A taste of humble pie

Daniel had been known to be very arrogant, and full of pride; an unnecessary one at that. He was the leader of the planning sector of their company, and he was hardworking too, but his colleagues felt uncomfortable around him because of his pride.

Daniel was a young man in his late twenties. He was bright and brilliant; thus, people saw him as the brains of the company. You could say that he was almost perfect, but he had a flaw that tainted his almost-perfect image.

---

"Sir, here's my report on the upcoming get-together." Evelyn, one of the staff said to Daniel.

He kept his head buried in the paperwork he had on his desk and paid no attention to her.

"Sir?" Evelyn called him again. This time, he raised his head and stared at her face for some time. He picked up her report and flipped through it. Evelyn was beginning to settle her breathing when his voice forced her to stop.

"What nonsense is this?" Daniel asked her.

"How do you mean? You haven't even gone through this." Evelyn said.

"I don't need to go through it to tell that it won't be reasonable. Leave." Daniel responded, and as Evelyn turned to leave, he threw the document at her.

---

Some days later, with the company's party around the corner, things were hectic in the office. The CEO of the company had just informed them that their rival company would be invited, so he wanted everything to be smooth.

Daniel disregarded every suggestion that his teammates made and insisted that things go his way since he seemed to be the smartest among them.

"We're supposed to be a team. Why does he treat us like we're invisible?" One of the staff asked.
They had gone on a lunch break, and one of them whose idea had been turned down fumed with annoyance.

"I can't say. He keeps doing as he wants and that's very annoying. I submitted a report to him, and he threw it on me." Evelyn replied to the other staff.

"This isn't right. I wonder why no one has ever thought to report him to the higher-ups." Another person said.

"Try doing that, and you'll get the disappointment of your life. They all adore him because he's brilliant. Daniel is a great guy; I just don't like the fact that he treats us like we're not worthy of our pay." Evelyn replied.

---

The day for the party was fast approaching, and Daniel still insisted that things go his way. He just assigned duties to his teammates, and even when they weren't comfortable with his idea, he couldn't care less.

"Sir, about the DJ you asked for; don't you think it'll be too loud?" Evelyn asked him.

"Evelyn, I am the brain in this company and you of all people should know that. Focus on getting your task done, and quit being a pain." Daniel said to her.

"Why don't you just hear me out for once? This is a company's party and I don't think the higher-ups would love the loud music. You should at least ask them what they'd prefer." Evelyn suggested again.

"Well, I think you should go home if you're done here. I already know what our bosses would like and that's the end of it." Daniel replied and walked away.

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The day for the party finally came, and Daniel, as proud as he was, sat on a chair and gave instructions. There were flowery decorations all over the room and a bright neon light that shone at the center of the hall. It was a beautiful sight, but it was soon to be rejected by a furious CEO.

"Who planned this party?" The CEO's voice bellowed. "You all should hand in your resignation letters by the end of the week." He said angrily.

"Excuse me sir, but I think you should be saying this to our leader, not us." Evelyn said.

"Who's your leader?" The CEO asked and they simultaneously pointed their hands at Daniel.

"Daniel? I thought you were smarter than this. This isn't a nightclub. The company hosted this party so we could get a good atmosphere to make a deal with our rival company, but you brought a DJ to play loud music. And that light at the center of the hall; whose idea was this?" He asked, and they all pointed their fingers at Daniel again.

"You mean to tell me that none of your brains are working, and you left the whole work to him. Why do I pay you people then?" The CEO asked with his voice bouncing off the walls of his office.

One of the staff excused herself and returned with all their previous proposals for the party, which had been turned down by their team leader. After going through the reports, the CEO's anger couldn't be contained anymore. He lashed out at Daniel.

"So you chose to ignore all these brilliant ideas for this nonsense you did here? Why are you so dump?" He kept throwing words at Daniel, and Evelyn took that opportunity to leave the office.

She and the others tried to fix the mess before the party started. They replaced the loud music with slow songs and the lights were replaced as well.

"Do you think we were too hard on him?" One of the teammates asked after everything.

"What do you mean?" Another person asked her.

"I mean Daniel. Do you think we were wrong to have defended ourselves against the CEO's lash-out?" The girl explained her question.

"If we hadn't done that, we could've been forced to resign, and since they already see him as a brilliant person, he wouldn't have gone down with us. Moreover, it was high time he stopped looking down on us. So if you ask me, I'll say we did the right thing, and he deserves to get a taste of the humble pie too." Evelyn responded.

Minutes later, Daniel came out of the office, his face red with embarrassment. He looked around him and saw that his decorations had been replaced with Evelyn's. He turned back, and left the hall, with his teammates looking after him, some giggling at the look on his face.

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