'I cost him his desired job': Admin employee gets back at condescending colleague by revealing to a hiring manager his bad nature during a reference call for his next job

We've never understood the idea behind asking a job candidate to give out contact information of their former employers to ask for a reference. There are so many reasons why these references are less than effective.

Firstly, because usually when people are looking for a new job, they do it without letting their bosses in their current job know, so they can't really put them down as references. How awkward would it be to find out that someone called your boss, told them you are looking for another job, and asked about you as an employee?

Secondly, the only people candidates would feel comfortable listing as references are those they can count on to say good things. Would you ever let a former employer, whom you don't trust or get along with, talk to your next potential employer? Well, if you actually want the job, we strongly recommend against it. As a general pro-tip, maybe you should simply be kind and pleasant to anyone you work with, because you can never know when you might need their help or recommendation.

If you are still not fully convinced, maybe the story below will help you out.