Revenge or sweet revenge?

On the spur of the moment, my lovely wife and I decided on a two hour drive to have lunch with a friend.

We go back a long long way and we’ve kept in touch over the years. He was free for lunch and looking for company. I called him up and he put us on the reservations.

Over lunch we caught up on what he’s been doing lately. About 7 months ago he started as an engineering consultant to a company he once worked for. That company had laid him off and transferred the engineering department to a foreign company.

During those two years my friend was unable to find suitable work in his field. He was offered jobs, but they would have required him to relocate. He and his wife have roots where he lives and moving would have been a last resort.

After two years the company that fired him quietly asked if he’d be willing to do some work as a consultant. The design team that had replaced him totally messed things up. On some projects they worked for over a year and were unable to produce a successful product. My buddy has been able to solve the very same problems working part time from home.

After his 6 month contract was up, they signed him on for another year -with a huge bonus and pay increase. That’s nice, but I think he gets as much satisfaction from making the foreign team look really bad. He gets to do that on a regular basis. They are on their way out and know it.

As for icing on the cake, the boss who fired him eventually was fired.

My buddy works from home most of the time and only goes into the office a few times a month. That’s how he can take leisurely lunches that stretch into offices back at his house. If he wants to take half the day off that’s his business. Nice.

Once in a while we get to see karma in action. What goes around comes around.

-Sixbears