The bittersweet end
May. 29th, 2004 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreaminghopeYesterday was a very difficult day. It was so hard to say good-bye to everyone. I made it to the end without crying, then the tears ran in the car.
I know it is for the best. I know I need to be selfish in this and take care of myself. I know this new job will be better for me.
I expected the cupcakes. Omega celebrates every occasion with these yummy Smartie cupcakes from Uprisings Bakery. And there were cupcakes for me yesterday. Everyone gathered in the lounge for them. They even turned off the phones so that no one would have to stay behind in customer service.
I don't remember anyone else leaving Omega to this kind of fanfare. It made me feel a bit weird to have such a fuss made out of me, but it was so sweet and flattering. There were presents:
- The company gave me a watch. It is a nice one, really beautiful, and it suits me. Trish and Celeste picked it out. Robert (the Big Boss) almost made me cry presenting it, with a little speech about how I've made such a difference to the company, and I'm going to be so missed by him personally and by everyone else too, and how they will take me back if it doesn't work out with my new job.
- The customer service team put together a present for me too. Cards made by Marianna of her beautiful watercolour paintings and a little basket full of highlighters. That sounds weird, but I have a thing for highlighters, and they found me seven different colours: yellow, orange, green, blue, pink, purple, and, believe it or not, red!
- Dave, our shipping and production guy who's also a part owner of the company, gave me a bottle of nice tequila! And he gave me money to treat Shannon and I to lunch.
- Samantha gave me flowers from the Hari Krishna temple where she lives.
There was also a card signed by everyone in the Canadian office. I read it when I got home and cried a bit more. People wrote such sweet things. Bridget wrote that I was her best boss.
All of this in addition to Maria and Justin coming all the way from Bellingham to treat me for lunch on Thursday, and Marianna giving me a example of her glass painting, and all the nice things my team members said about me during their reviews, and being allowed to still buy coffee beans through the company at wholesale prices, which they've usually only let employees do.
People kept phoning and emailing from the US plant just to say good-bye and to thank me for various things. Several people were especially pleased to have received a copy of the list I made for Robert of things he could do to make the team leader jobs less stressful and difficult. He asked me to make such a list, so I took the opportunity. I left his copy on his desk, but I emailed it to a bunch of the other team leaders.
If the act of "giving up" and leaving hadn't been keeping me humble, I sure would've had a swelled head by the end of the day. Everyone seemed to make a point of telling me that I was going to be missed and telling me exactly why:
- Beatrice said she thought I was a good leader and she loved that I wrote down procedures and made training manuals.
- Dennis told me about a caller, back when I was the receptionist, who told him I was the friendliest and nicest sounding receptionist he'd heard. And Trish said: "And little did we know at the time how underused you were as the receptionist."
- Mei and Dave from graphics told me how friendly I made the office feel.
- Pamela was so grateful for the help and support I had been providing her on her procedures project. She was just glad to have someone not approach assisting her with dread.
Around all of this, I cleaned out DumAss' desk (finally - he's been gone for two weeks), sorted mail, sorted resumes for my replacement and for a new receptionist, did some last minute training, wrote a list of unfinished tasks that other people will have to finish, took a few last orders and product questions and made a few last calls.
Finally, I packed up my desk, my presents and my last free Omega products and logged off my computer for the last time. I handed in my keys.
Russ and Shane came to pick me up.
The last straw was saying good-bye to the customer service team all at once. I hugged them all, loaded up the car, looked back and felt so sad. They were my team moments before, and now they weren't anymore. And they said things like "I want to go with you", and I quickly got in the car and cried as we drove away.
I kind of thought that I would feel relieved and even ecstatic as I left this job I had come to hate. I didn't realize I would not just feel a little guilty, but also really sad.
So that's it. Omega Nutrition is now a part of my past. I can still hardly believe it. I know this is for the best. By this time next week, I'll probably feel great about my decision.
I just realised that I forgot to submit my last time sheet! I'll have to get a copy to Shannon to take into work next week!
I know it is for the best. I know I need to be selfish in this and take care of myself. I know this new job will be better for me.
I expected the cupcakes. Omega celebrates every occasion with these yummy Smartie cupcakes from Uprisings Bakery. And there were cupcakes for me yesterday. Everyone gathered in the lounge for them. They even turned off the phones so that no one would have to stay behind in customer service.
I don't remember anyone else leaving Omega to this kind of fanfare. It made me feel a bit weird to have such a fuss made out of me, but it was so sweet and flattering. There were presents:
- The company gave me a watch. It is a nice one, really beautiful, and it suits me. Trish and Celeste picked it out. Robert (the Big Boss) almost made me cry presenting it, with a little speech about how I've made such a difference to the company, and I'm going to be so missed by him personally and by everyone else too, and how they will take me back if it doesn't work out with my new job.
- The customer service team put together a present for me too. Cards made by Marianna of her beautiful watercolour paintings and a little basket full of highlighters. That sounds weird, but I have a thing for highlighters, and they found me seven different colours: yellow, orange, green, blue, pink, purple, and, believe it or not, red!
- Dave, our shipping and production guy who's also a part owner of the company, gave me a bottle of nice tequila! And he gave me money to treat Shannon and I to lunch.
- Samantha gave me flowers from the Hari Krishna temple where she lives.
There was also a card signed by everyone in the Canadian office. I read it when I got home and cried a bit more. People wrote such sweet things. Bridget wrote that I was her best boss.
All of this in addition to Maria and Justin coming all the way from Bellingham to treat me for lunch on Thursday, and Marianna giving me a example of her glass painting, and all the nice things my team members said about me during their reviews, and being allowed to still buy coffee beans through the company at wholesale prices, which they've usually only let employees do.
People kept phoning and emailing from the US plant just to say good-bye and to thank me for various things. Several people were especially pleased to have received a copy of the list I made for Robert of things he could do to make the team leader jobs less stressful and difficult. He asked me to make such a list, so I took the opportunity. I left his copy on his desk, but I emailed it to a bunch of the other team leaders.
If the act of "giving up" and leaving hadn't been keeping me humble, I sure would've had a swelled head by the end of the day. Everyone seemed to make a point of telling me that I was going to be missed and telling me exactly why:
- Beatrice said she thought I was a good leader and she loved that I wrote down procedures and made training manuals.
- Dennis told me about a caller, back when I was the receptionist, who told him I was the friendliest and nicest sounding receptionist he'd heard. And Trish said: "And little did we know at the time how underused you were as the receptionist."
- Mei and Dave from graphics told me how friendly I made the office feel.
- Pamela was so grateful for the help and support I had been providing her on her procedures project. She was just glad to have someone not approach assisting her with dread.
Around all of this, I cleaned out DumAss' desk (finally - he's been gone for two weeks), sorted mail, sorted resumes for my replacement and for a new receptionist, did some last minute training, wrote a list of unfinished tasks that other people will have to finish, took a few last orders and product questions and made a few last calls.
Finally, I packed up my desk, my presents and my last free Omega products and logged off my computer for the last time. I handed in my keys.
Russ and Shane came to pick me up.
The last straw was saying good-bye to the customer service team all at once. I hugged them all, loaded up the car, looked back and felt so sad. They were my team moments before, and now they weren't anymore. And they said things like "I want to go with you", and I quickly got in the car and cried as we drove away.
I kind of thought that I would feel relieved and even ecstatic as I left this job I had come to hate. I didn't realize I would not just feel a little guilty, but also really sad.
So that's it. Omega Nutrition is now a part of my past. I can still hardly believe it. I know this is for the best. By this time next week, I'll probably feel great about my decision.
I just realised that I forgot to submit my last time sheet! I'll have to get a copy to Shannon to take into work next week!
