Leaving: Part Three - The Office

This little paperweight sat on the small conference table in my boss's office. It was a Magic Eight Ball of sorts for the business types with answers like "Buy" and "Fire Someone." I used to sit at the table in her office and spin it and spin it while we were talking, letting my finger fall in the grooves to slow it down. On my last day, I went in to take a picture of it, and it just happened to be right on the line between "No" and "Go For It" which I thought was an ironically perfect answer to the question of me leaving.

I have been known, on occasion, to complain about my job. But I suppose that's par for the course if you're human and employed. The reason everyone loves The Office and Office Space is because in some way, we can relate to the horrors of the 9-to-5 existence. While I complained about whatever was going wrong that day, that week, that year...I still really loved my job. And I loved my office - including the carnival tent painting that my boss bought at an auction after I fell in love with it and was gracious enough to let me have in my office. And I loved the beautiful, beautiful iMac G5 (seen below). I had a marvelous time sitting in that chair - especially when I had visitors in the chairs opposite mine. (STGD, Susan, Allison, Lauren - that means you.)

I got my job by the allignment of Venus and Mars when Saturn was in the 7th house. I simply called all of the firms listed in the Yellow Pages and was invited to send my resume to this particular firm. I can remember the day I interviewed, and I was standing on the opposite side of Princess Street and talking to my mom on my giant Nokia cell about how petrified I was. Particularly because it felt like I'd been looking for a job forever, and I was two seconds from considering Hooters. My boss called to offer me the job on a Sunday, and I started Monday week - October 29, 2001. I worked part time during grad school, and then moved to full time after I graduated.

Over the years, I worked in three different offices with more than 50 clients and almost 25 different people. There was a little turnover problem, and then some of those people are still at the office, picking up where I left off. Maybe one of them is in the club chair on the right, which sits in the lobby (I wrote "our" lobby and then revised) . It's a good place to sit if you need a little sound advice from Miranda. You could find me there at some point during every day. And on the wall is Wilbur/Ferdinand - a happy pig smelling the tulips. I loved that pig. And the lamp that STGD turned on every morning because no one else would and the bowls of candy. When I first started, I remember telling Mom, "There's always chocolate in the office!"

And really, in the end, you have to consider what your send off is like, and I couldn't have had a better one. A photo of me from karaoke was turned into the Ashleypalooza graphic (and thanks to STGD, I look foxy!). It was applied to t-shirts (including one for the office dog!) which everyone was wearing when I arrived at the party. If you ever want to feel a little famous, I suggest getting a group of your friends to wear your face on a t-shirt. There were daiquiries and hula hooping attempts and lots of photos taken. There was the copy of the funny quotes we keep in a book for me to take away. And the beautiful scrapbook of photos and memories. I've looked at it about 50 times since I left.

The goodbyes at the end of this party were among the hardest I had to say. I spent more time with these people over the past few years than I spent with my own family. Every day. Coffee, lunch and sometimes dinner. They were my family away from family. It was an unforgettable experience - all almost-six years of it. And they are unforgettable people. And the end of the party was the first "big ugly" cry I had during the leaving weekend.

I've still been doing some work for them during the transition. And every time I call, I feel a little sad that I'm here and not there. Not getting my second cup of coffee. Not yelling at my boss from my office. Not sitting across the desk from STGD starting out working and ending up looking at Perez Hilton. But I like to think a little of me is left behind. A little ghost of me making too much noise and bad puns and piling up papers and draining the coffee pots and coercing everyone into quitting their diet for the day to go to Chic-Fil-A. Typically, that's what I did.