Jack clicked on Send. It was an email to co-workers in the agency's Division of Air Quality, including the many people Jack had worked closely with in the Raleigh central office and the agency's seven regional field offices. It was a good-natured message announcing that Jack was resigning to take a break from the world of work. Later, he received a short and surprising phone call. It was Director Keith Undercash.
"This is Keith. The only problem I had with you is that you contacted Human Resources."
After Director Undercash hung up, Jack tried to make sense of the surprising call. The madness of the past 12 months was simply because Jack had called up Human Resources and asked for advice on how to handle a difficult situation? It was hard to believe. Or did Director Undercash make this unexpected phone call to provide himself with plausible deniability? Or maybe it was both.
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