The Oppenheimer Report - 12/26/11

Years ago, when Shauna and I were still making our annual pilgrimage out to Banff, Alberta we stayed at the same resort for 12 years. In keeping with her tendency to exhaustively research any facility in which we planned to stay, Shauna chose a place called the Douglas Fir Resort and Chalets for its view, its facilities, its competent staff, and for the good room rate she was able to negotiate. Banff hotels tended to be a bit pricey in those days; at the time, it was a popular international destination for a lot of European and Japanese tourists. With the most recent economic downturn, I’m not sure it still is, but the Canadian Rockies really are spectacular. Anyhow, our stays at the DFR became longer and longer. We grew very fond of the staff, we knew all of the maintenance guys, all of the front desk clerks, all the managers, and got along famously with just about everybody who worked there. Then one day it all changed. A new manager was hired and within a short time, he managed to undo all the goodwill everyone else at the resort had built up. He not only alienated us, he became legendary in the community for his assholiness. The man was a creep and a lousy manager to boot. Within one year from the time he took over at the DFR, all he managed was to drive away every good and effective employee the DFR had to offer. For our last two years out there, that jerk made our stay miserable, largely because he made his staff so miserable. I suppose he resented that we were regulars and that we had for years been given a proprietary rate, though we were off-season customers and really were no trouble. The final straw, after seeing all of our favorite staff members defect one by one, was when this bozo started spreading vicious rumors about us in a feeble attempt to turn the staff against us. We stopped going out to Banff for many reasons, but first and foremost was the negative impact this one man had on the place we loved to stay. They say that karma is a bitch, and the other day, we got word from several of our friends out in Banff that the prick was finally fired. It was as if Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz had just dumped a pail of water on the wicked witch, so consistently gleeful were the reports we received from local residents. We came to find out that nobody in Banff liked this guy. All his machinations and misdeeds were finally revealed when the last original employee recently quit and the Japanese owners were apprised of some “discrepancies” in his exit interview. Now, I’d be astonished if anybody in the community will provide him with a favorable reference. First, North Korea’s Kim “Little Elvis” Jung Il croaks and within a week, the much despised-manager of the DFR is summarily removed. Talk about your two-fers! The DFR was an excellent facility, family-friendly, with a great location on Banff’s scenic Tunnel Mountain, and we sincerely hope that they soon regain their fine status as one of the better facilities in the Banff resort community. It’s remarkable what one person can do to destroy years of goodwill.

I don’t recall, but I believe I ended the last report of 2010 hoping that 2011 would be a better year. Certainly the struggling economy has to be front and center. When I reflect on the past year, the events that stick out in my mind are the natural disasters: the F5 tornado that flattened Joplin, Missouri, the devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami that hammered Japan and caused the Fukishima nuclear power plant disaster, the record-setting floods in Australia, and the uncontrollable wildfire that literally incinerated the town of Slave Lake, Alberta. It was a banner year for Bieber and a train wreck for Sheen. Dr. Conrad Murray’s conviction sent a sobering message to other pill-pushers in star-f-cked LA: physician do no harm. It was a year of the Arab Spring, when like dominoes, tyrants were toppled one by one. It was the year when angry countrymen around the world took to the streets to demand accountability from their governments, a time when leadership in the United States and Europe seemed largely absent. Americans occupied everything from Wall Street to Main Street, but little changed. I watched the movie Too Big to Fail the other night, which is a re-enactment of the events that led up to the 2008 mortgage backed securities crisis. It made me bristle. Never before did I grasp the financial Armageddon we almost set in play with our fiscal irresponsibility. It was the year my mom died. Other notable obits: Apple’s Stephen Jobs, Muammar Gaddafi, Liz Taylor, and Wilson Great batch (who?). Finally, 2011 was the year I made it my daily practice to acknowledge my thanks for each day I am alive and healthy, married to my wife, safe and free, and blessed with good and honorable parents and friends. My hope for 2012 and beyond is that we deal with our universal crises in leadership, that America fixes her broken democracy; that somehow the unthinkable happens and peace and harmony become “viral.” And yes, as always, I aspire to be a better, kinder man. Like that’s going to happen. Happy New Year to one and all.

-Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED