A tale of two employers
"Some extraordinary things go on in offices, don't they Humphrey?" "Yes, Minister."
I was visibly uncomfortable in the weekly team meeting. I was about to announce my resignation to my colleagues, and my manager had started proceedings by launching into a five minute spiel on how he had given things a lot of thought, and he had come to the insight that he wanted to transform the team into a professional workplace where everyone would feel included, and newcomers would be sure to find a warm welcome.
He did not mention anything about me at all, which made things a little awkward when it was my time to speak.
The day after, I was on a Teams call with my colleague, who I was working on a project with. I felt bad about not informing him beforehand, but we didn't know one another all that well, and he is the only who was actively trying to work on improving things in the team, and who had made any effort at all to get me up to speed when I joined two months earlier. I felt guilty for him having done all that work in vain, and for leaving him to deal with the project on his own.
"You know", he said thoughtfully, "when you made that announcement yesterday, I was actually planning to do the same thing, but you just beat me to it. Under the circumstances, I thought it best to wait until the next meeting."
I went to hand in my laptop this morning. No one had any idea who I was, or that I was resigning.
After my first interview with my new employer, the recruiter who had introduced me to them called to ask how it went. "Well", I said, "The interview ended with them asking me if I had time for a second interview tomorrow, which I think is traditionally a sign that it went well."