Satire: Chevron's Waterbelly Faints Under Scrutiny, Grodomier Steps In

“...So, we simply could not afford to pay our station managers their bonuses! We feel just terrible…” Albert T. Waterbelly said, his facade of deep concern looking particularly shopworn this day.

Yes, Chevron, that darling little sister of the Oil Whores announced to their managers this week that management had changed the “status level” of all their retail gas station/stores—in January—which directly affects the local manager and assistant manager’s bonus.

When pressed for the reason for this, after Chevron posted another mind-numbing quarterly profit, company spokesman, Albert T Waterbelly stated: “You don’t understand how the oil industry works! You see, we just barely made that $4 billion profit! It costs us nearly $2 a gallon to refine that oil!”

A reporter pointed out that Chevron owns everything from the oil pump to the gas pump and every step of the process - from pumping it out of the ground, to transporting it, to refining it, to transporting it again to the stations, and the stations themselves. The reporter askd just how was it “costing” Chevron that $2.00 a barrel? Waterbelly, perhaps in an effort to aid America’s energy crisis, farted loudly and moved on to another reporter:

“Yes, you!” He said, trying subtly to wave off the natural methane cloud huddling behind him.

“So how is it Chevron can insist that it can’t pay its managers what amounts to 0.000000177% of it’s total operating budget while it can turn around and pay that total amount on Chevron-sponsored parties this past year?”

Waterbelly’s protuberant lips began to quiver. He tried to leave the stage but a large poking stick thrust out and stuck him good. He edged away from it and tried to regain his composure. But before he could do that another reporter spoke up.

“And, we keep hearing how companies, such as Chevron are ‘beholden’ to the ‘stockholder’. But when you have a CEO that – alone - holds somewhere around 500,000 shares isn’t he the most important ‘shareholder’?”

Before Waterbelly could pry apart his now ferociously parched lips, another reporter asked:

“So, what you’re no doubt going to say is that somehow, this David J. O’Reilly, Chevron’s CEO, somehow, in some mysterious way, works so hard that he deserves to be paid over 400 times more than Chevron’s station managers, the men and women that daily captain Chevron’s fleet of retail stores, where, let’s face it, Chevron made that stunning 49% profit increase this last quarter? That somehow he works so hard he deserves to be paid an hourly wage of $6,971 while his average worker at these stores makes $8 per hour at best?”

At this point, Waterbelly fainted. He was replaced immediately by Chevron’s new spokesman, Marvin A. Grodomier, who ignored these questions and began reading from a prepared statement: “Chevron owes its shareholders…”

Article Author: Marlowe

"You have a somewhat peculiar sense of humor,” he said.
"Not peculiar," I said. "Just uninhibited."

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