. . a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. Sun Tzu, The Art of War Monday 2 October 2006 Day 1 (week 1): TheBoss ‘Where’s the strong ground coffee?’ I asked, starting to panic slightly. I spent the summer working for Starbucks in preparation for today but it didn’t seem to be standing me in any stead so far. ‘Where you’d expect it to be. Over there.’ ‘And the filters?’ ‘Ah. We may have run out of those. You’ll need to go to the kitchen on the second floor west for those.’ I took out the little map I’d been given and worked out where this was before making the dash across corridors and staircases. I arrived back, sweating, only to find that the kettle was now empty and needed re-boiling. Time was ticking and my stress levels were rising. Eventually it was all done and I made my way through to serve the coffee, albeit somewhat belatedly. ‘Just put it down over there, young man.’ I did so and only just stopped myself from making a bow before withdrawing to my desk.
