Zander: Victim Of The Z Curse?

Viv corners me at the water cooler.

"Gene, Zander's out at Motorola. Totally expected, you know, the Z curse."

"Hey Viv. Yeah, I guess that Android thing isn't working out for them."

"Trust me, it's the Z affliction. The only character it boosted was Zorro, and that was fiction. Reality is totally the opposite."

"Uh, no kidding?"

She plunges her herbal tea bag into hot water (Viv loves "the version 2.0" water cooler here at Piper). "Gene I've done my research on this. Didn't you get the email I sent?"

"Oh. Yeah. You bet."

She rolls her eyes and sighs. "They're all clueless Gene. Z's had to sit in the back of the class. Sad, really. Look at that Zucker guy over at NBC Universal."

"You've got something there . . . "

"And this Men's Warehouse CEO -- Zimmer. Did you see their latest quarterly report Gene?"

Strange coincidence . . . I'm eyeing the men's warehouse/refuge door over her left shoulder. I nod. "Yeah, the retail section report mentioned it."

"And then there's that Zuckerberg kid at Facebook. He's still on training wheels. He's a disaster just waiting to happen!"

The back of my neck feels prickly. Bad sign. "Viv, excuse me, I think I have an appointment in the boy's room."

"Don't believe me Gene? Why do you think ex-CEO John Zeglis had to leave AT&T Wireless? Huh? That's right, even Jobs believes in the curse of the Z! There couldn't be a deal until the Z guy left."

"Well now, that's something Viv."

"Sure Gene, it's that karma thing with Jobs. You're lucky he tolerates you."

"Right Viv."

P.S. Hellooooo Moto