Funny story

While trading old memories with a co-worker today, I was reminded of this gem.

I was working for a major rent-to-own chain, and I was right out of college. I'd been there about 6-8 months, and was ready to move on to bigger and better things. In fact, I was preparing to start my career at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. It would be this career move that provided the fuel for all the repo stories.

I had interviewed with ERAC on three occasions, and they were doing the background check. I knew it would come back clean, so I was simply waiting for the call.

One afternoon in late May, I got the call. The phone rang at my place of business. My boss - who was a real "work of art" - answered. He put the caller on hold, and yelled to me:
"[Usagi]! There's a fagot on line 2 for you!"
The hiring manager from ERAC did not have the most masculine voice, but that was no way to talk about someone. It was however, par for the course for this manager of mine, whose first name was Mark.

I answered the line and accepted the offer. ERAC wanted me to start Tuesday, June 15, 1999. Immediately after that, I had several deliveries to do. Fortunately, one of the deliveries was near the apartment I lived in at the time.

I swung by my place and printed off and picked up my resignation letter, and took it back with me to the store I worked at. By this time, it was getting a bit late - 4:30 or so. When I got back to the store, I found that the boss, Mark, had gone home early.

So I did what any right-minded 23-year-old would. I left the resignation letter on his desk.

The next day was my day off. I got over 40 phone calls from the office. I did not answer any of them. The following morning, I was scheduled to go in at 10:00 am. I got nearly a dozen phone calls from the boss by 9:30 - and none of them were answered. The phone stopped ringing after that.

When I went in, the look on his face was priceless. He was mad in the worst sort of way. He was confrontational those last two weeks, but then, he had always been... and I never really knew any better.