The actions of Theresa’s assistants— Liam, Liza and Laurie—only prolonged the inevitable. They were in the fog of work; such fogs are often an internal war.
Theresa Events Company was the gold standard in the town’s philanthropic community. If you wanted a grand gala, you had to fork over a large sum to Theresa Events.
Theresa saw herself as a kingmaker. She could make or break people and organizations. A misspoken phrase from a museum director infuriated Theresa, leaving her assistants to sort out how to repair the relationship.
On more than one occasion, the assistants would play both sides of a feud. They sent fruit baskets, greetings cards and singing telegrams back and forth between Theresa and her new enemy. In the end, both people felt like the other apologized.
Again, in the fog of work, people do strange things. If Liam, Liza and Laurie allowed Theresa to topple, the three assistants could start their own events company. Although the name they discussed, the L-Team, was not particularly marketable.
One day, Theresa decided to make her presence more widely felt in the community. The L-Team dissuaded her from hosting local happy hours or starting a podcast, knowing the trouble that might accompany such endeavors. Instead, they convinced her to create an email newsletter.
Liza was in charge of editing the newsletter, so the three of them thought they had a buffer. After Theresa wrote it, Liza convened an L-Team meeting.
The Big Three by Theresa Events
The three worst speakers at my galas last year. A do not use list for my clients.
- Robert Jones, Professor Emeritus
- Sally Wilkes, Hospital President
- Mayor Byron
The list was shocking, but in line with the Theresa they knew and defended. These three speakers were all well-respected within the community. Laurie hatched a plan to rewrite the newsletter with three speakers to hire and sent it out. Theresa received only happy replies to the newsletter.
The following week, the newsletter suddenly arrived in everyone’s inbox without a proofread.
The Big Three by Theresa Events
The three worst guests to attend my galas:
- Board Chairman Melissa Jones—attention hog
- Fire Chief Smith—lightweight drinker
- Mayor Byron
Liza immediately went to Theresa and asked why she’d sent out the newsletter without letting her proofread it. Theresa said she’d gotten such a good response to the first newsletter that she realized she didn’t need help. So Liza went back to the L-Team.
Liam had the idea of writing a follow-up saying that a jealous competitor had hacked their email. The list should have been the three best guests! The email encouraged everyone to mark the bad email as spam.
Liam then went into Theresa’s email and did everything he could to ensure that any future newsletters would go directly to spam. He emailed many people strange things, changed settings and added a signature with a link to a phishing website.
The next newsletter successfully went to spam for everyone.
The Big Three by Theresa Events
The three biggest scam causes in the city. A do not donate list for my clients.
- The Westend Animal Shelter
- Coffee for Essential Workers
- Mayor Byron’s reelection campaign
Liza quickly emailed the newsletter list recommending donations to the three surprisingly good causes listed above.
Another crisis averted.
The next day, the L-Team got one more email from Theresa.
The Big Three by Theresa Events
I just received a call from Mayor Byron, who has been so appreciative of all of my support for his campaign. I had him send me all of the emails. So here are the three L’s that I’m firing.
- Laurie
- Liam
- Liza