My Last Day at Work

What a day. I've worked at the same company for pretty much 18 years. I've been there through 4 locations, a half dozen takeovers, a couple of salary freezes, some lucritive stock option plans, and too many managers to count. Up until today I was the 5th longest serving employee in the company.

My longtime coworker and good friend Russell along with several other buddies threw a barbecue for me at lunch featuring short ribs and tandoori chicken. Pretty much the entire company and many from a company that split off from us a few years ago come out.

Following the barbecue, Anne, Tom, and Timothy played a Bach minuet in honour of me! I was really touched at how these three laid it all out. It's a big deal to put yourself out like that in front of your coworkers and I really appreciated it. I kind of messed up their plan of presenting me with a Weber barbecue by buying it myself a few weeks ago. Instead they presented me with $320 in cash. What an amazing gift!

I mumbled something barely comprehensible about what a great place it was to work, which probably sounded entirely cliche. The sad thing is that there is little about that place that is cliche. It really is an amazing place to work with smart, caring, and fun people who have the utmost in integrity. The management team reflects those values and is second to none in caring about everyone that works there.

Back out to the patio for more beer, a couple of Jagger-bombs, some reminiscing about the old days, and some talk of the future.

I stayed late into the evening drafting up my farewell email and ended up too emotionally drained to ride home. Rachelle came and got me and my personal effects, I said my last goodbye to my workplace and left for home.

Good luck everyone at Zadall... I'll miss you.