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Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 10:17 am
Yesterday my boss announced my imminent departure in our (small, just the OS group) team meeting. Just after that I sent the nice tidy "been great working with you, best of luck to the company" mail to the whole software team and a few random others I've worked closely with.

I was inundated with mail and with people dropping by, all saying they were sorry to see me go. I was completely useless for the rest of the day what with all the conversations. I had no idea I would get that much of a reaction! People I've worked with only very briefly -- an architect from the other side of the building, for example -- called it "a sad day" and said they'd enjoyed working with me! I was amazed. I think I've got more than 25% of the company coming to my goodbye lunch.

Jim called me outgoing. Can you believe it? Outgoing? My boss said I'm a hard worker and I never complain. I guess I save the whining for here! And lots of people praised my work, my intelligence, my responsiveness, etc. Here I've been spending months slogging through a project, thinking my God I've got to get out of this kind of work and back into something I can blaze through, and they're all saying I'm fantastic. Okay then!

I guess we never can see ourselves the way others see us. Over and over I fall into the trap of thinking I'm getting a better, more realistic image of my outward self, and then over and over I get gobsmacked when I learn that my image is way off the mark.
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 03:16 pm (UTC)
Well, that's a lovely surprise. I think more often than not, people really do notice the work we do and the attitude we carry with us, even at the times when my own attitude may strike me as being awful. :)
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 03:28 pm (UTC)
People notice a lot more about us than we think... although sometimes, they are clueless about a lot more than we could possibly imagine. It confounds me.
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 03:43 pm (UTC)
Spoken like somebody that carries matches and lighter fluid every time they go to work. ;)