressed the blue button on the phone. This was a call to the secretary's office. After pressing the button, the other side immediately answered. "This is Jorliman. Who arranged the work in the office today? Ask him to come to my office."
After releasing the button, Joe Griman looked at Bennett with a smile on his face. Bennett gradually came back to his senses. His face was a little ugly, but he didn't do anything. He didn't know what Joe Griman was up to.
Not long after, a male staff member appeared in the office.
In an institution like a bank, which had to deal with a lot of messy things every day, the office had a set of rules and regulations.
Every day, the person in charge would sort out these messy matters. Then, they would choose to send these classified documents to different desks and wait for them to be processed. This was the main job of the secretary's office. They had to block some unnecessary trouble for the middle and upper management of the department.
Looking at the young man who had worked in the bank for seven or eight years, Jorliman pursed his lips. "Go to the finance department to settle your salary. You are fired."
This sentence shocked Bennett and the only male secretary standing in the room again. Before the former could say anything, the latter shouted excitedly, "Mr. Jorliman, you have no right to do this!"
He argued for his rights and interests. "This is not in line with the bank's rules. You are not the manager of the personnel department, and you are not the president of the bank. And I did nothing wrong. You have no right to do this. I will complain to the president, the branch, and the headquarters about you!"
Jorliman didn't look ashamed or angry. He picked up the phone, dialed a number, and pressed the speaker button. The three people in the room immediately recognized that the person who answered the phone was the bank president.
"I want to fire an employee of the secretariat. He made an obvious mistake in his work. Do you need to go to the meeting?"
Jorliman's tone was calm and easy-going, but his eyes were full of aggression as he looked at the male employee.
Unexpectedly, the bank president supported Jorliman's request. "Do as you see fit. There is no need to go to the meeting for such a trivial matter!"
The young male employee was about to say something, but Jorliman hung up the phone. The male employee's face turned red with anger. "Can you tell me where I made a mistake?"
Jorliman pointed to the document on the table between him and Bennett. "You should have given such an important document to me first. I am the highest administrator of this department, not Mr. Bennett. You can't even do such a simple thing. Do you think the bank needs someone like you to continue making mistakes?"
The male employee immediately defended himself. "You said that as long as Mr. Bennett signed the document, you would agree in principle, and …"
Jorliman shook his head. "No, and either you pack your things and leave here, or I will ask the security guard to help you!"
As he spoke, he reached out and pressed the red button to connect to the bank's security department.
The male employee looked at Bennett with pleading eyes. He didn't want to lose this job.
Regardless of how difficult it was to find a job now, it took him nearly ten years to get to this point. The next step was to enter the management level, which was why he wanted to curry favor with Bennett.
If Bennett replaced Jorliman, he would have a chance to go further, but it was obvious that everyone had underestimated Jorliman.
Bennett's face was also very ugly. He had just spat out a syllable, and no one knew what it meant. Jorliman interrupted him forcefully. "Do you want me to call the headquarters and explain the situation here?"
Bennett closed his mouth and chose to ignore the male employee's pleading.
In fact, whether it was the headquarters, the branch, or the grassroots bank, this kind of obvious bias mistake could not be made. Even the directors of the headquarters board of directors could not intervene in this kind of problem.
After confirming that his order would be carried out, Jorliman pointed to the door. "Close the door when you leave!"
After watching the employee who seemed to have lost his soul leave the office like a walking corpse, Jorliman faced Bennett and talked about Bennett's problems.
"You're asking me why I didn't agree to sign it? First of all, you're from the branch. You should understand our internal work process. You're just an assistant. You're not allowed to open a document of this level without my permission."
Non-internal affairs and documents that required the approval of the highest executive of the department had problems with the process of authority. Whether Bennett would replace Jorliman in the future or not, at least he was only Jorliman's assistant now.
The branch asked him to assist Jorliman, but they did not say that he would replace Jorliman. Even if they did intend to do so, as long as they did not call him reality, Bennett could only be an assistant.
Before this, was there a problem with Jorliman letting Bennett preside over the work?
There was no problem. The rules were actually very flexible. They only worked when someone asserted them. If the person involved, especially the injured party, did not assert their own authority and rules, the rules would not work.
Jorliman spent more than two months getting Bennett used to a special environment. He gradually developed an arrogance that he did not even realize. In fact, even if Lynch did not do it, Jorliman would have done it himself.
Who would be willing to give up a career that they had worked hard for half their life?
It was just that Jorliman's method was a little more artistic than Lynch's too direct method. Of course, he thought so.
"Secondly, you approved some of the results without me knowing about this document. This is a very obvious act of overstepping your authority. Moreover, I think that the content you approved is very problematic, so I will not sign it."
"As for the third …" Jorliman could not help but laugh. "I just wanted to see your face. You lost, Mr. Bennett."
Thinking of this, Jorriman was in a good mood. In the eyes of others, he had been sullen for almost three months, but no one knew that he was doing it for this moment of pleasure. This made him happier than when he communicated with some young girls.
And his happiness did not stop there. "I will report your behavior to the branch and the headquarters. You have been challenging the rules and regulations of the bank during this period of time, and you have been overstepping your authority to create a circle of interests. I will report it truthfully."
"Oh, yes, and that girl, Annie!"
The expression on Jorliman's face was very special. His hand stroked the edge of the table as if he was touching something special. "She is doing a good job. I will always patronize her in the future!"
The furious Bennett directly took the crystal triangular name card on the table and threw it at Jorliman!