The recording is a guided visualization in which the listener imagines arriving at a long‑desired tropical resort after a difficult year. The narrator describes a peaceful poolside setting that is disrupted by a loud, affluent group led by a character named Mr. Jacobs. The listener is prompted to notice thoughts and feelings about the group’s intrusion, their perceived entitlement, and the ensuing delay in service. The narrator then provides a detailed, fictional back‑story about Mr. Jacobs (also called Ben) – a wealthy heir with a traumatic family history, a controversial business career, and a reputation for aggressive behavior. The listener is encouraged to research this back‑story, observe how it shapes their perception of Mr. Jacobs, and reflect on their emotional response to his apology and the compensatory buffet. Throughout, the exercise aims to surface attitudes toward privilege, judgment, and personal reactions when one’s comfort is disrupted.
Chapters
Okay, so I just want you to think, oh gosh, you've just had such a tough year. It's been a really, really hard, hard, tough year, and you finally made it to this amazing tropical resort, this place that you've been wanting to go to for so long. The weather is perfect, and you've managed to get to the pool early, and you've grabbed just the right seat with the view of the beach and on one side. You've got a nice big umbrella, the view of the pool on the other, and you settle into a well-deserved mental and physical break from the time that you've had in the last year. And as you settle in with your book and a few magazines, you just let out a sigh of relaxation, of relief, contentment. Gratitude. And after a while, you start hearing a commotion. A group of young men in their late 20s that look like they've just stepped out of a fashion shoot come running between your lounge and the next one and bomb into the pool, splashing water everywhere, wetting the bottom of your lounge bed. And one of them shouts out over your shoulder, sorry. There's 6 of them. They're loud. They're just in your face. They're they've stopped your beautiful peaceful moment. Just note down what's coming up for you. What are your thoughts and feelings about them? Anyhow, after a while they start moving down to the other end of the pool and you just decide, huh, you're just gonna get on with it. And it might be nice to go and grab, you know, a nice cold drink and get some lunch. You know, let's do it poolside, you deserve it. And you catch the waitress's eye and you place your order and she apologizes because there's just going to be a big delay as Mr. Jacob and his friends have just put in a huge order. So you're gonna have to wait. And he points to Mr. Jacob, the guy who shouted, "Sorry," over his shoulder. Anyhow, you spot Mr. Jacobs, who she's pointed out, and he was definitely the loudest and the rowdiest of the bunch. Unable to concentrate, you pick up your magazine. You can't read your book. And as you flick through it, you can't believe it, 'But there is an article on Mr. Jacobs,' Ben to his friends. And the article starts with the death of his mother at his father's hand when he was just 3 years old. He and his baby sister were found in the house and had been there for some time after neighbors reported a fight that went on for hours and then gunshots. Images show the grandfather carrying the kids out to the Bentley. Seemingly, the mother had gone against the father's wishes and married someone below her position, and her wealthy father had cut 'off,' and the article indicated that living in a big old house with the elderly man was not all that much fun at the age of 6 for Ben, and he was sent off to boarding school. The next few paragraphs covered his alleged punching of a reporter and destroying his camera and some speculation that his grandfather had to pay off someone here and there to keep his antics out of the papers. And apparently though, he sorted himself out. He went off to uni where he excelled at business and he joined his grandfather in his company, rising quickly and being put on the board by the time he was 26. Apparently things didn't go well, and although not much was disclosed in the magazine article, it seemed Ben had decided to mount a hostile takeover and oust his grandfather from not just the board but the entire company. The article finished up saying that Ben was due to get married at an undisclosed tropical retreat this week. Hmm, I think you know where he was getting married. Now, a little intrigued by this Mr. Jacobs— Ben to his friends— you start— he's making a lot of noise still at the end of the pool. You jump on your phone and you start to Google him. And the first article that comes up is an article about the alleged assault on the reporter. And this time they quoted the sister and other witnesses that indicated that whilst his sister was having her sweet 16 birthday party, A journalist tried to bust into the high tea to get shots of the secretive family members with the view of doing a 15 years on exposé of her parents' death. The double suicide. Or was her mother the victim of domestic violence? Ben had stepped in and asked the reporter to leave when the reporter pushed him and he tripped and fell. Oh, still intrigued by the family, you dig a little deeper looking for why a grandson would oust his grandfather who rescued him from the company he'd built. The information was very deep, but the financial sections of the newspapers allowed you to piece a few things together. It seems over the years there was ongoing rumors of less than ideal practices, especially for this day and age, in the business. And Ben had floated the idea of bringing manufacturing onshore, or at least away from child labor sweatshops. His grandfather declined. When his Harvard Business School honors student sister graduated, he suggested that she also learned the business and joined the company one day on the board. And the grandfather felt that there was no place for a lady in business. But he would see, you know, that there was a lot of things that could also happen that a girl could do. But the final straw for Ben was when the grandfather sacked one of the senior managers for being gay. Now, as you finished up your research of the Jacobs family drama, you're pleased to see the waitress head over, hmm, this time without your burger. However, the waitress informs you that Mr. Jacobs is hosting a private event at the main poolside tonight. And as they're preparing for the private function, they actually need everyone to go to the other pool, the kids' pool. And because they need to prepare this pool for that private function. Hmm, just when you're thinking there might be some good about him, you pick up your towel, you pick up your magazines, you pick up your book, and you move to the new pool. Not quite what you set out to do, but you know, you may as well just wing it, right? And you look over at the main pool. Mr. Jacobs and his friends continue laughing and playing in their exclusive pool now, with exclusive access. Now the wait staff seem to be getting pretty busy setting up tables, bringing in silver, and it's looking very fancy. And you are pretty hungry. And the waitress approaches you again. At this time, you are feeling what you're feeling about Mr. Jacobs and his party and your delay in lunch. And as the waitress approaches, still without your burger, she informs you that Mr. Jacobs felt so bad about closing the main pool and he and his friends putting in a huge order that he'd actually set up an entire buffet at the kids pool for everyone with an open bar. He wanted everyone to know that he apologized for the inconvenience. So as you wander off to the bar to a much nicer lunch than you planned, you think back about your thoughts and feelings about Mr. Jacobs.
