[NR] Mom Is Offered The World - Chapter 603

Mom Is Offered The World

Jenny smiled like a shark, or maybe a lawyer. Not much real time had passed since her outing with her son, but in the fast pace of NeoRealm there was more than enough time to be fed up with her company. Because, of course, they would just accept what she had said in that first meeting.

Were they wrong to assume she held something back? No, but it also wasn’t their right to know what was being held back. Jenny had held to the word of the agreement and even the spirit. It was just that they didn’t have any rights to her assumptions and speculations. They could very much figure those things out on their own. It wasn’t like they had any less information than she did.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. After all, she had the advantage of being Jason’s mom and having raised him, however little of that he seemed to need at times. But Jenny never signed away anything like that. Sure, she could have made it to stratospheric heights in the company if she had signed her life away.

Except, would it really be her? Would the success actually be hers? Of course not. Many things have changed since the past. The old ideas that a company should look to profits first, last, and everywhere in-between had been torn down, especially short-term profit.

However, that didn’t make corporation’s any less soulless. They were simply chained up better. Forced to deal with the actual ramifications of their actions. Forced to pay for the deprivations they put on their people and others. As they always should have been. And woe betide any company that hid things like they did smoking, forever chemicals, or climate change. Such decisions would doom everyone from bottom to top, as long as they touched it and didn’t report it.

Still soulless, though. And those at the true top of any big enough corporation particularly so. Their very actions are chained more than not. Many might fantasize about all the money they have, but what good is money if you aren’t you anymore and can’t make your own decisions?

Vacation? The company decides where and when as well as plans everything. Sleep? Implants originally developed to help those with sleep problems had been modified to control instead of guide. Food? They ate free and only the best, except they couldn’t enjoy it, having to go through the motions perfectly to represent their company. The food might as well be tasteless.

Jenny was middle management and to go any higher would require sacrifice. Which she wouldn’t fall for. She was making enough money and had enough privileges. And here her boss was. Forced from on high to try and offer her the world to take a promotion or even just slip a bit more information. But what was the world if like Atlas, you couldn’t ever put it down?

So, she used her training. They made offers she couldn’t refuse. Instead, Jenny tied up the offers in interoffice politics such they had to be withdrawn. There were attempts by the company lawyers to reinterpret previously agreed upon contracts. She laughed and asked which court they wanted to argue it in.

Of course, she couldn’t just let them attack freely. To only defend is to eventually lose. Though most of Jenny’s planning was already in place by this point. She hadn’t foreseen an incident like this, but she prepared for the worst.

All those privileges she made use of? While still currently provided by the company, Jenny had long ago bought them separately. After all, no one was willing to let corporation’s hold stuff like health insurance over their heads any longer.

And the money she made? Jenny and Jason honestly were living well below what it could have afforded them. Not that either of them cared. What good was an apartment in the upper third when you were in a capsule most of the time? So everything leftover had been invested far and wide. Even if the stock market as those from the past would recognize had been disassembled judiciously, the modern version did allow for some things and her plans accounted for potentially falling out with her company.

So, without realizing it, they lost any hold they might have had over her. Did Jenny want to quit? No, at this point, her job might as well have been all fun and games. It was practically a hobby for her at this point and with Jason having joined NeoRealm, she could dip her fingers into things more often. That didn’t mean she wasn’t willing to quit at a moment’s notice.

And so detached from the situation, Jenny watched as managers going up the chain danced around, trying to tempt her, threaten her, plead with her, and more. Lawyers plied their trade to try and trap her. Even one of the C suites came down from her rarified office as if their mere presence was enough to solve everything.

Which to be fair, in most cases would have worked. While they couldn’t walk around like gods among the common man like the billionaires of old used to do, they were still titans, if more along the lines of being chained to a rock or holding up the world without being able to put it down. Jenny was polite enough not to laugh when she rejected her.

And of course, it wasn’t like the other corporation’s dealing with the situation didn’t see this all happening. Those Jenny did laugh at. While she wasn’t even legally allowed to sign a non-compete, that didn’t mean she was going to betray the company over this. Well, she might go to the government, but only if things went too far. Which, as noted previously, would not be good for the company no matter how it shakes out.

Overall though? Jenny was having fun. Her regular job was basically already dealing with the exclusion zone and so all of this was a part of it, anyway. Which to her meant she was being paid to turn them down, which tickled her funny bone. It really was amazing how much less stress a job was if you didn’t depend on them for things like health insurance, a roof over your head, or food in your belly.