I was working in this large government agency in NYC in the computer lab with a female coworker. She was OK, maybe because I kept my distance from her.
We needed an assistant and hired a man that was just let go from Montclair State University. You see his previous manageress and part time tyrant called him useless every chance she had. I remember the first day he showed up for work in his tie and white shirt, I told him to dress down. The computer lab was in a remote building far away from anyone ever seeing us. The next day he showed up in khakis and a dress shirt. I insisted that he dress down further. After all I was in jeans and a teeshirt every day. By his third day he was wearing jeans.
I quickly knew that this job was way below his capabilities and told him so before the end of his first week. The look of shock on his face was a combination of “Is he going to fire me because I’m over qualified?” and “I never thought I was so valuable.”
Needless to say we bonded instantly. He introduced me to an “Open Source” programming language and we would talk about relationships and our respective single moms. It was amazing how his psycho mom was so much like mine in many ways.
As luck would have it, a few short months later, my manager was fired by the project leader and upper management was upset that the project leader didn’t hire a replacement before firing my manager. With a little quick thinking, the project manager said he did hire someone for my manager’s job. Now my assistant became my manager.
I was OK with his new position, he had to dress the part and deal with the real idiots, the executives. He immediately apologized for his quick promotion and I laughed, congratulating him for doing a job I would have refused. Over the years we had a very great friend manager relationship. He politely did his job and I respected his position all while being friends.
Years went by and the project ended. I went my way and he went his. He ended up working for this technology firm starting salary $240,000 a year plus bonus and stock options. This was a far cry from useless his previous manager would have him believe.
The funny part of the story is that his previous manager in MSU got fired herself and moved back to Ohio where she is the assistant manager of a local supermarket.