Welcome to a special edition of Purim Lunchbreak. For this week’s article, I reached out to previous Lunchbreak interviewees and asked them for their funniest/craziest story that also imparted a lesson. I also received some stories from our readers.
It was hard choosing from so many stories, but these are the ones that made the cut. I’ve been assured that all accounts are 100% true – except for one. A certain past Lunchbreak intervieww sheepishly admitted to me that his story was…let’s just say “embellished”. Can you guess which one that is?
I hope the joy of Purim will last for the entire year, infusing your life with simchah and tangible happiness. A freilichen Purim!
-Nesanel
Tuli Weill
Industry: Business Process Automation
Company: Flow Digital
Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York
As a fairly new employee at a well-known heimishe marketing company, I was still doing executive assistant tasks. I was eager to participate in any growth meetings with clients. I knew I had the skills and just needed a chance to prove myself.
One day my colleagues had an important meeting with the head of a large organization. As usual, everyone went in, except me. Then, suddenly, I got a text message asking me to come into the conference room. Yes! They finally realized how much I can offer! Thrilled, I grabbed my laptop and rushed in, already scanning for an empty seat. I had finally made it!
But before I could sit down, the head of the organization said, “The laptop isn’t necessary,” and handed me his car keys, asking, “Can you please feed the parking meter for me?”
He didn’t even give me quarters for the meter…
This became a running joke for the rest of my time at the company, even after I officially joined the important meetings.
Daniel Aharonoff
Company: ATM and Digital Advertising at 7-Eleven
Headquarters: Encino, California
When I first started out, I landed an interview at HP. On paper, I was the perfect candidate. The interview was going well, until I mentioned one thing: “I can work 20-hour days, push myself to the limit—but I take off for Shabbat.” The interviewer leaned in and said, “Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices…” Then he added the kicker: “I should know, I’m Jewish, too.”
Oy.
Mendel Erlenwein
Industry: Preventative care coordination
Company: PREVIVA HEALTH GROUP
Headquarters: Kingston, Pennsylvania
When I first started out, I wanted to learn from those who had made it. I reached out to a guy who had built a huge company and then sold it to a publicly traded company. I asked him for a Zoom meeting where he would share some advice with me. I was really excited when he agreed.
He actually picked the time for the meeting. The first red flag was that his camera was off. A Zoom meeting without a camera is essentially a glorified phone call. But, I wasn’t giving up. I started by telling him how much I admired him and the way he built his company. Basic beginning-of-meeting small talk. He cut me off, saying, “Ya, ya, ya, you don’t need to tell me about myself. What do you want?”
Undaunted, I asked him what it’s like to run a publicly traded company, what his schedule is like, and again he says, “I’m not interested in talking about that.” (“That” was why I had asked him for a meeting.) It went nowhere. Lesson learned: Hashem has your train already in motion. Some people will get on and some people won’t, but your train will arrive at the destination regardless.
Yisrael Kleinman
Industry: Construction and more
Company: Clearbroook Builders, The Cutter
Headquarters: Lakewood, New Jersey
I’m still a part-time social worker, and I don’t focus on hypnosis that much, but here’s a story from when I first started.
When I was a kid, I saw a magic show in Camp N’arim. I must have been in fourth or fifth grade. One of the tricks he did was hypnotizing a kid, and I was fascinated. I started reading books about hypnosis and then I tried hypnotizing my brother—it didn’t work.
It was only years later—after I was married—that I would read about it on and off and give it a try every once in a while. Then, one time, I had a bachur at my Shabbos seudah, and I hypnotized him—and it actually worked.
After that, anytime I got a chance to hypnotize someone, I would try it out. I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. I remember, not long after, I hypnotized a chasidishe bachur and gave him a post-hypnotic suggestion that his name was Jimmy Saddleback.
Post-hypnotic suggestion means that even after you wake the guy up, the suggestion still holds. So he’s fully awake, not hypnotized, and I ask him, “What’s your name?” and he says, “Jimmy Saddleback.” That’s not the best part.
I look at him and say, “Wow, look at you! You’re a chasidishe bachur and your name is Jimmy Saddleback? Where does the name come from?”
Without missing a beat, he looks at me and says, “My zeide came from a small town halfway between Minsk and Pinsk. They were always traveling back and forth—from the town to Minsk, from Minsk to Pinsk, and back to the town. They spent so much time traveling that they had a special horse with a saddle, and their last name became Saddleback.”
I was floored. I had never given him that story. What I learned from that was that if a person is convinced of something, if they believe it’s true, their brain will fool them so fast that it will generate a whole story, a convincing one, and it won’t even take a second. It’s just there, ready to go. The brain backs up the foregone conclusion. He knew his name was Jimmy Saddleback, so his brain had to give a pshat—and it cooked one up on the spot, with no hesitation.
To read more, subscribe to Ami
