Letters

When Harry signed for the registered letter from the university, he knew that he was entering the realm of "Oh fuck!" Until that point, life had been a cakewalk. If it wasn't for the fact that Harry was tone deaf, he excelled in seemingly everything: school, sports, the arts and his popularity was unrivaled. That was Harry, the anointed one.

And then came The Letter. Expelled from the program for failing Macroeconomics 641. Harry shook uncontrollably until he crumbled to the floor wailing.

It's not that Harry's dreams were shattered by Das Boot. In fact none of them had anything to do with business: not the movie star trip, nor the best-selling author on tour, nor as leader of the free world, brokering the deal finally bringing peace to the Middle East. The real issue was that Harry had fallen in school, the ultimate forum where success and failure was measured. One capital letter could tell a whole story, from A to F.

Harry fought the battle to reverse the decision. First, he had his exam reread and was hopeful when he found out that a Professor Bernt, who lived in St. Clair, would be doing it.

"A neighbor is workable," Harry thought. "He'll find a way to pass me."

"I'm really sorry, Harry. But the extra marks just aren't there. I can't find any fault with Professor Evans' grading."

"Give me a break, Professor Bernt. I only need another seven marks to pass. You can save me from the tight-asses trying to kick me out of the program."

"I'm sorry Harry, I can't."

"No, you can, but you won't. Kapo!"

He stormed out of Bernt's office, slamming the door on the way out.

Harry had one last option. Take the expulsion up with the tribunal where one of the judges would be a fellow MBA student. Since Harry was popular with his classmates, he figured he could garner the student vote and convince one of the two remaining judges, both professors, to support him. Harry had a decent case: He was doing well going into his last semester with a solid B average, there were even a couple of A's. Not bad for a guy with an undergraduate degree in Theater. Furthermore, he was going into the final with an A- average and even with his grade of 43, there were still enough marks to pass the course with a respectable B- average. The final was only worth 30% of the overall grade, although there was Evans' stipulation that a student had to pass the final to pass the course.

"It was a unanimous, Mr. Starr. We uphold the original decision. You can reapply for the program in two years."

"You can't be serious. I had an A- going into the exam and an overall B average. I even had an A in Accounting..."

"There were also three C grades. The program criteria for earning the MBA degree clearly stipulates that any student with more than three C's cannot remain in the program. We're sorry."

"No, you're not sorry, just a bunch of big assholes."

Harry stormed out of the office, slamming the door on the way out. Going mainstream obviously wasn't working.