Field Note 16 of 22

A Senior Government Office

“The boss has to go.”

I was shown into the chamber. The official wasn't there yet, still at another meeting, and I waited. When he returned, one of his assistants stepped in almost immediately to let me know: the boss had another important meeting to get to, so there wouldn't be much time.

What time there was went quickly. Coffee arrived, and before I'd finished it, it was clear the meeting was already closing. I left half a cup on the table.

Near the end, one assistant leaned toward another and asked whether to start holding the elevator. Wait a little, the other said.

I've sat in enough of these rooms now to recognize the pattern. An entire apparatus, oriented around one person's movement through the day: the meeting after this one, the elevator, the assistants managing the handoff between them. All of it optimized for how smoothly the senior person could leave a room. None of it built to help him learn anything while he was still in it.

Field Note 16