>I tried setting _CUROBJ to staff.number and I tried _CUROBJ = 1 since the get is the first one in the read. It never moves the get off of whatever field I'm on (which happened to be a button. It's got me at this point, and I'm about ready to say heck with it, but I'd really like to have it work

You should try this in your Read Valid function:

Return Objn(staff.number)

This should position you to the object you need.