shinnyscorner

[shinnyscorner]

Off the Clock

It’s been a long day and my back was killing me. I had been waiting for this day ever since I put in my 2 weeks' notice for my retirement a while back. I got up and started cleaning my stuff up to head home for the day.

“Off the clock forever now huh John?”

I turned to see who was talking to me. Unsurprisingly it was Trevor. Now Trevor and I go way back. We came into the company only a couple months apart so we quickly grew close by helping each other navigate through our work.

“Yep, last day for me. Why don’t we go grab a drink later?”

“Hahaha, sure! The Old Rail House?”

“Of course, nothing beats it!”

“Alright, I’ll see you later then! Oh right I almost forgot, Dylan wanted to see you in the break room”

“Oh, I’ll be right over”

As he left I couldn’t help but notice a peak of a grin appearing on his face. 

Hah, this old man is hiding something.

But what could he know that I didn’t, and why was it so amusing to him? Before I had the chance to ponder longer, another thought struck me. Why would Dylan want to see me? He was the last apprentice I had trained while on the job so I was thinking the only reason he would want to see me was because something had gone wrong. The thought worried me so I quickly dropped my things and rushed to the break room. As I opened the doors I was met with immense darkness, I couldn’t see a thing. I reached over to turn on the lights.

*BOOM*

I jumped back instinctively. As my eyes adjusted to bright lights, I saw Dylan and Cole holding confetti poppers right in front of me.

“What is going on-”

Before I could finish, Dylan and Cole began to cheer and clap and then I noticed that behind them in the room were all my coworkers and people I had mentored in the past. I suddenly understood what they had done. They prepared this for me, a retirement party. Tears started welling up in my eyes as I looked around the room. I can see the thought that was put into all the decorations and it was touching to think they did this for me. As I was processing what was before me, a hand suddenly patted me on the back.

“So, how do you like it?”

Trevour said as he came up from behind me. I didn’t even hear him approach me so it startled me quite a bit.

“Hahaha, sorry to startle you pal, forgot you have heart problems”

I laughed at his remark, I knew he just wanted to scare me on purpose. After having a good laugh with Trevor we walked in to join the others. I knew I couldn’t cry, that would be uncharacteristic of me, so I held back my tears and tried to enjoy the wrap-up party on this chapter of my life.

[shinnyscorner]

Dream Job

“I’m guessing the agreement negotiations went well?”

Josh asked with a chuckle as I handed him my two weeks' notice. I had told him a couple of weeks ago that I started negotiating a work agreement with a company that wanted to recruit me, so he was already well aware of why I was handing in my notice with such a smile.

“Yep, they agreed to all my conditions so now I finally have the chance to work at my dream company!”

I had waited for this moment my whole career. After failing to get an internship at Riot Games the first time I applied. I had spent the last eight years working at different companies, building up my resume, hoping to get a job there later on. Then last month I got a message from a Riot recruiter on LinkedIn. I was elated and wanted to accept their offer right away, but being a seasoned career lady now, I knew that I needed to negotiate my conditions before signing on. 

“Hahaha, it's rare to see you so happy Laila. Did you tell the others yet? They’d be ecstatic to know!”

“No, not yet. Haven’t had the chance to, I’ll be sure to tell them today though”

As soon as negotiations landed, I knew I had to tell Josh, but haven’t gotten the chance to tell everyone else yet. Now Josh is technically my manager, but our entire team functions more like a big friend group. The last 3 years working here have been a blessing for me as I got to meet so many amazing people. It does make me sad that I’ll be leaving them, but I know that I should take this opportunity to fufill my dreams.

“Yeah you better tell them soon, you know I’m not a good secret keeper”

Josh said jokingly as I left his office and headed off to the lounge. As soon as I walked in, I took a deep breath:

“HELLO TEAM GOBBERS, I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!”

Everyone quieted down and looked towards me.

“*clears throat* Ahem. First off, I wanted to say that the past three years here have been amazing. You guys showed me that sometimes the job wasn't important, what was important were the friends we made along the way. I valued my time here and I still remember when I first- “

“Come on Laila, enough with the sob speech just get to the point”

I laughed at Adrian's interruption, he's always been one to hate sappy speeches.

“Hahahahaha, fine, ok. The point is …”

“I got a job at Riot Games and it starts in two weeks!!”

“...”

“...”

I stood there in silence waiting for someone, anyone to give me a response. The room was quiet until Mary suddenly spoke.

“Thats great news, but..."

I gulped.

"Why are you telling us this so late???? We’ll have no time to plan a leaving party!”

Everyone else chimed in agreement. I let out a breath of relief. Before I knew it Mary and Julia had already started discussing food and decorations with the others. Knowing that I’d be leaving here in two weeks left a bittersweet taste in my mouth, but seeing them like this made me even more confident in my decision. There will be many challenges to come, but I know that I’d always have a very strong support network here to fall back on.

[shinnyscorner]

Pushed too Far

“…”

“What is this? What do you think you’re doing Sherry?”

Daniel scowled and looked at me angrily as he slowly processed what exactly I had just put in front of him. The same face I would see when he was berating me or relentlessly criticising my work now didn’t invoke the same emotions within me. Instead of the guilt and shame I used to feel, now I didn’t feel anything. I readied myself and responded with a firm tone:

“It’s exactly what it says, a 2 weeks notice”

“I’m quitting”

Gone was the shaky voice that I was constantly scorned for, my head held up bravely, as I stared him straight in the eyes. He looked baffled, insulted, almost as if I was speaking a different language.

“I’ll make sure to complete all the work I was assigned, but unfortunately won’t be able to help with the year-end assignment next month”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get going as it's already well over my working hours”

“You can’t do that, you can’t just quit, you-!!”

I didn’t wait for him to finish and walked out the office door. A wave of relief washed over me as I felt a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. I was free now, free from enduring the unfair treatment, the disgusting comments from my male colleagues and bosses, and being constantly expected to work overtime just because ‘well everyone else does so why can’t you’. To be frank, I’m tired, so, so tired from this job, from this industry. I’m also afraid, afraid that if I stay here any longer I might do something unthinkable. I get to my desk and quickly pack my bags. Everyone else was still in their seats clicking away on their keyboards.

“Psst, Sherry. What are you doing?”

Before I knew it, Amy had peered over her cubicle to see me cleaning up. I felt bad about what I was going to say. She was probably the only person I would call a friend in this office. We would always talk over breaks about problems at work and even off the clock, she was the only person who would listen to my experiences and often comforted me. For me, she was the one ray of sunshine in this valley of dreariness.

“I’m going home today, I just gave Daniel my 2 weeks' notice so I want to get home before he finds some excuse to keep me late again”

I said with a slight chuckle. She looked dumbfounded and confused but gave me a warm smile and wished me well on my way out. Of course, she would be confused, this was a dream job, a dream position for so many. To give it up just like that would be unthinkable for most, but I had enough of it, of everything.

As I got to the bottom of the building I looked outside and noticed a few specks of snow had begun to fall, drifting slowly as they reached the ground. This was the first time I had seen snow this early in Beijing, in November nonetheless.

I guess there’s a first for everything

I walked out of the building feeling refreshed with a hint of unease, but I was eager to see what other "firsts" awaited me after my last two weeks finished.