Small Places : Nick L Belardes [10 of 128]

• He's probably digging a tunnel to nowhere with those bare wooden hands like shovels. Very time efficient. Very Frederick Taylor.
• Today Milt passes out another document. In case you didn't know, he's the one who puts us in
• our cryogenic state every Tuesday.
• There are always two boxes of donuts that we inject straight into our bloodstream so we can crash at just the right moment of diatribe.
• I imagine myself in the middle of the conference room table--the donut my life preserver. A current of normalcy pulls me out of the room.
• I wash ashore where marketing is of the cowboy and jeans 'no bullshit' variety. Mulani senses my imagination and showers me with smiles.
• Back to semi-reality, Milt pushes papers in front of us. Always scheduled at 11 a.m., our weekly meetings never start until lunchtime. Why?
• Reason No. 1: Milt sends an email to the entire marketing department at 11:19 a.m. stating, "I want you all to be freakin' superstars."
• Reason No. 2: Meeting has been delayed because he needs to discuss, er, micro-manage magazine ad designs with me, Joan and Mike Neversmith.