Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #25: Noblesse Oblige, Part I (5/18/99)
Arat waits patiently for Nick to finish dressing.
Arat has special plans this morning.
Nick wrestles his uniform pants on over his cast, having to bend awkwardly to manage.
Nick: Hmm, I'll be glad when that cast comes off.
Nick reaches for a uniform shirt, as he promised Arat he'd wear it in front of the customers.
Arat nods approvingly.
Nick buttons the shirt, tucks it in, and levers himself to his feet.
Nick: There. I'm ready.
Nick: Are we working in the burn ward again this morning?
Arat: Perhaps later.
Nick raises an eyebrow.
Arat gets out of Nick's standard issue Tecton dorm room chair and precedes him to the door.
Arat: I have somebody I'd like you to talk to, first.
Nick: Oh? Who is it?
Nick follows Arat out the door.
Arat: His name is Hajene Darrel. You'll have seen him around the burn ward.
Nick: I think I recall his face, though we've never spoken.
Nick's talent for face identification is part of the Narosian gossip-gathering gene complex.
Darrel is waiting outside of Arat's office door.
Arat leads the way to his office, and nods to Darrel as they approach.
Arat automatically checks the time, notes he is precisely 5 minutes early himself, and approves of Darrel's care in making it there first.
Darrel has improved to the point where he can actually manage a creditable nod in return, instead of deteriorating into a nervous wreck.
Darrel: Good morning, Controller Arat.
Arat unlocks the door and lets them in.
Arat: Darrel, this is Sosu Nick. He's working with me this month. Nick, Hajene Darrel.
Arat takes his chair.
Nick: Pleased to meet you, Darrel.
Arat assumes, from what he has known of Nick so far, that Nick will not glom Darrel with his field, so he doesn't bother to give Nick special instructions.
Nick moves to his accustomed place in a chair close to Arat's.
Arat gestures for Darrel to have a seat.
Darrel picks a chair on the other side of the desk.
Darrel: You wanted to see me about something, Controller Arat?
Arat nods.
Nick studies Darrel with casual interest, but his nager does not intrude.
Arat: I think you may be able to assist me with Nick's training.
Darrel sits bolt upright, ~~ astonished ~~
Darrel: But he's a First, and I'm just a Second!
Arat zlins Darrel's reaction, pleased that it is more surprised than afraid.
Arat is actually having a pretty good morning, employee-wise.
Arat: Actually, this is a different sort of lesson.
Arat: It is your experience and perspective I am more interested in.
Darrel is a very little, almost unconsciously, offended at the thought that he should be ordered to step out of his genetically determined social status.
Darrel: My perspective?
Arat, unfortunately for Darrel, is more than sensitive enough to pick up his offense.
Arat frowns.
Darrel wonders if Arat means his perspective on Nick's and his home town of Bender Cove, or his perspective on handling the kids in the burn ward.
Darrel wonders if Arat found the finger puppets which replaced the much-diminished stuffed animals, in their hiding place in an obscure storage cabinet.
Arat's frown deepens as he follows the nageric changes which accompany Darrel's wondering.
Arat: When you were in Bender Cove, you had some difficulty with the administration of the Sime Center you were assigned to.
Darrel: Yes, I did.
Darrel wondered which of his reputed misdeeds is catching up with him now.
Arat: Would you say that the problems went beyond your own interaction with them?
Darrel: Well....
Darrel tries to decide whether he will be in worse trouble for annoying his superiors, or for admitting their incompetency.
Darrel then recalls that Arat is a Farris, and gives up on the half-formed idea of trying to weasel out of giving a straight answer.
Darrel: I did notice an unusual number of.... irregularities... in management at that Center.
Nick allows a Farris-detectable amount of ~~ amused agreement ~~ to show in his nager.
Arat nods thoughtfully.
Arat: Can you give any examples?
Darrel looks rather like a puppy who can't hold it in any more, and knows that it isn't outside.
Arat looks rather like the type who is used to a person peeing when he tells them to.
Darrel squirms uncomfortably.
Arat's expression shades towards impatience.
Darrel: Well, a lot of the time, it seemed that no one was in charge.
Arat listens, making sure Nick is listening as well.
Arat: Go on.
Darrel: The Controller, and his assistant, kept disappearing. Or not taking care of things when they should have. Even important things, like the transfer schedule.
Darrel: And some of them kept running off, or saying strange things. Sometimes even to the clients.
Darrel: It was scary.
Darrel has recovered to the point where he no longer feels compelled to put forth his personal hypothesis that the lobby was at fault.
Arat: Would you say that the customers, and the main body of employees, are by nature more comfortable when a Sime Center is run in a professional and responsible manner?
Darrel: Oh, yes.
Darrel nods eagerly.
Arat nods also.
Darrel begins to hope that it wasn't some new misdeed of his own that sparked this interview.
Arat: I would think it might not be inaccurate to say anyone, in any walk of life, would feel the same: Those who manage governments, schools, the trades, all share a certain responsibility in terms of presentation and conduct. Just as employees and customers do..
Arat's tone leaves it open for comment.
Darrel: Well, I wouldn't know about that.
Arat raises his eyebrows.
Arat's expression invites Darrel to take back the cop-out.
Darrel flinches at the expression.
Darrel: Though-I'm-sure-you're-right-of-course. [rapidly]
Arat frowns.
Arat: You disagree?
Arat: Or you simply refuse to consider the question?
Nick clears his throat gently, and tries to ~~ soothe ~~ away Arat's annoyance.
Nick: As I recall, a few of Snake's poorer clients refused to come to the Sime Center because they felt uncomfortable in a... professional Sime Center atmosphere. Most, though, would have preferred a more... professional looking channel, I suspect.
Arat turns and gives Nick an extremely displeased look.
Arat: I suggest you listen. You might learn something.
Arat could do without Nick deliberately interrupting the conversation in order to help Darrel not answer questions.
Nick raises an eyebrow at this show of temper, but shuts up.
Arat looks back at Darrel again.
Arat: You said you "wouldn't know about that".
Arat: Do you feel unqualified to speak on the subject of what management is and should be, in a general sense?
Darrel: I'm just a Second, Controller. I'll never be assigned to manage much of anything.
Darrel isn't (quite) groveling.
Darrel has frequently found groveling a useful tactic, when facing Controllers.
Arat: And you feel it is inappropriate for somebody in your position to care how his surroundings are run?
Arat has returned from annoyed mode to intense probing questions mode.
Darrel isn't sure which mode is worse.
Darrel: Well... it's usually considered inappropriate to voice an opinion on the matter.
Arat: Do you feel, then, that I have asked you an inappropriate question?
Arat: [logically]
Darrel: It's certainly an unusual one..
Darrel: I do feel much more comfortable in a well-run Center, though. When there are real problems, and people can't trust their superiors....
Darrel shudders.
Arat ponders the answer.
Darrel hopes that Arat will assume that his Center is one of the well-run ones, and not that Darrel is offering criticism of his Controller.
Arat: Would you say that most probably feel the same as you do?
Darrel: Most that I've met, certainly. When things go wrong, people talk.
Arat nods.
Arat: But do you think that most feel the same as you, that it would not be possible to voice their opinions to their superiors?
Arat: Or at least, not wise?
Darrel: Well, some people aren't shy about saying anything to anyone, but most try to be a bit more discreet. Particularly if there is no obvious answer to a problem, complaining about it can cause more damage and not fix anything.
Arat: Even when asked explicitly for their opinion?
Arat was under the impression that failing to answer direct questions asked by one's Controller tends to cause more damage than just about anything one could say in answer, but that is just in his experience.
Arat: [mostly on the question-asking end]
Darrel: Most of the time, Seconds aren't asked their opinions about policy matters. But if it should happen, I expect most try to answer as best they can.
Arat zlins Darrel's attempts to not answer while still answering, and sighs in internal disgust.
Arat: Some of the times you answer me honestly. Much of the time you waste my time.
Arat: Do you think I am asking you these things as some kind of a test?
Arat: Nick's lesson is not about how woefully lesser channels squirm when they don't know what is going on.
Arat: When I ask you a question, I expect to be answered honestly.
Darrel: Yes, Controller Arat.
Darrel: ~~ subdued ~~
Arat taps an irritated tentacle on the desktop.
Arat: However, it does prove one point: When it comes to management of a Sime Center, or indeed any other institution, nation or corporate body, those who are charged with managing it must do so essentially without guidance from below.
Arat: The vast body of people either do not want the responsibility, do not want the exposure, or, in the worst case, are not even aware that such a concept exists.
Darrel: Even that last group notice when the managers aren't effective, though.
Arat ignores that.
Arat: Darrel, in your opinion, is the Bender Cove Sime Center a notably mismanaged organization?
Darrel shudders.
Darrel: Very.
Arat: If I recall, there were several members of Zeor, the Sectuib in Chanel, and a non-Householding Tigue on the high level staff there.
Darrel wonders if any of them are friends of Arat.
Darrel: Lanyi Tigue was quite good at keeping order, but she wasn't the Controller, and she didn't stay long.
Arat: Were the others there for an extended stay?
Darrel: Controller Veraik, Hajene Briel and Sosu Alea were. Sectuib Aran was actually in charge of his own Center, but he visited often once he became engaged to Briel.
Arat: So Sectuib Aran had no long term influence on that Center's management?
Darrel looks thoughtful.
Darrel: Not directly, but he was so much more... [rejects "sane"]... capable than Controller Veraik that a lot of the staff asked him for help when problems arose.
Darrel: The Bender Cove Center would have been much worse off without him.
Arat: So he was a positive influence.
Darrel: Very much so.
Arat: Did you personally admire Sectuib Aran?
Darrel: Yes. He was very kind to me.
Arat takes note of Darrel's criteria for admiration.
Darrel decides that this isn't the time to mention monkey barrels as a partial anodyne for Lobbyphobia.
Arat: You have been assigned to several other Sime Centers besides this one. You have also seen at least one Householding. Would you say that Aran could have easily taken responsibilities at any of these and been viewed as favorably by his employees?
Arat finds Darrel is a bit more forthcoming when dwelling upon the positive, rather than the negative, halves of questions.
Darrel: In any other Sime Center, very much so. At Naros -- well, Narosians are a bit peculiar, and they are hard for any outsider to understand. Sectuib Aran's own House members certainly seem to look up to him.
Darrel has, unfortunately, forgotten what the Center rumor mill has said regarding Nick's own parentage. And grandparentage.
Arat gestures, conceding the point about Naros.
Nick is, fortunately from Darrel's perspective, also inclined to agree with the slur on his numerous sibs.
Arat: Now, I'd like to ask you a different sort of question.
Arat: What sort of people, in your experience, are chosen to be Controllers and administrators at normal Sime Centers?
Darrel notes the "normal" qualification.
Darrel: Ones who have a good grasp of the work, and who can lead others without creating resentment.
Darrel: Or at least, the better ones are like that.
Arat nods.
Arat: You said a 2nd would not be chosen for a Controller. So you might add to your list of qualifications, perhaps, channeling prowess?
Arat: Or perhaps simple qualification as a First?
Darrel: Well, of course.
Arat: I see.
Arat: I'd like you to try to put yourself, for a moment, in the position of a person in the outside world, who does not work for the Tecton.
Darrel nods, gamely attempting the exercise.
Arat: Do you suppose that each profession or industry has its own version of a First?
Arat: A sort of person who by physical nature or accident of birth would appear to be a natural manager or administrator, so long as they also have the requisite skills with people?
Darrel: I'm not sure it's as clear-cut as with channeling, but certainly most people seem to know which of their colleagues to turn to when there are problems to be solved, or other business to be done.
Arat twines his tentacles together thoughtfully.
Arat: Would you say that, at Bender Cove, some of your supervisors failed to fit the standards you, as a Tecton employee, would normally expect persons in such positions to be held to?
Darrel: Well, yes.
Darrel thinks most of the supervisors in question had been influenced by Gnome and Lobby to the point where they weren't upholding the standards of a channel, or indeed, a legally sane citizen.
Arat zlins Darrel, frowning slightly.
Arat: Before you went to Bender Cove, if you had been told you were to work with a Zeor member, would you have assumed the person would be at least as competent and admirable as Sectuib Aran?
Darrel: More so.
Arat: I see. And a lesser First, you might think would be at least as competent and admirable as yourself?
Darrel: Oh, much more competent.
Arat considers.
Arat: Surely there can't be a connection between competence and so forth, and family-and-rank.
Arat: Yet it would seem to me that there is a widespread expectancy that those who are Firsts, or who are of Zeor or the other great Householdings, be wise, good and strong.
Arat looks at Darrel curiously, inviting comment.
Darrel: Well, they are at least expected to be competent, stable, and knowledgeable. That's a good start on strength and wisdom.
Arat: But assuming, as I believe is reasonable, that everybody starts out somewhere along the same range of personalities and competence levels, would you then say that it is the responsibility of those who have the physical ability to be a Controller to cultivate in themselves the other attributes that make an adequate one?
Darrel: It certainly makes the Tecton run more smoothly when they do, to the extent that is possible.
Arat raises an eyebrow and waits for an elaboration.
Darrel: Not every First is suited to be a Controller.
Darrel: Or at least, not a good one.
Arat: But people expect them to be, perhaps?
Darrel: I'm told it's very hard to avoid taking one's turn.
Arat responds to the non sequitur with a deadpan look.
Arat: Oh?
Darrel: Yes. And it's not really fair to those who have to take the job, if others who could refuse to learn the necessary skills.
Arat thinks this sounds rather thin.
Arat: I see.
Arat thinks this would be a lot easier if Darrel didn't try to just guess what he wanted to hear and say that.
Arat: You're just saying that because you think that's what I want to hear.
Arat: It isn't much help, to be frank.
Darrel looks guilty at having his strategy so openly disclosed.
Darrel: I'm sorry, Controller.
Darrel is, indeed, a rather sorry excuse for a channel.
Arat sighs. "Let us move over to another subject again for a bit."
Arat: Nick, would you get Hajene Darrel some tea?
Nick: Of course. Do you like the Narosian blends? [to Darrel]
Darrel: Very much, Sosu.
Nick gets carefully to his feet and makes his way over to the tea table.
Arat continues, since Nick will be able to hear from across the office with no problem.
Arat: Darrel, I would like you to consider a hypothetical situation.
Nick sets the water to heating, and starts measuring tea into three mugs.
Darrel: What situation, Controller?
Arat: Let us say that you are walking down the street in a big city.
Darrel nods.
Arat: A large coach pulls up next to you. It is very fine, with expensive horses, obviously the possession of the rich.
Arat: The door opens, and a man inside asks you to get in with him, for he wants to ask you some advice about his health, but it is a question of a very private nature.
Arat: What would you do?
Darrel: If he zlinned honest, I'd do as he asked.
Arat nods.
Arat: Now, let us say you are walking down the street, and somebody opens the door of a passing shiltpron parlor.
Darrel winces, having come too close to a shiltpron in the past.
Arat stops, studying Darrel.
Darrel composes himself.
Darrel: I'm sorry. Go on.
see note 1
Notes:
1) This is the first half of a two part episode. The second half was played on the following day. [return]