Day 14

Matthew

It turns out that there was indeed a fire on one of the floors which did a considerable amount of damage. The employees on that floor have been annexed to part of the cafeteria. As part of this arrangement, before refurbishing work can be done on the damaged floor, any equipment and files not lost in flames or doused by the sprinklers must be moved, dried, and stored. This activity is communicated via a morning e-mail to the entire staff.

Assuming this to be a delicate operation, especially since the floor poses several safety hazards, chief among them smoke inhalation, Matthew assumes that this will be handled by some outside team trained to handle such matters. But consistent to recent cost cutting efforts, Matthew goes on to open a memorandum attachment from management:

Interoffice Memorandum

In order to expediently and efficiently restore floor five to full working capacity, it is necessary to remove all debris from the space. All employees able to walk are to report to the cafeteria immediately where you will be instructed as to how to form a line to move all salvageable furnishings, equipment, and files from the smoke-laden floor to a series of mobile storage units we have placed overnight in the parking lot. Those of you who will be positioned on the damaged floor itself will be issued hard hats and face masks. Those of you in the stairwell and elsewhere will be issued nothing.

We trust that in our continued effort to contain costs that you will put your utmost physical energy into this effort. Thank you.