Jerk To The Max
Back in the early ’90s, my friends and I started a small consulting company. Like any small company, we had to struggle to drum up business. We finally lucked into a relationship with a large computer reseller. They were often difficult to deal with, but since they paid all of our salaries, we had to suck it up and smile. Our primary contact at the place was a complete jerk.
He would belittle people, yell, and outright lie. He once dragged one of his inside sales reps into his office and called the main vendor she repped. He tore her down, telling the vendor she was “stupid” and “didn’t know anything”. The woman fled his office in tears. When a plan of his went south, he would simply deny ever giving the instructions.
Anticipating that, a sales exec prepared a brilliant plan—he saved his voicemail. When this guy started to lie, the guy leaned over, punched up his voice mail, and played back the message. With a straight face, the guy said, “You misunderstood me”. After a few years, I left the company I helped start. A few months later, I was in a computer store, and I spotted the jerk.
I started to walk the other way, but he saw me and came over with a big grin on his face and his hand out for a shake. I stared at his hand, then looked up at him and said, “You know, I don’t work for the company anymore, so I don’t have to pretend I like you, you arrogant jerk”. To this day, I still savor the look of utter shock on his face as I walked away.