A Healthy Appetite for Insecurity

WHAT DID IT feel like—the experience of coming to work at Google when it was fewer than sixty people? Let me give you a few impressions. Before I started at Google, I had never said any of the following on the job:

"Yes, I see the eight shelves of programming books. Where do we keep the dictionaries? No, I can't just print out the words as I look them up online."

"Is it a good idea to have all those bikes leaning against the fire door?"

"Sorry. I was aiming for Salar. Did I get the printer? Super soakers are really inaccurate at more than five feet."

"Who do I ask if I have questions about Windows? No one? Really?"

"Wow, Larry. Who trashed your office? Well, it's just that ... uh, never mind."

"Wouldn't it be easier to buy rollerblade wheels that are already assembled?"

"Is there any way to set the sauna for more than half an hour?"

"Is it okay to go into the women's locker room to steal some towels?"

"Oh, sorry. Didn't realize anyone was napping in here."

"See, you knock down more garbage cans if you bounce the ball instead of just rolling it straight at them."

"It's in the area behind the coffee-can pyramid, right across from where the Big Wheel is usually parked."

"I tried to book ninety minutes, but the schedule was full. So I only got an hour. Could you focus on legs and feet? I think I pulled something running this morning."