Good morning everyone. I looked out of the window when I woke up and guess what I saw? The sun. No clue how long it will last but I was thrilled to see it. It seems like it has been gone a really long time. I also suspect it won’t be here for long. So while the clouds mass in the sky lets jump into the morning prompt. Timers at the ready and off we go.
I am going to have to think about the side hustle but I like the thought of one of the cogs in the system bringing down the high fliers the company promotes. Personally though I think it is more a liking the thought of people being called on their BS. It has a certain appeal to me. But I have always favored comeuppance.
Thursday, May 29th: I thought about registering a complaint.
I thought about registering a complaint. Then I realized it wouldn’t matter. Nothing would change. I would just be accused of sour grapes. I had been passed over for promotion. Again. The fact that the person who leapfrogged over me had fewer qualifications and less experience didn’t matter.
‘Why would it when I am still here to do the work,’ I thought.
That was the galling bit. I didn’t need to be at the top of the heap. I didn’t need to rule the world. I did want respect for what I did. I knew this new supervisor of mine would be pretty much the same as the last three. They were younger and had the connections. They would sit in the office and send out vague emails regarding projects. They would assign them. I would be assigned a lot of them. I noticed that my work load increased after every promotion and this was no exception.
My work was good, I was conscientious and could be counted on to do more than my share.
I just didn’t have the connections and was no longer as young as the new blood the company wanted to promote. They also believed that I was old enough that I wouldn’t risk my place to try starting somewhere new. They believed I wouldn’t be able to find a new place.
‘Especially when I am not a team player,’ I thought. I knew that was what it would say on my references had I been foolish enough to ask for one from my new supervisor. My leaving would be considered an act of someone not a team player.
And I was leaving.
I may be willing to put my head down and work but I wasn’t stupid. I saw the trend in other departments and knew that it would extend to me. And it had. So I began creating a back up plan. A side hustle to use the more common term. For the past year I made more from it than I pulled in from my regular salary. Still they had dangled the possible promotion in front of me after I had completed several very successful projects.
Then of course my supervisor took credit for them and used them to leverage himself into a better position, recommending not me for promotion but one of the others he came up with. He apparently got the memo that I could be relied upon as well and passed more and more work my way.
Idly, I wondered what would happen when he bothered to read my resignation letter. I sent it to both him and HR. HR responded and I had worked through all of my details with them. My supervisor had yet to open the e-mail.
Today was my last day. I hit send on the last file for my last project. It was twenty minutes later than I normally left but I hated leaving anything undone. Once my last project was complete I logged out and took the few things remaining in my cubicle that were mine. As my last project was completed there would no doubt be a slew of new projects sent my way in the morning.
I wondered how my not being there would go over.
I shrugged. It wasn’t my concern anymore. I had other things to worry about. Most notably my upcoming move. Most of the apartment was packed already. I would finish the last of it today and then start ferrying my items from my old apartment to the new one across town. It was more of a live work space that would suit my growing business better than my current apartment.
Ten til Midnight 