As the young engineer reached the cafeteria, many people were already
there.  Most of the seats were taken, and employees continued to drift in.  He
found a place along the back wall and leaned lightly against it.  He looked
around at groups of his co-workers engaged in quiet conversation as they waited
for the meeting to start.  His eyes drifted down towards the floor to his feet,
and then up to the shiny, new employee badge clipped to his shirt pocket.  He
removed it and read his name, "Ernest D.  Seiner." He looked at his picture and
thought how pale the face was, and how the eyes were half closed...

     He was startled by a sudden greeting, "Hi, Ernie." He quickly replaced the
badge, trying to hide a slight embarrassment.  He looked up to return the
greeting.  "Hi, Wanda.  How are you?" He looked at the programmer who had
started at Atari the same day he had.  They had become friends during the past
month.  It had seemed that everyone else in engineering had been here FOREVER,
and it had not been easy to break into the small social circles in the
department.  So they had kept each other company during lunches, and had shared
new "tricks of the trade" and other discoveries.

     The room had grown crowded while he traded small talk with Wanda.  The
volume of conversation was rising as people waited impatiently for the meeting
to begin.  Ernie saw people across the room move aside to allow a man through
the crowd.  He recognized the man as Lyle Rains, one of the Vice Presidents of
Engineering, though Ernie had met him only briefly during his introductory tour
of Atari facilities.  He could see the VP was talking, but couldn't hear what
was being said.  A hush started like a wave at the front of the room, and rolled
quickly towards Ernie's position along the side wall.  He heard a fragment, "...
called you here." A few people in front chuckled as the rest of the crowd
settled into their seats and strained to hear what the VP was saying.  His voice
seems so quiet, Ernie thought.

     The VP looked alternately at the ceiling and the floor, and then furtively
across the crowded room as he addressed the assembly, "I need to talk to you
today about drug usage." Ernie saw several people roll their eyes look at each
other in apparent disgust.  He felt Wanda looking at him, but he didn't look
back.  In the back of the room, a guy named Mike Hally quietly quipped, "What's
wrong, aren't we using enough?" A few people laughed uneasily.

     The VP waited for silence and continued.  "There have recently been several
reports and allegations brought to our attention about drug use within Atari.
These reports have come from inside and outside of the company.  They are not
about specific individuals, but about usage throughout the company.  I am here
to tell you that the management of the Atari will not tolerate drug usage by our
employees.

     "If you are using drugs, you cannot do your best work for yourself or the
company.  You may also hinder others from doing their work well.  You give Atari
a bad reputation in the business community.  Use of drugs is both illegal and
bad for you." The VP's face was gravely neutral, but his voice was tense.

     "I hate to be here telling adults what they already know, at least as much
as you hate to be listening to it, but I don't want any misunderstanding." His
voice got louder now, as he spoke the words with slow precision, "If you are
caught using drugs on company property or are found to be under the influence of
drugs while at work, you will be fired.  The same day.  No exceptions, no
questions."

     Ernie thought to himself, so this is what it's like working in the real
world.  He smiled inwardly.  It's just like high school, he thought.  Other
things flashed through his mind as well.  Things like a cluster of figures near
the back entrance of the warehouse he had seen during his facilities tour.  Like
the familiar heavy sweet-smokey odor he had smelled wafting through the
ventilation system one late evening as he read some technical manuals in his
cubicle.  He had assumed it was the night gaurd or janitors, since he thought
everyone else had gone home for the night.

     Well, I only smoke a little marijuana at parties occasionally, Ernie
thought, He's not talking to me.  Ernie started suddenly as he realized that the
VP was staring straight at him.  Or through him.  Ernie wondered if his inward
smile had leaked onto his face.  The VP's gaze quickly shifted away to other
faces in the room and Ernie relaxed heavily back against the wall.

     "Don't do it here.  Don't do it at all.  End of statement." The VP waited a
few long seconds and then left the room as quietly as he had entered.  People
rose from their chairs and engaged in hushed conversations as they slowly
filtered out of the room.

     Ernie and Wanda walked in silence back towards their cubicles.  Halfway
down the hall, Wanda asked in a whisper, "What was that all about?" "Dunno," he
said, though he felt he really did.  "See you at lunch."

==============================================================================
Regarding Lyle's Parable:


The biggest supplier of drugs to company employees is:

	The Company.

Drugs are openly sold to employees in the cafeteria in the form of beverages 
containing caffeine.

Not only that, the company supplies drugs free of charge to its employees at 
the numerous coffee stations, conveniently located throughout the building.

If you think that caffein is not a drug and if you are a regular drinker of 
coffee (not decaffeinated) or of tea (not decaffeinated), try going without 
it for 72 hours. No cheating when you want to wake up in the morning; 
assuming, of course, that you were able to sleep the night before.

Lyle's parable suggested that employees who come to work under the influence
of drugs should be fired.

Is he suggesting that an employee taking prescribed drugs to control his
high blood pressure discontinue such use?

Possession and use of alcoholic beverages is legal in California for those 
persons 21 and older and yet their use on company premises (including the 
parking lot) is considered grounds for terminating said employee unless the 
alcohol is provided by the company at an official function.

In his story he did not distinguish between legal and illegal drugs. By its
policy on alcohol the company has made it clear that it has decided that it
has the right to regulate an employee's use of legal drugs.

Perhaps the message of Lyle's parable is that employees should only take drugs
provided to him or her by the company.


	Jed


This looks like a note about Lyle (Rain?)'s parable from Jed Margolin to
readers. I added a fake header signifying that he sent it to himself, and
gave it a time around when Lyle sent this note.

JUST REMEMBER,..WHEN IT COMES TO THE BIG "D".....
.........JUST SAY NO!