The daytime Manager Looked Right Through Me and Asked for the Keys

Dear Delyara, The morning changeover happened at 6:00 AM, and the operations manager walked into the gatehouse with his wet umbrella and his loud, aggressive mobile phone conversation already underway. He didn't look at my face. He didn't ask how the twelve-hour watch went. He just held out his hand, palm up, waiting for the master keys while he barked orders down the line to a delivery driver. I stood there holding the metal ring, looking at his expensive leather shoes and his clean, shaved face, feeling completely invisible. I am a university graduate with a degree in management. I am the creator of a sanctuary that holds thirty thousand human souls. I am the director of a luxury jewelry brand. Yet to this man, I am nothing more than a functional piece of furniture that holds the keys until the sun comes up. The gap between my internal authority and my external reality felt like an iron collar crushing my neck today.