harassed him, which led Seth to look for another job. He found one a
few months later at a company based in Redwood City called Genomic
Health and walked into Elizabeth’s office, resignation letter in hand, to
give his notice. Sunny, who was there, opened up the letter, read it,
then threw it back in Seth’s face.
“I won’t accept this!” he shouted.
Seth shouted back, deadpan, “I have news for you, sir: in 1863,
President Lincoln freed the slaves.”
Sunny’s response was to throw him out of the building. It was weeks
before Seth was able to retrieve his math books, scientific journals,
and the pictures of his wife on his desk. He had to enlist the company’s
new lawyer, Jodi Sutton, and a security guard to help him pack his
things late on a weeknight when Sunny wasn’t around.
Sunny also got into it with Tony Nugent one Friday evening. He’d
been giving direct orders and putting intense pressure on a young
engineer on Tony’s team, causing him to fall apart from the stress.
Tony confronted Sunny about it and their argument quickly escalated.
Working himself into a fury, Sunny yelled that he was doing everyone
a favor by volunteering his time to the company and people should be
a little more appreciative.
“I’ve made enough money to look after my family for seven
generations. I don’t need to be here!” he screamed in Tony’s face.
Tony roared back in his Irish brogue, “I don’t have a cent and I don’t
need to be here either!”
Elizabeth had to step in to defuse the situation. Dave Nelson
thought that Tony would be fired and that he’d have a new boss by
Monday morning. Yet Tony somehow survived the confrontation.
Chelsea tried to complain to Elizabeth about Sunny, but she couldn’t
get through to her. Their bond seemed too strong to be shaken.
Whenever Elizabeth came out of her office, which was separated from
Sunny’s by a glass conference room, he would immediately pop out of
his and walk with her. Often, he accompanied her all the way to the
bathrooms in the back of the building, prompting some employees to
wonder half jokingly if they were snorting lines of cocaine back there.