Chapter 8: Max

"It ends up that even when things seem to be going right, they can go south out of nowhere." David sat next to a fat man in his late 50s. The man was Max, the former head of the IT department and a longtime colleague of David. "I told you you should have accepted the promotion years ago." "David, I already told you that I don't want to be the CTO and take on all the responsibilities that come with it." "She couldn't have fired you that easily if you were the CTO." "Let it go, David. It's her family's company. She's destined to inherit it, and it's only a matter of time until her father makes her the next CEO." "She's completely incompetent. She's already mismanaging things, and she's not even the head of the company. I swear she'll burn the whole company to the ground." "Good, we'll get our severance pay. We're the lucky ones that left when they still hadn't gone bankrupt." "Why aren't you more angry?" "Why would I be?" "You helped build this company. You've spent decades of your life working here." "Her grandpa had a sharp eye for people, and he hired me with a very alluring deal. It was a great contract, but I was never loyal to the company; I've been loyal to our agreement and the contract itself. Her father knew it and respected me for the excellent work that I've done for them over the years. That's how my job only got cushier and cushier until it was so good that I would even refuse to receivng a promotion. Even if it was a promotion to the position of CTO, I liked where I was, and if I want to, I can easily start my retirement early." "Max, I know you well enough to know you're not retiring even long after your 70s." "I love what I do, and I do it to relax, so how do you expect me to relax without doing work?" "You're just built differently." "Well, enough about me... What are you going to do?" "What do you mean?" "You're still young, David, and you have a long journey ahead of you." "I don't know... I need a job, so I guess I should find another company to pick up from where I was... I'm really not sure." "How about the girl situation? You never told me how your date with that girl you met online went." "It was horrible. Things were going just right, and then poof. Out of nowhere, I got kicked out mid-act." "Mid Act?" "Yeah, I don't wanna talk about it." "It must have been a family member barging in, something like that happened to me too back in the day." "Dude, I do not wanna hear that story." "How about this, I know a place, and I'll use my connections to get you an invite." "By a place, do you mean a club?" "Yes, a club, where else?" "Not a strip club?" "No no a normal club to party and whatnot." "You think I'll meet a girl there?" "yeah sure!" "Thanks, but I'm seeing a girl." "Oh, so you got yourself a girlfriend after all?" "No, not exactly." "Friends with benefits?" "A what?" "I don't know how to define what we are, it's still kinda ambiguous." "Then go to the club with her and make it less ambiguous once and for all."