Chapter 2 — My Nameless Occupation

"Sister To, do you have a moment to talk?"

I replied, "Go ahead."

"Boss Ha would like to invite you to return."

"On what conditions?"

"The boss said we should just get you back here to discuss it first."

"Discuss what? My position was eliminated. If I come back, where exactly am I supposed to sit?"

Lam Vi did not reply for a long time. Ten minutes later, she messaged: "It was Deputy General Manager Chu’s idea to cut your position. Now that Boss Ha is aware of the actual volume of work you handled, he is quite surprised. However, Deputy General Manager Chu still insists that those tasks can be distributed among the various departments."

"Then let them distribute them."

"They cannot be distributed. Every department claims they are understaffed; no one is willing to take on the load."

"Lam Vi, I don’t mean to be harsh, but for the past twelve years, when they were dumping all that work onto me, no one found it unreasonable. Now that they are asked to share it, suddenly it’s too much?"

She did not reply again. At three o'clock in the afternoon, a new notification appeared on my job hunting app. Thuy Hoa Consulting Firm was inviting me for an interview for the position of Administrative Director with an annual salary of three hundred and fifty thousand. The sender was Tham Dich, a managing partner at Thuy Hoa. He had left a note: "Ms. To Van, we have been watching you for a long time. Are you available for a discussion?" I looked up Thuy Hoa Consulting. It was a firm in the top twenty of the management consulting industry, with rapid growth over the past three years. The team was under fifty people, yet their clients consisted entirely of medium to large enterprises. Administrative Director. I had been an administrative specialist at Hang Vien for twelve years; the highest rank I had ever written on my resume was merely a specialist. Yet, here I was, a specialist being invited to interview for a director’s position. I replied to the message: "I am available. When?"

"Ten o'clock tomorrow morning, would that work for you?"

"That works."

In the evening, I organized my documents for the interview. To Niem was doing her homework beside me, then looked up at me.

"Mom, did you find a job?"

"I have an interview."

"What position is it, Mom?"

"Administrative Director."

To Niem’s pen paused.

"Mom, you were a specialist before, right?"

"Yes."

"And you are jumping straight to Director?"

"They invited me themselves."

To Niem thought for a moment.

"Mom, back when you were at Hang Vien, did they always suppress you?"

I did not answer. She lowered her head to continue writing, then muttered a moment later: "Then they deserve exactly what they got."

Chapter 4. The Thuy Hoa Consulting firm was located in an office building in the West district. It was newer than the Hang Vien building but much smaller, decorated in a clean, decisive style. The receptionist led me into a meeting room. Tham Dich was younger than I had imagined, in his early thirties, wearing glasses and speaking quite rapidly.

"Ms. To, let me introduce myself first. I am a co-founder of Thuy Hoa."

I sat down.

"Boss Tham, let’s be direct. How did you manage to find me?"

He smiled.

"We conducted a management diagnostic for Hang Vien last year. During our survey, we discovered something very interesting: Eight departments at Hang Vien possessed a large volume of process documents, templates, and standard operating procedures that all shared a completely uniform style. It was clearly the work of one single person."

I remained silent.

"At the time, we asked the staff at Hang Vien who had created these materials, but no one could say. Eventually, a long-term employee told us it was To Van from the administrative department."

He pushed a folder toward me.

"Ms. To, the customer complaint classification system you created—we brought it back to study. The logical thinking behind it is extremely clear. Your supplier evaluation system is also very professional, arguably even more outstanding than the proposals put forward by some consulting firms."

I glanced at the folder. It was indeed my work.

"These were just things I did in my spare time when I was free; there isn't much technical depth to them."