I interviewed for a chef job once, a job that my punctuality and steady pulse guaranteed I would be offered. And during the interview, Jo and Craig (I think those were their names) shared with me a bit of sage advice on how best to manage my employees (since I would have three of them). Jo said that in the pilot episode of Star Trek the Next Generation, Jean-Luc Picard, the affable captain expertly portrayed by hairless Patrick Stewart, turns over the helm of the Enterprise to his first officer, Commander Riker, to dock the ship. That was it. Good talk, Jo. Needless to say I took the job.

So what does this have to do with the photo, you wonder? Well, today I turned over the helm (duty) of the ship (making canapes) to my first officer (sous chef, expertly portrayed by Mark Mariano). What are those? I ask him. “I don’t know what they are, but they’re weird,” he answers. Which goes to show you that it’s been eighteen years since I exchanged pleasantries and references with Jo and Craig in their Northampton office, and I still don’t know a bleeping thing about how to manage people. Although I should mention that Jo did give me a gift certificate for a psychic reading.