Lame Duck.

You think it's going to be like going on vacation, the furious finishing of tasks and organizing details so that no balls get dropped. But it's not. Because they've already written you off. Theres no more emails, no texts, no more inclusion, no more meetings. You realize too late it wouldn't have mattered if you didn't do all the lists and office clean up and filing so that details could be found and work could be done in your absence. You realize you could have walked out the door the day you quit and never went back and they would all still be okay - the world continues to spin without you. 

But you couldn't have left it in such disarray even if you wanted to. You're  not wired that way. You care, probably too much. More than anyone else, you think. You are wrong of course, because if you cared more than anyone else, you'd still be working there. 

And they will talk about you when you're gone. Everything bad that happens will be blamed on you, true or not, because you're not there. It's just the way it is, don't take it personally. 

Just clear the regular meeting reminders from your phone, pack up your loose change and extra mascara from the desk drawer, leave your key and your credit card by the phone.

This is what you wanted. Put on your sunglasses, place one foot in front of the other, and just breathe. 

Comments

[twitter.com/kbmckinney]

I've always been convinced that my then-workplace would fall apart upon my resignation too. I have also done the whole office organization, list-making, instruction-leaving routine. Somehow, life goes on and the whole place carries on without me. Kind of an ego-kill on some level. But yay for choices and change and working closer to home!

[Diane Young Myers]

We'll be talking about you when you leave all right. Remembering all the fun Jenny brought to our world! We are gonna miss you!

[Angie]

I can completely relate. I put together various manuals and tutorials before I left my last job, and worked with my supervisor for about a week before I left, walking him through everything I did. He just kept shaking his head, and saying they were going to have to hire 2 people to replace me, maybe even 3, to cover all the hats I had worn. Then they didn't replace me at all. Eye-opening all those "indispensable" tasks one did turn out to be completely dispensable after all.