Danger At Work

Last updated on October 28, 2026

Hidden Agendas

It was the 90s. A decades old company I worked for decided to automate its daily operations.

Payroll. Purchase orders. Receivables, Intercompany mail. All of it recorded, searchable, cross-referenced.

I helped build it.

Paper has limits. People can rely on those limits. A database does not forget. It does not tire. It does not look away.

Once everything was live, reports began answering questions no one had thought to ask. Patterns surfaced. Transfers aligned too neatly. Numbers drifted into columns they shouldn’t be in.

One department manager found himself cornered by his own transactions. It didn’t end well.

We crossed paths in front of the elevators.

His face was tight, stripped of color.

“I ought to kill you,” he said.

No weapon. Just the words.

As if I had personally done something to him. As if the system had invented the entries.

There was nothing dramatic in the moment. No rush of fear. Just clarity.

I silently pondered how well connected this guy really was. “You’d be doing me a favor,” I said.

The doors opened, and I stepped away, onto the elevator.