The Rumor

It started, as these things often do, with the coffee machine. At half past nine on a Tuesday morning, Priya from accounts was waiting for her cappuccino outside the office of Graham Hale, the managing director, when she heard him say on the phone, "Yes, we're going to close the London office. I've made up my mind. Friday, probably." Then he laughed and shut the door.

Priya was not a gossip. She told only one person, Tom from marketing, and she made him promise not to tell anyone else. Tom kept his promise for almost eleven minutes. Then he told Ana, who sat next to him, that Priya had heard the boss say the office was closing on Friday. Ana told the IT team that the company was closing the office and that everybody would lose their jobs. By the time the story reached the third floor, people were saying that the building had been sold to a hotel chain.

At eleven o'clock, Marcus from sales stood up in the middle of the open-plan office and announced that he was not going to wait to be fired. He threatened to resign that afternoon and take all his clients with him. Somebody pointed out that his clients were not really his. Marcus said that was not the point.

By lunchtime, the atmosphere had become very strange. Some people were updating their CVs at their desks without even trying to hide it. Others were being unusually nice to each other. Daniel from legal offered to make tea for the whole floor, something he had never done in nine years. Linda, who had been at the company longer than anyone, insisted that the managing director would never do such a thing without warning them, and refused to believe a word of it.

Then the accusations began. The IT team accused marketing of knowing about the closure for weeks and keeping it secret. Marketing denied knowing anything and suggested that IT had started the rumor because they wanted to work from home. Tom admitted that he had heard it from Priya. Priya admitted that she had heard it through a door, which, she pointed out, was not the same as spreading it. Ana apologized for adding the part about the jobs but claimed that it had seemed like a reasonable guess.

In the middle of all this, a few people went the other way. Fatima from customer service promised to stay until the very last day, "to turn off the lights". Jack, an intern who had been there for only two weeks, said he would work for free if it would help. Linda told him not to be silly and advised him to ask for a proper contract wherever he went next.

At four o'clock, Graham Hale came out of his office carrying a large cardboard box and found forty people staring at him in total silence. He asked if somebody had died. Nobody answered. Finally, Linda stood up and asked him directly whether it was true that he was going to close the London office on Friday.

Graham looked confused. Then he started to laugh, so hard that he had to put the box down. When he could speak again, he explained that the company had been doing very well that year, and that he had decided to close the office for one day, on Friday, so that everybody could go to the seaside together. He had been booking a coach for the trip when Priya heard him. The box was full of sun hats with the company logo on them.

There was a long, embarrassed silence. Then Marcus said he had never really been going to resign. Daniel said he would keep making the tea anyway. The IT team apologized to marketing, and marketing apologized to IT, and everybody apologized to Priya, who said she would never listen at a door again.

On Friday, the whole company went to Brighton. It rained all day. Graham said it was the best trip they had ever had, and nobody dared to disagree with him.