The Dinner Party, an Underfable

The Dinner Party

(after Matthew 22: 1-14)

Once upon a time a Trillionaire invited his closest frenemies to a dinner party. But they had all attended his parties before; so one said that he was washing his hair that day, another had to do his taxes, a third preferred to visit the dentist, and a fourth planned to be busy because somebody’s wrong on the Internet.

“I never liked those greedy control freaks anyhow,” said the One Percent of One Percenter. “Instead I’ll invite the People!”

So he sent his drones to every streetcorner in the city to bray his party invitation at top volume. When the People shot those robots down, the Trillionaire got mad and sent weaponized drones. Those drones shot a dozen rioters, then herded a huge crowd to the Trillionaire’s mansion, where the dinner awaited.

But when the Trillionaire came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a tuxedo. He asked, “How did you get in here so badly dressed, friend?”

The man said not one word.

The Trillionaire had him ejected from the mansion; but then his guests all wailed and gnashed their teeth and clamored that they too were badly dressed.

So he ejected his guests, and then the waiters, and then the kitchen staff, and the butlers, and the security staff, and finally everybody except himself.

Moral: Communication cannot cross a power gap.

          Commentary: There’s just no pleasing some people. Compare ‘the man was speechless’ to ‘the man said not one word’. Stunned silence vs. stony silence; both eloquent.

          Regarding the Moral: you want to say what the boss needs to hear, but you need to say what the boss wants to hear.