Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Mrs. Festini's Breakdown, parts 1386 - 1389



1386.The director of the museum looked into it, and found that the class had only seven students in it. The first seven students paid their tuition and that went for the rental of the museum space; anything over seven was the amount paid to the instructor. This information was printed clearly in the contract she had signed when she started working at the museum, but she had never bothered to look at it. 



1387. By this system if she had eight students then she made one hundred dollars, but if she had seven she received nothing.  If she had twenty students then she made twelve- hundred dollars. It was an odd system but no one complained, least of all Mrs. Festini because she had no need or interest in money since her husband was a prominent brain surgeon. Here is what they all said about the great husband, "He is the best in the mid-west."  Such was Dr. Festini's title.



 1388. It is not surprising that she never read the contract she signed, she had no idea how much she would make, and she didn't care. You can be sure the contract was in among the papers in her hatbox, and had never been looked at, much less read. She would have happily taught her class for free, so the altercation that took place in the museum directors office was not  exactly about money: it was about simple respect and consideration. 


1389. The argument was prompted by the fact that a month had gone by and no one from the museum returned her calls asking about her payment. She would not even have called at all except that her husband's accountant demanded a receipt for payment in anticipation of doing the great doctor's taxes. "Was there going to be a 1099 tax form, and for how much?" The accountant left no stone unturned making sure that no person at the IRS would ever question Dr. Festini's tax returns. 

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