Working With MK

On our work group, someone shared a news article about a guy whom we worked with years ago, who had been arrested by the national narcotics control unit for buying drugs using Bitcoins. I remember him. I’d had the misfortune of working with him on a project.

MK was diminutive, slender man with a plain, hard face. He had this air about him that was restless and furtive, like someone who had better things to do. Like someone who thought others were wasting his time. I guess he did have ‘better’ things to do like purchase drugs from Europe using Bitcoins and be titled the ‘Crypto King’ in those circles. When I first interacted with him, he’d seemed all right, someone who knew what the ask was and that’s as far as that positive experience went.

After that the man went AWOL, my campaign was going live in a week and the tech aspect wasn’t in place. We had to, at the last minute, get the CTO team involved as this fellow wasn’t under CTO purview. No one, in fact, was clear on what the guy did in the organisation and who he reported to – very Creed from ‘The Office’ situation. The CTO team was so helpful and the one aspect they needed his help on, he acted like a diva and made the process like pulling teeth. He was an egomaniac who couldn’t be bothered to work with the ‘lesser souls’ in the CTO team. An asshole if I had to sum it up.

My colleague told me that he’d been a whizkid when he was new, setting up stuff for the team, meeting all tech requirements with speed. Somewhere along the way he obviously figured his skills could pay more. She also said that when he changed, he’d often book meeting rooms and then if someone stepped into the room, he’d shut his laptop screen and act as though someone had walked in on him committing a crime. Er…possibly true.

Personally, MK caused me a lot of worry, maybe one of his drug deals hadn’t gone through at the time, maybe one of them didn’t accept Bitcoin as payment, maybe the drugs weren’t of great quality, who knows the stresses of such a life. But I did not appreciate him leaving me in the lurch and acting like he’d sort the whole thing out without worries. Anyway, he clearly has bigger problems than his unprofessional attitude on a brand campaign years ago, to worry about now.