A few words on work

I mentioned it in an earlier post, so I thought I would write some of the backstory about my job.

Tuesday, Feb. 21, was one of the days when I was especially bored at work. I wanted something exciting to happen. I even remember thinking that to myself. Of course, I was thinking more along the lines of winning the lottery or getting flowers delivered to work or maybe even a fire drill (which often happened at the old office; sometimes the office was even on fire). Something to break the monotony.

Instead, I got called into my boss's office. And he closed the door. And he told me that the researcher was quitting. I was shocked ... and I knew already, before my boss said it, that I was going to have to take over the research duties. I was the designated backup person in case the researcher got hit by a bus, God forbid, my boss had told me several years before. And I had made some effort to learn the job, but I had my own job duties to finish, and the researcher had his stuff to do, so I never got much more than an overview. And now I was expected to take over this job. My boss even tired to spin it as a positive opportunity for me because I had been in my current job for "what? two, three years?" and might like something new.

"Um, it will be six years in April."

At least he had the grace to look embarassed. But it did not make me feel appreciated.

I wasn't panicked yet. I figured I had two weeks to learn before the researcher left. And I went back to my desk.

Then the word came down: The resarcher was leaving immediately because he was going to a competitor.

Up until this day, I had really liked the researcher. We joked around. We traded e-mails about my pets, and he would share stories of animals in the news with me. I asked him to get together with me before he left so I would at least know the status of his projects. He never responded. Finally, I saw him with his jacket on and a box in his hands. I asked him to tell me where he was leaving things.

"It's self-explanatory," he said.

I stared at him with disbelief.

"You have a funny look on your face," he said.

"You know you're screwing me here, don't you?" I said.

"This isn't how I planned to leave," he said. And with that, he took his box and left.

And as I later realized, not only did the researcher not leave any notes, he also had stripped his desk of anything that might have been remotely helpful to anyone having to sit there ... no office supplies, no phone list, no calendar, no reference book ...

And I was left with all his projects and no idea how to do them. And no one else in the office knew how to do them either. I was going to be trained by phone by someone with corporate in another time zone.