The Manager Who Fired His Stepfather Wanted His Contracting Business—So He Let Him Buy Lunch Before Turning Him Down
Shutterstock
If you don’t treat people well, you always have to worry about how that will come back to bite you someday.
What would you do if your stepfather got fired by his manager years ago, but the manager who fired him was now reaching out to you to try to become an approved contractor for your company?
That is what happened to the guy in this story, so he let that old manager take him out to an expensive lunch, and at the end, he revealed who he was. Of course, the old manager did not get put on the approved contractor list, which potentially cost him thousands of dollars.
This was a great story that really shows why it is so important to always treat people (and especially employees) fairly. Read through the full story below and see what you think about it.
Owner fired my dad, then came asking for work. Denied.
Back in 1997, my step-dad was the operations manager at a company that did telecommunications work.
It is great if you can find a career you love.
He hired me to work at the company for the summer, but I ended up enjoying the work and made a career out of it.
About 4 months into my employment at the company, the owner and my step-dad had a disagreement over something very trivial and the owner fired my dad.
It’s good that he didn’t get fired at the same time.
Since he’s my step-dad, we have different last names, and I didn’t feel like I would get caught up in this issue. I had my own issues with this company as well.
Mostly not being paid correctly and being denied benefits promised. Ended up working for another 18 months for the company before I left to work for a major telecommunications provider that we had done some work for.
Treat people right, and you don’t have to worry about this type of thing.
At the new company, I eventually took a position where I was responsible for hiring contractors, much like the company my dad and I worked for, to do construction.
One day I got a call out of the blue from the owner of the contractor company. He wanted to see if he could get on my list of approved contractors and was hoping we could discuss it over lunch.
There is a lot of money on the table.
Typically a project of this type would be a $75k-$200k project, and I would do 20-30 projects per year, so it could be a lucrative source of revenue for them.
I agreed to a lunch date with the owner at a fancy restaurant I always wanted to try. His pitch consisted of telling me what his company was capable of, how he valued his employees and took good care of them.
He is about to realize that this won’t work out.
He mentioned the list of other companies he’s done work for and the quality of the work. I mentioned that I used to work for his company and he clearly didn’t remember my name.
I also asked if he remembered the guy who hired me, and he said he did. When I mentioned he was my step-dad, the look of panic in his eyes set in.
This was likely the best meal he ever had.
He clearly remembered my step-dad. I closed out the lunch meeting with a thank you for the food and an apology that my contractor list was full of more capable contractors, but would keep him in mind if something were to change.
Never heard back from him again.
As a manager, you should never fire people without a very serious reason, and this story is just one illustration of why. You never know who you will come in contact with down the road.
Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.
This commenter’s old manager was lazy and a liar.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
Burning bridges can be very expensive.
This commenter has a similar story.
Clearly the guy was a liar. Or delusional.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who quiet quit, then quit for real, following a no-overtime mandate.
This is a great way to say it.
If he had treated his employees right, he wouldn’t be in this situation. Whether you are above someone or below, you should treat them fairly at all times.
This is a lesson that many people don’t learn in life, and it often ends up costing them dearly.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
