Final Episode
I suppose I should blog something about my final day at work, which was yesterday. It is a major life event and all. ..... um, well, it was different. Not something one does every day. (Well, some people do that, I guess. Me, I stick with a job until my wife makes me move.)Let me step back a few months. I gave my notice, unofficially, back in January. I knew that I was going to quit my job sometime this summer and didn't think much about it. China was in the future, the job was the here and now. Then around May both "jobs" started getting busy. I was torn between putting in overtime at work and doing all the things needed to prepare for China. After our training in June, I was all psyched to go. I was getting used to turning down overtime requests and was kind of looking forward to not having this work thing interfere with our preparations. This final week, however, my attitude made a subtle shift. All the negatives were pretty much gone from my mind and all I was noticing was the good things about work. Maybe because it was my ego was getting constantly stroked as people were saying goodbye and wishing me well. Or maybe it was because I no longer had to worry about the problems and could just enjoy the positives. I don't know.
Anyway, if the last week was "Happy Time", to steal a phrase from an erstwhile coworker, yesterday was "Über Happy Time." I got cake, I got cards, I got flowers. Well wishes and compliments from everybody. Promises of beer after work. (off premises, of course.) I even got to work on a job that was built in Quark XPress, for old times' sake. And then, it was over. As I punched out for the last time, there was a brief moment when I felt the gravity of what I was doing. Quitting a good paying job, for crying out loud! One I held for over thirteen years! But the spiritual crisis passed as I had to pack up my flowers and get over to my beer. Sometimes it's a blessing to be a shallow individual.
So anyway, yesterday I was a appreciated, respected and honored pre-press professional. (Not to mention well-fed.) Today I'm unemployed klutz, tracking paint on the carpet and rushing to finish my home improvement to-do list. Still well-fed though. I'm sure I'm going to be mourning the old job in the days to come, but I'm looking forward to taking on the new tasks. I'm sure I'll have ample frustrations, but hey, I might be able to get a blog entry out of it. What could be more important? ;-)
posted by John @ 8:26 AM
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