THE SACK LETTERS

Elvis stood outside the house, feeling humiliated, when he suddenly remembered why he had come home in the first place; to pick up his work uniform. However, he had been distracted by the scene he encountered at home, and this was enough to make him forget!

He looked at his wristwatch and realized that he had been away from work for forty minutes, so he quickly boarded a taxi back to work.

"Hey, Elvis. Where have you been? Our boss has been asking about you." Pete, his colleague asked, as soon as he saw Elvis enter the hotel.

"Really? Oh, my goodness. I just hope he hasn't found out that I left work..."

"No, Elvis. It has nothing to do with that. He just came in a while ago and asked about you, and I told him you went to use the toilet."

"Oh, thanks, Pete. That's kind of you. I'll go see him immediately," Elvis replied, feeling relieved and grateful that Pete had covered for him. He knew that if his boss found out he had left work for home, it would result in his immediate termination.

"Good day, Mr. Joel," Elvis greeted as soon as he reached his boss's office. The middle-aged man raised his right hand slightly, as if to dismiss Elvis's greetings. He had an indifferent look on his face as he looked up at Elvis. "Elvis, you are fired; so you need to stop working immediately."

"What? Sir, I..." Before Elvis could say anything more, Mr. Joel handed him a white envelope containing his termination letter.

"Elvis, please excuse me. I'm busy, and I wouldn't mind if you leave here right away," Mr. Joel spoke sternly.

Elvis had been employed as a cleaner just last month, and he hadn't even completed a full month on the job! He felt heartbroken and depressed as he walked out of Mr. Joel's office.

"Why on earth was I sacked?!" Elvis screamed within himself, feeling very dejected.

He checked his wristwatch; it was 4:00 pm, one hour before his final job of the day.

Amidst the pain he felt, he sluggishly walked out of the company's premises to board a taxi.

He soon arrived at Toner Associates, where he had been employed for over seven months. He was glad he was almost one hour early.

To Elvis, Toner Associates was another place called home; he had made some good friends in the company since he started to work there. He decided to find a place to sit before starting his work for the day.

"Hey, Elvis." Jack, his closest friend walked up to him as soon as he spotted him entering the company's premises.

"You borrowed $150 from me last week and haven't paid me back yet. You promised to pay me back within a few days and you haven't, Elvis. I need my money or else I'll just report you to Mr Greg," Jack threatened.

Elvis thought, "Oh, not again." Just yesterday evening, one of his friends called, asking for repayment of the money he had borrowed, and now it was Jack's turn.

He borrowed $150 from Jack to buy the dress Leslie wanted for Mr. Dwayne's birthday party, as his savings amounted to only $270. He wanted to do everything within his power to make Leslie happy. But instead of Leslie appreciating him after he had sent the money, she only mocked him.

Now, he had just been fired from the job that paid him the highest salary. "I'm sorry, Jack. I promise I'll pay you before..."

"Hey, where is Elvis? Is he around?" A voice interrupted them from behind. Elvis turned back and noticed that it was his boss, Mr Greg.

"Yes, Sir. I'm here," he answered quickly.

"Please come over to my office, immediately," Mr Greg commanded. Mr Greg hardly invited him to his office, so Elvis wondered what the matter was. He followed the tall huge man from behind as he opened the door of his office and allowed him in.

"Elvis Klein, we no longer need your services at Toner Associates," Mr Greg announced.

"What?! What is going on?!" The news hit Elvis like a ton of bricks. He had just been sacked from one of the companies he worked with, and now this again.

Greg reiterated, "Maybe you should ask yourself that question. We've just found out that your services are no longer needed here," as he handed Elvis an envelope containing his termination letter.

Elvis stood still like a statue, bewildered by all that was happening to him. His legs were weak and about to give way. His heart beat faster than normal, as he wondered what he had done wrong to be sacked by different companies in just one day!

Jack was yet to report him to his boss, and even if he did, he knew that owing a colleague was not enough reason to be sacked.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" Elvis screamed within himself as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Elvis, please excuse me." Mr Greg said as he looked down at his laptop which he had opened before him; his fingers fastened onto the keyboard, ignoring Elvis' presence.

Tears flowed down Elvis' cheeks, as he walked out of Mr Greg's office.

"Leslie and her family are right. I'm just a loser and will never amount to anything in my entire life! My life is miserable!" Elvis screamed within himself.

While he walked down the corridor of Toner Associates, he met some of his colleagues.

They looked surprised and whispered amongst themselves, wondering about the reason for Elvis' tears.

Some of them walked up to him, asking what the problem was, but his speech was subdued because of the heaviness he felt. His shoulders slumped, and his eyes were downcast as he walked out of the company's premises with tears flowing freely from his eyes.

"How on earth will I survive?" Elvis thought to himself. He had been sacked from his two major jobs and he wondered what awaited him at his final place of work the next morning. He knew what it took him to get those jobs.

Feeling weak, he dragged himself to sit on the pavement in front of the company's premises.

After sitting for a while, Elvis checked his wristwatch and saw that it was already 7 p.m. The weather was changing, and he knew he needed to go home. While dragging himself up, he remembered that he had been pushed out of the house.

Nonetheless, he decided to go home since he had nowhere else to sleep. He believed Roy must have left the house.

On arrival at the gate, he met the security man.

"What do you want again, you idiot? Haven't you been told to stay away from here?" The young security asked, looking very unfriendly.

"Now, listen," he said, coming closer to Elvis intimidatingly. "You better leave here now, or I'll make sure you regret it!"

Just within the twinkle of an eye, Elvis' phone began to ring. He didn't know who the caller was but he picked it up.

"Loser! Didn't I tell you that I was going to deal with you? This is just the beginning. I'm the reason why you lost those jobs, and I won't stop until I'm done with you. Fool!" The caller yelled as he hung up on the phone.

From the voice, Elvis recognized that the caller was the same man he had found with his wife on their matrimonial bed.

Roy had obtained sufficient information from Leslie about the places where Elvis worked, so he promptly contacted Elvis' managers. He leveraged his fame and influence in Rockview City to request Elvis' immediate termination.

"Oh no, this is heartless!" Elvis stood in shock as he tried to process what he had just heard. So the man he had seen with Leslie was the one behind his sackings.

"Are you deaf?" The security guard's voice interrupted his thoughts. Before he could look up, he found himself on the floor. "You poor and miserable fool, I asked you to leave here at once!"