I had a terrible boss years ago. This guy was not just an a-hole, but took pleasure in being one. He would smile as he humiliated and insulted people, and often acted in cruel ways for no other reason than to be cruel.

At one point, a position opened up in another state, and I threw my hat in for it because I wanted to move there. I was given the transfer and told to be out there in a month to start.

I broke my lease, and my spouse left their job. We went out there and found an apartment. Literally two days before we were set to leave, this guy called up and said he changed his mind, and I wasn’t getting the transfer.

To say I was angry was an understatement. I quit on the spot, and luckily found another job in that state less than two weeks later, so everything worked out for me.

A few years after this, I head from some people still at the company that he was fired over some dumbass move where he was in talks for a job at the competition, using his company email to negotiate it. This was schadendfreude enough, but it got even better.

He didn’t get the other job, and apparently couldn’t pick up ANY job. A year went by. Then two. Then, his wife took off with the kids and left him alone. Then, he lost his house. Apparently he ended up moving in with his mother, at 57 years old. And even then, he didn’t get another job. 4 years had passed.

Meanwhile, I climbed up in my career and eventually ended up in a position to hire someone. Guess whose resume ended up on my desk?

I immediately scheduled an interview. I had no intention of hiring him. I just wanted to see him sitting on the other side of the desk squirming and pathetic, dependent on my mercy to lift him out of the toilet his life had become. I wanted to give him false hope and dash it on the rocks, just as he had done to me years before. It was glorious. He reeked of desperation and even had the gall to pretend like we were old buddies back in the day. It was a great pleasure to let him get two interviews deep in to the process and then dash his hopes.

It may seem cruel but trust me, this guy deserved it. There is truth to the saying “be careful who you step on on the way up, because you will see them again on the way down”. Last I heard of him, he was busted in a prostitution sting and charged criminally.