Blackmail ~ for Genre Shorties week 117

you made me smile,John.This is perfect.

Thanks, Buzzy.

ha,ha,ha fun read, John...revenge with possible blackmail...I mean the last croissant! what a cad!

Thanks, Richard.

Because pastry trumps love every day! I mean, come on. Priorities.

In some circles, apparently. Thanks, Tracy.

Who could blame you, after he, having taken that sweet, delicate, and flaky thing from your life... and then the croissant too.

The final blow. Thanks, Mustafa.

Boy! Talk about being lactose intolerant!

Love that comment, Orb. Thanks.

He definitely deserved it.
Great story.

Thanks, Anita.

Great story, John. You sure know how to do them up just right.

Thanks, Pam.

Very witty. I especially like the coral snake in the trench coat pocket-I had fantasies of putting a rattlesnake in the mailbox of a particularly unsavory and pathetically deficient not to mention unscrupulous pathologist I had to put up with (until they discovered him taking his slides to others for "consults"). I figured the electric chair wasn't worth it though.

:) Thanks, Alice. Sounds like a story.

Actually, it was quite a story but no one wanted to listen at the time. Some things I simply chose to forget and life as a Lab Director with him as the pathologist was one of them. I did a lot of background checking on him with other Lab Directors who had dealt with him when I became aware of a number of deficiencies and irregularities and presented my findings to Administration. They treated it as a personality conflict situaltion and too his services were well within budget so they took no action until physicians on medical staff began to get wise and other pathologists in the city began to refuse to "consult" for him (read his frozen's and tissue slides, ahem ....give him a "second" opinion). I resigned well before he finally got fired. But I never again trusted hospital administrations much although I continued to supervise for a number of years afterward. I haven't thought about that man in many many years until your mention of the snake in the trench coat just brought it right up. It all eventually caught up with him I think.

We also had administrators in the remote past who paid no heed to warnings about members of their professional staff. It's frustrating and dangerous. Our current administration and board would not be like that.

With all the emphasis now on credentialling it is a lot harder for someone to get by like this. He hated me from the getgo because I did know quite a bit about what was expected of him and how it should have been conducted; I worked for a number of years closely with one of the best pathology groups (and one of the most ethical ones) a med tech could ask for and there was a great relationship and mutual respect as well as a strong commitment to quality patient care. It did not take long to realize that he was incompetent and dishonest. Later on, I was asked to come back to that same lab and help straighten out major deficiencies and dangers (this time under the umbrella of the pathology group that I had been associated with for so long and with a different administrator). We all worked very hard to achieve the goals set and did and glory be the hospital was then sold to the university system who installed their own pathologists and lab supervisors from the medical center. When that happened I turned in my supervisory hat and found employment at another hospital not associated with the university as a senior medical technologist in the Blood Bank determined to be responsible only for my own work. I worked there for almost 18 years cured of the belief that I could change the world and cure what ailed medical technology. I know I helped save many lives over the years and I no longer carried a beeper 24 hours a day and I actually slept at night because I knew I had done my best. If I had it to do over again I would avoid health care like the plague. The real twist to this story? Not very long before I retired the large hospital I retired from actually bought this albatross from the University along another very small hospital. And it is still not a very good hospital-it never recovered from the poor management early on.

I was instrumental in the hospital replacing an incompetent CEO decades ago, and the replacement is still there.

Patience to be admired at snake timing and placement.

:)
Thanks, Bill.

Clever, clever - and you got me chuckling.

Thanks, Magi.

You just can't trust a weatherperson.

It goes with the job! Thanks, Bob.

Yeah, they blow hot and cold. My doctor once told me the single most dangerous food to eat is the Croisant: "The Heart Attack Breakfast" he called it: it's 80% butter.

Yes. I don't eat them.
Thanks, Allen.

Which would you rather have, croissant or snails?

In France I had snails and they were delicious.

Escargot vs croissant? Escargot, however they are generally served in a rich butter & wine sauce, so on a "bad for you" scale it might be a draw. I would not be likely to have snails for breakfast.

My wife loves this food, but not I
My wife would stick in a tine and
It looked like something on Bizarre foods

I agree they appear bizarre. The taste is in the preparation.

I had shared 1.5 liters of #17 Sake With my friend O.D. We and wives were camping on Sado ga Shima (Sado Island) and took part in the small village Matsuri (Summer festival). Once they found out O. D. a professor, well he was given this bottle of rather rare Osake. Later on we got away and started drinking this osake. We were barely standing when we came upon a tin roof bar on the beach. The only food they had Taii (Red Snapper sashimi). I had always refused sashimi or sushi, but I was hungry and literally in the middle of nowhere. Since then, I very much like raw fish and sea eel.

He, he food, better than his woman eh?

Not just any food. :) Thanks, Angela.

Most wickedly funny, John! Deep bow from me.

Thank you, Barbary.

Revenge is often sweeter than the sugariest of donuts....or flakiest croissant.

Thanks, Jeanne.

Damn him to h...! He can't steal a croissant from a doctor. That's like taking donuts from a cop.

:) Thanks, David. Actually I don't eat 'em. When I was a kid, I liked elephant ears also but I've given them up also.

Aha! Taught him not to take the last of one man's favorite pastry.

Taught? :) Thanks, Sandy.

Hehehe! Anything but the taking of the last croissant!

Thanks, G.M.

My oh my, you are not French, are you John??

Very sneaky revenge there...I didn't think you had it in you :)

Sorry, I'm late, John ~

:) Thanks, Marianne.

Sweet revenge. Crafty and concise. This was a challenging prompt.

Thanks, Jane.

Wow, I hope I never ever accidently take the last croissant. You just never know who is watching and carrying around poisonous snakes. Great story John.

Thanks, Lee.

A Japanese proverb says, 'the stomach rules all we do.'

Lots of wisdom in that. Thank you.

Hopefully not GMO.

:)

Oh Gosh. HA HA HA.

I cannot believe you can make this up with that prompt. I guess that's why you are a great creator.