Leonard, Raj, Howard, and Sheldon were sitting in the cafeteria at CalTech when Barry Kripke approached their table.
"Hewwo, fewwas."
"Hey," they replied in unison.
"Wemember when we were twying to figuwe out what that smell coming fwom Pwofessor Tupperman's office was? Turns out it was Tupperman. Dead at his desk for two weeks."
"Oh, my God," Leonard gasped.
"In wieu of fwowers, the department chair is asking that evewyone donate a bottle of Febweze."
Sheldon was agitated at the sudden turn of events. "If we're going to change the topic from jellyfish, I'd be okay with brine shrimp or the history of the unicycle."
Howard looked at Sheldon with a sideways glance. "Show a little compassion, a man died."
"And turned into a puddew of goo. Now, we can either sit awound and cwy over spilt pwofessor, or we can wejoice in the knowwedge that a tenured position has just opened up. I choose to do the watter."
Sheldon spoke up. "Excuse me, the whole tenure system is ridiculous. A guaranteed job for life only encourages the faculty to become complacent. If we really want science to advance, people should have chips implanted in their skulls that explode when they say something stupid."
Barry began to walk away. "If you need my nose, you'll find it firmwy wodged up the wectum of the tenure committee."
Howard looked around the table. "You Ph.D's gonna go suck up like Kripke?"
Leonard shook his head. "No. I mean, I'll apply, but I'm not gonna stoop to playing politics."
Raj agreed. "Yeah, me neither. It should be about the work. And if I can't get tenure, I'd like to see you or Sheldon get it."
Sheldon looked at Raj. "Raj, don't dangle false hope in front of Leonard like that."
*****
In Penny's apartment later that day...
"So 'tenured' means a job for life?" Penny asked.
Leonard nodded. "Yup."
"You can't get fired even if you're bad at it?"
Leonard thought for a moment. "Mm, not really."
"Wow, sounds a lot like being a pretty waitress at the Cheesecake Factory."
*****
Over in Sheldon's apartment....
"While I disagree with the premise of tenure, if they gave it to me, it wouldn't diminish my output. You know, I'm like the sun. Can't turn this off," Sheldon said.
"Are Rajesh and Leonard competing for it as well?" Amy asked.
Sheldon nodded. "Mm-hmm."
*****
And at Howard and Bernadette's apartment...
"It would be nice to have the increased income. Stop taking money from my parents," Raj said dreamily. "They buy me a new BMW for my birthday but can I get seat warmers? No. 'Rajesh, if you want a warm butt, you're gonna have to pay for it yourself.' Well, maybe I will, old man."
Bernadette grabbed Raj's wine glass. "I think that's enough wine for now." She looked at Howard. "What about you, Howie? Are you going to apply?"
Howard shook his head. "I'd like to but I don't have a Ph.D."
Bernadette smiled. "We might be able to find a way around that."
*****
Back in Penny's apartment...
"So, who do you have to schmooze to get this deal?" Penny asked Leonard.
"I'm not gonna schmooze anybody. I'm gonna let my work speak for itself."
"That's great. That shows a lot of integrity."
"Thank you." Leonard paused. "I'm a naive idiot, right?"
"Oh, good, you heard me." She paused. "Maybe I can help you schmooze."
*****
In Sheldon's apartment...
"You know, if you really want tenure, maybe you should cozy up to the people making the decision," Amy pointed out.
Sheldon shook his head. "Sheldon Cooper does not do cozy."
Amy frowned. "You don't say."
*****
In the CalTech cafeteria the next day...
"You guys goin' to Professor Tupperman's memorial?" Howard asked.
Raj shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."
Leonard shook his head. "Probably not."
Sheldon also shrugged his shoulders. "Barely knew him."
Howard nodded. "Yeah, you wouldn't want to look like you guys are brown-nosing the tenure committee, who will all be there."
All the better to let Bernie work her magic
he thought with glee.
*****
That evening, at Professor Tupperman's memorial, Amy and Sheldon stood in the lobby.
Amy helped Sheldon prepare. "Let's go over our emotional responses one last time. Professor Tupperman is dead, and that makes us?"
Sheldon nodded. "Sad."
"The fact that there are so many people here tonight doesn't make us cranky and claustrophobic. It makes us?"
"Glad."
"Giving Mrs. Davis the box set of Roots was?"
"Bad. However..."
"No."
"Fine. Bad."
Suddenly, Raj was standing next to them. He shook his head. "Unbelievable. You have some nerve showing up here just to schmooze with the tenure committee."