Onward and Upward, no looking back

That's the motto I came up with on Thursday morning as I prepared for my last day. I was kinda nervous about how things would go. On Wednesday Mean Jean interviewed Katie, and I was asked to speak to her for a while. She impressed me and I found out that she knew our computer guy so I called him and asked him what he thought of her. He told me that she'd likely be running the place in three weeks if we hired her. She was no shrinking violet like the chinese girl or the deli clerk. What I liked about her, other than the fact that she actually spoke english and had lots of sales desk experience, was that she didn't seem the type to take any shit off of Mean Jean.

Thursday morning Katie came back in to meet the boss who had been on the phone when she was in on Wednesday. She spoke to both of them for a couple hours and it seemed like they were going to hire her but Mean Jean was holding her captive in her office. By 11am the boss came to me and asked if I thought she'd be the right choice. I told him most emphatically that she was far and away the best candidate I'd seen, the other two not even being in the same league. I also mentioned to him that if indeed they were going to hire her that they should get her into me because any training had to be better than none. He immediately went running down to Mean Jean's office and suggested that I should spend the rest of the day training her if Katie was available. After Mean Jean gave her a tour of the shop, which could have been done on Monday instead of burning training time, she was sent to me. We did about 4 hours of power training and I filled her in on some stuff about Mean Jean. I tried to be professional about it. I just felt that she was behind the eight ball enough starting the job with no training that she should have the benefit of knowing what she was up against. She knows she's got a huge challenge ahead of her but I think that if anyone can do it, she can. I also think that she could be Mean Jean's worst nightmare if crossed. *evil grin*

At 3:15pm Mean Jean arrived back at the office with a present for me. I was trying to finish up some stuff with Katie, take phone calls from customers and vendors calling to wish me luck in the future, and say goodbye to everyone. The present was a little Easter arrangement with a little flower and ivy plant in it. I'm sure it cost less than $10. Canadian. I shook her hand and that was it. She thanked me for all my help and away she went. The boss was hiding in the warehouse when it was time for me to leave. I went out and shook his hand and he thanked me for everything and I left. It was bizarre leaving there and I know I have to go back one day next week to get my last check and my printer that I left for Katie, but I'll do that early in the morning when they're not there.

After work four of my co-workers, the ones I've been closest to and have worked with for 20 years, took Dave and I out for dinner and drinks. They bought me a satin camisole and panty set to wear with my new wardrobe. They wrote a poem that had us all laughing like crazy (I'll post a copy of it when they email it to me). It was an absolutely perfect ending. I couldn't have asked for anything more. My best friends from work were there and they all told me how much they'd miss me. My work husband's wife hugged me when we were leaving and told me that even though he might not say it, that he was really going to miss me. I managed to get through it all without tears but just barely.

I was floating by the time I got home. Mom had sent me an email earlier in the day telling me that she'd been talking to my childhood friend that I'm going to be working with in the new job. The friend had told Mom that they were all really anxious for me to start and that it was a great bunch of people to work with so I'm really looking forward to it now that the other chapter is closed.

Onward and upward, no looking back.