E-mail and Behavioral Changes

Preamble

Puisqu’après tant d’efforts ma résistance est vaine, Je me livre en aveugle au destin qui m’entraîne.(Since, despite all my endeavors my resistance is in vain, I will blindly surrender to where destiny leads me….)

Jean Racine, Andromaque

Angel’s day

Angel Rafran paused at the end of the day before going to bed. He was sitting at home, on his terrace and was sipping a glass of very fine brandy while enjoying the gentle spring breeze. Despite the magic of the moment, he couldn’t stop his mind from wandering and passing in front of his eyes were the different stages and meetings of the day.

As usual, he got up early, to enjoy a light-hearted breakfast with his wife Isabel and their daughter Esmerelda. Then he briefly talked to Patricia, Esmerelda’s teacher, while he was taking Esmerelda to school and had carefully noted the recommendations the teacher had made.

The school was very close to Saint-Jean Station and he arrived just in time for the 7.19 train. He made the most of the 26-minute journey to Cornavin Station where his office was, to read over the draft minutes of the latest meeting of the Vaudois council of the Swiss Accountants Union. He had been elected the secretary of this local council two months earlier and was determined that his first report should be as good as those drawn up by his predecessors.

The morning went by without a hitch. He was satisfied with his job as Head of Division, Budgeting, in the finance department of a mobile phone operator, MobdotCom ...