Boss is running scared!
I started working for a marketing/promotional company back in 1985, wotking in their factory on a printing press. Over the years, I worked my way up in the company to their Scheduling department, working to develop a Scheduling/MRP program to streamline order flow and processing.
Over the years, I had worked hard within the company, and received little in return. After 13 years of service, I was only making $13/hour, and being the only software developer that was unsupported by the corporate IS department, well, let's say it decreased my morale and company spirit a bit. I started partaking in several unscheduled long weekends and "extra" vacation days.
On a dark afternoon in February of 1998, I received word from a trusted friend within the company that I was going to be let go the following day. Having been given a keycard to access pretty much the entire company, I went back to the office, and promptly hobbled the software I had spent the last 3 years writing, rendering it completely useless. Yes, believe it or not, people like me DO write backdoors in programs just for situations like this. I left the building and awaited the dreaded next day.
I entered my office promptly at 8:30AM the following day, like I did most of the time, wondering if my sources had informed me correctly. As I swung the door to my office open, it had become perfectly clear to me that my mole had been right, as my computer was missing from my desk. Of course, I called the IS department to inquire about my missing computer, and they told me that I "would be receiving some information about it soon". My manager walked in and called me into a room, where they gave me the obligatory "we're sorry to have to do this" speech as they let me go, told me about my severance pay, and all the typical things that companies do to make you think they give a damn about your well-being. When my boss was done, I stood up, laughed like an idiot, and walked out, taking my paperwork with me. The looks on their faces were like a Mastercard commercial, PRICELESS!
Within 72 hours, I received a call from my boss' boss, asking me if I'd be interested in coming back on a consulting basis, because "the software I wrote was experiencing issues that the IS department couldn't resolve". I told them I'd certainly come back, for $125 an hour. Needless to say, I never got a callback on that offer. Shame on them for not drawing up a contract claiming ownership of that software I wrote! :)
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