What: A hilarious story that went viral on Twitter.
Who: Author Quinn Cummings.
Why we care: It has been quite a day thus far, so here’s something on the lighter side. On Halloween, I rounded up some of the best scary movies in Fast Company-friendly categories like work-life balance and office culture. But none of those movies come close to providing the sheer horror at the heart of this office nightmare.
Late on Tuesday, author and rock-solid Twitter-follow Quinn Cummings unfurled a hilarious story through what may be a contender for Twitter Thread of the Year.
Gather round, Gentle Readers. It is time I tell the story of the worst decision I ever made in an office. Some of you have heard this. Some have not. Whatever you do in your office today, this week, the rest of this year, you can console yourself by recalling this tale.
— Quinn Cummings (@quinncy) November 7, 2018
The story hearkens back to Cummings’s tenure as a talent agent, working under the oppressive regime of a more senior, high-powered talent agent, Susan Smith, who makes Meryl Streep’s Devil Wears Prada character come off like a chill boss.
Volatile, capable off toggling between rage-screaming and whispered tears in 90 seconds. An unerring instinct at knowing exactly what you doubted about yourself and musing aloud about it. A level of vitriol to subordinates that was outlawed by the 13th Amendment.
— Quinn Cummings (@quinncy) November 7, 2018
The vividly rendered tale involves veteran stage and screen actor Brian Dennehy’s Tony-winning role in a 1999 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman. To give away any more would be to deprive readers the joy of discovery, so we’ll let you enjoy it at your own pace. But an interesting post-script to the thread took place in the replies, where Cummings was reunited with Dennehy’s daughter. NOTE: There are spoilers here.
Did you know Susan & her mom hated each other? Apparently her mom was beautiful & told Susan her whole life that she wasn’t beautiful. Which is partially why Susan was so fierce & so nuttastic. That’s partially what’s bittersweetly funny about this. I’ll read it to my dad. ❤️
— Kathleen Dennehy (@jakedenn23) November 8, 2018
The viral thread picked up many admirers, and even earned the Lin-Manuel Miranda Seal of Approval.
That was a great production of Salesman. This thread is just as much of a rollercoaster.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) November 8, 2018
Perhaps Miranda will stage his next major musical around this epic story . . .