Although I had very little interaction with laboratory people because of my writing, I noticed a new pattern developing. In addition to spending a couple of hours a day on the telephone, Buzz was now calling in sick on alternate Mondays and Fridays. He was also taking half days off for personal business. When I first noticed the occurrence, I began marking the days he was absent on my desk calendar. After about a month of documenting his actions, I calculated that he was effectively working a four day week, and I was powerless to do anything about it. If I talked to Buzz about it, he would run to Darth who would make light of the whole thing and then Darth would probably reprimand me for handling the situation incorrectly. I was powerless to take action.

Finally in desperation, I discussed the problems concerning Buzz with Jeff Teller.

“Look at this. Buzz is absent all the time,” I said pointing to my appointment calendar.

Jeff Teller looked shocked and exclaimed, “You're documenting it!!”

I replied, “Sure, and if I go to Darth he'll just ignore it.”

“Yeah, that's the way he is,” Jeff answered uneasily.

Jeff then left my office without offering any suggestions or help.

Shortly after that conversation, Buzz's daily attendance dramatically improved. I was confused by his sudden change in his behavior. It almost seemed as if his actions had been planned and orchestrated.

My faint hopes of adding a new person were squelched a few weeks later when I received a letter from Mack Mark rejecting my offer. It was a standard rejection letter with no specific reason given for not accepting the Delta Oil offer. Since I wanted to confirm suspicions that the low salary was a major factor, I gave Mack a call. He stated that he had accepted another offer that was 25% higher than the Gamma Supplies offer. As I probed more, he revealed that he had received three other offers beside the Gamma Supplies offer and that the Gamma starting salary was the lowest of the the four offers. I already knew what he was telling me, but I wanted proof for when I was put on the defensive by Darth and the Arnold cline as to why I had not hire someone new for the lab.

The typical scenario had evolved. I was told to do something, which was hire a new
person for the lab, and then I was thwarted to the point of being put in an impossible situation. Now I would have to defend “my failure”. It also seemed more and more that my trip to New Orleans just prior to my deposition was just for R&R to make sure I would be in a good mood and give favorable testimony.

I went about the business of contacting the remaining candidates, but since almost six weeks had passed since the ACS meeting they all had made decisions to accept positions elsewhere which left me with no viable prospects. As expected, Arnold Cline summoned me to his office and grilled me on the progress in locating a person for the laboratory. I explained the situation to him, including the low salary offer to Mack Mark, and outlined alternative routes to obtaining the services of someone else. He acted annoyed at my failure and told me to keep at it because it was important to get someone else in the laboratory as soon as possible. I said fine, but I really saw no reason at that point to hire someone new for the laboratory.