It had to come of course. I have been here before 5 times in actual fact. Apart from my protracted employ with a large Telecoms company which lasted 23 years my average in 4 further posts is about 4 years each.
My current role ends today after nearly 8 years and the familiar feelings of "escape" and euphoria are here but also the pang of turning another page and being unsure precisely what is written overleaf.
It may be blindingly obvious to all of you (both, eek) that life is all about people friends family but people. From time to time it IS about mortgages or sleepless nights or buying cars but when the dust settles and it does eventually it is people that define us all and make us who we are. We need them like they need us.
So on this final day I will look back kindly on those who have helped and guided me who have been friendly cooperative and generous in time and spirit and deliberately exclude those who have never fitted that template.
8am - arrived in office puts kettle on and checks I have a little milk in cold bag. Check. My little bijou office is around 16 degrees C and already feels a bit warmer than I like. Turns radiator down.
8.30am checks drawers and cabinets to see if there is any more I can make waste or more importantly anything personal I need to liberate for the last time.
The office is looking very bare as I have been removing and taking home those little things that have made this my home from home for nearly 8 years. The kettle the calendar and wall clock appear to be the key remaining items. Then I spot the PC speakers and a multi-coloured eraser my son gave me around 15 years ago. The bleached photos have already gone home to an uncertain future but they served their purpose in dark times when I was feeling at my wits end.
9am thinking of bacon now and a large bap with brown sauce and maybe a hash brown. Wanders around. Not many staff around. Easter hols. Will make the departure easier. Quicker. Had said expressly to boss that I did not want any ceremony drama or presentation just to get the hell out with least fuss. He isn't around not sure what will ensue. Bacon certainly.
continues...
Yes there WAS bacon and 2 sausages and a huge bap the size of the Isle of Wight. Two bites in there's a knock on the door. Senior manager came to tell me my boss WOULD be in later and apologized for interrupting my drowning in bap and meat products.
1pm decided to go for the "hot" lunch option. Something of a departure from crisps & sandwich I have survived on previously. Now sleep looks likely. Warm office full stomach. More cupboards to scour and files to archive delete or nab. So little time.
For the umpteenth time someone has visited and said "you MUST come and see me to say goodbye before you leave" and I lied and said I would. But I won't. My appointment with boss approaches and I'm sure he is more troubled by the prospect than me. Still I can't stop thinking I might collapse in tears and beg to be reinstated. No that won't happen. This is one of those (few) times in life you have to steel yourself and you just get through it. Somehow. Like root canal work, childbirth or prison. Not that I have experienced either of the latter.
3pm after 2nd coffee (now twitching like Jack Douglas) boss bursts in full of apologies and after shave. Come and see a few people... we've had a little collection. Yea right so that would be a presentation in front of about 50 people speeches and all and what I expressly said was not on. Well it did. I was brief humble lacking melodrama and choked as is my way.
Packed up my adequate Lowundai with various ancillary items and shipped out never to return certainly not in this lifetime. Turns page...
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