He said he had been “present, but not really there” for the 14 years he had been employed as an engineer at a state surveying office in North Rhine-Westphalia, Die Welt newspaper reported.
Parallel structures of the organisation and shuffling around of work constantly left him with an empty in-tray.
“I am entering retirement fully prepared,” he wrote in the email, before stating exactly how much he had been paid during his career of keeping his desk warm - €745,000.