It's a slow day today. This is not unusual though since it has basically been slow for the past 5 months, but this week is exceptionally slow. Why? Well, it's no secret now that I'm leaving and I'm shocked to see how people have reacted to my leaving. You would think since I have so little to do, it would be easy to let me go to the new position right away, ah but not so. Let's start from the beginning...

I notified my supervisor of my new position on Wednesday (10/29) and she seemed to be well wishing and positive about the decisions I made. I never criticized her leadership and only spoke positively about the people I worked with. I told her my reasons for leaving were based solely on my interests and that I'm a unique person who needs to be challenged to be satisfied. Where I'm going also offers more opportunities in the areas that I'm strong mainly video technologies. The upper management had high hopes for me, but told me before I took this job (the one I currently work) that I would have to do Comm (Communications) work if I wanted to work for them. So my main reason for leaving is I realized I don't want to do Comm work. There is much truth in that reason and I felt it was a good reason to share without smearing by saying how lame everything was and how poorly managed our budget is to allow so many people to do so little work. You never want to burn your bridges, even if you can't fathom ever crossing them again. It was the whole "it's not you, it's me" speech. I was being totally truthful and honest. Well, it's just sad what it turned into.

When you have a project that has little work and alot of people, it produces alot of gossip. People have nothing better to do than to talk, I guess. There are whole other areas of the building full of people that I don't even know that are just dumbfounded as to why I'm leaving such a "great" and stable position. I have heard that I am even "stupid" for leaving. Most people have responded very negatively for my move. It turns out my supervisor who seemed so well wishing now feels the need to cover her own reputation by making me look bad. I think it started when she heard about a month ago that I was bored on the project. She found out from her upper management. Because I have friends in high places, they were trying to find me something better so I wouldn't leave the company, but that effort caused the information to leak back to my supervisor from her superiors. I guess it doesn't make her look good. So she called me in her office to accuse me of being bored. I thought it was an unusual tactic considering last time I checked, being bored was not a crime. It's also not a violation of company policy either. So I was quite honest with her. I told her I'm trying to do my best in enjoying the work that has been given to me, but I don't see where I really fit here. I also told her that I feel like too many of the tasks are shared and that I feel like I'm sharing one job with 3 other people. She didn't like that, but she didn't argue with me either. I honestly had nothing against her, and my comments were only made to help my situation, but I guess she took it differently.

Now instead of assigning tasks to me, she's telling my coworkers to keep an eye on me, as if I'm doing something wrong. She's going to make it look like I do nothing and ignoring the tasks that are given to me. She actually hasn't spoken to me since I've informed her of my new job. So I don't see how she can expect me to be led by her if she isn't taking leadership. Not everyone I work with is so harsh. Some people are worried for me and ask me what I'm going to do and they hope my new job works out ok. I don't know what they've heard, but no doubt they heard it from her. I assure them there is nothing to worry about. There really isn't. I have a very good reputation with many people in this company. This is the first time in 5 years where I've encountered someone so negative. Many people above her know what I'm capable of and they will probably be disappointed to find out I left the organization. Well, I don't need to bad mouth her to the upper management. She's digging her own grave. People know this is a lame project and people also know that I do good work. If I leave after just getting here and all she has to say is bad stuff about me, how is that going to make her look? I'll just let things run their course. Where I'm going, people are looking forward to having me and they were glad to see me stop wasting away here. So I'm not really worried and I'm not angry either.

The other puzzling thing is that my transition date is 11/17. That's two and a half weeks since I gave notice. Pretty odd considering that I have so little to do. My new manager was also confused because he knew of my situation. He was told by her that she absolutely needs me until that day. Really odd since she's given me nothing to do nor spoken to me since I gave notice. I think it's just so that things can look busier than they actually are. She doesn't want people to think that her people are lax. I also wonder if she wanted as many people under her as she could get to make herself feel more important. I guess for the sake of peace, it's just better to go along with the transition date. My new manager agrees, but he is already annoyed with her because of it. So I'm not really concerned about what she says to him either.

I don't expect anything bad will happen to me or to my supervisor though because nothing ever happens on this project. I'm sure it's hard to find people that are so content with such little productivity. One thing I am sure of, I definitely made the right decision to leave. These circumstances didn't change who I worked with, it only revealed what they were really like. You can only be as good as the people you work for. Upper management only sees how good people are by what they accomplish and how good their management is. I think I'm definitely better off not being associated with this project. It would seem my bridge to this project is burning, but at least I didn't do anything wrong to cause it. It's really sad that a manager would take it so personally. I just wanted to be active in my career growth and that's all. But I don't feel too bad, after all, who needs a bridge when all that's on the other side is heaping pile of burning garbage?

But it's not all bad. A few people have wished me well and I've appreciated that. It definitely shows you that people cared that they got to work with you. Some people have also confided in me that they don't enjoy the project either and also don't like the management. Alot of people think I'm leaving because of management. I never said that to anyone, so I keep telling them my reasons for leaving. They know management is being mean behind my back. I tell them that I don't know why they've responded that way. I never wanted it to be personal. Anyways, I think I've inspired some people to leave which gives me another perspective on management. Management wants everyone to believe that this is the best place to work so that no one will go looking anywhere else. I've moved around alot within the company so I know better, but alot of these people have only worked this project for many years and don't know of anything else. The situation kind of reminds me of Communist Albania where the people were told that they lived in the best country in the world and the whole world wants what they have. When the government fell, the people found out they were the poorest nation in Europe.

And some people are just clueless as to why I would leave. These are the people that are content earning money and doing nothing. Here's my favorite story involving that:

Them: I hear you're leaving us?
Me: Yes, that's true.
Them: What are you going to be working on?
Me: I'm going to be helping with some of the video projects over there. My background is in video. I was told when I came here that if I wanted to work for this management, I would have to learn Comm work. I decided that I didn't want to do Comm work and would rather go back to video work.
Them: Comm? I don't believe I know of any projects that do Comm.
Me: Um, that's what we do here.
Them: (silence...and then leaves to talk to someone else)

I don't believe that this person is actually this stupid, but the years and years of being on this project and not thinking has probably caused some sort of brain damage. I hope it's not permanent.