'She was employed there for 45 minutes': Boss accidentally loses tarantula-loving new hire after breaking her only request

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 12, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

When you're the expert in your field, you can choose to be picky about what jobs you accept. That's what happened in the case of u/themcp's friend: she was not just a leading system admin in her field, she was the leading name in her field. "She built the largest private Internet network that existed at the time," the OP writes, adding that it's still in use today. 

This system admin was hired at a prestigious tech firm in her role as "the expert on the subject at the time." Good for this woman for knowing her worth! If you're really the leader in your field, you deserve to be treated as such. 

Scroll down to check out this story. The OP also popped up to answer a few comments---including those asking why his friend didn't reach out to her job after her messy first day. Maybe it's for the best, though. If you're spotting red flags on your very first day at the job, like an utterly inattentive boss, maybe making a swift exit is your best bet. 

Next up, these people shared the ways you'll know if you're talking to someone wealthy, like one person who said, "[They] asked about who her shoe cobbler was."

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  • 01
    Hand
    via Lars Kienle on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - The shortest term employee at a prestigious tech firm M OC (This story happened to a friend of mine over 30 years ago. Names are protected.)
    via u/themcp
  • 03
    Font - One of my friends used to be a systems administrator, one of the top people who ever worked in the field. She built the largest private Internet network that existed at the time, for a major university. (If there are any top people in the field here you already know who
    via u/themcp
  • 04
    Font - I'm talking about, please don't mention her name.) She tells me stories about warming her pizza on top of the PDP-11 and having to talk to the NRC before she could install computers in the building close to the nuclear reactor.
    via u/themcp
  • 05
    Font - Whether you know it or not there is a good chance that you use software she designed on a daily basis. (She's kinda baffled that it is still in use.)
    via u/themcp
  • 06
    Font - When she left that job, a very prestigious tech firm in Boston hired her to be their expert on computer networks. Hiring her was a real coup for the new employer, she really was the expert on the subject at the time.
    via u/themcp
  • 07
    Font - Now, she (like many top tech people of the time) basically lived in her office (she had an official home, but would only end up there a few times a week), so when she was hired one condition she put on working there was that she be allowed to bring her pet tarantula,
    via u/themcp
  • 08
    Font - in its tank, to her office, because otherwise she wouldn't see it often enough to feed it and it would die. So this was agreed and put into her contract by HR and upper management. important.) (This fact becomes
    via u/themcp
  • 09
    Font - On her start date she arrived and was putting her books and things on shelves in her new office, and the tarantula tank was sitting on her new desk. Her new boss walked in, made small talk for a little while, saw the tank, and said:
    via u/themcp
  • 10
    Font - Boss: EEK, What is that? Friend: That's my tarantula. Would you like to pet her? Boss: That's not allowed in here, you have to take it away right now!
    via u/themcp
  • 11
    Font - So my friend did as the boss asked. She took her books off the shelves, took the tank, and went home. She was employed there for 45 minutes, and the company lost the world's leading expert on computer networks because the boss hadn't bothered to read the contract for her new star employee.
    via u/themcp
  • 12
    Font - the123king-reddit As an owner of a PDP- 11/23, i can confirm you can warm pizza on them I wouldn't, but you could. 259 Reply Share themcp OP Apparently the Digital people freaked out at her when they came in to clean the machine because they found cheese inside.
    via u/the123king-reddit
  • 13
    Font - emp9th Did the company contact her to see what happened and try to smooth it over or was she just not feeling the place at they broke the contact in less than an hour into working
    via u/emp9th
  • 14
    Font - themcp OP I think she was not feeling the place not specifically over the contract issue, although that was what enabled her to just pack up and leave, but because if they gave her a boss that was that stupid, that wasn't a sign of good things to come from that organization. Frankly I've also had jobs that started badly enough that if I, like her, was financially able to do without the job, I
    via u/themcp
  • 15
    Font - would have walked out the door in a similarly short time. She never said anything to me about them trying to contact her afterward, but I'm sure if they had there wouldn't have been anything they could do about it. The company in question used to be big and prestigious but that was sort of at their pinnacle... they don't exist any more.
    via u/themcp
  • 16
    Font - [deleted] Remindes me of the band that didnt do a show because the venue manager didnt read the contract which specifically asked for a bowl of m&ms.... green ones only. edit: brown ones whatever
    via u/deleted
  • 17
    Font - ▸ [deleted] I don't know who this woman is but she's my hero. For being brilliant, for not taking c from people, and for loving her tarantula.
    via u/deleted
  • 18
    Font - themcp OP Brilliant doesn't even begin to describe it. I once wanted to get a job at Harvard. (What can I say, I was young and foolish...) She wrote me a recommendation, which I included with my application. When they got it, when they saw her name on it, they phoned and asked if I could start that day.
    via u/themcp
  • 19
    Gesture - k1r0v_report1ng I would've loved to see the company's response to this, if there was any lol.
    via u/k1r0v_report1ng
  • 20
    Font - wontcontribute Wait, couldn't she have just told the boss about the contract and asked him to read that once if he had any doubts. Her walking out like that seems a bit harsh. Also what happened to the boss after that? 13 Reply Share phile- you are the literal expert in the field not an expert, the expert. some company hires you, agrees to your terms, and then your boss has no knowledge of these terms?
    via u/wontcontribute
  • 21
    Font - that demonstrates how careless and incompetent the company is, why would she stay? again there is no one alive at this point with her knowledge, she could have a job within minutes if she wanted due to her position.
    via u/wontcontribute
  • 22
    Product - chandra381 What happened next? Did the company try and follow up? Did anything happen to the boss? 1 Reply Share themcp OP My friend wasn't the sort of person to follow up with them to find out.
    via u/chandra381

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admin malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit spider system science malicious compliance reddit Tech boss fired work stories hired work workplace
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