[0:00]
CEO CHAD: I've called this emergency meeting because we have a situation. Gary, I'm going to need you to look at me.
[0:01]
GARY: ...what did I do?
[0:02]
CEO CHAD: You know what you did, Gary.
[0:03]
CFO BARBARA: For the record, Gary microwaved salmon in the third floor break room at 11:47 AM today. This is his ninth fish-microwaving incident since January 1st.
[0:04]
GARY: It was TILAPIA, not salmon. There's a difference.
[0:05]
CEO CHAD: Gary, I don't care if it was hand-caught by Poseidon himself. The smell has infiltrated the HVAC system. I can smell fish on Floor 6. I WORK on Floor 6, Gary. I was in the middle of a very important phone call with my life coach and I had to stop mid-breakthrough because my office smelled like a harbor at low tide.
[0:07]
DEREK (Product): If I may, CEO Chad, the Circle of Synergy discussed this at our morning session and we've reached a collective consciousness about the fish situation...
[0:08]
CEO CHAD: Derek, not now.
[0:08]
DEREK: The collective consciousness is that fish is a trigger for de-synergization...
[0:09]
CEO CHAD: Derek. Not. Now.
[0:10]
CFO BARBARA: Can we focus? I've prepared a cost analysis. The fish incidents have resulted in an estimated $2,300 in lost productivity due to employees evacuating the break room, $180 in Febreze purchases, and one employee filing for workers' comp claiming "olfactory trauma."
[0:12]
GARY: It's a high-protein lunch! My nutritionist said...
[0:13]
CEO CHAD: Your nutritionist doesn't work here, Gary. Your nutritionist doesn't have to breathe through their mouth from 11:45 to 2 PM every Tuesday and Thursday. Your nutritionist is living in a fantasy world where fish smells are "normal" and not a form of biological warfare.
[0:15]
JANET (Marketing): Can I say something? Last Thursday the smell was so bad that a client on a Zoom call asked if we were "near a fish market." We lost the account, by the way. They went with Deloitte. DELOITTE. Because of TILAPIA.
[0:17]
GARY: That's not... I can't be responsible for...
[0:18]
CEO CHAD: You ARE responsible, Gary. You are personally responsible for us losing a client to Deloitte. I want you to sit with that. I want you to really marinate in that. No pun intended. Actually, yes, pun intended.
[0:20]
LEGAL: From a legal standpoint, we can't technically ban specific foods from the microwave without...
[0:21]
CEO CHAD: Then we ban the microwave.
[0:22]
[Audible gasps from the room]
[0:23]
CFO BARBARA: We can't ban the microwave. People heat up their lunches.
[0:24]
CEO CHAD: Then people eat cold lunches. This is called SACRIFICE, Barbara. This is what LEADERS do.
[0:25]
GARY: You can't punish everyone because of me!
[0:26]
CEO CHAD: I absolutely can. I'm the CEO. Watch this.
[0:26]
[CEO stands up, walks to door, yells into hallway]
[0:27]
CEO CHAD: ATTENTION EVERYONE. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, THE MICROWAVE ON FLOOR 3 IS UNDER REVIEW.
[0:28]
[Distant sounds of protest from the hallway]
[0:30]
CFO BARBARA: He cannot actually do this, right?
[0:31]
LEGAL: Technically, he can.
[0:32]
CFO BARBARA: I hate it here.
[0:35]
DEREK (Product): If I may propose an alternative? The Circle of Synergy could absorb Gary's lunch hour into our morning session. We already have a snack rotation...
[0:36]
CEO CHAD: Derek, what is the Circle of Synergy's position on fish?
[0:37]
DEREK: Fish is forbidden in the Circle. We consider it "anti-alignment."
[0:38]
CEO CHAD: See? Even the cult has standards, Gary.
[0:39]
GARY: It's not a cult!
[0:40]
DEREK: We prefer "productivity ecosystem."
[0:42]
CEO CHAD: Alright, here's what we're doing. Gary, you are hereby banned from microwaving any seafood product in any break room on any floor of this building. This includes but is not limited to: salmon, tilapia, shrimp, tuna, sardines, and whatever that thing was you microwaved in November that nobody has been able to identify.
[0:44]
GARY: That was mackerel.
[0:45]
CEO CHAD: I don't know what mackerel is and I don't want to know. It smelled like revenge. It is banned.
[0:47]
GARY: What if I eat it cold?
[0:48]
[Long pause]
[0:49]
CEO CHAD: ...what?
[0:50]
GARY: Cold fish. No microwave. Just... cold fish at my desk. Is that allowed?
[0:52]
CEO CHAD: Gary, I want you to imagine something. Imagine you're sitting at your desk, doing important work, and the man next to you opens a Tupperware container full of cold tilapia and starts eating it at room temperature while making eye contact with you. Is that a world you want to live in?
[0:54]
GARY: I wouldn't make eye contact.
[0:55]
CEO CHAD: THE EYE CONTACT ISN'T THE ISSUE, GARY.
[1:00]
CFO BARBARA: Can we move on? We've spent an hour on fish.
[1:01]
CEO CHAD: We'll spend as long as it takes, Barbara. This is IMPORTANT. More important than Q1 projections. More important than the board meeting. My OFFICE smells like the OCEAN, Barbara.
[1:05]
JANET (Marketing): I want it on the record that I support a full fish ban. Including cold fish. Including fish-adjacent items such as fish sauce, fish oil supplements taken at desks, and those Swedish Fish candies which don't smell but are associated with fish through branding and I've been triggered.
[1:07]
GARY: Swedish Fish aren't even real fish!
[1:08]
JANET: THE TRAUMA IS REAL, GARY.
[1:10]
CEO CHAD: Alright, final ruling. Gary: no microwaved fish. If you eat cold fish, it must be consumed in your car, in the parking garage, with the windows up. These are the terms. Non-negotiable.
[1:12]
GARY: [quietly] ...can I at least crack a window?
[1:13]
CEO CHAD: One window. Two inches maximum. And you face AWAY from the building so nobody can see you.
[1:15]
CFO BARBARA: This is the most productive meeting we've had all month and I hate that I mean that sincerely.
[1:17]
CEO CHAD: Leadership, Barbara. That's what this is.
Action Items:
- Gary banned from microwaving seafood (effective immediately)
- Cold fish protocol established (car only, one window, two inches, face away from building)
- Janet awarded "Most Passionate Testimony" by CEO Chad
- Derek's request to create a "Fish-Free Synergy Zone" has been "taken under advisement" (it will not be revisited)
- CFO Barbara tasked with calculating the ROI of the fish ban
- FOLLOW-UP MEETING: Scheduled for February 14 to address Gary's microwave privileges for non-fish items, specifically "that curry thing that's almost as bad"