Not to diminish the difficulty of the previous challenges, but as anyone who is involved in the corporate annual report process knows, the Final Approval Challenge is where the rubber meets the road! Many an IRO has lost sleep over this phase in the process, while Auditors strangely seem to relish it.

Jack D. Pryce and Iona Lott barely broke a sweat during this challenge - because they barely looked at the annual report final proof. Recalling the overtime charges she incurred on Kwality Widget's 1999 annual report from the Designer Art Deqeaux, Ima Pleezer stayed up until 2:00 a.m. reviewing her proof and carefully marking changes with a yellow highlighter (one of the few tools she was allowed to bring to see see eyeland). Bleary eyed and a little hung over from No-Doz (Ima concealed this little helper in her backpack), Ima turned her proof around in 24 hours.

Always striving for perfection, Art Deqeaux didn't concern himself with checking content (although he did obtain a digital file of the proof and ran SpellCheck on it from his Mac G4 laptop). Instead, he focused on tweaking the layout - making sure that rules used in the financials were exactly 1 point, that photo captions were handled in 6 point italics and all bar graphs were a 10% screen mix of magenta and yellow. Art did spend an excessive amount of time evening out the Chairman's tan in PhotoShop, but still managed to get his final proof comments back in time.

Alas, it was Hugh G. Gogh who was the hold-up. After previously having Ima draft four versions of his Letter, Hugh still managed to rewrite the entire Letter after it was approved (and after Ima had already submitted her final proof comments).

Infuriated by this last-minute move, Ima proposed to the others that Hugh be kicked off see see eyeland. Jack D. Pryce (who secretly liked Hugh's last minute changes, as they might cause pre-press delays and result in printing overtime charges), wisely remembered that Ima had approved his bill last year and sided with her. Iona, who felt that Hugh was trying to steal the limelight at Kwality Widgets from her husband, concurred. Art, who resented Hugh's decision to redesign the narrative using a layout submitted by Hugh's 19-year-old daughter, made it unanimous.

"How can they say I failed the final approval challenge? There wasn't anything for me to approve yet! And I've never failed anything!

"I asked Ima to let me know what would be the last possible moment that I could make changes to the Letter. She said it was last week. So, of course I knew what she really meant. She meant that I had another four or five days to get my "final" Letter to her.

"I think what these people need to understand is that I'm a winner - and that there will be some serious repercussions following this little incident."

Jack D. Pryce

"Okay, I agreed with Ima that we should kick Hugh off. Honestly, I've never understood why corporate types made such a big deal out of the proof approval process. Everyone knows that the big guys never focus on the annual until it's in the blueline stage. And, it really is no problem for my pre-press folks at the printing plant to make the changes. Sure, it costs more to make changes on blueline than on the laser proof, but in the end, isn't getting a good night's sleep worth it?"

Art Deqeaux

"Mon Dieu! When hasn't a CEO wanted to change everything at the last minute? In my line of work, it happens all the time. Of course, I do not like it. And in Hugh's case, I was particularly annoyed that he thought his daughter would do a better job at a layout - she's only in her first year at Parson's! So, while I could not care less what the letter says, it did upset me that he ruined my Bauhaus layout with some freshman schlock."

Ima Pleezer

"I know Hugh's got a lot going on right now, with the possible acquisition of Kwick Lube. And I tried to give him every opportunity to review the previous drafts and bluelines. Maybe it's the heat on this island - I don't know - but this time, I really lost my cool. To rewrite his entire Letter when we've already reworked four previous times was just too much. In real life, of course, I'd just have to grin and bear it, but out here I can really express myself."

Iona Lott

"Ever since my husband Costus hired Hugh to run the show at Kwality, I've been suspicious. That guy is constantly hogging the limelight and taking credit for things he doesn't have the slightest clue about. I tried to get Costus to convince the Board to hire Heidrick & Struggles to conduct a search for a replacement, but he's blind to what Hugh is trying to do. Booting him off see see eyeland gave me a moment's satisfaction - like when I leave the nail salon and my French manicure is perfect."