This story is about my dad, his first job, and a dish served very cold years later.
Years ago, my dad got his first job in sales at a wholesale computer shop. He got the role through a connection, and he was the only sales guy on the team. The rest of the staff included two technicians. My dad actually knew one of the technicians already they were former batchmates from an IT course.
You would think having a familiar face would make things easier, but it was the opposite. As time went on, it became clear that the two technicians hated him. They treated him like absolute garbage. It wasn’t just workplace banter; it was actual mental torture. It seemed like their only purpose in coming to work was to make my dad miserable.
It got so bad that my dad would go home and cry every single day. His mental health took a massive hit, and naturally, he couldn’t perform well in sales because he was a wreck. He even went to the owner’s house once and broke down crying, begging for help regarding these two. The owner didn’t care. Eventually, my dad was fired for “poor performance.”
That experience was so traumatic that my dad quit sales entirely. He pivoted into teaching, which he ended up loving. Fast forward many years, and he worked his way up to become the Principal of an international school.
One day, the school was in the market to purchase a large number of PCs. A salesperson showed up at the school to discuss quotes. My dad got a call from his assistant saying there was a vendor waiting to see him.
My dad asked for the name. He immediately realized who it was. It was the “batchmate” technician the same guy who had tormented him years ago.
My dad told his assistant to make him wait.
He let the guy sit there for two and a half hours. My dad went about his day, drank his coffee, and did paperwork while this guy sat in the waiting room, probably sweating bullets.
Finally, he told the assistant to send him in. The technician walked in, but he clearly didn’t realize the power dynamic had shifted. He started with all the formalities, asking how my dad was, trying to be charmed. Then, he had the nerve to pull the “old friends” card.
He said, “Do you remember we used to be batchmates in that IT course? Those were such lovely times!”
Here is the kicker: Not once during the meeting did the technician mention the time they worked together at the wholesale shop. He conveniently “forgot” the months he spent tormenting my dad because he knew if he brought it up, the sale was dead.
Instead, he ended up oversharing because he was desperate. He told my dad he had been fired from that original shop, fired from multiple jobs after that, and eventually took out a large loan to start his own shop. He admitted his shop wasn’t doing well and he really needed this sale to make his loan payments, otherwise, he might have to close down.
The same man who used to make my dad cry was now calling him “Sir,” being super respectful, and practically begging for my dad’s help.
My dad decided to twist the knife. He didn’t kick him out immediately. He listened to the pitch for a full 20 minutes, asking questions, nodding, and giving the guy false hope that he was actually going to get this life-saving contract.
After wasting nearly 3 hours of this guy’s day and getting his hopes up, my dad simply told him, “I’ll let you know.”
He did not buy the PCs.
We later found out that the owner of that original store the one who fired my dad went bankrupt and is now working a menial job as a technician at a repair shop. As for the bully? I doubt his shop stayed open much longer without that sale.
TL;DR: My dad was bullied by a technician at his first job until he was fired. Years later, my dad is a school Principal and the bully (now a failing business owner) showed up to pitch a sale he desperately needed. Dad made him wait 2.5 hours, let him do his whole pitch to get his hopes up, and then denied him the sale.
PS: The story is true and the editing was done with the help of Gemini as I suck at storytelling and I do not think anyone would have understood what sotry I was trying to convey if I did not take help from an AI tool.
