Adios!

Received a text from a friend and former coworker. He broke the news about the death of our former boss.

“Good,” I responded, “Adios!”

And then I thought about it.

Kind of a nasty way to respond to such news, but the guy was a crazed, mean person when he controlled the lives of those who worked for his company.

I walked out one day after he called his secretary a “fat, stupid bitch.”

He did this in front of about 12 employees. I got up and walked out and he screamed at me, wondering where I was going.

“I’m not listening to that,” I said.

I was just 27 years old, and it was a REAL job.

I went home.

Two hours later, he called me and asked if I’d come in and talk to him.

He started the meeting telling me about all the pressure he was under.

“You can’t talk to people like that.”

He cried, and apologized to everyone and the poor secretary.

The frustrating thing about him is that he was absolutely brilliant, but he was terribly emotionally unstable.

I left his company a few days after the building janitor told him that he needed afternoons off to undergo cancer treatments.

“We are going to let you go,” he responded. “If you can’t do your job I’m not going to pay you.”

That was the final straw.

And it was 25 years ago.

We only spoke one more time.

He called me to refer a client to me. I did the training for the guy, and thanked my former boss in a voicemail.

He didn’t respond.

I’m not sure how the rest of his life went.

I hope he found some peace and learned how to be compassionate…

…we knew one another for a decade.

Not sure I’ll make the wake.