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OK, I work for an automation company, contracting out for electrical and programming work. Over the last 5-10 years, there's been a client, A.(I've only worked there 2, and have already accepted a job offer to get out, but can't start till Jan 14th, but that's another thread), who we've done quite a bit of work for (His folder is the second-largest on the server, coming in at 3.5GB)
Anyway, A contracts us to work on projects he's been contracted to do for company M. We also do work directly for M. Ever since day one, A has rubbed people the wrong way, he's very demanding, and will be polite to your face, then stab you in the back when he talks to a co-worker. Nobody likes dealing wt him, he's an old, condescending, arrogant prick. The first time I had to deal with him was 2 weeks after I started working there, and thankfully never had to deal with him again until recently.
It only took that first encounter for me to hate the guy. We'd written a VB program for him back in the time of Windows 2000, and now that PC was being replaced with an XP machine, and we were having trouble getting the program to run. I was there with A, and H, a senior engineer who was essentially my supervisor. I dared to suggest trying to run it in compatibility mode, since they hadn't tried that yet, and was told by A to go away and be quiet, I was only a kid, and not even a proper engineer (I was 22, and had finished a 4 year Computer Systems Engineering degree with honours).
Anyway, nearly two years go by, and that computer gets blown up, after someone sticks it into a 240V socket without switching the PSU from 115V. he wants us to re-build it, re-install everything, he'll supply the computer though. Oh, wait, no, he wants US to supply the computer (so we'd get lumped with warranty issues).
S I do an estimate for the time needed, and the price of the computer. I give it to our quotes guy, tell him who it's for, and he tells me it'll have to wait until he can talk to te Boss, and decide how much of a grief tax to give him. Turns out this guy's special in that every job we quote for him, we bump up the price depending on how much grief he's been giving my boss recently. So my estimate for 14 hour's work and a $1400 computer turns into a quote for 24 hours at $90/hour, and a $1900 computer. M thought this was too high, so he didn't get the job to replace the computer.
He then waltzes into our workplace a month later, demanding to talk to me, then and there, to sit down and calculate the hours needed for a new job to his satisfaction. After wasting nearly two hours of my time, he finally gets to what he wants done, which immediately elicits this response from me "So you want VB programming done? I don't know VB. You need to talk to H. He's usually in on Fridays." He wasn't happy, but he left. I talked to our estimating guy, and was told not to worry, every time A wants a job done, he needs a quote. Every quote he gets, we're increasing the price, because he's causing us so much trouble we don't want him as a client any more.
That Friday, he calls up H, demanding that he sit down right then and there to discuss what needs to be done, and saying H WILL be going down to M on Saturday to do the work. H explains that he's too busy Friday, because everyone's already booked his time, and Sat he's working on another site. A gets even more annoyed.
The following Thursday, he rings and gets our receptionist. He asks for my Boss, who isn't there. This is explained to him. he then asks for H, who has left instructions that he's taking no calls that day, that she's to take messages for him. She politely explains this to him. His response: "No! I do not leave messages. I'm too important to leave messages. You WILL put me through to H now!."
She explains that she's sorry, she's been given specific instructions, she can only take a message to pass on.
"Who are you to tell me I have to leave a message? You're just a stupid little girl! I'm too important to be told..." And at this point, she interrupts him with "Screw you." and hangs up on him.
The next day he calls my boss, and they get into a shouting match. My boss knows he abused the receptionist the previous day, and the end result is that A is told we will never be doing any work for him in the future, nor will we be supporting any work we've done that's no longer under a support agreement (which is all of it) no matter how much we're offered.
It felt so good to know he's finally had his comeuppance. The lesson to be learned here is: Don't be a dick.
Anyway, A contracts us to work on projects he's been contracted to do for company M. We also do work directly for M. Ever since day one, A has rubbed people the wrong way, he's very demanding, and will be polite to your face, then stab you in the back when he talks to a co-worker. Nobody likes dealing wt him, he's an old, condescending, arrogant prick. The first time I had to deal with him was 2 weeks after I started working there, and thankfully never had to deal with him again until recently.
It only took that first encounter for me to hate the guy. We'd written a VB program for him back in the time of Windows 2000, and now that PC was being replaced with an XP machine, and we were having trouble getting the program to run. I was there with A, and H, a senior engineer who was essentially my supervisor. I dared to suggest trying to run it in compatibility mode, since they hadn't tried that yet, and was told by A to go away and be quiet, I was only a kid, and not even a proper engineer (I was 22, and had finished a 4 year Computer Systems Engineering degree with honours).
Anyway, nearly two years go by, and that computer gets blown up, after someone sticks it into a 240V socket without switching the PSU from 115V. he wants us to re-build it, re-install everything, he'll supply the computer though. Oh, wait, no, he wants US to supply the computer (so we'd get lumped with warranty issues).
S I do an estimate for the time needed, and the price of the computer. I give it to our quotes guy, tell him who it's for, and he tells me it'll have to wait until he can talk to te Boss, and decide how much of a grief tax to give him. Turns out this guy's special in that every job we quote for him, we bump up the price depending on how much grief he's been giving my boss recently. So my estimate for 14 hour's work and a $1400 computer turns into a quote for 24 hours at $90/hour, and a $1900 computer. M thought this was too high, so he didn't get the job to replace the computer.
He then waltzes into our workplace a month later, demanding to talk to me, then and there, to sit down and calculate the hours needed for a new job to his satisfaction. After wasting nearly two hours of my time, he finally gets to what he wants done, which immediately elicits this response from me "So you want VB programming done? I don't know VB. You need to talk to H. He's usually in on Fridays." He wasn't happy, but he left. I talked to our estimating guy, and was told not to worry, every time A wants a job done, he needs a quote. Every quote he gets, we're increasing the price, because he's causing us so much trouble we don't want him as a client any more.
That Friday, he calls up H, demanding that he sit down right then and there to discuss what needs to be done, and saying H WILL be going down to M on Saturday to do the work. H explains that he's too busy Friday, because everyone's already booked his time, and Sat he's working on another site. A gets even more annoyed.
The following Thursday, he rings and gets our receptionist. He asks for my Boss, who isn't there. This is explained to him. he then asks for H, who has left instructions that he's taking no calls that day, that she's to take messages for him. She politely explains this to him. His response: "No! I do not leave messages. I'm too important to leave messages. You WILL put me through to H now!."
She explains that she's sorry, she's been given specific instructions, she can only take a message to pass on.
"Who are you to tell me I have to leave a message? You're just a stupid little girl! I'm too important to be told..." And at this point, she interrupts him with "Screw you." and hangs up on him.
The next day he calls my boss, and they get into a shouting match. My boss knows he abused the receptionist the previous day, and the end result is that A is told we will never be doing any work for him in the future, nor will we be supporting any work we've done that's no longer under a support agreement (which is all of it) no matter how much we're offered.
It felt so good to know he's finally had his comeuppance. The lesson to be learned here is: Don't be a dick.
Being here a The Convenience Store has given me a small taste of that kind of power... just enough to make double-sure I'm never going to piss off someone like that again.
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