Some people let their titles go straight to their heads.

What would you do if someone tried to pull rank in court over a used car dispute, expecting everyone to treat them like royalty?

Would you sit quietly and play along?

Or would you match their ego with a little precision of your own?

In the following story, one general manager finds himself in this exact situation and decides to have a little fun.

Here’s what happened.

Tribute to my favourite uncle…

My uncle Buck was a lovely man.

He was quiet, but he would take everything in and then provide a devastating reply or observation.

He was the GM of a large car dealership, and in the ’70s, the dealership was sued by a used car buyer who decided he had paid too much for a car.

Buck had to represent the dealership in court, and he was pretty annoyed at wasting half a day in court.

When the plaintiff was identified to the court, he insisted on being referred to as “Doctor.”

His ethnicity is unimportant, but he came from a culture where titles and degrees were valued as symbols of social rank.

Two can play that game.

Buck had served in the Navy in the late 1940s, and he insisted that if the plaintiff was going to be recognized by his title, the court had to refer to him by his military rank—Lieutenant Commander, Retired.

The plaintiff went on with his evidence, and at the end of it, the judge asked him if it was fair to say that at this point, the plaintiff was the world’s leading authority on the fair market price of a 1973 Ford Mustang.

The Doctor beamed, stood up as tall as he could (neither he nor Buck were big men), and said, “Why yes.”

The judge was not impressed.

The judge looked at him and said, “It is a shame you didn’t achieve this status before you purchased the car.”

The judge found for the defendant without Buck having to present.

Leaving the building, Buck found himself in the elevator with the plaintiff.

Before they reached the ground floor, Buck leaned over to the Doctor and said, “I knew you were going to lose.”

Here’s where he shocked the doctor.

The Doctor seemed startled and then demanded to know how my uncle knew.

Buck replied, “I play golf with the judge,” and stepped out of the elevator, leaving the little Doctor outraged at the injustice.

What Buck said was half true; he did play golf.

Hilarious! That’s one way to get the guy back.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about what he did.

It was quite genius.

According to this person, it was mean and funny.

Alrighty then.

Here’s someone who can relate to the social rank portion of it.

That was so well-played!

Guys like this need to be knocked down a few pegs.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.