Retired Reality and Married Assassins

I had an interesting exchange with a retired employee yesterday.  He was seeking to return as a part time driver and learned that I blocked his hiring.  He felt hurt and said he always thought we had a good relationship.  He requested a face to face meeting to discuss my decision.  He was a good employee when he was here but took multiple opportunities to avail himself of the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts liberal Workmen’s Comp benefits.

He and I had a very frank discussion about his proclivities and the fact the company has a huge problem with employees routinely abusing the Workmen’s Comp benefits.  I told him that this had real costs for the company with increased premiums and since he was a poster child for the abusers I couldn’t justify bringing him back.  He claimed to appreciate my honesty and pledged not to be a problem if I brought him back.  I wished him well on his retirement.

Fairly quiet day on the home front; Buddy tried his hand (paw) at helping me mow the lawn.  He was in charge of squirrel security.  My sister called to inquire about radon levels.  She teamed up with my wife to attack my credibility on the issue.  Why do women always seem to agree that I need intense supervision?  My son called to insure all the football fantasy rookies understood the first game is tonight and what that means.  He also bemoaned the property tax situation in New Hampshire where he and the ABFA are house hunting, sobering when the monthly tax may be more than the mortgage payment.

I’m not the only one struggling with marital supervision issues.  I finished my latest Vince Flynn book, Executive Action.  His hero, Mitch Rapp, is newly married and adjusting to killing terrorists while having to explain the odd bullet wound in his butt to his new bride.  She handled it about as well as my own wife would so I can understand and sympathize with the deadly Mr. Rapp having the deal with issues outside his experience.

While the politics in the book were a little dated since they revolved around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the action was up to Flynn’s usual standard.  In other words I truly enjoyed yet another romp through Rapp’s world as he dealt death and destruction from the Philippines to the Middle East.  I immediately bought the next book in the series upon finishing.  I was delighted to find the newest Jack Reacher book had been loaded onto my Kindle in the past few days.  Mitch will have to wait a few days while I conduct my usual scorched earth read through Lee Child’s latest Reacher novel.