measure to match the size of the dent on the Acura to the scrape on his
car, a trick he’d learned from watching cops do it. John advised his
warehouse colleague to report the accident to the police and show
them the evidence. That’s when the situation escalated. The Indian
software consultants went upstairs to complain to Sunny, who came
down in such a fury that his hands were visibly shaking.
“Oh really, you want to be a cop?” Sunny yelled at John, his voice
dripping with sarcasm. “Go be a cop!”
He then turned to one of the security guards who was standing
nearby and, motioning toward John, told him, “Get him out of here.”
After watching Edgar Paz playfully reveal the identity of scores of
employees Sunny had fired over the previous year, it was John’s turn
to get the boot.
His friend’s firing didn’t sit well with Greg, and solidified his resolve
to leave the company. A month later, a young engineer he worked with
inadvertently fried some miniLab electrical boards. Sunny summoned
Greg and Tom Brumett to his office and angrily demanded that they
tell him who was to blame. They refused, knowing full well that Sunny
would fire the young man if they gave him his name.
As it happened, Greg’s stock options had just vested. Later in the
day, he returned to Sunny’s office and handed him his letter of
resignation. Sunny calmly accepted it but, as soon as Greg left, he
summoned Trey, Jordan, and Ted one after the other to gauge their
intentions. All three assured him that Greg’s decision didn’t affect
them and that they remained committed to working at Theranos for
the long haul, knowing that was what Sunny wanted to hear.
Greg worked one last Saturday during his notice period. Sunny was
grateful and invited him to a meeting Elizabeth was holding the
following Monday in Newark, a small city directly across San
Francisco Bay from Palo Alto. Theranos had just leased a huge
manufacturing facility there to produce the miniLab in large
quantities. Elizabeth was unveiling the cavernous, empty space to
employees. She caught sight of Greg in the audience as she spoke and
locked her gaze on him.
“If anyone here believes you are not working on the best thing