His Name Is Now Mud

(I work at my family business, which was started by my grandfather and expanded by my father. I started at the bottom making minimum wage out in the warehouse. One day, a coworker and I have been told we need to come in early the next day. He is clearly unhappy and begins to rant.)

Coworker: “Can you believe that a**hole! Making us come in that early… it’s f***ing ridiculous! He thinks he can make us do all this s***! All them d*** [family name]’s never worked a day in their life and they treat us like absolute s***!”

(He continues to rant about my family for quite some time. Finally he pauses to take a breath and I can get a word in edgewise.)

Me: “I don’t think that’s true. [My grandfather] started this company. [My father] started here when the company was still tiny, and they have done plenty.”

Coworker: “Man, what the f*** you know? You just started here! How do you know any of that crap?”

Me: “You know, I don’t think I caught your name.”

Coworker: “I’m [name]. Who might you be?”

Me: “I’m [first name] [family name]. Nice to meet you.”

(The gears finally click in his head about who I am, and he turns ghost white and begins to stammer over himself trying to backpedal. I never told any of my family, however; he was fired later that day for cussing out a client.)