I have three related stories.
3) So I'm getting near FIRE, but a company I knew very well asked me to give them one or two years to help win work. I knew the President and my regional office personnel very well. The only person who I did not know was a person who held a title above mine and I was supposed to report to him. Before I joined he took me out to dinner and he just talked about himself for 2 hours. On top of that, he was ordering $100 bottles of wine (which of course the company paid for) which did not impress me.
Anyway, although hesitant, I decided to take the job. Towards the end of the first day, I'm out in the field with a client, and this person calls me and tells me to stop at the office on my way home and pick up a FAX he is leaving for me to review and he is going to fly in from 2000 miles away to meet me in the morning and review the FAX.
Well, the FAX is like a 40 page case study...I glance at it for just a few minutes on the way into work the next day. I get to the office, and there he is..we are now locked in a conference room (glass windows facing the hallway so everyone can see) and I'm getting grilled for hours about a case study I didn't really read. It's important to mention that I was fairly well known in my industry after 30 years and didn't appreciate getting a lecture in Marketing 101.
To make a long story short, before I went home he told me to bone up for Day 2. Well I walked right into him the next morning as he was perched in the same conference room and told him I quit. He was at a loss for words...apparently he would look terrible if word got out that I quit after 2 days (the President of the company was someone I had a good relationship with).
So now major damage control had to take place. There was no Day 2 of the Case Study and I said I'd stay if I didn't report to him. I won that battle, stayed for a year plus, then FIRED, but still do some consulting work for that company from time to time.
