Chris Cantera’s Birthday, Or, Why You Should Get Your Own Corporate AmEx
Going through old pictures on my phone and I found this one:
Happy Unbirthday Chris Cantera.
A few months ago while I was still at Mozy, Chris Cantera (pictured), Mozy’s new Director of Engineering (and my boss) had just started and took his engineering organization out to lunch, but when we got there he remembered that he had not applied for his corporate AmEx yet, and so he wouldn’t be able to pay for lunch (Mozy’s pretty strict about this stuff). I had mine, so I volunteered to pay.
I wanted to pay, because I understand that he who pays has the true power.
Towards the end of the meal, I stopped the waitress and asked her if she would mind bringing Chris a drink in a child’s cup, and perhaps would they sing Happy Birthday to him. He immediately resisted strongly. The waitress was a bit undecided about how to proceed. Chris pulled the boss card out, and said, “No, I’m the boss, and I say no to the Happy Birthday singing.” So I pulled out the AmEx card and said, “Well, I’m the one paying the tip, and I say yes to the Happy Birthday singing.”
Needless to say, I won. Here’s Chris with his happy, cute birthday cup. Happy Unbirthday Chris.
