The Monday morning after the agency's DuPont meeting in Raleigh, Jack walked down the hall in the direction of his office on the 6th floor of the Systel Building in downtown Fayetteville expecting to find an email scheduling a conference call to discuss the meeting. The email never arrived.
As he approached his office, Christine Robertson came out of her office and stopped him.
Oddly, she started whispering to him.
"They took you off of DuPont."
Jack was stunned. He had never considered, nor had he ever heard of, anything like this happening in the agency. He had expected that the two bosses, Director Keith Undercash in Raleigh and Supervisor Steve Mazda in Fayetteville, would want to learn more from him about DuPont Fayetteville Works. The fact that they never spoke or asked questions during a lengthy presentation about the large DuPont industrial site in Bladen County with its multiple chemical manufacturing plants and complex chemistry suggested to Jack they might be overwhelmed by all the information.
The two agency bosses had sat there in silence during the entire meeting. When the DuPont environmental manager failed to respond to Jack's comments on how his presentation was misleading, the bosses sat very still and never spoke a word. It was as if the bosses were "agency statues" placed in the room to give the meeting a certain holiness during the presentation by the DuPont representative, like the holy statues surrounding the students in church as they knelt in pews at Mass before the beginning of a Catholic school day. While driving back to Fayetteville after the meeting in Raleigh, Jack had reflected on how it felt like they were there simply to get their marching orders and talking points from DuPont. Yes, the company is powerful. But why so much timidity? Why such a lack of professional curiosity?
"They gave DuPont to me," Christine added.
Jack went into his office and checked his email. Nothing at all. He stared at his computer screen swept up in a feeling of eeriness and foreboding.
Later that morning the Fayetteville boss, Steve Mazda, stepped into Jack's office and stood at the door. He stared at Jack with an angry look on his face, but never said a single word. After only a minute, he turned and left, still carrying an angry expression.
What is going on here? Why is he angry? Jack tried to make sense of what was happening. Was the DuPont meeting somehow a major setback to Supervisor Steve Mazda's often stated goal of getting promoted by Director Undercash to an upper-level supervisor position in Raleigh where he and his family lived? After the meeting with DuPont, was Director Undercash unhappy with Steve Mazda, Jack's boss in Fayetteville, for the fact that Jack had spoken up and said the DuPont presentation was misleading? The presentation discussed their onsite groundwater monitoring wells at great length. However, it did not address what Jack viewed as the most important issue of all - the persistent fluorocarbon chemicals discharging into the Cape Fear River and the need for an advanced or upgraded wastewater treatment system at DuPont Fayetteville Works. Why was that not mentioned and discussed? Were we all supposed to sit there in silence during the entire meeting? They had called a meeting, but it was essentially a DuPont lecture. Why?
Why should the meeting jeopardize Steve Mazda's chances for promotion to a high-level position in Raleigh? Yes, DuPont is very powerful in North Carolina. But Jack was the one most familiar with the several DuPont chemical manufacturing plants at the Fayetteville Works site. It was Jack who described in the inspection report the glaring problem of persistent industrial chemicals discharging into the Cape Fear River, information that DuPont had shared with Jack during the inspection. Jack was the one who described the problem in writing and spoke up at the meeting, not Steve Mazda. The two agency bosses stayed silent during the entire meeting. So why the anger and reluctance to communicate with Jack?
Had the DuPont official changed his mind about openly discussing the discharge of persistent fluorocarbon chemicals into the Cape Fear River and how their treatment system was not designed to remove the chemicals? Had he expected Jack not to include this important information in the inspection report? Was his primary concern that Jack put this important information in writing? Or was he simply not used to being challenged by anyone about the things he said at agency meetings?
Jack thought about how it might take several days, but eventually Steve would tell him what was going on and why the agency wanted him removed from handling DuPont Fayetteville Works. It seemed likely that Director Undercash was the driving force behind the decision to remove Jack as the engineer handling DuPont Fayetteville Works. Undercash was the top boss in the agency's division of air quality. But why so much fear? Yes, DuPont has a lot of clout. Did DuPont request that Jack be removed? Was there a "secret meeting after the meeting?" Did Steve Mazda's anger towards Jack indicate that he was feeling squeezed in the middle, with his goal of getting promoted by Director Overcash now at great risk. Why not just ask Jack some simple questions and then listen? Just communicate!
Nearly everyone in the agency's division of air quality knew that Steve Mazda could be a bit hotheaded at times, but eventually after a few days he would always calm down and fully explain the situation. In Jack's view, Steve was a rising star in North Carolina's environmental agency. Harry knew all seven field office bosses and described Steve as head and shoulders above the others. He had a masters degree in science from NC State University, whereas most of the other bosses had degrees in engineering. Steve was bright, articulate, and not afraid of agency reform and modernization. He had a fundamentally curious nature, an essential quality in this type of work. He asked lots of questions, encouraged discussion, and wanted all available information put on the table for consideration. Steve Mazda's behavior with DuPont Fayetteville Works was completely out of character. Why?
Jack thought again about how he might have to wait several days to gain an understanding of what was happening with Dupont Fayetteville Works and Director Undercash. Maybe Steve would explain the situation to him next week after some additional time to calm down. However, Jack was wrong about this. It was going to take much, much longer.
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Several days later, Jack and Harry met at the Fayetteville Barnes & Noble for coffee. Jack described how Supervisor Mazda is too angry at him for them to have any type of conversation. Jack discussed his phone call to Anne Wordell of Human Resources asking for her help and advice. Soon after his call to Human Resources, Jack received a very short phone call from Director Overcash telling him that if he spoke to anyone about what was happening in the Fayetteville office it would be considered "insubordination." Director Undercash had told Jack there would be a meeting in Raleigh in two weeks to discuss the situation in Fayetteville. Actually, it would take two months.
Harry was surprised to hear the environmental agency had removed Jack as the lead engineer for inspecting DuPont Fayetteville Works. It seemed likely to Harry that DuPont requested that Jack be replaced with another agency person. However, he thought the bosses would fully communicate with Jack and bring him into meetings once Director Overcash had the opportunity to study and become thoroughly familiar with the complex Fayetteville Works site. Harry was wrong.
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cast of characters
