Power Seller, SUPPO?

People, it is well documented, make mistakes. You might turn left from the right lane or drink a little to much and end up late to work the next day. I’ve dropped supper on the floor, let my license expire, said things I didn’t mean, and once, as a guest in the home of an Orthodox Jew, put a milk dish in the meat dishwasher (there were two dishwashers, I didn’t think to ask, and after a deliciously cheesy snack picked the wrong one -- it was a very big deal to my friend). Mistakes happen.

When our battalion supply officer, the SUPPO, was recently caught selling cases of the battalion’s tents on EBay it was not the result of a mistake. It was because the Lieutenant made a series of calculated if selfish decisions.

I’ve never cared for the man -- he’s always put me off a bit -- and I’m not alone. It’s safe to say that he’s nobody’s favorite. He might even hold the title of Least Liked Person in the battalion. And that was before he went to mast (a non-judicial form of punishment unique, in this country, to the military). Now, as a group, we all feel justified in our dislike because we know he’s earned it; it feels good.

I have a fantasy that the next time I pass him in the hall I’ll turn his way, tilt my head down, my eyes up, and ask in a low breathy voice,

“Power seller, SUPPO?”