Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #114: Guerilla Caregiving (12/11/99)
Beni signals at the door to Jeniard's hotel room.
Jeniard: No interviews!!
Jeniard sighs and tries to go back to his book.
Beni: Hajene Jeniard, it's Sosu Beni.
Beni: I'm sorry to bother you, but I need some advice.
Beni hopes his use of the word "need" will pique Jeniard's interest.
Jeniard puts down the book and goes to answer the door.
Jeniard opens the door.
Beni: Thank you.
Beni is slightly out of breath from dashing all the way from the Sime Center.
Jeniard: Come in.
Beni is also rather hungry, since the only time he could find for this errand was during the Pylor-training lunch break.
Beni is primarily worried sick, however.
Jeniard zlins Beni, frowning.
Beni enters the room, glancing around to make sure there are no lawyers, reporters, or other undesirables.
Beni then turns his inspection on Jeniard.
Jeniard goes to pour Beni a glass of water, which is all he has in the place at the moment.
Beni accepts the water.
Beni sips.
Jeniard has been using the hotel room as more of a crash pad than anything else, since his time is taken up by the lawsuit defense and of course he still has his shifts at the Sime Center.
Jeniard appears healthy enough, if a bit harassed and unsmiling.
Beni: I know I don't have any right to ask this of you, but I'm at my wit's end.
Beni: If Nick or Alea was around to ask, believe me, I'd not bother you.
Jeniard nods once.
Beni: It's Arat. I can't get him to eat, or sleep, or take care of himself at all.
Jeniard sighs.
Beni: It's gotten so bad that he has to read through his paperwork three times to make sense of it.
Beni: I've seen him in need before, but this is worse.
Jeniard: He's always been like that. It's up to you, or whoever is taking care of him, to deal with it.
Beni is well aware that his inadequacy as a Donor is at fault, and that Nick or Alea--or Jeniard--could have prevented the problem from getting so acute.
Beni: I know that. I'm not asking for you to go back to him.
Beni: But could you tell me how to manage this? Nothing I've tried seems to work.
Beni is fortunately no relative of Riyyh, or he'd be wringing his hands.
Jeniard: There aren't any tricks, or if there are, they're different for each person. Just be persistent, [thinks: very persistent] and don't ever let up, not in the morning, not at night, not at the beginning of the month, never.
Jeniard: You'll never get satisfaction, but at least the more you work at it the more small victories there will be. It helps over the long run.
Jeniard means, it helps Arat over the long run.
Jeniard has been reexamining how helpful it's been to him personally.
Beni slumps.
Jeniard: I know it's disheartening. But sometimes life throws you these impossible situations.
Beni: I don't want to be the Donor who puts Arat into emergency medical leave.
Jeniard thinks, you certainly wouldn't be the first.
Jeniard: I know.
Jeniard thinks for a moment.
Beni: I've tried blasting him with hunger, and he threw me out of the room rather than go eat.
Jeniard: No no, that sort of thing never works.
Beni: I tried having one of his favorite meals delivered to his office, and he left it untouched for two days.
Jeniard: You can't outsmart him, and you can't overpower him, and pestering him with projections just makes him crazy.
Jeniard thinks, unless you're Nick or Alea.
Beni looks and zlins like he's being driven more than a little crazy himself.
Jeniard: Look... you have to work with him, not against him.
Jeniard: I know it's probably hard for you, not knowing him that well and just being assigned to him for a couple of months and all.
Jeniard: And God knows he doesn't make it easy on a Donor.
Beni: It's been three days since I've been able to get him to even try a nap.
Beni is almost in tears.
Jeniard: All right, all right, calm down.
Jeniard: Sit down over here, Beni.
Jeniard guides him over to a chair at a simple table.
Jeniard's hotel room is none too impressive, since he was too busy to spend much time on the choice.
Beni sits, or rather, slumps.
Jeniard hovers in a motherhennish fashion.
Jeniard notices the water glass is empty and takes it.
Jeniard thinks through the situation briefly.
Jeniard: OK, for starters, you'll have to get rid of that Pylor guy.
Beni: Get rid of Pylor?
Jeniard: He's done nothing but add more stress since he arrived. And now he's taking up the mealtimes which are your only chance to even try getting Arat to eat, right?
Beni wonders how he's supposed to overrule the Regional Controller's specific orders, when he can't even convince a District Controller to take a nap.
Jeniard: If talking to him Donor to Donor doesn't work, resort to sabotage.
Beni: Sabotage?
Beni has not been in the rarefied levels of Donordom long enough to pick up on such advanced techniques.
Jeniard: You've got access to the best medical facilities in the Territory. You've got to make full use of your resources, Beni, or you'll never be able to work with Arat.
Jeniard: Food poisoning, a rare influenza, anything just to get him off Arat's back for a few days.
Jeniard has been working within the limitations of Arat's Controllers' inflexibilities for many years.
Beni: ...food poisoning?
Beni has a Gen's instinctive aversion to anything that's likely to limit food intake, even temporarily.
Beni is, however, becoming desperate.
Jeniard: Don't be so squeamish, Beni. [tartly] You're stuck with a bad situation, but sitting there wringing your hands isn't going to do you any good whatsoever.
Jeniard: Now, can Arat work?
Jeniard: I mean, real work, not that paperwork.
Beni: Well, he's still taking a shift every day. He gives me the usual complaints that I'm not supporting him properly, so I assume he's still zlinning more or less straight.
Jeniard: All right. Here's what you do. Go through Arat's schedule and find every meeting, appointment or session that is likely to stress him out. You know the kind I mean: irritating employees, overbearing C... persons higher in the chain of command, unwanted outside appointments.
Jeniard: Divide them into two categories, the "A" list and the "B" list.
Beni nods.
Jeniard: Go down to Tiarala, Grace, and all the other department heads and tell them you need all emergency cases that happen before those times to be referred to Arat.
Jeniard: Trust me, they'll know exactly what you're doing.
Jeniard: The "A" list is the stuff a genuine emergency will be required for... that's the list you give them.
Beni's eyes widen as he absorbs Jeniard's meaning.
Jeniard: The "B" list is just other stuff, the stuff he can get out of any time he wants. Keep that list in your pocket.
Jeniard: Any time you come to a big block of the "B" items, find some way to get Arat into a work session and then keep throwing him patients. Any kind, it doesn't matter what. He's really easy to distract that way.
Beni: But what you suggest is a deliberate sabotage of a Controller's job!
Jeniard: Yes, yes. [impatiently] You wanted my help didn't you?
Beni nods, still in shock at hearing such brutal tactics discussed so openly.
Jeniard: Now, it's very important that you reschedule all those missed sessions so he doesn't freak out about them.
Jeniard: Don't reschedule the weekly ones, there's no point in that.
Beni thinks this goes well beyond the sorts of tame techniques taught in Donor school.
Beni: Just cancel them?
Jeniard: Everything else, reschedule for at least a week after his transfer.
Jeniard: Now, after this particular transfer, you'll definitely want to black out several days of time entirely.
Jeniard: Don't tell anybody why, though. Just reschedule everything and don't put anything in that time zone yourself.
Beni wonders if he can use Arat's administrative assistant to handle this rescheduling, which sounds like a full-time job in itself.
Beni sort of doubts that Arat will give him time off to mess with his schedule.
Jeniard: Now, you aren't leaving him alone at all are you?
Jeniard: That is a definite no no. Especially at night.
Jeniard: Sleep on the couch in the office if you have to.
Beni: He makes me leave when Pylor is there. Otherwise, I haven't been out of reach all week.
Beni has the aching back to prove it.
Jeniard: And insist that he come with you to all meals; he can't force you to go alone, you know.
Beni: Well, not if Pylor is sick.
Jeniard: Now, as for actually making him eat and sleep, that requires a different sort of technique.
Jeniard: You're going to have to get into our room for this... I assume you've been making him come to yours?
Beni: Yes. He doesn't seem to want to spend time in his room.
Jeniard: All right. You'll have to get in and fetch his vitamins and the IV supplement. Don't worry, you won't have to use that last, it's just a scare tactic.
Jeniard: To get in, you may have to bribe the maintenance master.
Jeniard: Don't pay him any more than 2000.
Beni nods, making a mental note to go by the bank on his way back to the Center.
Jeniard: For eating, keep rotating your tactics between threats, cajoling, and expressing honest concern for his health.
Jeniard: It'll drive him batty, but it'll work if you are persistent enough.
Jeniard: Try different things... getting him to take vitamins instead, or making a compromise about what or how much food, you see what I mean?
Jeniard: You have to wear him out.
Beni hopes that Arat wears out before he does.
Jeniard: Oh yes, sleep is more straightforward.
Beni: It is?
Beni is ~~ relieved ~~ to hear that.
Jeniard: Yes, because he'll pass out if you can get him into a horizontal position, as long as he thinks the environment is private enough. So: When you come to a break where there is nothing on his schedule, lock the office door and try to convince him to lay down for 5 minutes. Just 5 minutes and he doesn't even have to close his eyes.
Jeniard: I guarantee you, it may not be easy to get him to do it, but once he has, he'll be out like a light.
Beni: I see.
Jeniard: Oh yes, you'll want to get the special blanket while you're in our room.
Beni: Special blanket?
Jeniard: It's tan, sort of plain, the only one there with no Tecton marking.
Beni nods.
Beni is somehow not surprised that information on such things as "special security blankets" didn't make it into Arat's file..
Jeniard: I have to warn you... once the others get wind that you are helping Arat more, they might not trust you as much.
Jeniard: It's just kind of an employee-boss thing. Working with him this closely will put you over the line.
Jeniard: They'll look at you and see "Controller's pet".
Beni: It can't be too much worse than being the "Controller's whipping boy".
Jeniard: If you know what's good for you, you won't repeat any of what I've told you to anybody, either.
Jeniard: The Powers that Be want him in working condition but they can't look the other way if what it takes to keep him there is shoved in their face.
Beni is glad that Donors are traditionally given quite a bit of leeway in how they handle their channels, as long as it works, even if food poisoning doesn't usually qualify.
Jeniard: Once he's had his transfer, and recovered from that, he ought to be able to handle his schedule himself, but you'll have to keep at him about food and sleep. Even before turnover.
Beni: That will be his new Donor's job, I'm afraid.
Beni: I expect I'll be assigned to Snake by then.
Jeniard's eyes widen.
Jeniard: But then who will... oh no, not Pylor.
Beni: He's been improving.
Beni is ~~ dubious ~~ as to whether this will suffice, however.
Jeniard: No, you must not let that happen, if you care at all for your future.
Jeniard says this very fervently.
Jeniard in fact is saying it to himself as much as Beni.
Beni: ...my future?
Jeniard: If Arat thinks he's assigned to Pylor, he may never come out of his post-transfer plunge.
Jeniard: I've seen it happen before, and it's neither pretty or easy to repair.
Beni: Oh, dear.
Jeniard: Even if he does, Pylor will have him in the hospital before the next week is over.
Jeniard: Who do you suppose that will reflect upon?
Jeniard: Pylor is being given a whole lot of slack, and why shouldn't he keep getting it? You know how the Powers that Be can get.
Jeniard clearly is not a fan of Pylor.
Beni has a sinking suspicion that Jeniard will hold him personally responsible for any damage to Arat, even if Arat isn't his responsibility.
Beni: Look, I'll do what I can, but my primary responsibility will have to be to Snake, or whichever channel I'm assigned.
Beni: If it's Snake--well, she doesn't leave much time for other responsibilities.
Jeniard can't believe he just told all of his deepest secrets to somebody who is only going to be with Arat for two more days at most.
Jeniard looks stunned.
Jeniard: Well....
Beni: I will do everything humanly possible to make the transition easy for Arat.
Jeniard recovers somewhat, although it is clear his opinion of Beni has gone down about 16 notches.
Jeniard: Well, good luck.
Beni: With any luck, he'll continue working with me for an hour or so each day, even if I'm not assigned to him.
Jeniard wonders how Beni can think that would make any difference, after learning what it really takes.
Jeniard: Yeah, well.
Jeniard: Anyway, I have to get back to this reading. I have an appearance in a half hour.
Jeniard should have learned after all these years that nobody is going to be willing to shoulder his burden for any length of time.
Beni: Thank you very much for your advice, Jeniard. If I can manage to get Arat through this transfer, at least he has a chance.
Jeniard nods.
Beni is ~~ sincerely grateful and relieved ~~
Beni: Maybe they'll get smart, and assign him someone who can handle him properly.
Jeniard: Anything is possible.
Jeniard says this in the vague tone of someone who is applying the sentence to itself.
Beni personally thinks that it's more likely that Nick will change his mind, come back, and pledge, but stranger things have happened.