Unfiltered Story #89469

Late in my college career my school purchased the first large time share computer in the state. To defray the cost, it rented out compute time to a major accounting firm in a large city 30 miles away. Because rapid long distance transmission did not exist and tapes had to be hung, a team of accountants showed up periodically to work.

The chief among them was a man who resembled a malignant toad and was relatively unpleasant. To be fair, he had reason to be as the cadre of computer nerds, me among them, did various things to annoy him. I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary nor was I the principal in the actions; I didn’t think they really knew who I was.

Fast forward a three years and I’m teaching an honors Physics class near the large city. There were seven students in it so things were relaxed. Among the group was a man whose brother was an accountant, a fact that didn’t register with me. Until…

One Monday this student came in laughing like crazy. Over the weekend his brother had introduced him to a gentleman who turned out to be the malignant toad. During the conversation my name came up. My student’s statement, through tears of laughter:

“He doesn’t like you!”