Chapter 1: One Minute Too Long

I never imagined that as Meridian Systems' technical lead, I'd one day be publicly disciplined for spending one extra minute in the bathroom.

Derek Cole stood in front of the entire engineering department holding a printed policy memo like it was a court judgment.

"Mr. Shaw, you're middle management. If even you openly violate a new company rule, what kind of example are you setting?"

The room went quiet and every head turned toward me. Anyone walking in halfway through would have assumed I'd stolen company secrets.

Derek lifted the memo higher. "Five minutes. You were given five full minutes. Was that not enough to use the restroom?"

For the past several weeks I'd been buried in technical problems on Helix, the biggest thing this company had ever attempted. My meals were irregular and my sleep was worse, and there were days when delivery food sat untouched until it went cold because a production issue came up. That morning my stomach had finally rebelled, so yes, I'd taken six minutes instead of five.

Derek went on as though I'd committed corporate sabotage. "Don't think this is trivial. Your attitude is serious enough that I have to impose a meaningful punishment."

He waved the paper in his hand. "Effective immediately, Ethan Shaw's individual project bonus of $200,000 is revoked."

"He'll also receive a major disciplinary mark and remain under performance review."

A murmur went through the office. Before I could speak, Marcus Hale stood up from his desk.

"Derek, isn't that excessive? Ethan had a reason."

Derek turned toward him. "What reason?"

"He's been working nonstop on Helix. His meal schedule has been a mess and he got sick from eating badly."

Derek laughed. "Got sick? That's an excuse now? The company orders meals for everyone. Nobody else got sick. Why is his stomach so special?"

Marcus's face went pale. He tried to continue, and I raised a hand and stopped him.

Derek turned back to me. "Ethan, don't stand there looking unconvinced. You broke the rule and I enforce the rule."

"And I'm going to use you as an example, so the rest of this company understands that pretending to use the bathroom as an excuse to waste company time will not be tolerated."

"If every employee takes one extra minute, and we have hundreds of employees, that's hundreds of wasted minutes every day. Over a month you're talking about days of lost productivity. Time is money, and wasting company money is practically robbing the company."

The more he talked, the more ridiculous he became.

"We don't hire people so they can waste our time. We pay salaries so employees create value. And today I'm putting a stop to the culture Ethan has encouraged around here."

I had work to do, and I didn't have another ten minutes to listen to him turn a bowel movement into an economic theory.

So I turned around and walked straight toward the general manager's office.