Resignation
Daria felt that she was in a ditch again. There was nothing more that she wanted to do than to stay in bed and eat Doritos all day.
Unfortunately, her day was packed with personal improvement projects of all sorts. There was a fitting for the Young People's Choice Awards, and she looked forward to it the way she looked forward to having her teeth removed anally.
([i]Daria! You CAN'T go to the Y.P.C.A. looking like a frump, and I'm not going to have the three of us wearing our Legion uniforms![/i] Quinn said when she let Daria know that a fashion designer was already on the way to Legion Tower.)
There was a review of reports from the National Legion chapters, there was a three hour workout, there was personal reading she had assigned herself. From the beginning of the day to the end of it, there was no time for just goofing off and watching the sun shine.
There was a loud knock on her door. Daria reached out with her mind to figure out who was on the other side. It was Charles.
She put on her robe and tied it tight. Daria opened the door.
Charles was wearing a wife-beater and sleep pants. Apparently, he hadn't been awake long enough himself. "Read this", he said, handing a copy of the [i]Wall Street Journal[/i] to Daria.
"What am I looking for?" Daria said.
"You won't have to look far," Charles said.
Just under the front-page fold there a picture of Dawn Hall. It wasn't a photo, but what the WSJ would call a "stipple", a specialized drawing made famous by the paper using small dots and hatching, almost an artwork. The headline read, "Quest CEO Called to Account by Board".
Daria, a fast reader, read the article in seconds. The Quest Foundation Board of Directors was unhappy with the amount of time that Hall was [i]not[/i] devoting to Quest Business. "Of particular concern to board members was Hall's work with the National Legion, a youth organization with over 700 chapters in the United States and Canada. The explosive growth of the National Legion has demanded more and more of Hall's time, and some board members claims the growth of the National Legion is to the detriment of the Foundation."
"Dawn Hall is on the hot seat," Charles said. "I disagree. This is what Stark would have wanted."
"You mean the Stark the WSJ calls, 'an international refugee from justice'? I don't think that Russell Stark is on call for the Quest Foundation to ask what he wants'. Charles, this is your standard power struggle."
"I think that the Board of Director knows perfectly well that they can't ask Stark for guidance, Daria. Dawn Hall knew Russell Stark very well and is the voice of authority when it comes to his wishes."
"How do you know [i]that[/i]?" Daria said.
"I read a lot," Charles said. "Articles like this are used to undermine Hall's position."
There was a "beep" from the phone inside Daria's robe. She pulled it out. The "beeps" only came from important messages. And this was one of the most important ones.
DAWN HALL
"Daria - emergency QF board meeting at 10 am today, so I will be out of contact this morning. At 2 pm, need to speak with you and Charles wrt NL future. Be there."
Daria looked at the message, then showed her phone to Charles.
"Things don't hit the front page of the WSJ unless they're serious," Charles said. "I didn't want you to be taken by surprise."
"Hmm. Honestly, Charles? [i]I don't think you succeeded.[/i]"
(* * *)
Daria and Charles managed to get in their work outs and take care of a few things before 2 pm. The dress fitting was postponed for a couple of hours, after some haggling with Quinn.
Each of them was dressed, "business casual". Charles wore the button-down white shirt of a type that he wore through high school. Daria wore a green polo shirt.
"Odd that you dressed up for this meeting," Charles said.
"I'm sad now that you think this is 'dressing up'."
"In the past, you would have worn either your standard Class A Legion Uniform, or you would have worn sweats, or you would have worn a pleated skirt with a T-shirt that read 'I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND' with the word 'BOYFRIEND' crossed out and replaced by 'CAT' underneath, which is then crossed out."
"I like that T-shirt," Daria said. "Not everyone has a sense of humor."
"What does Martin Prince think of it?"
"Who?" Daria said.
"Oh, sorry," Charles said, "[i]Michael Fulton[/i]."
"Ha ha."
"I'm not good with names."
"I bet you aren't."
"Didn't Stacy see you at the Quarry where you - ?"
" - [i]can it, Upchuck.[/i] And by the way, I use the term 'Upchuck' lovingly, not in the sense of degrading you, but merely to remind you that I have shut you up in the past when you have said foolish shit and I can shut you up again. The use of your former sobriquet underlines my point."
"If we're going to revisit the past, I have one word that underlines [i]my[/i] point."
"What?"
"[i]Feisty![/i]"
Daria gritted her teeth and didn't know whether to punch him or leave the room. However, both were interrupted by Dawn Hall entering the room. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and sunglasses, a far cry from her business suit."
"Daria, Charles, take a seat," Hall said. "This is going to be short."
"We read the article in the WSJ," Daria said.
"Yep, and everyone in the USA has read it, too," Hall said. That was the bullshit that was waiting for me when I woke up. They had already gotten some 'everything is fine' quotes from me yesterday before it went to press, good journos that they are, but I know exactly what that article was about. And I'm not going to bore you with the details, but yes, there is a board struggle."
"The prbolem," Hall said, "is that [i]the board is right[/i]. Now, both of you know that I bitch and moan about all of the bullshit it is to go from being the head of a multibillion dollar organization to nursemaid to a bunch of high school kids. I was about to drive a Legionnaire through a plate glass window when she called me up and asked for biscuits and gravy for military brats. Half of my time is spent arguing with some asshole colonel, and the other half with some asshole sergeant. And those are the high points of my day."
"But despite that, I've kept my eyes on the prize, which is taking care of National Legion duties. And...I must tell you...that these duties have been taking up an ever increasing amount of my time. The NL is exploding in size, to put it bluntly. We have hundreds of chapters in the US and Canada, Mexico wants chapters, and now I'm getting word that the UK wants its own NL chapters as well. Behind each of these chapters is a paper trail of financing and paperwork, and organization, publicity, and promotion. Most of this is run at Legion Tower itself, in the offices below your quarters."
"Unforuntately," Hall continued, "we have growing pains. If this thing gets bigger, we might grow out of this building. It might be much smarter - and safer - to move the actual paperwork part of the NL out of Legion Tower and leave this as your, uh, 'headquarters'. Furthermore...the workload of managing all of this means that I am almost doing [i]two jobs[/i] now. Last week, I spent 24 hours during that week on Legion business. That's a fulltime job, and I can't do that job and run Quest at the same time."
"Therefore, [i]I am turning in my resignation[/i]. I am officially giving you four months notice. My first advice is that you hire another CEO who can devote [i]full time duties[/i] to the Legion. Unfortunately, given the secrets that we have to keep, I can't just choose someone out of the pages of the WSJ. I have to properly vet them. I can give you a short list of candidates that can be trusted to keep secrets, but it doesn't leave you a lot of choices. You need someone who can run a charity organization, keep the secrets that you have and solve problems that no other CEO would ever be asked to solve. That is a fucking short list, kids and it takes an active, dynamic candidate."
"I'll vet the candidates," Hall said. "You choose one. And then I turn over the keys to that person. Capish?"
Daria and Charles didn't know what to say. "Is there any way I can change your mind?" Daria said.
"[i]No[/i]. No one person can run both Quest and the NL. That's too much, or I admit, it's too much for me. If that makes me incompetent, I'm incompetent. I recognize the importance of the NL, but as you've probably guessed, I enjoy running Quest much more."
"What happens if we don't find someone in four months?" Charles said.
"Let hope that doesn't happen because if it does I'll end up in a sanitarium somewhere. I'll devote what spare time I have to it. I'll start making some calls. More people in suits will be visiting the tower. But...I'm done, kids. The Legion is on solid ground. [i]Now you just have to keep it alive[/i]."
Unfortunately, her day was packed with personal improvement projects of all sorts. There was a fitting for the Young People's Choice Awards, and she looked forward to it the way she looked forward to having her teeth removed anally.
([i]Daria! You CAN'T go to the Y.P.C.A. looking like a frump, and I'm not going to have the three of us wearing our Legion uniforms![/i] Quinn said when she let Daria know that a fashion designer was already on the way to Legion Tower.)
There was a review of reports from the National Legion chapters, there was a three hour workout, there was personal reading she had assigned herself. From the beginning of the day to the end of it, there was no time for just goofing off and watching the sun shine.
There was a loud knock on her door. Daria reached out with her mind to figure out who was on the other side. It was Charles.
She put on her robe and tied it tight. Daria opened the door.
Charles was wearing a wife-beater and sleep pants. Apparently, he hadn't been awake long enough himself. "Read this", he said, handing a copy of the [i]Wall Street Journal[/i] to Daria.
"What am I looking for?" Daria said.
"You won't have to look far," Charles said.
Just under the front-page fold there a picture of Dawn Hall. It wasn't a photo, but what the WSJ would call a "stipple", a specialized drawing made famous by the paper using small dots and hatching, almost an artwork. The headline read, "Quest CEO Called to Account by Board".
Daria, a fast reader, read the article in seconds. The Quest Foundation Board of Directors was unhappy with the amount of time that Hall was [i]not[/i] devoting to Quest Business. "Of particular concern to board members was Hall's work with the National Legion, a youth organization with over 700 chapters in the United States and Canada. The explosive growth of the National Legion has demanded more and more of Hall's time, and some board members claims the growth of the National Legion is to the detriment of the Foundation."
"Dawn Hall is on the hot seat," Charles said. "I disagree. This is what Stark would have wanted."
"You mean the Stark the WSJ calls, 'an international refugee from justice'? I don't think that Russell Stark is on call for the Quest Foundation to ask what he wants'. Charles, this is your standard power struggle."
"I think that the Board of Director knows perfectly well that they can't ask Stark for guidance, Daria. Dawn Hall knew Russell Stark very well and is the voice of authority when it comes to his wishes."
"How do you know [i]that[/i]?" Daria said.
"I read a lot," Charles said. "Articles like this are used to undermine Hall's position."
There was a "beep" from the phone inside Daria's robe. She pulled it out. The "beeps" only came from important messages. And this was one of the most important ones.
DAWN HALL
"Daria - emergency QF board meeting at 10 am today, so I will be out of contact this morning. At 2 pm, need to speak with you and Charles wrt NL future. Be there."
Daria looked at the message, then showed her phone to Charles.
"Things don't hit the front page of the WSJ unless they're serious," Charles said. "I didn't want you to be taken by surprise."
"Hmm. Honestly, Charles? [i]I don't think you succeeded.[/i]"
(* * *)
Daria and Charles managed to get in their work outs and take care of a few things before 2 pm. The dress fitting was postponed for a couple of hours, after some haggling with Quinn.
Each of them was dressed, "business casual". Charles wore the button-down white shirt of a type that he wore through high school. Daria wore a green polo shirt.
"Odd that you dressed up for this meeting," Charles said.
"I'm sad now that you think this is 'dressing up'."
"In the past, you would have worn either your standard Class A Legion Uniform, or you would have worn sweats, or you would have worn a pleated skirt with a T-shirt that read 'I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND' with the word 'BOYFRIEND' crossed out and replaced by 'CAT' underneath, which is then crossed out."
"I like that T-shirt," Daria said. "Not everyone has a sense of humor."
"What does Martin Prince think of it?"
"Who?" Daria said.
"Oh, sorry," Charles said, "[i]Michael Fulton[/i]."
"Ha ha."
"I'm not good with names."
"I bet you aren't."
"Didn't Stacy see you at the Quarry where you - ?"
" - [i]can it, Upchuck.[/i] And by the way, I use the term 'Upchuck' lovingly, not in the sense of degrading you, but merely to remind you that I have shut you up in the past when you have said foolish shit and I can shut you up again. The use of your former sobriquet underlines my point."
"If we're going to revisit the past, I have one word that underlines [i]my[/i] point."
"What?"
"[i]Feisty![/i]"
Daria gritted her teeth and didn't know whether to punch him or leave the room. However, both were interrupted by Dawn Hall entering the room. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and sunglasses, a far cry from her business suit."
"Daria, Charles, take a seat," Hall said. "This is going to be short."
"We read the article in the WSJ," Daria said.
"Yep, and everyone in the USA has read it, too," Hall said. That was the bullshit that was waiting for me when I woke up. They had already gotten some 'everything is fine' quotes from me yesterday before it went to press, good journos that they are, but I know exactly what that article was about. And I'm not going to bore you with the details, but yes, there is a board struggle."
"The prbolem," Hall said, "is that [i]the board is right[/i]. Now, both of you know that I bitch and moan about all of the bullshit it is to go from being the head of a multibillion dollar organization to nursemaid to a bunch of high school kids. I was about to drive a Legionnaire through a plate glass window when she called me up and asked for biscuits and gravy for military brats. Half of my time is spent arguing with some asshole colonel, and the other half with some asshole sergeant. And those are the high points of my day."
"But despite that, I've kept my eyes on the prize, which is taking care of National Legion duties. And...I must tell you...that these duties have been taking up an ever increasing amount of my time. The NL is exploding in size, to put it bluntly. We have hundreds of chapters in the US and Canada, Mexico wants chapters, and now I'm getting word that the UK wants its own NL chapters as well. Behind each of these chapters is a paper trail of financing and paperwork, and organization, publicity, and promotion. Most of this is run at Legion Tower itself, in the offices below your quarters."
"Unforuntately," Hall continued, "we have growing pains. If this thing gets bigger, we might grow out of this building. It might be much smarter - and safer - to move the actual paperwork part of the NL out of Legion Tower and leave this as your, uh, 'headquarters'. Furthermore...the workload of managing all of this means that I am almost doing [i]two jobs[/i] now. Last week, I spent 24 hours during that week on Legion business. That's a fulltime job, and I can't do that job and run Quest at the same time."
"Therefore, [i]I am turning in my resignation[/i]. I am officially giving you four months notice. My first advice is that you hire another CEO who can devote [i]full time duties[/i] to the Legion. Unfortunately, given the secrets that we have to keep, I can't just choose someone out of the pages of the WSJ. I have to properly vet them. I can give you a short list of candidates that can be trusted to keep secrets, but it doesn't leave you a lot of choices. You need someone who can run a charity organization, keep the secrets that you have and solve problems that no other CEO would ever be asked to solve. That is a fucking short list, kids and it takes an active, dynamic candidate."
"I'll vet the candidates," Hall said. "You choose one. And then I turn over the keys to that person. Capish?"
Daria and Charles didn't know what to say. "Is there any way I can change your mind?" Daria said.
"[i]No[/i]. No one person can run both Quest and the NL. That's too much, or I admit, it's too much for me. If that makes me incompetent, I'm incompetent. I recognize the importance of the NL, but as you've probably guessed, I enjoy running Quest much more."
"What happens if we don't find someone in four months?" Charles said.
"Let hope that doesn't happen because if it does I'll end up in a sanitarium somewhere. I'll devote what spare time I have to it. I'll start making some calls. More people in suits will be visiting the tower. But...I'm done, kids. The Legion is on solid ground. [i]Now you just have to keep it alive[/i]."
You know, there was an old "Legion of Super-Heroes story where the United Planets took over funding that organization from RJ Brande after it got too big for him to handle. Seems to me if the Legion is becoming international in scope the UN might consider at least partially funding these kids and their good works. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteGive it to HELEN. She'll keep the National Legion running QUITE efficiently... and God help the bastards who scream 'nepotism'.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah. Something that I've mentioned a couple of times before - but never got around to really finalizing - is an idea that was floated of doing just what Dawn said - having a building where the average people could go to visit before going over to the Tower, where National Legion activities could be held in a more formalized/permanent setting, and where the necessary administrative activities that keep the Legion and NL going can take place in an appropriately furnished and equipped venue.
ReplyDeleteI called it the 'Legion Annex' - and seeing that the quarry's such a huge area, I was thinking that they could place it a couple of thousand feet, a half-mile or so down the way. They could still have the same ocean views, the quarry could be engineered to build the appropriate building and support structures (and a very big parking lot), maybe landscaped, and there could be a large auditorium and activities hall - both of which could actually be leased out to the city or other agencies for special events in order to defray expenses. I mean, they could have school reunions, dances, wedding receptions, charity functions, conventions (if the Activities Hall is large enough) - and there's also the cachet of having it on Legion property, where there's always the possibility of running into one of the actual Legionnaires!
There's also the added benefit of being able to have it constructed to the Legion's own personal specifications (hint, hint') instead of having to worry about using someone else's building and the possibility of surveillance equipment being placed within by other interests... and the possibility of the building's owners finding out far more than they ever needed to.
It's an idea.