Barbara Scott-Johnson hated the J3. She especially disliked Janette Nicholson. Born in a relatively wealthy family, this pompous princess was the kind of woman who looked down on everyone who did not live up to her standards.
Although Barbara took care of her figure and appearance, she loved to enjoy life. As a single woman, she believed that she must make the best out of her youth. Traveling to exotic places and enjoying good food were part of it.
Barbara never shied from eating delicacies, even when they led to foul breaths right after the meal. So what if she loved garlic to the moon and back? Garlic was an essential ingredient for a lot of tasty dishes. It also had a lot of beneficial properties that not many ignorant people were aware of.
Must Janette Nicholson, this stupid bitch, look down on her so?
Even if she had to, could she not keep it to herself? Why must she brand Barbara as the "Garlic Gal"???
Barbara was thus overjoyed when she saw the three despicable women enter Mr. Collins' office the next morning with their heads up and exit with their heads bowed in shame. Ha! Take that, you insufferable, conceited female demons!
News spread quickly in Primavera.
After the scandal that involved Chris Henderson and Suzie Simmons died down, the rumor mill had been very quiet.
There was nothing exciting for the bored office ladies and gentlemen to discuss.
That was why the strife between J3 and Laura Higgins exploded like the brightest firework all over the Primavera employees.
Dirty play at R&D Department!
Shameless backstabbing among the researchers for the manager position!
A scheme to weed out internal competitors before they even reached Glasgow!
Laura Higgins versus Janine Mayer!
Although Laura Higgins was a promising researcher, she was not popular. Janine Mayer was not as promising, but she was popular in Primavera. Popularity, sadly, did not necessarily mean that the person was loved by everyone.
In fact, those who used to smile kindly to J3 and speak favorably about them turned out to secretly dislike them.
As soon as their failed attempt at discrediting Laura spread throughout the entire company, these people started to talk about the many occasions where Janine, Jemma, and Janette acted improperly.
The dirty laundry was aired out for everyone to see.
For example, there was a story when Janine snubbed an intern until she broke down in tears and left the internship after only two weeks.
Or when Jemma almost failed her three-month probation period because she was simply not talented. According to rumors, she once worked at a rival company and was expelled for her ineptitude.
Or when Janine, Jemma, and Janette betrayed poor, poor Amalia Jones.
They deserved it, so people spoke in hallways and corridors. Karma was coming out to play. The gossipy employees didn't even bother lowering their voices when the three women walked by.
Not that the three women dared to speak up and voiced their grievances.
When harassment victims acted meek, the bullies felt encouraged to go even further.
Anyway, working in a big company always came with a full dosage of stress and pressure. Not everyone had a healthy outlet for pent-up emotions. Some of them had silently suffered by losing out to these three women, so they quickly grasped a chance for revenge as soon as it became visible.
One day, a cleaning lady "accidentally" poured a pail of dirty water over them, ruining their beautiful make-up and branded dresses.
They went home while enduring gleeful snickers from people.
Fart pillows were placed on Janine's seat for fun.
Jemma banged at the bathroom stall in a fit of panic because she believed that she was locked inside the toilet from the outside. Whoever did it released her after an hour.
A mere intern bumped into Janette during lunch, scattering all of her food across the meticulous marble floor. The canteen lady refused to give her another tray unless she picked up the wasted food.
The three women subsequently reported the bullying issue to Mr. Collins, who had yet to recover from the humiliation in front of Damian Henderson. In the end, he downgraded the bullying down to nothing but "small accidents".
Jemma and Janette could not take the bullying any further. With eyes glistening from tears, they resigned three days after the torment began.
Lacking support, Janine thus went to talk to the only person she could rely on at the moment: Chris Henderson, risking the wrath of his jealous wife.
"And... And I was doing it for the good of Primavera!" she sobbed like an Oscar nominee in Chris' office. "I never expected the others to be so ruthless!"
"Unforgivable!" Chris Henderson the general manager fumed. He slammed his hand on his desk, startling the crying woman opposite him.
"Just what is that old man Collins doing?" he shouted. "If he is not taking good care of our employees, why do we even need him to be the HR Manager? Even swines can do his job!"
Janine continued sobbing as was required from her as an abuse victim, but she knew what was actually happening.
Chris Henderson hated it when people disrespected him. He had to swallow the humiliation by his grandfather at the dinner party, but he was determined to boast his superiority in front of lesser creatures.
Someone like Mr. Collins, for example.