Tuesday 27th April 2010
0:00
In hindsight the people involved in the events of the next few days should almost be able to hear the click that happens as Monday 26th April changes to Tuesday 27th April. Suddenly the events leading up to that point have gone from being the past and the events that are to follow are in a league of their own.
When midnight strikes, there is an entire building in the dark with the exception of one solitary light, which threatens to burn into the night, rivalling the brightness of the moon. Regular passers by at this time of night would have spotted that this light never seems to be off, well at least as long as the darkness rules the sky. The light in question comes from the office of a Mr. David Oswald, the CEO of the modestly sized Progression Software.
The light is on six storeys up and he owns the entire floor in this large building. There are many companies in here and it is safe to say that his company is generating more money than any other housed there combined. And he has not made a single illegal transaction through the company.
Anyway, before I start to sound like his accountant, I should move on. The floor is not even being used to optimum capacity. There are a lot of empty rooms filled with rubbish that David will probably never get round to clearing.
The reception area is used but is never really manned. But it’s the welcoming area to anyone who cares to visit. There is a main office and, off that, the office that is currently spewing light into the darkness. This is David’s office in case you had not already guessed. There’s also the standard Kitchen area and Male and Female toilets.
David’s employees consist of five of the brightest programmers in the country. There is also talk of David finally getting a receptionist but it will probably never happen. The phone service is permanently on night service, to be picked up by whoever grabs their phone first. He has given serious consideration to a receptionist just as a first contact for clients if nothing else. He gets easily distracted from such things though. It is hardly top of his priorities at the moment.
The main office consists of six desks – one for each employee and an extra one for David when he wants to have one of his informal chats with them.
There’s a water cooler in the corner - this is very thirsty work after all – beside the window on the left hand side of the office. The view is not very good for morale. There is an identical looking building facing them across the street.
The desks have a Spartan feel – only their computers are at each station. Nothing else. Two of the people who work here have partners. One other had a fiancé who is… not around any more. But there are no pictures of them on display.
The toilets are luxurious by office standards. They have more charm than the entire main office. They manage to combine an old elegance with an almost futuristic feel.
David Oswald had never hired a cleaner. Of course he has thought about it. That is another employee on his list. He has enough money to afford a receptionist and a cleaner. However, the toilets still manage to be spotlessly clean whenever the employees come in the next day. Everyone assumes that David is doing the cleaning but nobody has ever caught him in the act.
