Given Everything, It’s Nice to Know You’ll Be Missed
Tomorrow is my last day at the Shop. More than seven and a half years here, and it's down to a single day. I've been on a bit of a slide these last two weeks, but I have to say, two things today made me feel like I really have done something right here.
First, I was going to get a Diet Coke, and passed by two of my favorite traders in the hall talking. As I passed, I said "I'm really going to miss you guys." To which they immediately responded "We're really going to miss you."
I was stunned. Happily. Never in my life had I expected that kind of affirmation from the traders. I know I have tried to be helpful, but that's a very subjective thing. I have built a few really cornerstone apps here, but to have them respond back like that was really very unexpected. It immediately put a smile on my face. Sure, I was leaving and was going to miss them, but they were going to miss me too.
The second thing happened when someone stopped by to ask me a few questions about one of the projects he was taking over for me. I'm not really sure how we got around to the topic of a certain manager in the group, but we did, and in the retelling of stories this guy mentioned that often he had the following exchange with this manager when discussing a task he was assigning to this person: (heavily paraphrased)
worker: That could be rather hard, and I'm not sure if it's even possible.
manager: It might take you two days to do the hard, but Bob could do the impossible straight-away.
While the relationship between myself and this manager has not always been wine and roses, I have done what he's asked, and it seems that even when he asks it, he must know that some of what he's asking is not just difficult - but difficult even for his better people.
This isn't going to make me stay, but it does make me feel good about the contributions I've made over the years. It hasn't gone unnoticed - which was a real possibility in my mind a few days ago. It's nice to know you'll be missed.