My Obligatory Bill Gates Story
This one of course says more about me than Bill, but it's a true enough tale.
The year is either late in 1989 or early in 1990- shortly after I joined Microsoft the first time around. In those days, meeting Bill wasn't too terribly difficult, as periodically all of the new hires in the development and marketing disciplines were invited to a dinner at his home (in those days it was in the Laurelhurst area of Seattle, near the University of Washington- his current home was still under construction).
I had come from a background where geeks and nerds weren't particularly well-liked. During my ten previous years at IBM, I had heard it all- insinuations I was kept in a cage because my social ineptness was akin to that of an animal, for instance. To be fair, this was New York, after all- a locale well-known for the art of the insult. But always the professed belief that intelligence had to come at the cost of some other more worthy attribute.
Well, as the 80's wore on, Bill became the guy I'd throw back in their face. "He's not only smart, but he outmaneuvered all of your suits in one of the most important technical shifts of the century"- I never quite put it exactly that way, but you probably get the idea- the idea that you couldn't be trusted to make a business decision if you were capable of higher mathematics had to be the most galling thing I constantly heard.
At any rate, I eventually decided to leave (for unrelated reasons, actually- I grew up in that area, and that kind of treatment had been the norm from my childhood- I was quite used to it), and the material from Microsoft intrigued me- it reminded me of pleasant memories of my days at Caltech- people dressed casually [yes, I was one of those people who at one time received the "so when are you going to cut your hair and trim your beard and wear a good suit instead of just slapping a necktie on any old shirt" speech, with the clear insinuation these things were roadblocks to career advancement], doing all kinds of cool things with software, and being appreciated for it [I did some pretty cool stuff at my previous job, but most of the time nobody even had the background to evaluate it properly]. After that round of interviews I was more excited than I had been for a long time [some of that passion I've written about before], and bailed on a verbally accepted previous offer and came to Redmond.
You need to understand how I practically idolized him- heroic in stature and a redeemer for the oppressed and underappreciated geeks of the world. The man who proved you could be intelligent AND business savvy. We were even roughly contemporaries- I'm about one year older than he is.
Well, there I was, a guest in his house- they'd loaded dozens and dozens of us into several busses on the campus and driven us there. I went into the entryway, and, having an intense dislike of large crowds [most of the time, anyway], tried a likely looking door and found myself heading down the stairs into the basement area where all the tables were set up.
There at the bottom of the stairs was Bill (easily recognized, of course). I thought briefly that perhaps he was about as fond of crowds as I was, and then began thinking of all the things I had wanted to say. I then realized that if he was anything like me, he'd find that kind of talk to be rather embarrassing, and would prefer not to have to deal with it...
Well I was also probably throwing some quizzical expressions in his direction, so he spoke first- "Hi!".
And I, feeling completely unable to say anything that wasn't sheer idiocy, responded in kind, and went on past him as if I didn't even know who he was. I think that's now something that could be viewed as a form of meltdown...
Well, at least my anxiety eventually subsided- I looked wistfully, later in the evening, at Bill in the center of a sizable chatting group, and eventually came to the realization that at least some of what I'd been hearing all along was true- I had the chance to meet a personal celebrity in the flesh, and I didn't even know what to do with it when the moment came.
Still, while it reveals more about who I am than it ever will about Bill, I at least had a story to tell afterwards. Having now told it, I'll get back to doing my job...
