[cherry_2000]

The following is a report from a temp employee of Google about what things were like today. If you were around Google today, please share your story. I'm glad "The Announcement" is happening, actually, because that means that tomorrow it will be over. No more rumors. We're going public. I'm sure there will still be lots of media around, particularly when the actual IPO happens in a few months' time, but until then, there won't be much to report on. The rumors have been around for so long that the elevated hype this week was pooh-poohed by many, but it has been crazy around here this week and a total circus today. At the main (SGI) campus, there have been security guards manning the entrance to the parking lot all week, and you have to show your badge to get in. This screens out the media who haven't made plans with PR in advance to be there - according to a security guard I talked to, Google gets some very aggressive journalists showing up at random and is trying to shield employees from being hassled. Today the local NBC affiliate had a news van outside the parking lot, plus there were photographers and another news van I didn't recognize. I should have been tipped off that today was definitely the big day by the presence of a photographer at the building where I work. As I was coming in this morning, he was taking pictures of the sign at the entrance to the parking lot. This was unusual: I'm still at the old campus, and the media don't come here; there's no security roadblock in our lot. The front desk girl was calling security on the guy by the time I had parked my car and walked inside. (She asked, "He's on the sidewalk?", making me wonder whether the guy could be asked to leave if he was standing on public property - but photographing private property. Don't know what the law is around that. There are AP images of the Google building signs anyway, so it's not like he was getting an exclusive, never-before-seen shot.) Apparently the day's announcement was a surprise for Googlers as well. Suddenly this meeting was called via e-mail, causing other meetings in progress to be adjourned; everyone dropped everything and vanished. It was like the plague had struck. We temps were not informed, but had to put two and two together from the sudden exodus and from the e-mail we received announcing that the cafe (which is huge and has a stage with a sound system, usually used for DJs and jam bands at lunch) would be closed until 1 due to "a special event." A coworker and I tried to gatecrash and got as far as walking up to the cafe from the inside hallway, seeing the backs of hundreds of people and hearing the voice of whoever was at the mic, before being turned away by security for having the wrong color (temp) badge. There was a BBQ grill going outside that we were welcome to peruse, though, so we got food and sat down to wait and watch. All we could see were the backs of people visible through the sliding glass doors; the rest of the cafe was under whiteout conditions, with blinds pulled to block all views inside. This is impressive since the entire front facade of the cafe, which is about three stories high, is made of windows! We observed lots of periodic clapping, and there was a Q&A session after the main piece had been said. Eventually people spilled out into the sunshine. Sadly, I saw no one run out of the building yelling, "I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm filthy rich!" I did see Larry Page go by looking bemused but snazzy in a colorful striped button-down shirt - and it looked like he was wearing his best sneakers. We grabbed someone we knew, who told us, "I think we're doing the right thing." I hope that's true. Thanks to our contributor for this report. Again, if you were around Google, please tell us your story....

http://google.blogspace.com/archives/001217