The Weary Optimist: Bad Bosses, Bad Jobs, Bad Sex, and "The 36 Reasons to Be Glad You Don't Work in Human Resources"

"I rarely find comic novels actually funny, so when I say The Weary Optimist is the funniest book I’ve read in years, it really means something—I mean truly LOL funny. I even read passages aloud to friends. 'Win-Win' Cheeseley is an unforgettable character who brings a whole new meaning to the term 'Human Resources.'"

Mark Nykanen,winner of four national Emmys for investigative journalism and author of Burn Down the Sky and Carry the Flame

If you take a line from the Bertie and Jeeves novels of P.G. Wodehouse, through Garrison Keillor’s Lake Woebegone stories, and the television series The Office, you arrive at Dale Dauten’s The Weary Optimist.

Join the misadventures of HR Director “Win-Win” Cheeseley as he deals with his company’s CEO, Gerald “Genghis” Cone, and Cone’s amorous daughter, Carlota, along with harassment complaints, police visits, executive kidnappers, and even Vladimir Putin.

Beneath the laughs you’ll find a wry contemplation of business, capitalism, and modern life.

DALE DAUTEN

For many years Dale wrote the syndicated newspaper column "The Corporate Curmudgeon" and now co-authors with J.T. O'Donnell the country's leading column on careers.

He has also authored seven non-fiction books on leadership and innovation. His early work prompted a government publication to name him a "guru" to White House staffers, and since then, his business books have developed a worldwide following, most notably in Japan.

Early in his career, Dale worked for two major corporations and two consulting firms. He now works as an innovation consultant as founder of The Innovators' Lab(R).

He is married, with three children, is a recent convert to Catholicism, a hiker and tennis player, and when asked in an interview to name his three best traits, he replied, "an open mind, a soft heart, and excellent calf muscles." Two of those three are apparent in his writing. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is his first novel.