Min ny vän

I’m so infatuated with a goddess named Kim that I’ve neglected to mention another important woman in my life. Her name is Karol.

Partially inspired by content on this blog, Karol moved her family from Eureka to McKinleyville in early September. A short time later she commented on my blog postings and I invited her to come to my swanky downtown office for a visit.

We got together and chatted for more than 2 1/2 hours. It was as if we had known each other all our lives. We were instantly best buddies, or as Karol would say, we’re like kindred spirits. At the end of our meeting, she asked if I needed any help with the paper. At the time I didn’t, but within a week or two things exploded and I no longer had a business partner to help me out.

So I called Karol, who instantly became the newspaper’s assistant editor.

Karol is over-qualified for the job. She founded The Independent in Garberville and spent four years putting out the paper. That means she knows the brutality of the business. She teaches in the HSU English Department and is basically a lot smarter than I am when it comes to just about everything.

But I didn’t really hire her for her smarts. I hired her because she’s fun to be around and I like talking with her. Work is work, but Karol makes work downright pleasant. We laugh a lot and her help is invaluable. Plus, she has lots of good ideas and is enthusiastic.

Still, as an employer and a boss, I have my standards and expectations which I expect Karol to meet or exceed. Her first test came when I scheduled an extremely important business meeting to discuss strategy.

When Karol arrived for the meeting, I gave her two choices. We could sit in my office and drink lukewarm water, or we could go up to the Six Rivers Brewery for margaritas and nachos. Karol thought for a moment and then chose the brewery.

She may not realize it, but her fate rested in that decision. Had she chosen the office, I would have immediately terminated her position at the paper and given her a boot out the door.

Instead, we drank margaritas and came up with all sorts of interesting ideas.

Now I just need to make sure that the checks I write her don’t bounce too much.