Fired While Mourning My Mother

My mother died of a sudden heart attack. I requested three days of bereavement leave on Slack.

In less than a minute, my supervisor called me. Her voice was sharp and cruel.

"Zoe Shaw, the company is about to go public. Do you think you can just stop working because someone died?"

"Lila at the front desk just had a pregnancy loss and she's still posting sales updates in the group chat. What makes you so special that you deserve a privilege?"

I knew this supervisor loved to exploit everyone.