The party was scheduled for 4:00. True, the first production day wouldn't really be over by 4:00, but he had wanted to invite the CEO and a few other members of senior management and he knew they would all make excuses and not attend if he held it after 5:00.

Bill cast a paternal look at the party he had created. It was going well. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, even the CEO and the other senior management people were having friendly discussions with the data processing staff. An excellent sign for Bill's future at the company.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the computer operators had just come in. They hadn't been invited to the party, not because he wanted to exclude them (although the way they dressed made the programmers look like fashion plates), but because they were still working. No problem though, thought Bill, there's plenty of pizza. Maybe he's on a break. Nice earring.

The operator scanned the room until he located Susan. Like a well-trained sheepdog he cut her out of the conversational herd that she was a part of and whispered something in her ear. Susan in turn said something to Joe who talked with Mary and Greg. All of a sudden, an exodus was in progress. The mismatched shirts and ties, the corduroy pants, the clunky brown shoes, the beards and shaggy haircuts all seemed to melt away at once leaving nothing behind but starched white shirts and pin stripes. The CEO, armed with a spatula and paper plate, had just been about to score a slice of pizza for himself when the tide of departing geeks and nerds washed by him.

"Well, Bill, I guess it's just us," he said. "Can I get you a slice? Sausage or pepperoni?"