50. It Was Doomed From the Start
“I worked for eight years servicing communications equipment on-site–five of those years were as the department manager. When oil was found in our area, we got so busy we could barely even think. Most of my team were pulling 12+ hour days, six days a week and we were struggling to hire people quickly enough.
One day, the CEO texted and said he hired an assistant manager for me, which was something I desperately needed. I was dirty as hell from my previous job and swung by the store to pick him up and take him to one of our sites where he would be doing paperwork.
The moment he got in the truck, he immediately started talking crap. He started telling me about how everything we were doing is messed up and the department manager <my name> was a total moron and he would have my job within a few months.
I just sat and mostly listened. He obviously didn’t know anything about my industry and every time he would say something wrong, I would try to politely correct him and he’d either backtrack or insist that I was trained wrong.
When we got to the site OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEST TEXAS DESERT, he complained about the layer of dust on everything and ‘ordered me’ to clean up the entire site.
When I sat down at my desk, the guy continued to complain my ear off about everything that was wrong and chastised me for sitting down at my desk when he told me to clean up the site.
So I called for a taxi, filled out a notice of termination and handed it to him.
He looked absolutely shocked. Then he defiantly protested that only <CEO> could fire him. I said and <my name>, right? He sheepishly nodded. So I stuck my hand out for a handshake and introduced myself.
I can teach anyone how to service equipment, but I don’t have a clue how to teach someone not to be an a-hole.”
