She Handed Her Boss A Sealed Resignation Letter, B…

Not process the resignation. Not check whether there was a misunderstanding. Not speak to me like an adult employee who had given six years to the organization.

Ignore her completely. “That’s not acceptable,” I said. “My resignation is legitimate, and it requires processing.”

Diane lowered her voice even more.

“Look, between us, Reginald holds significant influence with the board. If he has decided not to acknowledge your resignation…”

She trailed off, but her meaning was clear. At Evergreen, procedure existed until Reginald found it inconvenient.

That night, I sat in my apartment surrounded by binders of project data I had accumulated over six years. My apartment was small, the kind of second-floor walk-up with old hardwood floors, narrow closets, and a kitchen window that looked out over a parking lot. I had carried work home so often that one corner of my living room had become an unofficial archive of Evergreen’s institutional memory.