America 1982-Chapter 229 - 79: Preparing for the Charity Dinner
"This dumbass just sits here and gets nominated as the party manager, while when I sit here, all you guys say is ’welcome back home’ to me? And while handing me a beer, you thoughtfully remind me to remember to donate to the SSD on time?" Jason White sat in his fraternity’s meeting room, looking at the fraternity members sitting around the table, and questioned with dissatisfaction in his tone.
With the graduation of Charles and Eric, the newly elected chairman Ian and the vice-chairman Ted now smiled and nodded, "That’s right, because the moment you took a hiatus, your status in the SSD already changed."
"Meaning that you’re seen as a success story in the eyes of our SSD’s current students, Jason. We’re proud of you, man. You’re fucking worth tens of millions now, admired by thousands," Tommy said as he lit a cigarette and smiled at Jason.
Jason, having heard Tommy’s flattery, slightly soothed his mood, "That’s good, keep going, don’t stop, Tommy. If you can keep up the praise for five minutes, you’ll earn my forgiveness."
Derek, who once teamed up with Jason to win the beer pong championship in the rookie contest, continued after Tommy, "Of course, aside from the ethereal market value, the biggest difference between you and us in the future is that you won’t have the chance to join the mixers with the sororities."
Jason, who had been closing his eyes, longing to hear more adulation, then had his defenses shattered by his fraternity brother’s comment, and now slapped the table while shouting furiously at Tommy and Derek:
"Fuck you, Derek! Fuck you, Tommy!!"
Tommy turned to the new chairman, Ian Haywood, "Jason likely won’t be donating to us any time soon." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Once a fraternity member leaves the campus, they are moved from the internal in-school roster of the SSD to the alumni list. They are still unquestionably brothers of the SSD, but don’t expect the Stanford SSD folks to treat you like the dumbass they can mess with anymore. You can always come back to Sparta House for a beer, join a party, but they’ll never reach out to you proactively, they won’t call every weekend asking you to roll back for activities, and they won’t entrust you with solving problems for a major party anymore, whether it’s designing lighting or transporting alcohol, or contacting sororities, etc. You can only attend the parties, no longer having the experience of being involved in the party from scratch to the end.
"Now I know why you fucking insisted on cramming for credits instead of taking a year off. I don’t know if Holly regrets it, but I’m already regretting it. If I’d worked as hard as you did back then, I could be just like you now, competing with this dumbass Derek for the position of external relations manager, and I could still be... a dumbass..." Jason said, a touch of regret in his voice.
Tommy patted Jason’s shoulder, "Don’t take it to heart, I just get to spend a bit more time at mixers with the sororities, not that much longer, just a tiny, insignificant three years more."
"Thank you for rubbing delicious salt in my wounds, Tommy," Jason glared at Tommy, then casually said:
"Now that I know this harsh truth, I feel like not even the therapy of three girlfriends each night can cheer me up. I’ve decided to add one more, then record and send it to you guys, followed by donating a big-screen TV to play it for you 24/7..."
All the SSD members, upon hearing about Jason’s debaucherous lifestyle with three girlfriends every night, were equally shattered. Derek and another brother from the same period, urged on by Ian, grabbed Jason and dragged him out of the meeting room.
The boasting of the rich is so fucking monotonous and straightforward, but its destructive power is astonishing.
"Counting Jason, we have ten brothers leaving this year, which means that at the start of the new school year, we’ll have at least ten new faces joining. The problem we face is, for this year’s recruitment night, what big name do we use as a draw? Last year it was Major General Ott, who do you guys think we should invite this year among the living Stanford SSD alumni?"
"Mr. Gardner just stepped down from Stanford University’s board of trustees, didn’t he? Should we invite him to revisit his old haunts? I guess he’d be willing to come back to the campus and check out the SSD," Tommy casually threw out a name.
John Gardner, Stanford University SSD fraternity member, served in the United States Marine Corps’ strategic operations office’s Italy division during World War II, responsible for intelligence, joined the Carnegie Company after the war ended and became the president of the Carnegie Company within ten years, later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, served as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and after leaving office, became a trustee of Stanford University’s board and founded several lobbying organizations, mainly focusing on how to help the wealthy avoid taxes.
As everyone perused the directory of Stanford SSD distinguished alumni, Ted was the first to look up and give his opinion, "Tommy, I don’t think Mr. Gardner is the most suitable choice. I’m not saying he’s not outstanding, but he’s just not cool enough for the new guys, you know? At least Major General Ott could invite us to drive some tanks, shoot some guns, even promote us to military ranks. When Mr. Gardner shows up... I always feel like he’s about to check my homework, he’s very stern. When he was a trustee, he used to secretly call over the SSD chairman every year, intimidating Charles and the previous chairmen, making them promise that under their leadership the SSD wouldn’t cause any trouble, otherwise he’d be the first to disband it..."
