James Chestnut, the company's executive vice president, has tried to set things straight. "A lot of change means a lot of as-yet-unanswered questions," Mr. Chestnut wrote in a memo to Atlanta employees late last month. "And the subsequent void means a very active rumour mill. Some of these tales are harmless exaggerations. Some are funny; some aren't ...."

How about the story that the company is embracing the Chinese practice of feng shui? Well, that one is true. Mr Chestnut told employees Coca-Cola has brought in some of the principles of the 3,OOO-year-old art of harmonising living spaces and work spaces with nature. "Coca-Cola is welcome in more than 200 countries because we seek out and adapt to other cultures," he wrote. "We've done this roughout our history, and doing so has made us the ultimate local brand. So we've adopted some of the design principles of feng shui to our Atlanta complex, and that is all we intend to do." But feng shui isn't "taking over our thinking," Mr. Chestnut assuredemployees. A Coca-Cola spokesman says the suggestion that a feng shui consultant take a look at company offices came from a group of visiting Coke bottlers from Asia. The adaptations the company made included removing potted plants from the main executive floor, says the spokesman, Ben Deutsch. Temporarily taking down the flagpoles had nothing to do with karma. It was done to create more outdoor space for socialising and informal meetings, Mr. Deutsch says. New flagpoles are up now, not far from the old ones, and the American flag yet waves.

The feng shui consultant, whom the company won't identify, didn't have brass plates emitting positive energy installed in a men's room on the main executive floor, as some people have heard. They were put there to cover holes left in the tile when ashtrays were removed to comply with Coca-Cola's no-smoking policy. A brass plate the feng shui consultant did suggest during a visit in June - for the rotunda at the entrance to the headquarters building - has been taken down because the company "didn't like the way it looked there," Mr. Deutsch says. Discussing feng shui and flagpoles isn't something Mr. Chestnut, who oversees the company's financial operations and human resources, usually spends time on. But he felt he had to allay employee anxieties at an edgy time for Coca-Cola. Mr Daft, Coca-Cola chairman, set out in January to streamline and decentralise the company after two years of dismal earnings led to the early retirement of his predecessor. Daft is trying to restore robust growth to Coca-Cola, whosesales have slowed because of rising prices in the US and weak foreign markets. Mr Daft and other executives further addressed some of the rumours in a meeting with Atlanta employees last week ahead of the release of third-quarter earnings. Mr Stahl assured everyone he has no plans to leave. After surviving cutbacks earlier this year, some Coca-Cola staff had heard more layoffs were coming in the fourth quarter. One manager claims to have heard that "we are going to have almost an entire vacant building." Gossip continues to fly about turf wars between senior executives and about top brass jumping ship. In his memo, Mr. Chestnut dismissed the stories as "baseless."

The rumour mill is especially active in Atlanta, where most of the layoffs and reorganisation have taken place. Mr. Chestnut acknowledged that the company's senior management hasn't done a good enough job of telling the rank and file about the changes.

And rumours, Mr. Chestnut wrote, won't go away. "But remember if a story sounds outrageous, it's worth asking some questions to find out the truth. If you have questions, ask someone who knows. And if you can't get the answer from anyone else, please feel free to call me."