The Militech Technology company campus remained busy throughout the Christmas and New Year holiday. Aside from a few employees in the marketing department who were required to be on duty, multiple project teams in the labs were working extra hours.
Furthermore, there was another group of people staying at the office during the break—employees who either chose not to travel home or were unable to. To ensure they had a pleasant holiday, the company specifically provided all their meals free of charge throughout the winter break. Thus, on Christmas Eve, the company organized a gathering for all the employees who had stayed behind, hosting a party in the cafeteria where they ordered food, played games, and watched the holiday football games. This was done purely to ensure those who remained didn't feel lonely, allowing everyone to experience the warmth of home.
Early on the morning of December 27th, Nick arrived at the office. To fully embrace the festive spirit, Nick had specifically put on a red sweater. The moment he stepped through the campus gate, he started at the main guard post, going person by person to offer holiday wishes and distribute cash envelopes.
Each envelope contained a crisp two-hundred-dollar bill, a small bonus for working the holidays. While the amount wasn't a massive corporate fortune, it represented his heartfelt appreciation.
"Happy holidays!" Nick said, handing an envelope to the woman who was cleaning the cafeteria.
"Thank you, Nick, and happy holidays to you too." The cleaning attendant quickly wiped her hands on her apron and accepted the envelope with a beaming smile.
"I should be the one thanking you. It's a major holiday, yet you all have to sacrifice your time and come out to work. Everyone's hard work is appreciated." Nick smiled at the cafeteria staff surrounding him and said, "On behalf of the company, I wish you all a great holiday season! I wish you good health, a peaceful family life, success in your careers—actually, scratch that—may your bank accounts be overflowing next year!"
Nick had initially planned to give a standard corporate speech about professional growth, but then realized it was the holidays, so he quickly switched to financial prosperity. After all, why did everyone work so diligently? It was to earn money and support their families, making the wish for a prosperous year far more suitable to their actual goals.
The crowd began to applaud, and the smiles on their faces, holding the holiday bonuses, were infectious. Perhaps this was the nature of life for ordinary people: happiness always came so simply.
Following this, Nick visited the marketing department and the tech labs, offering holiday greetings to the employees who were holding down their posts. At noon, he shared a meal with the security personnel from the corporate defense detail in the cafeteria.
Regardless of the time of year, the security operations center could never be left unmanned. Especially as the company continued to scale rapidly, physical and cybersecurity protection work was critically important. Furthermore, compared to other staff, the security personnel worked even harder.
The vast majority of them were retired veterans, and many hired this year had been recruited directly from elite military branches. As a result, many came straight here after finishing their service, having very little time to travel home for family reunions. To have to remain on duty during the biggest holiday of the year was truly commendable.
"It looks like the guys on duty and patrol outside are dressed a bit lightly; tell everyone to layer up so they don't catch a cold. Also, ask the kitchen to prepare more hot soup so they can have something warm whenever they come inside. It doesn't just have to be standard soup or hot coffee; buy some premium ingredients like beef marrow bones and corn, and make sure to brew a massive amount of rich broth. That way, whether it's our own team members, employees from various departments, or even the local police officers who use our campus as a rest stop during night patrols, everyone can get a hot drink." Nick instructed Brent, the manager responsible for the holiday shifts.
"Understood." Brent nodded. Nick had known him for a year, and Brent was still a man of few words. Yet, this didn't detract from his capabilities; on the contrary, Brent had performed outstandingly over the past year and had recently been promoted from team captain to Deputy Director of Security.
If Ryan had remained in the standard corporate security detail, given his ability and temperament, he certainly would have advanced even further than Brent, but Ryan had chosen to stay by Nick's side as his personal detail. Of than that, although Ryan was officially Nick's driver, his rank within the firm's security division was still incredibly high; theoretically, he was on equal footing with Brent. Furthermore, his position as the CEO's primary driver was arguably much more advantageous in terms of corporate leverage.
"Hey, where are you right now?" His phone suddenly rang, and Vivian's voice came through the line.
"I'm at the office. What's up?" Nick replied with a smile.
"Why didn't you tell me you were back in town?" Vivian complained over the phone, then continued, "Do you have anything planned for this afternoon?"
Nick replied with a chuckle, "I only got back yesterday and was busy catching up on administrative work, so I didn't get around to calling. I don't have anything planned for the afternoon, why?"
"Perfect. I'll come over to your penthouse around three this afternoon," Vivian said over the phone.
Nick smiled at her suggestion. "It's the holiday season. Aren't you supposed to be visiting extended family and doing holiday dinners?"
"Ugh, don't even get me started. Those relatives are so annoying, constantly prying into my career and personal life the second they see me. I'm coming to your place to hide out. Plus, didn't I promise before the holidays that I'd treat you to a home-cooked meal when you returned? Wait for me; I'm coming over to cook." Vivian complained over the line.
Hearing her frustrated tone, Nick couldn't help but laugh. "Is that right? Well, come on over then. I brought back a lot of organic regional specialties from my hometown this trip, and I was just trying to figure out how to cook them."
"If there's good food, then definitely wait for me." With that, Vivian hung up.
Putting his phone away, Nick smiled, then lowered his head and resumed reviewing his files.
Although there was still over a month until the Spring Product Launch in March, the preparations were extensive because this particular event was a simultaneous global release. To this end, they had already dispatched several corporate teams to Tokyo, London, Paris, and other international hubs to coordinate the relevant logistics.
The main venue for the domestic launch, however, was set in New York City. Compared to their current regional base, New York possesses far greater international influence. Therefore, after careful consideration, they decided to book the main event hall for this launch at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
Similar to last year, although this new product launch was aimed at an international audience, the number of live attendees was strictly limited. This year, they planned to invite a total of six hundred guests.
Aside from over a hundred media organizations and influential tech bloggers, they would also allocate two hundred seats directly to their core user base.
Twenty of these tickets would be raffled off via their official social media account to build preliminary online buzz. Another thirty tickets would be given to relevant tech groups for distribution to content creators and digital communities who had supported them previously.
The remaining one hundred and fifty tickets would be drawn through the smart voice assistant's virtual platform. Users who clicked to participate in the digital raffle would have a chance to win tickets. Moreover, the digital tickets would be hard-coded to the user's account and could not be legally resold.
A prominent ticket broker website had initially approached them, offering to cooperate and sell VIP packages if they expanded the size of the venue, but Nick flatly refused the corporate offer. The launch itself was meant as a way to give back to their loyal users; there was no way Nick would allow a few scalpers to ruin the entire event experience.