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Hickory, NC March 17, 2003
North Carolina publisher Mainland Press has published "The Management Secrets of T. John Dick," a hilarious send-up of corporate life, as seen through the eyes of one of the world's most incompetent and infuriating company executives.
The author, Augustus Gump, spent many years as a product manager at electronics manufacturing companies in Europe and in Hickory, North Carolina. He swears that the bumbling ineptitude of the lead character and others in the novel are not based specifically on anyone he met during this time.
Says Gump: "I think this kind of bonehead behavior will be familiar to anyone who's ever worked in a corporate environment. I have been privileged in my time to work with some truly world-class bozos, but I'm sure I'm not unique in this."
The novel describes the ups and downs of disaster-prone Marketing Manager T. John Dick, as he tries to lick SuperPumps, Inc. into shape. Why will nobody observe his new Meeting Room Reservation Procedure? Why does his company's largest customer threaten to set his dogs on him if he ever comes near him again? Why does his arch rival seem to be winning the race for the company's top job, despite T. J.'s obviously superior qualifications?
Author Gump invites us to marvel at T.J.'s unique management style as it leads him into a succession of bizarre and occasionally fatal mishaps. Will he overcome the odds to win that coveted job? Should he have had that plate of shrimp before an important presentation? And what is that smoke coming from his golf pants? Through it all, T. J. never loses faith in his own unique abilities, invisible to all but himself.
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