Beautiful Teams

The Brown Hole, or "I'd Say You've Had Enough"

The Software Development Center (SDC), while being in a prime location, was far from an ideal office environment. But then, lasting friendships are probably more often forged in a foxhole than in a corner office. On first inspection, we would now be working in a clean, well-lit, open-plan form office, complete with a dinette. There was plenty of natural light from the windows facing the main and side streets. We were on the second floor, conveniently located above a Bruegger's bagel shop. Parking was on-street, but free and not too hard to find in the surrounding blocks, a definite improvement over downtown. Next door was Fat Head's, our favorite bar and official hot wing vendor of the Rock Ridge development team. What could be better?

A number of months after the move, another seismic event forever changed the office. It started like any other day. C$ was up to his usual antics, as he held court at the meeting table. This meant everyone within 50 feet was in his meeting whether they wanted to be or not. I can't remember the trigger, but J-Pax must have had his fill of being harassed by C$. It seemed like the office suddenly got quiet when I heard J-Pax say, "Fuck you, C$… I'm tired of this shit…and here's your fucking pen back." I may not have remembered the quote exactly, but I clearly remember the first office-launched F-bomb. I don't know what was holding us back to that point. J-Pax had seemingly opened some sort of Pandora's Box ...