Last days at old job and a new bag

Elvis has left the building. I am now free of my old gig. And Monday I start my new one. Hurrah!

I have to say - I went out on a high note. I gave appropriate notice before leaving (that's two weeks here in the States) and I did excellent turnover of my responsibilities. I spent a lot of time documenting what I did and then I trained people on my old duties. And I think there was some appreciation of what I had been doing.

For example, while going over one large section of my work, my immediate supervisor's eyes started to bulge and then glaze over while he began to comprehend what I was doing. In the past, the guy (who's really very nice) had done basically nothing to supervise me. The sum total of his supervision was to ask me for a report that I gave monthly to my user community, and to ask me to write my own performance evaluation. Really. So he was a little taken aback once he was forced to pay more attention. Heh.

But in the end I turned over everything and no more questions came.

And then there was cake.

My director threw a little party for me, inviting all of the department for cake and ice cream. (The cake was roughly the size of an air craft carrier deck. The leftovers stayed at work.) Some very nice things were said, and I was especially surprised when I received a lovely card signed by the group. And there was money inside, a group gift!! Woo-hoo!! How nice!

And then there were balloons.

Balloons from Accounting

The next day - my last day - my group took me out to eat. They also invited a number of my client base, who came bearing balloons and gifts and cards. And questions like "Who's going to help us now?" When I told them, their faces fell. Oh Dear.

But everyone was super nice and hugged me and congratulated me. And I went on. Time for the new job!

I do feel very good about the way my old job ended up. Sometimes people can't wait to push you out the door. But not this time. What a lovely thing...

And after I ended up at my old job, I found a cool new toy.

For those of you who have a Aldi near you, they have this great rolling bag now for $15. It's nylon and has outside pockets and a top that zips and a long collapsible handle. It would be great as a tatting bag (especially at conferences) or a bag for travel. It's the right size for using as carry on for airline travel too. It comes in several colors - go get one now! I'm going to decorate mine with tatting.

Next week - new job! Hurrah!