apocryphal

Theres an apocryphal story told about an IBM salesman. He was the sales leader year in and year out, selling almost as much as all the other fellows in his office combined.

One year, she asked them instead about a crescent wrench instead of the “apocryphal pen.” They all answered that question correctly!"

I found myself thinking of the apocryphal Mark Twain saying: "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

Sounds like the not-entirely-apocryphal "You can't get a PM job at Google without a CS degree" has been around long enough to sink in.

What distinguishes Jobs is he existed in layers from exceedingly public, second hand, apocryphal to private. What I love about this is it feels like a balancing of that gradient.

I can't find the citation right now, so treat this as apocryphal, but... I've read an explanation that the USA's focus on security has changed in the days since 9/11/2001.

There's a probably apocryphal story of the ancient Romans having a dwarf in the chariot with generals at their victory parades. His job was, when the throngs were shouting the general's name, to whisper "Nah, you're not really that special."

The fact that SpaceX spent less developing a launch system and reentry vehicle than was spent buying Instagram [1] with its 13 employees makes me sad that so many bright minds are working on the apocryphal social network for cats. [1]: I realize with the 50%+ drop in Facebook's IPO price, that sum is now significantly less.

There are any number of apocryphal tales along the following lines: One day the parking attendant at a local shopping centre doesn't turn up for work, after fifteen years of faithful service without a single day off. The centre manager calls the local council, asking if they're sending someone to cover for him.

I have heard stories, always apocryphal, never by anyone willing to put their real name behind it, about how people are constantly obsessed with reviews and stabbing their teammates in the back left and right to get a leg up. I have never once witnessed that behavior or even heard of a remotely plausible instance of that happening.