It’s Thursday again. Yesterday was a good day and ended on a very positive up note. I wandered around midtown after meeting Greg Stevens and Vivek. I floated more than wandered actually and had a nice Padron 5000 cigar. I called up Bill when I found that the job could be mine if I wanted it. Brenda, former colleague from Wanker Banker was also on the list of people to call. Annemarie would have to wait since she’s 3 different time zones away. Bill was on his way to rehearsal so he promised to listen to my story when he got home later last night.

I just chilled out at home, watched Daily Show and Colbert Report and then I don’t remember since I was waiting for Lost. That came on and I thought it was going to be a drag but wound up better than I expected. Bill came in at the last ten minutes and after the show I told him about Greg and Vivek and their offer. Bill was insisting that I tell them at Golden Staffing immediately that I’ll be out of there. Bill was a lifeline when I felt like crap on Monday and knew it was because of the job.

It’s not a bad job, but it takes it’s toll, just sitting there seeing people applying for jobs that I feel that I should be trying to get for myself. I told Bill I was going to hold off on telling them at work that I was going to be leaving. I was planning on giving them two weeks notice which seemed the proper thing to do. As the day progressed today I was a bit apprehensive about telling them but felt it was the thing to do right after lunch. I sent Wally an email asking him to find time to talk to me.

I was hoping it would wait but almost instantly he came up to me and asked me what was going on. He expected that I was having a problem with someone in the office, and was surprised when I told him I was leaving. He asked why, what happened and I told him nothing happened, just a better paying opportunity came up with a former manager that I used to work with.. He understood and was sorry to see me go and asked that I give them two weeks notice to which I agreed as that was the plan anyhow.

A few minutes later President Naomi called me into her office where Wally was sitting with her. She looked genuinely upset. She wanted to know why I was leaving and I put it as delicately as possible. I told her I wanted to go out on good terms and I could see tears welling up in her eyes. Last night they had let Swati go, and she had started a few weeks before me. It went badly with Swati crying as she left the office. I missed that since I left early. I don’t know the reason why she was let go but I don’t think they gave her enough of a chance to learn the ropes as a recruiter.

Naomi asked how much I was going to get from the new job and I told her and to my surprise she made a counteroffer. In the back of my mind I remembered one of the web pages I proofread on the company website which is here:

Counteroffers
You should never accept a counteroffer.
Though flattering, a counteroffer is usually a short-term solution. Generally, the reasons for wanting to leave the company still exist and are unlikely to change in the near term. Counteroffers are self-serving to the company and often represent a compromise in your next raise or bonus. Moreover, your loyalty may be questioned and you could be the first to go should business cycles change. Truly you should be suspect as to why you are more valuable today than you were yesterday and only after you resigned your job. You should thank the company for the offer but be clear about your intentions to move on.

Those are Naomi’s words posted for the world to see on the website. And here she was, making me a counteroffer. I told her I would take it under consideration, but I think she knew that I was actually going to go. I tried to alleviate the situation by telling her that I might be in a position to hire staffers through Golden Staffing but she didn’t seem to care. I also told her that I was being pursued, and not the other way around. She just sat there, teary eyed and telling me that she didn’t want me to go and that just set a pall on the rest of my day.

I’m still leaving and I sent Greg Stevens an email telling him that I would start on April 16.