After maternity leave, I was demoted by the company

After ten years of grinding for the company, I finally took time off to have a kid. I should have known better. When I got back from maternity leave, someone else was sitting in my office.

It was that little upstart I’d mentored, looking all wide-eyed and innocent.

“Oh, hey, Annie! You’ve got a baby now, you shouldn’t be worrying about work! Family’s what matters, right?”

I just smirked. It wasn't that I needed this job, it was that the company couldn’t survive without me.

…

My first day back was a joke.

"She's like, totally lost it, you know? They say pregnancy makes you stupid for three years, and she’s proving it.”

“Yeah, it’s not just her brain. Look at her, like she’s trying to hide a beer belly under a corset. And the smell! Is that milk? Ew.”

“Seriously. And her face… she’s aged, like, ten years. Scary stuff. We need to treat ourselves better, ladies, not lose ourselves to some guy.”

Inside the bathroom stall, I calmly flushed the toilet, opened the door, and washed my hands like nothing happened.

The three of them froze, mouths agape, forgetting whatever they were doing.

It was my first day back after maternity leave; I wasn't going to let some gossiping clowns ruin my mood.

I breezed through the office, passing rows of desks.

I pushed open the door of my old office; the one with the “Marketing Director” plaque.

Same layout, same decor, different person sitting behind the desk.

“Annie! You’re back!”

Sarah had completely transformed. She looked like she’d stepped out of a magazine. Perfect hair, flawless makeup, designer clothes. Even her expression was annoyingly professional.

“Annie, you might not know yet, but with you having a new baby, we thought it would be best to move you over to the Creative Team, in group one.”

If you could see my face right then, it would be the GIF of the black guy with the confused expression.

They’d demoted me from Marketing Director to a regular grunt.

Because I had a baby?

I was shocked, but also kinda impressed with the audacity.

I knew that women were at a disadvantage in the workplace, but this blatant, unapologetic discrimination was a first.

Especially after eight years at this company.

I’d joined right out of college, passionate about advertising.

It had been a startup back then, and the entire company was maybe a dozen people.

We all did a bit of everything, and I was the media planner, researcher, receptionist and janitor. I was always the last one to leave.

I didn’t mind because when a team is working towards a goal, it makes the grind worthwhile.

Then in my third year, the industry hit a downturn.

The company was circling the drain, going six months without any income.

We were scraping by on $500 a month, and most of the staff bailed.

I'll never forget us standing in front of the office each morning, shouting, “We will never quit, we are the best team!”

Our tiny office was dwarfed by the "Joe's Real Estate" and "Chicken Shack" next door. We were also the maintenance...