I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time it seems. I had thought of all kinds of scenarios for how I might do it and what I might say but nothing prepared me for what actually happened today. I’m still in a bit of shock and I haven’t processed everything yet but it’s starting to sink in right about now.
Last night I was extremely anxious about having the talk with my boss. I kept trying to come up with the right words to say but couldn’t think of anything at all. As political as the environment has been at my job, my boss has always treated me with respect and she’s always been good to me so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. What actually happened was even tougher than I what I had imagined.
First, I came in to work and she wasn’t even there! Offsite meeting all day. Great.
A couple of hours later the other senior manager (I’m a senior manager) quit without warning or notice of any kind. Today of all days! He grabbed his stuff and told the project manager “I’m resigning. It will be a surprise to some people, but others should have expected it.”
Soon there was a rumor floating around that the other senior manager actually gave his notice and she was so furious that she told him to leave immediately. I have no clue if this is true but it certainly didn’t fill me with confidence at the thought of giving my notice a couple of hours later.
Anyways, my boss freaked out and cut her offsite meeting short. She came into the office and started running around and planning her next steps. Unfortunately for me her next steps included putting additional people under me.
She came into my office and closed the door. “I think Barry should be under you now. You know more about what he does and…etc.” I’m not 100% sure what she was saying at this point because I couldn’t believe what was happening. I snapped out of it long enough to realize that now was the time to tell her. So I did.
I told her, as gently as I could, that it probably wasn’t a good idea because I had decided to leave the company. I said that my business was doing well. Well enough to support my family and that I needed to focus on growing it even more. Her reaction? Well, I didn’t get thrown out of the building which was great. She told me congratulations, and said that she knew that I would do great because I would be great at whatever I chose to do. She said that I had to do what was best for myself and my family and that she just wanted to see me be happy. Basically, she had nothing but nice things to say. Wow. I didn’t expect that but I was extremely glad it went in that direction.
It was a crazy day but in the end it all somehow worked out. My last day will be March 11. As I mentioned earlier, it still hasn’t 100% sunk in yet but I’m slowly getting there and I’m excited about what this means for my future.
You’re living the dream now! Awesome news 🙂
That just goes to show that there’s a right way and a wrong way to leave any given job. Congratulations on both the right way and the new beginning for you Ruben.
@Justin – Thanks!
@Mike – You’re right about that. Even if he did give his official notice, it’s bad form to do so while your boss is out.
Good luck.
I didn’t get to quit my last job, they laid me off while I was still getting this programming thing off the ground. But that was all I needed. It’s almost seven years now, and even the bad times have been so much better than working for someone else.
Congrats on the move. You handled that transition pretty well.
Wow, man, what a crazy way for that to go down. It says a lot about the job you’ve done that on that day your boss was still able to treat you with respect and wish you the best. You should be very proud of that, and of the success you’ve created in getting to this point with Bidsketch.
Thanks everyone!
I’m glad you didn’t chicken out and wait a couple more weeks. It never really goes as smoothly as you hope, or as horribly as you think it could turn out. Here’s hoping that’s the last “job” you’ll ever have 🙂
Never look back Ruber. Look forward with a smile 🙂
They say you make two big mistakes a year taking a risk, two big mistakes not taking a risk. Entrepreneurship has it’s perks and disadvantages, glad you took your big step towards this!