1.6: Consequences of Inefficiency
Groawn told Upper Management exactly what happened. He clearly stated that an alien-robotic-rodent had fallen from outside Batch Productopia, through the ceiling, and had landed in front of Mag. Groawn’s memory was uncanny, and he recalled details as to the exact size of the rodent and the number of blinking lights on its robotic arms.
Unfortunately for Groawn, his reputation, as a promising young manager with a bright future, was easy overshadowed by the reputations of Sammoth and Mag, who were well-known by upper management for being troublemakers and pranksters.
The senior managers of Batch Productopia analyzed the facts, and they concluded that even though it was unexpected that Sammoth and Mag could possibly corrupt or fool so promising a manager as Groawn, it was infinitely more probable than the story told by Groawn, which was that a metallic mouse had fallen from the sky.
The crater and the hole in the ceiling were difficult to explain, but senior engineers explained that it was possible, given the explosive nature of Enchanted Ore, that a projectile could have breached the impressive structure, especially when combined with production magic, like that known by Sammoth and Mag.
As a result of these crimes, management decided to suspend all activities for the three youths. This led to a trial by Gnome Resource, who sentenced the three to two weeks of Efficiency Recovery, and gave each gnome-child a formal write-up.
Efficiency Recovery was a camp for misfits and non-conformists. It was upper management’s last attempt to repair the gnome-resource-asset, before expulsion. That meant: if a gnome did not pass Efficiency Recovery, they were ejected from Batch Productopia into the wild of 9-Theta: forever! Legends said that those gnomes, wandering the wilderness, with no food nor employment became gremlins, and sought only to cause inefficiencies.
The three were then taken to the Training Center, a place where criminals of efficiency were kept, and they were forced to read training manuals on teamwork and the Principles of Efficiency until the next day, when their sentence was carried out.
Groawn was disappointed that his shining career as a manager was now deeply in jeopardy. However, he recalled the teaching of the Principles of Efficiency and he knew that the difference between a sunk cost and an opportunity cost was that he could control his reaction to his demotion far more than he could control the demotion itself. understood why upper management did not believe the truth. He tried to not be too angry at Sammoth and Mag, as it was not their fault that he was falsely accused. Groawn was very skilled at not showing any emotion, and he vowed to not let his anger cause him to act in an inefficient manner.
Sammoth and Mag wailed and sobbed. They had been in trouble before, but never had they been sent to Efficiency Recovery. They would never be able to face their parents!
The next morning, very early, the three were taken from the Training Center to Efficiency Recovery. It was the first day of their two-week sentence.