Chapter 24: Phone Plant – Summary & Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
With only thirty minutes until a meeting, Jolene must plant her phone in the boardroom to continue her surveillance. Rhonda blocks the room to set up for Gregory. To create a distraction, Jolene buys three dry scones from Artistic Coffee and places them in the empty lunchroom. Using the admin email account, she sends a fake message to Caitlin, Armin, and Rhonda claiming the scones are appreciation gifts from management. The ruse works: Rhonda and Caitlin head to the lunchroom. Jolene rushes into the boardroom and hides her phone inside a tissue box. When Caitlin loudly thanks Gregory for the scone, other colleagues become confused. Gregory later notices the commotion but leaves without clarifying. After the meeting, Jolene retrieves her phone under Armin’s watchful eye, leaving her paranoid that he suspects something.
Key Events
- Jolene decides to plant her phone in the boardroom before the meeting.
- Rhonda guards the room, preventing Jolene from entering unnoticed.
- Jolene buys three scones from the café and leaves them in the lunchroom.
- She composes a fake email from the Supershops Admin account offering the scones as recognition gifts.
- Caitlin and Rhonda fall for the email and collect a scone each; Armin declines.
- Jolene quickly hides her phone in a tissue box inside the boardroom.
- Caitlin thanks Gregory for the scone, causing confusion and drawing attention.
- Gregory and Cliff hold a private meeting in the boardroom.
- After the meeting, Jolene retrieves her phone and notices Armin watching her.
Character Development
Jolene demonstrates growing confidence in her covert tactics, using her admin access to send deceptive emails and orchestrating a physical distraction. Her anxiety remains high, but she shows resourcefulness under pressure.
Armin exhibits quiet suspicion; he declines the scone and later watches Jolene carefully after she returns from the boardroom, suggesting he may be piecing together her actions.
Caitlin reveals her practiced ability to perform gratitude, thanking Gregory effusively for a cheap scone. This moment underlines her skill at workplace politics.
Rhonda remains an obstacle, but her gullibility is exposed when she falls for the fake email without question.
Gregory seems unaware of the scone scheme but his cryptic gaze at Jolene hints at his own manipulative nature.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Deception: The chapter revolves around multiple layers of trickery—Jolene’s fake email, the false narrative of appreciation, and the hidden phone.
Surveillance: Jolene’s mission to plant the phone literalizes the theme of watching and being watched. Her paranoia that Armin is observing her mirrors the office’s culture of suspicion.
Workplace Worth: The scones—cheap, dry pastries—symbolize how management offers hollow recognition. Caitlin and Armin mock Gregory’s past “pizza party” as another insult wrapped as a reward.
Power and Access: Jolene exploits her admin email privileges, showing how access to communication tools can subvert hierarchy.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 24 marks Jolene’s first active infiltration using both digital deception and physical placement. The success of the phone plant escalates her risk and deepens the plot’s stakes. It also exposes more of the office’s social dynamics—Caitlin’s performative gratitude, Armin’s quiet awareness, and Gregory’s condescending management style. The scene where Caitlin mistakes the scone for Gregory’s gift creates a near-catastrophic slip, raising the tension and demonstrating how quickly Jolene’s scheme could unravel.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Jolene choose scones from Artistic Coffee for her distraction?
She needs something cheap and unappealing so the distraction doesn’t become too popular and draw the entire floor. The dry scones are likely to be collected only by a few people, limiting the chance that she will be noticed as the source.
2. What does the dialogue between Caitlin and Armin about Gregory’s past rewards reveal about the workplace culture?
It shows that Gregory’s “recognition” is actually a form of punishment—for example, the pizza party was made with cheap ingredients and inconvenient microwaves. Employees see through the gesture but must publicly thank him anyway, reinforcing a culture of insincerity.
3. Why does Jolene feel paranoid about Armin watching her at the end of the chapter?
Armin declined the scone and observed Jolene leave and return from the boardroom without an obvious reason. His focused gaze suggests he may suspect her involvement in the fake email and the phone plant, threatening the secrecy of her operation.