*disclaimer – just havin’ a little fun with Reformation Day….

Seems there was this guy named Leo who was the head man of a great big company. He lived in a big ole house that needed a once over. It was a whopper of a place, and it was gonna take a pile of cash to get the job done. Leo had the scratch to do it himself, but the house belonged to the folks he worked for, so he didn’t want to sink his own money into the fix. Pondering, he came up with a most excellent (sic) plan. He would tell people to ‘invest’ with him with the promise that they’d get a guaranteed return on that money forever, if only they’d wait until they died! That’s right – pony up the dough now, and they’d be guaranteed a comfortable return for eternity and the freedom to use whatever they had left however they wanted until then with no strings attached. On top of that, folks could toss in some for their kin that they didn’t think was doin’ so well in the afterlife to bail ’em out of their trouble too! What a deal! Leo was a charismatic feller, and he had the job of all jobs, so common folk trusted the ole boy and started takin’ the bait. As the money rolled in, a guy named Marty who worked for the same outfit took a look at what was happenin’ and decided that surely Leo was bein’ misunderstood. Instead of takin’ care of their business and doin’ right, people had started just carryin’ on all sorts of ways and coverin’ it up by chuckin’ in some more cash to Leo’s kitty. Tryin’ to spare his co-worker any more trouble, Marty shot off a letter to the feller that handled Leo’s mail for him. When he didn’t get nothin’ but a slap on the wrist, ole Marty began to get riled up. Maybe there really was somethin’ rotten in Denmark (OK – Germany) – he had to get to the bottom of it. Marty was a company man, after all, and this could hurt ’em all. Now this was a spell before they had this internet thing, so a Zoom meeting wasn’t an option. What with everything in those days bein’ centered around the outfit these guys worked for, the best way to call a meetin’ was with a written invite. Seein’ how’s most everybody that was anybody came a walkin’ by the door of the place just about every day, ole Marty tacked up a note on the door with a few thoughts (OK – 95 of ’em) that needed straightenin’ out, and waited for enough folks to get online to start the livestream — oh, wait, I meant – for enough folks to come to a meetin’ and talk it out. Wasn’t long before all the people who had plopped down the cash started raisin’ a fuss, cause Marty was tellin’ everybody they had just bought a pig in a poke. Leo finally got wind of this fly in his ointment, and before long ole Marty was standin’ on the green carpet. Totin’ his pink slip in his hand, Marty headed off into the country to catch his breath and figure out what he was gonna do about a paycheck. Well, that note on the door had caused some kind of fuss! It wasn’t long before the folk back at his old place came a knockin’ on HIS door a wantin’ to start up their own outfit! Ole Marty packed up his go-bag, tore up that pink slip, and clomped off back to start on his new adventure. Surprise, surprise – when he got there, the folks met him and gave him a fine job, and he spent the rest of his days tellin’ the truth about ole Leo and his crooked self. These days, the company Marty started is loads bigger than the one Leo was headin’ up back then, and today even the feller in Leo’s office comes to the anniversary party at Marty, Inc.