I was working for a call centre as a Systems Administrator (having moved from phone operator to supervisor and on into that role in around two years). Six years in, I was, in some ways, keeping the company together. For example, I continued as Systems Administrator whilst also managing the teams (60+ people) on two of the biggest and most high-profile campaigns in the company’s history. Nevertheless, I became persona non grata in some quarters — for reasons I’m still not clear on — and it was enough to get me fired.

I took them to the employment tribunal for constructive dismissal and won. Once I got the settlement funds in my account I dobbed them into Microsoft for having close on 100 instances of unlicensed software - that would have attracted a fine of several hundred thousand dollars. The business went under shortly thereafter.

A year or so later my (now ex) wife was being given a tour of a client’s premises. She ducked out of sight when she saw my former manager working in their call centre. They asked what she knew about him because they’d been having trouble with him. She contacted me and asked if it was OK to tell them about what had been done to me. I, of course, said yes. So, she told them about his involvement in firing me, how pivotal I had been to the company and that the company had subsequently gone under. They already had grounds for giving him a warning, but this information was what decided them on firing him. I doubt he has any idea what happened.

Some years later, I was DJing the wedding of one of my former colleague’s daughters. One of the guests was the son of the MD of that business. Upon seeing that it was me DJing, he went stony-faced and made a b-line for the door. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that, at the end of the night, when I went to my van to start packing up, that my wing mirror had been smashed off my vehicle. Yes, it was a public car park, so it could’ve been anyone… the prominent smearing of wedding cake icing on my window suggests otherwise. The individual in question continues to fail upwards from what I can tell (I no longer live in the country where this all took place).