Petty grievances in the workplace are the backbone of shows like The Office.

In this story, a man shares how he got back at a coworker who insisted on saying things the wrong way… Twice.

I can imagine Jim doing this to Dwight.

Let’s read the whole story.

Colleague was adamant he wanted “Asterixes” on his presentation. You got it buddy.

I was working in a marketing department in the mid 00s.

A colleague, Paul, was pacing up and down behind his desk, dictating a PowerPoint presentation to me whilst I put it together and made it pretty.

He said he wanted an Asterix in front of every bullet point.

Well I’m a terrible pedant and don’t really get on with this guy.

We had an argument yesterday, I mean, the day before this incident, about aitch/haitch which he refused to concede despite me practically rubbing his face in the dictionary.

So I’m in the mood to argue with him again.

He tries to give him a chance.

“You mean asterisk, not Asterix” I said, as passively as possible.

He stopped and stared at me.

“It’s an ASTERIX. …RIX. It’s a little star if you don’t know what it is.”

“Yeah, that’s an ASTERISK. …RISK.”

“You’re wrong. It’s Asterix.”

He called backup, too.

He looked at our other colleague in this three man department.

“It’s Asterix right?” John just shrugged silently and kept his head down.

“I wasn’t wrong yesterday was I? Should I fetch the dictionary?”

“No need. It’s Asterix. End of story. Just do it.”

“I’ll do it, no problem. Just to be clear, you want an ASTERIX in front of every point, not an ASTERISK?”

“YES.”

“Ok buddy.”

His fate was sealed.

For the younger ones and those who might not know, Asterix or Asterix the Gaul is the main character from an internationally popular French comic.

Since Paul was so adamant it was what he wanted, I quickly snagged a suitable picture from Google images; Asterix the Gaul wagging his finger triumphantly in the air.

Perfect for making a point.

It was perfect.

Paul was hoping to print the thing off and head straight into the boardroom by the time he saw it.

“WHAT’S THIS? A VIKING?”

“I’m confused. It’s Asterix. He’s a Gaul, not a Viking. It’s what you demanded. Weird I know, but you were adamant. I did double check with you.”

It was his second loss in two days and if memory serves, the last time we had an argument like that. 😅

He is the definition of grammar police, but more fun.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

Nostalgic.

Good thing he didn’t know that.

He’s dogmatix.

It’s inspiring.

This reader shares a similar experience.

Another commenter chimes in.

Why not keep it?

I think this should be the new standard for all professional PowerPoint presentations.

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.