i was just thinking he was someone max met during his undergrad and they were always one upping each other and some how or another, they've kept bumping into each other during their careers. perhaps one of them would get the job the other was gunning for, etc. when they finally both found their long term careers (max was a sales performance coach for the last few years), it turned into them always gunning for the same contracts. i was thinking he irritates max about 95% of the time but max actually really looks up to him and will definitely let him know about once a year with a "cheers" at a christmas party or something. hah.