So what exactly was Meredith's basis for trying to make the company look more profitable to Conley-White by changing Tom's specifications to cut costs? If costs were a concern to C-W, shouldn't she have brought it up to someone and work her way from there, rather than making the foolish mistake of tinkering with products that she wasn't responsible for, especially when she doesn't even have a firm idea of how the technology makes the drives work? The CD-Rom drives aren't toys, and they are the key for the merger, and any changes she might make might result in a deficit, which does end up happening. Meredith should at least have figured this, so why would she be dumb enough to do that and possibly ruin her career and the merger?
- She's a narcissist. She was thinking of increased profits and making herself look good at the expense of those around her. She thought she could get away with the changes to the production line. But, when Tom started noticing quality-control problems, she realized that when the truth came out, she'd be canned. So, she planned on covering her own ass by setting up Tom to be a scapegoat. What she didn't count on was Tom refusing her advances and building a case of sexual harassment against her. At that point, she started getting sloppy by destroying files and pinning the blame on Tom. But she didn't realize that Tom had access to backups from his contacts overseas—whose files on a completely separate system from his company—and had video of her visit to the factory.
