This is a story about a sociopathic middle manager guarding his territory from someone qualified to take his job, but unfortunate enough to be hired below him.<p>When I read it, the first and only comment under this at DailyWTF was sympathetic towards Peter. I hope that commenter had just skimmed it and missed the point.
I guess this is fair turn about. I've read plenty of stories/articles from managers and founders about how difficult employees are. Living most of my professional life in the role of manager has taught me a lot, but for my part, I'll never forget what is like to sit on the other side of the desk. I'm an advocate for the people who work for me. The sad thing is, this will probably hold me back. As happy as the ending of the story is, real life rarely lives up to the expectations of story plots.
Peter was doing her a favor the entire time. It's like an M. Night Shyamalan movie with the paradigm shift at the end. She was over-qualified, so he didn't want her to be stuck at a go no-where company. While it does say "She could do Peter's job in a snap." this doesn't mean that he is afraid she will, but that she should be working somewhere more challenging.<p>He wants to get rid of her to save her.<p>This is what I thought for a minute after reading the featured comment and justifying his actions. But then I re-read it and realized that Peter is just an asshole and is 90% of the reason Corporate America is a piece of shit that deserves to burn in hell.