Losing my job to AI was a tough pill to swallow. Working remotely and earning a good income for the last seven years made me a homebody, leaving me friendless and single. At least, the money provided me with financial security.
Several months had passed since I earned a paycheck. Depleting most of my savings gave me anxiety, contributing to my sleep deprivation and depression. Searching job posts for several months, hoping to find online work, was a fruitless exercise.
Most writers had lost work because of AI, so competition stiffened while job offers dwindled. Eventually, I had to admit to myself that persisting with my online search would result in spending all my savings. I had to find work, whatever would pay.
Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t be a garbage lady or a prostitute, but I was desperate for an income.
I searched the job boards and mostly found physical work. Sigh. Adjusting to toiling after working from my room for several years would be extremely challenging.
Some of the positions available were a domestic servant, a hotel room cleaning lady, a food delivery person and an auto deep cleaner. I lowered my chin, closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. Neither of those prospects was appealing. But I had to choose one soon.
My savings account could finance my lifestyle for another two months. If I incurred an unforeseen expense, that could reduce my livelihood to one month.
I dialled the contact number for all the available positions to increase my chances of finding work immediately. All the enquiries led to a job interview. Lucky me. But I didn’t want to attend any of them.
Three of the four interviews that I attended resulted in a job offer. I had no experience for any of the positions, but management was eager to lure in a sucker who would do the tasks that most people didn’t want to do.
At home, I stared at my bank balance. I considered using half of the funds for gambling. If I won a thousand dollars, I could continue searching for online work for an additional month.
No, I can’t do that. That’s stupid. What do I know about gambling? I’ll probably lose everything and be in a worse position.
I exhaled a deep breath while thinking about accepting any of the offers. I felt that I had downgraded professionally. All the hard work that contributed to advancing my career felt worthless. I worked for a big financial company in New York, and now, I would have to settle for a job that high school dropouts would be ashamed to do.
Maybe I’m looking at this path the wrong way. It’s not what I want, but it could lead me to bigger things. This stepping stone will help me to pay my bills until I find something better.
Viewing my new job in that manner consoled me. I knew it was important to be grateful for receiving an income, even if the work was dreadful. My new position was like a friend that would introduce me to members of a higher society. Considering the available positions, I found that difficult to believe, but hope was all I had.
I had to choose one of the offers immediately so I could start the following day.
As I picked up the phone, a notification popped up on my laptop, informing me of a new job post. I read it and felt that it was too good to be true. The work was remote and offered high commissions for getting clients to sign up to a platform.
My gut told me to pursue one of the positions offered, but my greed convinced me to enquire about the commission role.
The phone rang. The lady told me that she would send me a WhatsApp number. I frowned, confused about the reason for not continuing the conversation on the current line.
I called the WhatsApp number, and Lia explained the role to me.
My duty as a sales consultant would be to present the company’s trading platform to potential clients and show them that it is the best option. The company received leads, so I wouldn’t need to cold call. Thank goodness. That’s almost as bad as physical labour.
I was apprehensive about accepting the position because it didn’t offer a fixed income. But I figured that if it didn’t pay well, I could accept one of the cleaning positions. They would always be available because of a lack of interest from workers.
Monday was my first day as a sales consultant. I entered a company chat and received a barrage of welcoming messages. I thought that was a wonderful way to start my new employment.
Pete, the sales manager, sent me a link to documents about the product and company information. He said that I needed about three hours to cover everything, and then he’d video call me to discuss the information.
During our call, he was impressed with the amount of information I had remembered. He said that most sales staff needed two days to grasp the necessary knowledge to interact with clients.
By the end of the day, I had spoken to five leads. I almost signed one client, but I fumbled at the end by not providing a firm answer. I sensed he lost trust in the platform because of my uncertainty. Lesson learnt.
After work hours, Pete and I had another call. He commended my efforts and said that I had done far better than most salespeople when they started. His compliment sounded genuine. I knew that if I could improve my pitch and appear assertive, I would generate sales.
I showered and ate dinner. To build my confidence and present myself professionally, I had to answer every question that clients had.
I went through the material again that Pete provided and highlighted crucial information. My confidence boosted as I recollected the important points. Beating myself up about not signing a client on the first day was unfair. After all, that was my first attempt at selling anything.
I woke up two hours before the workday, ate breakfast quickly and then went over my notes again. I felt confident about implementing my knowledge to convert it into sales.
At the end of the day, I had signed two clients. Pete sent me a congratulatory email, impressed by my results. He said that most beginners signed their first client only in their second week.
Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday. By the end of the week, I had ten clients in my portfolio.
‘If you keep up this pace, you’ll be the CEO in a few months,’ Pete wrote, jokingly.
The company emailed me my paycheck at the end of the month. My net pay was four thousand dollars. That was two thousand dollars less than the income I earnt from writing, but I was ecstatic.
I always thought that I would be a terrible salesperson. Yet, I managed to outperform most of my colleagues when they started. Pete shared that information and told me not to tell anyone.
My target for the third month was to earn six thousand dollars. I surpassed it by a thousand and five hundred dollars. Woohoo!
During the first three months, I was so focused on my pitch that I never analysed it to determine why it was so effective. On a Sunday afternoon, I listened to some of the recorded calls with clients, and I determined that my knowledge of our products, services and my ability to answer questions confidently gave them assurance that investing with us was the right decision.
I smiled, clenching my fist, realising that I had figured out the formula for signing on clients. Repetition is the mother of skill, and I planned to repeat the formula on more clients.
Calling more clients required a strategy. Pete sent me a list of leads at the end of the day for the next day. Since we had international callers, I asked him to input their country next to their name on the Excel sheet. I filtered it so I could call local leads first and the international ones during their business hours, which was after our business hours.
The additional three hours that I worked daily contributed to my earnings of over nine thousand dollars in the sixth month. I looked at my paycheck, smiling and shaking my head. Last year, when I lost my writing job, I thought that my online career was over. Now, it’s thriving better than ever before.
On Friday afternoon, I received an email from a client in India. I was busy on a call with a lead at the time it came through, so I reminded myself to look at it after I completed all the calls for the day. Pete told me that calling leads was more important than attending to queries from existing clients.
I didn’t agree with him, but he explained that existing clients had more patience than leads who we hadn’t convinced to use our trading platform. That made sense.
After replying to about eight emails, I eventually opened the one from India.
‘YOUR BUSINESS IS A SCAM,’ was the first sentence, typed in all caps. I rolled my eyes, convinced that the client had poor trading skills and was disgruntled for losing money.
Rajesh provided details and screenshots of candle patterns differing from those on other platforms, deceiving traders into make ill-informed decisions. He also recorded his trade, showing me that the 100% bonus applied to his deposit was theoretical and did not convert to winning trades.
I believed that he had made a mistake, and I planned to forward his query to Pete on Monday for clarification. On Saturday morning, Rajesh sent another email, showing me that the platform had closed his trade without his initiation or instruction. I figured that the platform contained a bug and the developers needed to rectify it.
I forwarded the emails to Pete, thinking that he would respond on Monday. He replied two hours later, informing me that he was looking into the situation. I felt relieved for telling him about the problem because his response confirmed to me that it was serious.
He hadn’t emailed me again by Sunday afternoon, so I figured that he had resolved the problem and emailed the client.
On Monday morning, Rajesh emailed me, asking about the feedback for his query. I frowned, confused about his request. Surely Pete had emailed him?
I emailed Pete, and he said that the platform was operating correctly and I should ignore the client. Ignore him? That’s not professional.
I emailed Rajesh and told him that the platform was debugged and that it should be working. He replied immediately with more suspicious activity on the platform. I didn’t know who to escalate the matter to, so I carried on calling leads.
The following day, a client from the Netherlands emailed me, sharing similar information to Rajesh. He mentioned contacting support and Pete, but they ignored him after his second email.
My gut warned me that I should look further into the matter. Something was amiss. Their blase attitude towards clients worried me. I felt that they didn’t care about the existing base and focused primarily on attracting new clients. But why would a company pursue that strategy? Surely retention of the existing base should be a priority?
The more I thought about the enquiry, the more questions I had than answers. And that troubled me.
I tried to convince myself that the issue didn’t concern me. It wasn’t my fault if clients’ trades were undermined with dirty tricks. But I couldn’t ignore the matter. My conscience gnawed at me, arguing that I had a moral and ethical obligation to determine the truth.
‘I’ve had other clients complain about the platform. What’s going on, Pete?’
He responded several hours later, stating, ‘This happens sometimes. Just carry on with your leads.’
I agreed with him about trading and social media platforms occasionally experiencing downtime and interruptions. Maybe I read too much into the problem.
I emailed an esteemed colleague to ask if the problem was frequent. He replied that it was part of regular operation.
Regular operation? What the hell? So you mean to tell me that’s how the system operates generally? No, no, no. That’s not on.
What intrigued me was that the first complaint about the platform I received was several months into my employment. Why didn’t the clients I signed up in the beginning complain?
I emailed five clients I signed up in my first month to ask if they had experienced issues with the platform. Four of them replied that they relentlessly complained to support and Pete, but received no resolution. All of them quit using the platform after losing their money.
I reclined in my chair and exhaled. It occurred to me that the company had no intention of resolving the matter. Their strategy was to extract funds from clients and sign new ones to repeat the process. Eventually, their scheme would reach enough ears to no longer be worthwhile pursuing. But by then, they would’ve enriched themselves.
Oh, man. Just when I thought that I had found a great career, it turns out to be a fly-by gig. Worse yet, I’m contributing to manipulating practices that could be illegal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pete and the executives betray the sales team when they get busted, implicating us as the main perpetrators.
There’s no way I can continue working for this company. But if I quit, they’ll carry on with their scheme. What they’re doing is wrong. I need to expose their scam. Hopefully, the authorities will pardon me if I’m implicated. I wasn’t aware of their illicit activities, so I should be declared innocent.
At the end of the day, I submitted my call sheet to Pete. He responded around seven pm, wanting to know why I had contacted half the number of my usual calls. I told him that I felt ill and needed to rest for the remainder of the day.
He reprimanded me for not informing him of my actions. I rolled my eyes, not caring about his reaction. He was balls-deep in the scheme and had no moral or ethical high ground to stand on.
I thought about the best approach to expose the company’s swindling platform. Rajesh’s screenshots weren’t sufficient evidence. The company could use interruptions and bugs as their defence. I needed concrete evidence. The best person to get it from was Pete.
In the morning, I emailed him, thanking him for his mentorship, which helped me advance my sales skills and prove myself to the bosses.
‘We’ve been working together for months, and yet, I don’t know much about you. Hope you don’t mind me asking if you’re married?’ I emailed him.
‘No wife. Busy with work all the time. You?’
‘Same. I mean, no husband.’
‘Lol.’
‘Does the company have a policy against coworkers dating?’
‘Not that I know of. You in touch with a colleague?’
‘Yes. You, silly.’
He emailed a blushing emoji and said that he was flattered. I responded with pictures of me at the beach in a bikini.
‘Very nice. You look stunning,’ he wrote.
‘Thank you. Do you have pics to send me?’
Pete’s belly bulged his shirt, which he tucked into his khaki pants. His curly hair waved to the back of his head, and he kept his hands at his side while smiling. His photo didn’t portray him as a sleazeball, but looks were deceiving.
At the end of the day, I filled my call sheet with all the leads he provided the night before, despite not calling a single client. I knew that he would be suspicious about me not signing on a client after a few days, so I had to extort information from him quickly. For the next day or two, I could use the excuse of going back and forth with clients to finalise deals.
I asked Pete if he had time for a video call. He immediately replied, ‘Yes.’
I slipped into a long dress with a V-neck, exposing my breasts partially. I pouted in the mirror, red lipstick on, and I flipped my hair back.
“Pete, hi. So nice to see you again after all these months.” I said.
His goofy facial expression showed that he was enthralled with my look.
“Wow, look at you. Even better than in the photos.”
“Thank you. That’s so nice of you. You’re looking snazzy.”
I lied. His puffy cheeks reddened. I assumed that he hadn’t received a compliment in months.
“That’s so nice of you. It means a lot to a guy to receive a compliment from such a beautiful woman. Congratulations, you’ve bloated my ego.”
We chuckled. I scratched my neck, smiling, as I lowered my chin and stared at him. His pupils dilated. I knew that I had him right where I wanted him.
“I’m surprised that someone with your career accomplishments and handsome looks hasn’t bagged a wife.”
“It’s not easy meeting people these days, especially when you work from home. You know what I’m talking about.”
“Yes. I’m tired of being lonely. All I know is work, eat a bit before sleep, then repeat the same day.”
“Yeah, that routine has certainly run its course.”
“Tell me about it. I haven’t been on a date in months, and I’ve got needs like everyone else, you know?” I raised my eyebrows and smiled.
“I never thought that a beautiful woman like you would have the same dating challenges as a guy like me. But here we are.”
“Yep. Here we are.”
Silence ensued for several seconds as I looked at him, smiling and waiting for him to make a move. I figured that he needed a push because he had been out of the game for some time.
“What do you like in a woman?” I asked.
“Physically or personality-wise?”
I smiled lusciously, staring at him for a few seconds before answering, “Physically, of course. Let’s not kid ourselves, Pete. Men respond to looks first and then hope that the personality is at least tolerable.”
“That’s true.” He looked up briefly, narrowing his eyes and then said, “I’d have to say her face. That’s always important. If we’re talking about her body, breasts. Definitely breasts,” he said and nodded.
I smiled and pulled the strap, pretending to scratch my upper chest.
His eyebrows raised, and he said, smiling, “Oh, wow. Okay.”
“What?” I asked, sneering.
“Nothing. That was nice.”
“Oh, really? You like that, big boy?” I pulled the other strap, revealing more of my boobs.
He leaned into the monitor. I licked my lips and bit the bottom one, pulling both straps.
“Oh, my. That is very nice,” he said, reclining and tugging at his tight collar.
I stood up and stepped back so that he could see my entire body. I swung my hips and bent my knees, turning to my side to give him a clear view of my protruding ass. With my hands on my knees, I shook my ass.
“Oh, my God. What are you doing to me?”
I turned my ass to him and shook it, then bent over and pressed both hands on the floor, spreading my legs.
“Oh, wow,” he said.
I walked to the camera. Bending over, I pulled both straps apart and jiggled my breasts. His open mouth hovered over the camera as most of his body filled the screen. I saw that he was eager to see more of me, but I wanted him to participate.
“Why don’t you take off your shirt and relax?” I asked.
He stood up and ripped several buttons as he pulled the shirt off him. I saw his package bulging and told him to loosen his pants. He pulled them down, revealing more of his boner.
I peeled one strap to the edge of my shoulder, slightly exposing my nipple. His chest expanded and contracted quickly, and his mouth slacked open as he stared without blinking.
I peeled the other strap and jiggled my breasts, almost popping out completely. I sat and rolled the chair back, showing him my hands sliding down my legs.
“Why don’t you show me what you got there, big boy?” I asked.
“Huh?”
“Let’s see what you’re hiding behind those boxer shorts.”
He stood up and pulled his shorts down, then stroked his cock as I tucked in my shoulders, enabling the straps to fall off and reveal my chest. His breathing deepened, and he jerked off faster.
I stroked my breast, intermittently squeezing it as I closed my eyes and raised my chin.
“Oh, my God. You’re gonna make me cum,” he said.
“You just keep stroking that big cock.”
I stood up, and my dress slipped down to my ankles, revealing my red g-string. I rubbed my groin and murmured, eyes closed.
“Oh, yeah. That feels so good. Right there,” I said, poking my finger into my pussy.
Pete panted as he stroked his cock rapidly. His vehement facial expression suggested that he would cum soon.
I turned my ass to him, bending slightly forward and looking at him over my shoulder. I stroked my ass, biting my lip, and then spanked it.
“Come here,” he said.
I moved backwards to the camera and peeled off my g-string, keeping my butthole covered.
“You wanna see more, big boy?”
“Yes. Show me.”
I slowly peeled the g-string down to my thighs and then moved my ass closer to the camera. I grabbed my cheeks, parted them and then spanked them.
“I’m gonna cum,” he said.
I shoved my middle finger into my pussy and fingered myself for a few minutes.
Pete grunted.
I looked over my shoulder and saw him cumming on the floor. His flushed face, droopy eyes and hanging lip made me want to laugh. But I suppressed the outburst.
He pulled up his boxer shorts, and I got dressed.
Feeling awkward about talking, I waved and logged off. I knew that leaving the interaction at a high point would make him want me more.
I checked my inbox at six o’clock the following morning and saw an email from Pete.
‘Thanks for yesterday. That was amazing. I can’t believe we did that, but I’m so glad it happened. Can’t wait to do it again.’
I smirked, satisfied with achieving my objective.
‘Do you mind if I take today off? I need to go shopping for some lingerie.’ That was a lie to avoid concocting an excuse about not signing clients.
‘Sure. You go and do what you need to. Call me later (Wink emoji).’
I had shown him my goods, so it was his turn to return the favour. And I knew exactly the way to make him do it.
I called him after five pm, and he answered, smiling. I knew that he was eager to reenact our previous encounter, but I couldn’t waste more time on that.
After showing him my breasts, I said, “Now, you gotta give me something.”
“Anything. Name it.”
“Tell me about the platform that our clients use.”
He frowned. “What? You wanna talk about that now? We can do that later. Let’s get down and dirty,” he said, smiling and raising his eyebrows.
“I showed you all of me. If you wanna see me again and spice up the fun even more this time, you gotta give me something.”
“Fine. Okay, what do you wanna know?”
“Are there occasional problems with the platform, or are clients being duped?”
“Of course, there are problems with our platform, just like any other technology.”
I felt that he hadn’t completed his train of thought. “And the second part?”
He smirked for some time, and I remained silent. My patience wore thin as I believed that he would not spill the beans, but I refrained from saying anything.
“Maybe.”
“Come on, Pete, you gotta level with me. Are there tricks installed into the system to ensure that the company takes the client’s money?”
“Something like that.”
“Yes or no, Pete? Let’s be adults about this. I’ve given you what you want, and I’ll give you more. But you gotta give me something to work with.”
“The platform is biased. The house always wins. Let’s put it that way.”
“How exactly?”
He provided a detailed technical explanation. The more he revealed, the happier I was because it added to the evidence that could be used against the company.
After speaking for several minutes, Pete said, “Okay, that’s enough. I’ve given you what you want. Now, come to pappa.”
I stopped recording and then stripped for him. A deal was a deal, even though I thought that he was a sleazebag.
Pete asked if he could call me on Sunday for more phone sex, but I told him that I had plans.
On Saturday morning, I contacted a lawyer whom I had written for and asked if the evidence was substantial. He said that a judge would definitely look at the case. The lawyer asked me if I would like to file.
For most of Sunday, I thought about the consequences of filing a case against my employer. I was convinced that their nefarious activities could include murder if their operation was at jeopardy. They planned to open offices in Dubai and Africa, so a court case could dampen their plans. A lot of money was at stake, and I doubted that they would let anyone jeopardise their plans.
My life was on the line. At least, that’s what I believed. I could quit the company and not risk my life. But how many more people would lose their hard-earned money unfairly?
My employers could shut down the company, flee with the money and pull off the same scam under a different company name. They could repeat the process for years and likely get away scot-free because good people remained silent. I felt that I would be complicit in their crimes if I didn’t report them.
On Monday morning, I told the lawyer to go ahead with the filing.
Pete emailed me at the end of the day and asked for my call sheet. I didn’t respond.
The following day, I sent my resignation letter, with immediate effect. I no longer saw a reason to stay with the company and earn money that was illegally extracted from clients.
My lawyer called me several days later and said that the judge had set a date for the case in three weeks.
I was called to testify. Surprisingly, I was completely calm. I thought my anxiety would go haywire. I was proud of myself for doing the right thing, and I believed that God helped me to get through it.
Two days after the case was adjourned, the judge sent a written verdict. He ordered that the company assets be frozen immediately and liquidated to pay all creditors, with the remaining funds reimbursed to clients. The board of directors received fines of several million dollars, and their licenses were revoked.
“How does it feel to bring down such a big organisation run by powerful people?” my lawyer asked.
“It feels good. My soul is cleansed. I don’t think I could’ve pursued my new venture with a clear conscience had I not gone through with this.”
“I’m glad you did. It was extremely brave of you to take them on. But you won and so did some of the clients they robbed.”
“I’m guessing that not all of them will be reimbursed?”
“Nope. Even the ones that are reimbursed will unlikely receive all their funds. But that’s how it is with these cases. Some sheep get slaughtered for the greater good. Look on the bright side. If you hadn’t opened a case, they would’ve stolen a lot more money and probably never been charged.”
“I know. Thanks for reminding me to look at it like that. It gives me peace knowing that.”
“If you need anything else, Annie, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.”
“Thanks, Tom. I appreciate all your help.”
Mom taught me that everything happens for a reason and that a situation yields more positive outcomes than negative ones.
I thought about the reason for my involvement with the case. It was because I lost my job to AI. Had that not happened, I wouldn’t have been responsible for the reimbursement of stolen funds to hundreds of trading clients.
I guess I should thank AI for steering me towards that path. During my ten-month employment. I earnt over eighty thousand dollars, saving more than half of it. I was grateful for my employment at the defunct company because I learnt sales skills and accumulated a healthy savings account.
Browsing through online job boards, searching for remote work, I saw several sales posts. I was qualified for most of the positions, but I didn’t want to risk employment at another scheming organisation.
The time had arrived for me to step out of my comfort zone and work for a brick-and-mortar company. I dreaded waking up early, being stuck in traffic, dealing with customers and attending pointless meetings. But that’s what was necessary to earn an honest living, and I’m all about that life.