| Speed | |
January 4, 2016
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| He was the president of the company. His motto was 'Speed is everything.' Actually, his company became big because of his fast decision making and his company's full speed production of goods, and dominated the market. Every day, he spoke to his workers, "Hurry up, hurry up, and hurry up." He said, "Mistakes can be recovered, but if you are at once satisfied with 2nd place, you can't be first anymore. Hurry up!" Workers at this company used to run rather than walk. But before some of the workers almost died of heart attacks, so they decided not to make workers run. But, they walked as fast as they could, so the company's corridors were always like races. In their meetings, all the attendants kept standing, and the speakers spoke as fast as possible; so usually a meeting only took about 10 minutes or so. The company demanded their suppliers to supply their goods as early as possible. The company gave priority to speed in their contracts. In fact, if they sent their goods faster than the contracts, they would pay them premium price. So supply companies wanted to deliver their goods as fast as possible and so some
One company made a factory next to this company so that they could supply their goods to the company in no time. But soon this company moved so this strategy didn't work. On this day, the company's annual event was held. It was a race. In this race, the president of the company personally prepared prizes in order to thank the supply companies. The rule was simple. The company delivered a box which couldn't be opened without a key, and had an IC chip inside which could be identified by the company. There were 10 teams gathered taking their company's pride in the starting point of the main city park's parking lot which was about 10 kilometers away from the company. The goal was the company's executive room where the president was waiting. After the vice-president's speech from the company, each box was given to each team. The 10 teams were categorized into three patterns. The most popular one was to use a sports car, 6 teams gave entry by this. The second was to use a drone. Using drones was not allowed for commercial use, but this was not business so 3 teams adopted it. The last team was using a rocket. The team developed their delivering rocket system as a post-drone delivery system. Other teams complained about using a rocket. It was unfair, but it wasn't against the rules of the race. So, as a compromise, they decided to give the rocket handicap ~it needed to start 10 minutes after the starting time of the others. By the bang of the pistol, the 9 teams' machines started. There was a big cheering voices from the audience. It was a good race. The drones were not as fast as the sports cars but flied straight to the company's building, so nobody could say which was in the lead. 10 minutes later, the rocket was launched. It rose straight vertically and then changed direction toward the company according to the program and GPS in the rocket. There was a big applause from the audience again. Rockets were extremely faster than the other vehicles, but had a weak point: they couldn't stop in the middle. So, the team put a parachute on the rocket to open above the company's building. Some members were waiting in front of the building. Other teams' members were also waiting for their drones or sports cars at the same place. The goal, the president's executive room, was on the 10th floor, the highest, and in the rules, using the elevator was not allowed, so they needed to use the stairs. One sports car arrived in front of the building. At the same time, one drone reached there. The waiting member received the box and started to run to the stairs. Soon the rocket approached above the building but it was clear that they didn't have time to use a parachute for landing. They used plan B. Some members on the roof of the building set a big net to catch the rocket. The rocket itself, delivering a light box, wasn't so big and heavy, so they could catch it. But, the engineer was too nervous to punch the key of the laptop PC thinking about his mission, and he miss-punched the keys and the rocket proceeded to the president's room straight away. The rocket crashed through the window, and struck into the floor just in front of the president and the other executives. They were speechless although they weren't injured, luckily. Soon the other two teams came rushing into the room. After all, the president was an eccentric person and praised the rocket team for its high technology and challenging spirit. He gave them the first prize. But the event didn't finish. Many citizens reported the rocket as a terrorist attack and a lot of police car came and surrounded the building. Soon TV crew came. It took a couple of hours to become calm. The police scolded the president and he apologized. The building company charged a huge amount of money to fix the windows and interiors. But the president was thinking about the next year's event. |
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*dominate :to be more powerful, important or noticeable than others (O)
*launch :to send a spacecraft or bomb into the sky, or a ship into the water (C)