The Holiday Post-Season Continues…
Ellen and I were watching the series finale of The Golden Girls yesterday. If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember, Dorothy Zbornak marries Leslie Neilsen and moves out. The last five minutes are a painful collection of hugs and tears. I was largely dissatisfied with the way the show ended, and thought the writers were unnecessarily melodramatic.
This reminded me of a goodbye email I once sent (soon to be) former co-workers.
My biggest decision of the year came back in February. I traded in my job at a large midtown ad agency for a smaller company thirty blocks south. The last job was filled with promise, a great cast, and a never ending stream of unintentional comedy. But it was time to move on. I’m in a far better place right now, in both the figurative and literal senses.
Here was my goodbye message, with the subject “Last Words.”
Feels like my whole tenure has been leading up to this email.
The last one of these was a masterpiece. The subject? “Bye.” The email? “It’s been interesting.” Since the whole brevity angle has been mastered, I’m going to take my time. And yours.
Some people I owe a great deal of thanks:
To Steve, for plucking me from the nondescript waters of Deloitte Consulting two years back, despite no evidence of advertising experience. Bold casting.
To Michael and Scott, for not cutting me loose when that inexperience showed. Time and time again.
To art directors Eric, Mike, Nancy, Pete and Antoine, for not requesting a better copywriter partner. Or for at least keeping those requests from me.
To office-mates Mike and Mark. What I gave up in personal space I got back in witty banter.
To some old timers, like Emer, Jeannette, Mario, Julie, Rich and Melton. Good old times. Good old times.
To Alexandria and Joe, for postponing their diets until I left. I can never pay full price for cookies again.
To Christina, Allison, and Nik, for something or other. I can’t remember what. I should have been taking notes.
To April, for the cookie she just brought me. Tasty.
To Jackie and Erica, for planning the best holiday party in company history. And to Philip, Patty and Mark, for paying for it.
And now it’s time to wrap this up. I’ll end with a quote from a character and a show I’ve felt a strong kinship with these last two years:
“The people you work with are people you were just thrown together with. You don’t know them. It wasn’t your choice. And yet you spend more time with them then you do your friends or your family. But probably all you’ve got in common is the fact that you walk around on the same bit of carpet for eight hours a day.”
–Tim Canterbury, The Office (BBC Version)So thanks to all of you for sharing my (very) little bit of carpet. If I ever write that memoir, you best believe this experience will last for several chapters.
Hugs, Kisses, and a High-Five,
JasonP.S. — For writing opportunities, for fun or profit, give me a shout. You have no idea how fired up I can get on a Saturday for my Weekend Rate.
P.P.S. — Do your f**king timesheets. You won’t be warned again.