Mind Reader? Seriously?

So in the summer of 2008, I was looking for a job and a friend (one of my more sane friends) recommended me for a job as an administrative assistant. She told me this guy had had a very bad experience in 2007 with his long-time business partner. It seems the partner had taken this guy's (let's call him Dan, shall we?) business model, clients, the whole shebang, and left Dan and his wife just short of homeless. This couple had a courier business and they decided to try to rebuild.

Dan was offering me fairly good dough for the job but he was pretty vague about what exactly he needed. I'm a flexible, usually bright kind of gal, so the lack of structure was not all that intimidating. On my first day, he put me in his office and told me to listen and watch everything he did. By his own admission, he couldn't explain what he wanted, so he needed for me to figure it out. I am not making this up.

So pretty much every half-hour or so, his cell rings and he goes out the back door to take the call. The first couple of times, he would motion with his hand like he was telling me he'd be right back, etc. So while he's on these calls, I'm looking around for stuff to do. He has NO files, no office supplies-this man is not prepared for anything. So I systematically start doing the normal things you need for a functional work environment and he lets me order anything I want; doesn't ask any questions, just continues with the mysterious outside calls.

I'm trying to earn my salary, so I start asking a bunch of questions and check out the rest of the staff, etc. In the middle of the second week, Dan says he wants to talk with me. I'm thinking he finally has an idea organized concerning my position. What he actually wants is for me to stay in "our" office. Dan says I "don't need to know" what everyone else does or who the clients are or how we can cut down expenses, blah, blah, blah. My job is to assist him.

Well, Okay. I spend another week trying to "assist" him, but he doesn't answer any questions and won't let me answer the phone, nothing! Day 15, end of week three, he tells me he has to let me go. I am ineffective, he says. In what way? I ask. Dan looks directly in to my eyes and said, "I really need for you to read my mind."

I give this half a beat to sink in and ask him what he means by that exactly. He tells me that after three weeks, he can see that I am unable to "sense" what he needs and he's looking for someone "in sync" with him. He had a check already prepared, and before I could respond at all, he walks me to my car and wishes me the best of luck.

THIS is sadly only ONE of the reasons I needed this blog-outlet. I could lose my mind, but this seems easier.