Chapter 5: The Accident

On Thursday Barry needs to go into the office for a team-building meeting. His manager likes to spring these all-day affairs on her team of roughly eighteen developers about once every six months. As these things go, this one wasn’t too bad. The moderators had the team count off into groups for each exercise. Most were some kind of trust game. In one, everyone but one person was blindfolded and the leader had to give verbal clues from a limited list of approved words given to him by the moderator.

Barry understood the concept of the exercises, but didn’t think they did shit when it came to the day-to-day operation of the team. Jimmy was the sighted person in Barry’s blindfolded group and successfully led the group to victory, but even with the “leadership victory,” Barry wouldn’t trust Jimmy to code anything beyond the simplest HTML or JavaScript.

After the team-building formerly wrapped up with a retrospective a few of the guys tried to get Barry to stay in town and hit a new bar that just opened near the office. He begged off and almost made it to the door when his manager called his name.

“Hey Barry, can I see you for a sec?”

Trying not to make it obvious that he was looking at his watch and calculating the time he’d need to get home he replied, “Of course.”

Barry traipses into Julie’s office. She is waiting for him at the door and closes it as he passes.

“Have a seat.”

“What’s up?” asks Barry.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk in a while and since I don’t see you in person that often I wanted to chat.”

Barry knew that this wasn’t entirely true. In the three years he’d worked for Julie she never wanted to “just chat.” He decides to call her on the statement.

“Julie,” he begins, “in the three years I’ve worked for you I think we’ve ‘just chatted’ once. What’s going on?”

Julie laughs and shakes her head. “Of course, you’re not one to take anything at face value but try and see what’s really going on.”

Barry doesn’t respond.

“Listen, this is strictly between me and you. No one on the team knows, and no one can know.”

Now she had Barry’s attention.

“There is a very good chance our company is going to be acquired. From what I’ve heard, the primary reason for the acquisition is because of the engine this team has built. Translated, what you have mostly built.”

Barry was now fully engaged. He encourages Julie to continue, “And?”

“And if that happens I want to have an idea of what you want. I have already let it be known that wherever you end up you should be given a healthy chunk of stock options that vest over a three to five year period to ensure you stay onboard.”

Julie continues, “There is a good chance there will be management opportunities with development teams, or there may be a chance to take lead on an expanded feature set with a dedicated team that has been in discussions for months.”

Without thinking Barry immediately says, “Fuck management. Don’t need or want to babysit a bunch of young-ass developers.”

Julie laughs again, “Got it, no management role for Barry.”

Barry pauses before he continues. “Honestly, I think what I’d like most is some kind of ‘architect’ title and the flexibility to move between teams to ensure everyone is using the same approach and we don’t start to write splintered code that won’t interoperate when one app needs to talk to another.”

Julie ponders Barry’s idea. “That sounds like a great role for you. I will warn you that a title like that may require reporting to a VP which means I may lose you.”

Barry hurrumphs. “That’ll be a tough sell. Most VPs don’t know a variable from a function. You came up through the ranks and know your shit. Tell whoever is planning this new party that you need to be a VP and bring me along.”

“That’s your best idea yet,” says Julie with a big grin.

After Julie delayed Barry with her chat, he didn’t get on the road until almost 5:00. That meant the usual commute would be more than doubled as he had to fight traffic through Dallas, then Arlington, and then into Fort Worth. Who would have ever thought when these cities were first laid out they would become one giant clusterfuck of humanity?

It was after 7:00 when Barry piloted the Mustang into the garage. He had not heard from Tammy all day and assumed she would be working late. When he didn’t see her car he considered his assumption validated. Recently she had stopped texting when she was going to be working late. That was fine with Barry. He was getting tired of the daily chirp saying she wouldn’t be home until midnight. He’d rather she sent a text once in a while saying, “I’m on my way, let’s go get something to eat.”

After entering the house Barry’s first task was to drop off his laptop in his office. Next was to change into running clothes and hit the pavement. Tonight’s time wasn’t quite as quick as he would have liked, but he did complete his normal route in forty four minutes. After showering and making a run to Dairy Queen for a snack – he felt like he deserved it after restarting his running regimen – he was back at his personal computer at exactly 9:30.

BQ: Good evening! Start without me again?

There is a very long pause and Barry is starting to wonder if his computer was frozen. He starts to check his browser when a message appears.

SZ: No.

SZ: Wasn’t sure if I would or could log in tonight.

SZ: It has been a very bad day.

BQ: Oh, no? What’s wrong? Kids OK?

SZ: The kids are OK. For now.

There is another long pause as SZ gathers her thoughts and then sends multiple messages one after another in rapid succession.

SZ: The kids’ dad, my ex the photographer, is such a fucking douche-nozzle that he got himself killed in a motorcycle accident. The kids don’t know yet.