Resort

       I dreamed I was visiting Dad when he revealed that he'd purchased, some forty years ago, a resort in New Zealand or some other pacific island nation (That part wasn't really clear.). He'd been having a management company run it since then, but thought it would be a good time for one of us to go and make sure things were running smoothly, and to look at possible expansion or improvement. So far the investment had paid for itself and was returning a few hundred dollars a month in profit, most months. He signed the company over to me for $10,000 cash!
       I found myself in a small forested preserve on the edge of a large rolling plain. There were several lodges and a common set of showers/changing room/bathroom. The lodges themselves didn't have private toilets, though each had a chamber pot. There were residence dormitories at one edge of the property where the staff had apartments. They were actually nicer than the lodges. There was also a central dining area, and a large covered pool with a strong steel fence around it “to keep the hyenas out.” (Which made me think we were in Africa rather than on a pacific island.)
       I made my way to the common bathrooms, to discover that they were all in use by female visitors. Apparently the international signs had been taken down, or never installed. We just had to wait until one of the changing areas was clear. I spoke to one of the staff members, who indicated that this wasn't usually a problem, as they rarely had this many guests. Especially since they'd replaced him as the manager.
       He indicated that the staff was small, and very much like a family. They liked that the owner had made a strong profit sharing plan for them, and they felt almost like they were working for themselves rather than a foreign owner.
       I knew who he was immediately, and talked to him a bit about the changes.
       “You do know that the general management position was only temporary, that's why you weren't moved into it.”
       “I have the same pay, so I'm not really complaining.” I could tell he was worried about losing the local control his family had enjoyed for the last few decades.
       “But you thought you should have the GM job.”
       “Well, I do. But we never see the owner, and how would he know?”
       “I'm the owner's son, well actually the new owner, and I know. The GM will be leaving at the end of the week.”
       “Then the job will be open?”
       “Not really, I plan on staying and running things myself for a time. I have heard good things about you, though. I don't plan on changing anything. Except the bathroom situation. And we may want to be crowded like this a little more often, to pay for those changes.”
       My manager was speechless. I assured him that his honesty and candor about how things worked was a good trait, and that If I decided not to stay, I would certainly think of making him the GM. There was more than just the resort to manage, however, I had several farms that helped provide the food for the resort, and a small opal mine as well as a copper and topaz mine that really only operated during spring break as a field trip for a local college. I wanted to know how those businesses interacted, and I thought it would be a nice addition to the resort to add the mines to the resort's attractions, if I could figure out how to do so safely.