Atlas Hugged« i'm starting with the man in the middle | Main | or i'm still alive and there's nothing i want to do »
April 27, 2006
backfat for cubie: the return of backfat
so there i was on january 19th 2006 sitting in my office cube packing up the few remaining personal effects on my desk and tying up loose ends. and i was a bit annoyed because it was already 2 o'clock and i had planned on being gone from that place before noon, but i wanted to make certain that since i was the one leaving that everything was in its proper place before i left my cube behind for good. and the whole process, from the time i handed in my resignation letter to that very moment was surreal - even the last meal with my co-workers felt strange - i hardly even tasted my food. of course this is probably because we ate lunch at tgi fridays and their food doesn't really taste like anything...but i digress
i think part of the surreality of it all was that i really had no idea what i was going to do next - all i knew is that i was miserable and i wanted out. because every morning when i stepped off the elevator i would become sick to my stomach and office space just wasn't as funny anymore. i'd had the good fortune to do well in my time with the company and had even made a run at a few management positions but the truth is, when i started as a temp in november of 2002 i didn't really have plans on sticking around. it just sort of happened and each time the lease came due on my apartment i would think about leaving - but inevitably i would be offered a promotion with a nice increase in salary and i would ultimately cave in to the pressure of the almighty dollar but on that day in january at 2 o'clock in the afternoon i was 45 minutes away from my exit interview and a leap into the great unknown
and then it happened - i was on the telephone talking with a client and my boss runs up to my desk flailing her arms and hissing something at me, so i ended my call and walked over to her desk and she informed me that i was going to be offered a job for a position that i had interviewed for in early november - a position that i had all but given up on. and i thought to myself - there's no way this is happening, my mind is made up.
and it's true my mind was made up - i was already daydreaming about my triumphant return to sunny south florida and all that it would entail with the abundant sunshine and seabreeze with shirtless results. and then i saw the salary increase and the company car and the working from home dangling before me. and i knew i would be landlocked for a bit longer because i got that strange sick feeling you get when you realize you might be in love or maybe you really did just back into that persons car - and so i caved and accepted the position - and it was strange because people i hardly knew emerged from their cubes offering congratulations ecstatic that i was staying with the company because they couldn't afford to lose me(?)
all that to say, i was back in the office this morning for a meeting with my new boss and some of the office staff and i realized as i walked up and down the halls that i didn't have that sick feeling in my stomach anymore - it's true, i could have downed a meatball hoagie or a combo platter from taco viva in one sitting - i even smiled when i had to pose for my new security badge photo...so maybe there are happy endings in corporate america...and i'm not just saying that because the ladies dig the company car - even though you know that they totally do.
| By young_christopher | 10:46 PM