Nobody in the office understood why Mr. Donaldson—Art—refused to promote you. It was obvious to anyone with a pair of working eyes that you were a hard worker and you were good at your job. A few rumors had circulated that you and Art had dated at one point and that’s why he refused to promote you. Those were quickly shot down by a rather harsh email from Donaldson to his staff and you ranting in the work group chat about how the rumors are absolute bullshit and you would never date Art because he was a prick.

As the head director of the marketing team for the company got old and was planning on retirement, interviews were set up to find a suitable replacement. You had swiftly scheduled an interview with Art for the position and that’s how you found yourself in his office, nearly about to throw your coffee cup at his pristine face. For the past 15 minutes he had been listing every mistake you had ever made since your five years of working at the company. You hardly made mistakes but somehow Art had managed to keep track of every slip up you’ve made, no matter how minimal.

“I recall one time you forgot to print out the engagement report for our last campaign and when you finally did get it to me it wasn’t even in color.” He scoffed, not even sparing a glance at you. Apparently whatever that was on his laptop was so much more important than paying you any attention.