Interesting day today. It started off normally enough, except for the fact that I had to go to work today. About 30 minutes after I arrived, though, I received an email from someone in our distribution department, telling everyone about a man who had passed away, leaving a wife and some young children. This man was a long-time member of the seafood community, so many people in my company knew him.
They wanted to raise some money to donate to the family. So they decided to auction off a 7.5 pound lobster they had down in the lobster tank. The highest bidder got to keep the lobster, and the money would go to the family. They also invited everyone to go have a look at the lobster. So some friends and I did, and the lobster is, in fact, very large. An average lobster weights about 1.5 pounds, and it takes it about 7 years to achieve that size. This lobster must have lived a very long time to get to 7.5 pounds.
While we were down there, we joked that we should start a �Save the Lobster� group, take donations, pool the money, and bid on �Larry,� which is what we named him. Then we�d release Larry back to the ocean. So the emails started flying. It was a joke, of course, to raise the stakes and to bring in more money. The CEO sent out an email stating the company would match whatever the highest bidder donated. We wanted some of that action. Before we knew it, we had collected $100 (in $5 and $10 increments), but someone else had already bid $150. Then it was $250. Then it went up to $300. More emails went out pleading for the life of the lobster (in jest). Many more emails were sent about how good Larry would be on someone�s dinner table. It was a rivalry in good fun, and it didn�t seem that anyone lost sight of what the important thing was: to raise money for the family.
Well, another group of folks decided to start their own pool to bid on Larry, to compete with the Save Larry Foundation (us). They called themselves The Outkasts, and quickly raised the bid to $1,000. A thousand dollars! We couldn�t compete with that. So we admitted defeat, and another email went out to the Save Larry Foundation members, stating that although we lost, we did try. And although Larry would undoubtedly end up being boiled and eaten, his violent death would not be in vain, because if we donate our money to the Outkast group, at least it will be doubled and the family will get more. It�s the best we could hope for.
Or so we thought! Soon after our email conceding defeat went out, the Outkast group leader sent out an email stating that if we turned over all of our donations to them, they would relinquish custody of Larry to our group. Well, now. Things really started heating up then! People who had pledged $20 were now wanting to increase it to $100, with the understanding that not only would the family get more money, but Larry would be released back into the ocean! Yay, Larry will be saved!
Never mind that it started out as a joke, and that no one ever REALLY thought Larry would be set free. We now were faced with a dilemma. A lot of donations were made in good faith that the lobster would be released! So, the wheels started spinning. How do we get him back to the ocean from whence he came? He is a Maine lobster, of course. We are on the West Coast.
Fortunately, one of the Foundation members has a friend in Boston. A friend who agreed to receive Larry via overnight air express, and then take him to the ocean and let him go. Cheers all around, via email, of course, and even more donations came in! So, it seems that come Monday morning, Larry will find himself boxed up in special packaging designed to keep him ventilated, hydrated, and most importantly, alive. On Tuesday, we expect him to be home, in the cold waters of the Atlantic.
And the family will be receiving a check for almost $4,000. Cool, huh?
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