A friend admitted last week that he lied to me and laughed his ass off while doing so

[Amerigo Vespucci]

A couple of years ago, I got a frantic email and call from a long-time friend. I'd gotten him his first job when he came to the U.S. from India. Over the years he worked his way up the ranks and ultimately became company president. Then he got fired.

He told me it was because he resisted the company's name change (the company had been acquired, and the new parent company wanted to kill the brand and absorb it into their larger Borg collective).

Fast-forward to last week. I had a meeting with my friend (he is now a VP in a new company) and the president to talk about redoing their Website. His boss made a remark like "you guys have known each other for a long time" and I told him how proud I was of my friend for working his way up the ranks to become the guy at the top.

At this point my friend turns to me and asks "Did I ever tell you the story of why I got fired?"

I said "Yes."

He said "No...the REAL story."

I said "OK, go ahead."

Two years ago, he was company president. Married. Two kids. And he decided to start sleeping with the woman whose office was adjacent to his. Circumstances surrounding his relationship with her ended in his ass getting fired.

He laughed out loud about this. I didn't bother asking what happened to the wife and kids in the aftermath. No idea what (if anything) he's paying in alimony / child support / etc.

Four days later he called me and tried to get me to low-ball my price. I told him no, that it neither be fair to me nor the clients who paid me that amount of money to do the same amount of work.

He told me that he'd call me the next day to let me know his boss's decision. Tuesday came and went, as did the week, no call. I pretty much knew the decision while I was in the meeting. The president is the kind of guy who talks about bringing in new clients so that he can staff up his company with an H.R. department, salespeople, etc, and you know...YOU JUST KNOW...that while he's talking about all of these things, he has NO intention of spending a penny to bring that new business in.

So if you have a friend who is actually a friend, I encourage you to call them, email them, do something to let them know you appreciate them.

"Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel...things are gonna turn out fine if you only will."

Sometimes the people you think are your friends are just people you happen to know...you know?

:toast:

[Kali]

1. sounds like a real winner

what a dick, good riddance, sorry that you had to waste time on him and his company

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. When he got fired...

...I IMMEDIATELY purchased a domain name for him and started building a Website for him so that he could post his resume, qualifications, etc. and maybe get some lucrative consulting work while looking for his next position. I reached out to everyone in my network and scheduled a lunch with one of my former managers, who is still a good friend and mentor to this day.

And the whole time I was doing that, he knew that the reason I was helping him was that he couldn't keep it in his pants.

You live, you learn, and like I said...things like this really make you appreciate the people who ARE your friends.

:toast:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Amerigo Vespucci...

What a shitty thing he did to you, and to that woman. Some friend.

I value my friends. And you are one of them...

:hug:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. Thanks CP, and right back atcha.

:toast:

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. So...

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...is his position as president still open?
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[Amerigo Vespucci]

7. Yeah, they left it vacant for two years.

No, they had him shut down before they escorted him out of the building...they shut down his email, etc...and pretty much had his replacement standing at the door while they showed him the exit. This was well-planned...they dug the grave before they tossed him in it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. what a dipshit and that goes double for the boss.

and here is me letting you know that I appreciate you AV :hug:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. Thank you, and as Terri Garr said in Young Frankenstein...

"The feeling is moochul."

:rofl:

:toast:

[ThomasQED]

9. Why do guys like him rise to the top

more than once?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. He's a consummate con man

When he first came to the U.S., I met him through my brother-in-law. They "punked" me by having him introduce himself to me in a thick, heavy, cartoonish Indian accent punctuated with him bowing repeatedly and calling me "Mister (my real first name)"...

...If you remember Peter Sellers' "Hrundi Bakshi" character in "The Party," he spoke to me in that voice, only even more exaggerated...."Oh, Mister (my real name), it is certainly a pleasure to meet you I must say," and bowing like one of those plastic birds that drinks out of a glass the whole time.

So when that joke became apparent he laughed his ass of about that one too. His dad (wealthy) sent him here and paid for four years of Menlo College in advance (REALLY expensive) and he pissed that away getting high and getting laid.

Then I got him a job in the company I worked in at the time and he slowly put the con into play. He ultimately pushed his luck too far and as Forrest Whitaker said on "The Shield," the universe ultimately takes out its trash.

He also conned his way into this new VP position and is not bringing in clients (they have no salespeople right now, sales is his responsibility).

I asked him how many contacts he's making a day. NOT sales appointments...how many times a day is he prospecting, reaching out to POTENTIAL clients to see if there is a match. He said "6 or 8."

I said "You should be hitting 100."

His eyes bugged out and he said "A HUNDRED?" His boss was taking this all in, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.

I asked him how he begins his calls. He said "I introduce myself, and I go into my usual thing about our services, and how we can help them, and..."

I said "How much of the time do you spend LISTENING?"

He said "Oh, I listen."

I said "And you said you go into your "usual thing"...you can't HAVE a "usual thing." You have to do your homework and call up and let them KNOW you've done it and show an interest in THEM and ask questions and LISTEN."

He said "I do."

I said "Do you get the Business Journal every week?"

He said "I take a look at it online."

I said "They don;t put the majority of content online. It;s for subscribers only. If you went to the library once a week you could scan the whole thing cover to cover and come up with a powerful list of prospects to call."

He started going quiet on me at this point. I don't think his new boss has really examined his effectiveness in sales and I knew for damn sure it wasn't my place to go any further with the conversation.

:toast:

PS: When he first came to the U.S. he was married. His wife was also Indian, but her personality was that of a really annoying American stoner (everyone who met her hated her guts on first contact...she'd find some way to say something rude and insulting to you after knowing you all of five minutes)...that's all the two of them did in India, get high, which may be why his father paid for college and sent him here. A few years after he arrived the wife hooked up with an American surfer dude / stoner type and this guy's dog shit all over the inside of my friend's Camaro and ripped the hell out of the seats. Looking back, I can now see that it was a dose of Karma.

:toast:

[ThomasQED]

13. Wow. YOU should apply for that VP job!

I know exactly the type. We have one in our family. Can't do anything, yet always gets good jobs, even after being fired spectacularly.

I see it in the company I work for too, people who have no clue what they're doing but can BS their way through...

[kimi]

10. You know, you're a good person

and it's a shame that that guy will never realize what it is to be a good person.

I'm glad that you can still look at the good in people, says a lot about you, really. :)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. Thank you kimi...

...another good friend, former boss, mentor, friend to this day, told me once:

"You always give people the benefit of the doubt and look for the best in them, and when they don't actually HAVE a "best," you get hurt."

He was right...it doesn't hurt like it used to, though, and fortunately, I still do look for the good in people.

:toast:

[ThomCat]

14. You now know you can't ever trust him.

:(

That sucks that he got to so much benefit from your friendship, and he's not a friend.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

15. Yes, that was the hard part...the "knowing" part

My mom used to talk about forgiving people. She'd say "You don't do it for them. You do it for you.." This is one of those times. I don't intend to let the experience poison me the next time I need to be there for someone. That's a trap we fall into sometimes, making someone who's innocent pay for something someone else did to us. I thank God I can see that trap and steer clear of it.

:toast: