Everything was cool up until the summer that Liberty Avenue
closed. More specifically the morning where it first occurred to many of them
that maybe this company was no longer on the upswing. Their acting owner has
just called a meeting, to announce the shuttering of their original location, which
somehow endured in this town, in a beleaguered, not exactly great spot, from
the late 1970s up until now. And also, oh yeah, that their president, Duane Hatley,
who had received the news earlier than his employees, had just chosen to tender
his resignation as well.
“I don’t think you know what you’re doing,” Duane told
said acting owner, Rob Drake, a quote which has somehow already become common
knowledge, and is basically disputed by no one, not even by the targeted
individual himself – that it was said, anyway, though Rob would presumably disagree
with its sentiment.
But they are a relatively strong cast of seasoned
veterans, those assembled in this conference room, and nobody immediately
freaks out. Even Liberty’s looming extinction, in fairness, isn’t exactly a
news flash, although everyone had remained optimistic it might weather the storm.
And meanwhile they have three other locations, all of which are performing
somewhere in the range of fair to strong, their tiny chain has endured setbacks
before. They will be okay.
Once the unavoidable vague if nervous giddiness
associated with even bad news
wears off, however, many will wonder what this means re their future president, then.
Much subsequent hand wringing will ensue. Some muse that an outsider would
represent the best thing for this company, while others opine that an outsider
is about the last thing this company needs. And all the while their lame duck
of a president admits that he really isn’t sure what he plans on doing after
leaving this place, only that it isn’t this.
To read this chapter instead:
https://jasonmcgatheywriter.medium.com/tales-of-a-scorched-coffee-pot-chapter-one-6dba508ebbe5
