Typical Day
Xavier "X" Clusive wakes up at 5:00AM to the sound of his alarm. Peeking out his window, X sees that it's still dark outside. Conscious that today is an important day at Healthy & Wealthy Country Club, he dons his very best powder blue seersucker suit. He grabs two hard-boiled eggs on his way out the door.
The country club is a twenty-five minute drive. Xavier uses the time to think through the preparations for tonight's old-timey Sock Hop Extravaganza. It's part of the club's efforts to appeal to families. "Fun for the family!" the flyers all say. Xavier hopes it will be fun, and runs through his list again: Playlist and stereo system? Check. Vintage cars? Ten of them, check. Catering? Oh, did the chef ever find the right cheese? And who ordered the wine for tonight?
At 6:00AM, Xavier is forced to set aside these thoughts as he pulls up the wide driveway to the club. The driveway is lined with trees, perfectly trimmed. (No one knows better than Xavier how much time and coordination of labor goes into those trees.)
By 10:00AM, Xavier is in the kitchen, supervising the chef and the cook staff. He and the chef don't get along well, but the chef's the best in the business. The club poached him six years ago from one of the finest four-star restaurants in the Northeast. Membership at the club sky-rocketed immediately after the hire. It's since settled—and even declined a little—in the past couple years.
Lately, the chef has been threatening to quit. He's supposedly considering the luxury restaurant at the new casino across town.
How very hurtful.
Today, he's clearly looking to pick a fight: It's something about the poor quality of the day's dough. Xavier's not responsible, of course, but he has to take the chef's abuse.
At 11:00AM, Xavier calls for all the servers to gather for a briefing on "Operation Sock Hop-to-It." X is immensely proud of his pun, though none of the servers seem all that impressed. Xavier thinks they're all a little afraid of him. He's certainly known for being "fussy," after all.
Whatever, they just don't understand; if he didn't make a fuss out of these details, the club wouldn't be in business anymore. So there.
At 12:00PM, Xavier breaks for lunch: tuna salad. It's quick, it doesn't need heating, and it feels just sophisticated enough to please the fastidious foodie inside him. He sneaks a bite here and there while he directs the movers as they clear out the ballroom furniture and the lighting crew as they set up the special Tiffany lamps in the corner. On days like today, Xavier can't help but marvel at how much of an event planner he has become.
A couple hours later, Xavier is finally free to do some socializing. And for him, socializing is business. He walks to the pool area where he notices a few towel bins are running low. He gets someone to remedy the situation and then spots a group of longtime members—one of whom, he remembers, isn't planning to renew his membership for next year. Jerk. That's thousands of dollars lost in revenue for the club.
Determined to bring the member back within the fold of the club, Xavier joins the group's table. They're happy to have him, especially since he orders a round of drinks for everyone. (Business expenses, he thinks to himself.) When he walks away from the table, Xavier isn't sure whether he's convinced him, but he knows that he put up one hell of a fight. He decides to think optimistically for the time being. There's plenty of time for pessimism when he sits down to balance the books later.
By 7:00PM, the Sock Hop Extravaganza is off and running. The guests are having fun, some of them dressed in costume and some of them with their entire families. Even the teenagers are having fun. Xavier smiles to himself, aware that the teenagers will be the people keeping the club afloat financially in ten years' time. That's the entire strategy behind "Fun for the family!" It's not just a catchy slogan; it's financial protection and longevity.
By 11:00PM, the guests are mostly beginning to file out of the sock hop event. At 1:00AM, even the stragglers have left. Xavier dismisses the wait staff for the night. Still running over the events of the evening, including memorable conversations with members, Xavier tumbles into bed by 2:00AM. He'll go in late tomorrow, he thinks. Maybe even after 7:00AM.