lunch

was usually a relaxing affair for Group A. For the most part, their job was complete by the time lunch rolled around. So long as they accomplished their stretch of the daily experiment that day. On the rare occasion they dropped the ball, then lunch was unpleasant. Almost not worth even eating.

When they failed there was a lot of guilt. If you did go out to lunch the

guilt

pressured Group A into eating something quickly and then returning. The bosses would still go to lunch. But they would want to hear the details of what had happened. And they would need to hear how they would not let the same thing happen in the future.

The previous head of Group A had been let go. Too many of the same faults were happening over and over again. They brought in Keith from Group B. The first month Group A had a lot of failures. But this was expected. The superiors didn't scold Keith. Instead used the post mortems as opportunities to reflect. To help guide Keith on what one ought to do to ensure a successful incubation of the experiment material.

By the second month there were hardly any failures. And by the time Keith was fully settled in, there was not even a modicum of doubt that Group A would succeed. They had began to finish their stretch of the experiment earlier and earlier. Previously the expected handoff to Group B had been around 10:30 AM. 11AM when things were rocky.

These days Group A was pushing the 10AM barrier. They had even gotten the handoff at 9:54 on some mornings. The consistency and performance was a boon to the group members. They were able to enjoy their work more. And of course they were able to enjoy lunch that much better.

While eating his mozzarella sandwich Keith felt his phone vibrate. Funny, he had his phone vibration turned off during his lunch break. He checked it. It was from the one person that he had on permanent notification. No mute ever.

Charles Samuels. His boss's boss.

It was a text. "Keith. You and I should chat. Could you swing by my office at 3 today?"

"What was that?" Will had just finished laughing. Mozzarella in his teeth. He had began ordering the same thing Keith did. He looked up to him kind of as a father figure Keith sensed.

"That was Charles Samuels."

"What does the big dog want?" Lindsay said.

"I bet they want to give Keith a promotion!" Will said, taking another bite.

Keith tried not to smile. Taking a bite of the sandwich helped with that.