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I packed up my things and got ready to leave. L and I are taking a trip this weekend (her dad and stepmom invited us up to the Wisconsin dells), so she came in with me to the downtown office for the day. I mean, we didn't get there until 11:00 anyways, so we were only there for four hours.
As I finished packing up my desk and we were walking out with bags, one of the senior consultants asked, "You're cleaning out your desk?" I explained to him that, yes, I was, since this was my last day working at STA. "What?! No one told me anything!"
And they hadn't. I was the project manager on their big account, have taken their development group from just doing their jobs to consultants who ask questions and expect to be treated as equals by their peers within the company. I designed the stationery, the report templates, and the requests for information. And neither the managing director, nor the owner, nor the account exec, had even sent out a "see ya!" email. I think that they expected me to do it.
Somehow, this just figures.
There's a reason why you host going-away lunches for leaving employees. It allows you to conteract any statements that this person has made and reaffirm the basic values of the corporation with those still loyal. It says to all present "This person is no longer one of us" and lets you ensure that their change in status has been completed.
It goes with their fiction that I'll be back as a contractor. I really doubt it.
And now I have to spend the weekend with the in-laws. God help me. This isn't going to be easy.
I've looked through my files as I'm winding up and it looks like I haven't done a damned thing since April. No one has asked for anything. And no one has said "manasclerk is leaving so you want to wind things up with him."
I just found out about the OD Summit here in Chicago in June. Peter Block is an OD guy. So are a bunch of these guys who wrote in the Flawless Consulting Fieldbook. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it is a lot closer to who I am than software development.
In the end, I got what I wanted because it turns out I hate software and have almost nothing in common with most IT people.
It's $1600 which is a lot when you don't have any work on the horizon but that's life. I can't not go. I have to see what this is all about.
Besides, Peter Block is speaking and I wanted to go hear him anyway. So I was going to spend a few hundred on that as it was. This way I get an entire conference.
After my talk with S at lunch today ("Are you trying to get fired?") I realized that I was trying to get fired. They certainly think so. Mostly, I wanted to see where I really stood. I thought that I was joining as a senior consultant, but they see me at about the same level as the receptionist (she's underutilized, too).
So, I went into the managing director's office, cleared that up, and tendered my resignation, effective in 30 days, as per my contract. That's the end of the month, which is really convenient. If something changes where they still want me onboard then great. If not, no big deal.
I should never have read that book by Peter Block.