Two more people hadn't come into the office today.
Two were taken ill last week.
Sultan's manager Sherry walked in looking worried. "We have had an unusually high amount of sick days collectively as a team in the last three months. I am beginning to wonder what is going on."
Sultan had noticed this too but thought people were simply having too many coughs and colds. What else could it be in the dark, dank, endless grey winters in this country? Freezing temperatures in the office didn't help as they tried to warm themselves with heaters that were working on overtime.
"It's been one of the coldest winters we have had", Sultan told Sherry, "surely everyone has been reacting to this and getting the flu?"
"That's not it. People have complained about tiredness, exhaustion, drowsiness and they have been yawning a lot. Some have said they felt like they had a mind fog where they are forgetting what they are doing."
Sultan paused, actually that was true, he had been feeling odd recently too, he kept forgetting things and he felt very tired. Could the air circulation in the office be the cause of the problem?
The next day a couple of guys from the estates team came in to take a look around.
"Is the ventilation okay in here?" Sherry asked them.
The lead of the team replied, "everything looks fine Ms Sherry, we can't find a fault with the air conditioning system."
"Please you must check our windows and the air vents properly Mr Yen", she asked. "There is something very strange about my team going off sick like this consecutively. They have been complaining about drowsiness and brain fog for days going onto months. At first I thought it was tiredness after the winter colds, but we are now approaching spring!"
"Yes Ms sherry we will check the air vents and circulation again. You don't have windows that open?"
"No we are a listed building and we cannot open these windows."
"The light in here is artificial too", said Mr Yen's companion. "It could be causing some issues no doubt".
"Yes well our office is in the basement, the light coming through the narrow windows is not enough, we have to use electric lights all the time", Sherry explained.
Mr Yen and his companion disappeared for more than an hour. When he returned he looked thoughtful and concerned. "Did you know there are two more levels beneath your office?"
Sherry smiled, well yes there are some rooms in the level beneath us, but only one floor and it connects to the building next door.
Mr Yen paused, "that maybe what it looks like, but in fact there is another level below and I noticed the chemical hazard signs on those rooms. There is a labyrinth of rooms below you and it seems like your office sits on top of one of these rooms where experiments are being carried out. I don't want to alarm you but I am going to need to ask for the air in these vents in your office to be tested. I fear there could be contamination."
Sherry laughed, "come on Mr Yen, is this a joke? Where would a second level of rooms have appeared from and we are familiar with experiments being carried out in this building. This is a university after all. Just because there are hazard signs outside a room does not mean chemicals are leaking out! You can't make assumptions like that without any evidence."
"Well that's what l want investigated," continued Mr Yen.
Sultan listened to the conversation between Mr Yen and Sherry in shock. What was Yen saying? That they were being poisoned by gases from the experiments in the rooms below?! That sounded ridiculous! Were they all slowly being poisoned, in a quiet little administrative office?!
Two were taken ill last week.
Sultan's manager Sherry walked in looking worried. "We have had an unusually high amount of sick days collectively as a team in the last three months. I am beginning to wonder what is going on."
Sultan had noticed this too but thought people were simply having too many coughs and colds. What else could it be in the dark, dank, endless grey winters in this country? Freezing temperatures in the office didn't help as they tried to warm themselves with heaters that were working on overtime.
"It's been one of the coldest winters we have had", Sultan told Sherry, "surely everyone has been reacting to this and getting the flu?"
"That's not it. People have complained about tiredness, exhaustion, drowsiness and they have been yawning a lot. Some have said they felt like they had a mind fog where they are forgetting what they are doing."
Sultan paused, actually that was true, he had been feeling odd recently too, he kept forgetting things and he felt very tired. Could the air circulation in the office be the cause of the problem?
The next day a couple of guys from the estates team came in to take a look around.
"Is the ventilation okay in here?" Sherry asked them.
The lead of the team replied, "everything looks fine Ms Sherry, we can't find a fault with the air conditioning system."
"Please you must check our windows and the air vents properly Mr Yen", she asked. "There is something very strange about my team going off sick like this consecutively. They have been complaining about drowsiness and brain fog for days going onto months. At first I thought it was tiredness after the winter colds, but we are now approaching spring!"
"Yes Ms sherry we will check the air vents and circulation again. You don't have windows that open?"
"No we are a listed building and we cannot open these windows."
"The light in here is artificial too", said Mr Yen's companion. "It could be causing some issues no doubt".
"Yes well our office is in the basement, the light coming through the narrow windows is not enough, we have to use electric lights all the time", Sherry explained.
Mr Yen and his companion disappeared for more than an hour. When he returned he looked thoughtful and concerned. "Did you know there are two more levels beneath your office?"
Sherry smiled, well yes there are some rooms in the level beneath us, but only one floor and it connects to the building next door.
Mr Yen paused, "that maybe what it looks like, but in fact there is another level below and I noticed the chemical hazard signs on those rooms. There is a labyrinth of rooms below you and it seems like your office sits on top of one of these rooms where experiments are being carried out. I don't want to alarm you but I am going to need to ask for the air in these vents in your office to be tested. I fear there could be contamination."
Sherry laughed, "come on Mr Yen, is this a joke? Where would a second level of rooms have appeared from and we are familiar with experiments being carried out in this building. This is a university after all. Just because there are hazard signs outside a room does not mean chemicals are leaking out! You can't make assumptions like that without any evidence."
"Well that's what l want investigated," continued Mr Yen.
Sultan listened to the conversation between Mr Yen and Sherry in shock. What was Yen saying? That they were being poisoned by gases from the experiments in the rooms below?! That sounded ridiculous! Were they all slowly being poisoned, in a quiet little administrative office?!
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