Monday, January 19, 2009

The most “outlandish” ideas I’ve cited while resigning from work

While some people do not care what reason they give while resigning, there are those that really think hard before dishing out a reason to their boss. Never mind whether that reason is the real one or not. It’s just that the second set of people care about impressions. Those could range from the boss’ opinion, worrying about maintaining good relationship with the boss, hurting sentimentalities, shielding the real truth (which might be “I feel like kicking your ass everyday so I better quit before I end up doing it”) to plain & simple wanting to be different (to themselves!).

Though I do not have experience of handling resignations, I have been on the other end tendering the letters to my various bosses. Out of the five odd times that I have decided to move on, four of them have been very difficult for me. In fact, those few weeks or days have been almost traumatic with me oscillating wildly between quitting and not quitting. And of course there was this one doom’s day when I had to actually muster up the courage, enter the manager’s cabin, and somehow convince him to relieve me quickly. Luckily or unluckily, all my managers have been reluctant to let go and have played their games to try and retain me. But like a bull in front of a red flag, my resolve to resign had only firmed up further the more they tried to retain me.

So today I got thinking about the different reasons I had given to get the boss’ nod to move on. Though these have been valid at that point of time, they seam really outlandish to me now and at times even makes me laugh at my younger self. For example, to one particular guy who also happened to be my first boss, I said that I dreamed of becoming a zoo keeper and needed to resign as soon as possible. I am not sure if he is believed me but he was sure impressed. In fact, he was so taken in with my silly reason that even today he keeps checking with my friend about what am doing in life! I guess he must be disappointed that I didn’t follow through with my dreams.

The next time I landed up in the same situation was some four years later. This time around I had formed a special relationship with my boss. Now, now, don’t let your dirty minds wander. It was strictly professional but also spiritual as we shared the same spiritual interests/beliefs. Go on, we are listening, you say? Ok! Well, this particular boss was heaven bent on making me attend some spiritual workshop. And my boyfriend was hell bent on convincing me otherwise because he was so freaking afraid that I will renounce material life and turn into a saint! Ha, ha, ha! Anyway, to continue, I as usual was torn between attending and not attending the workshop. So while this fiasco was going on, I decided to tell my boss that I wanted to move on from his company. Man, was that a horrible day or what? I almost cried during that meeting. I was feeling so bad leaving that particular company but what to do? My itch was relentless. And my boss was so desperate to retain me. Gawd, it was terrible. The reason I quoted during that meeting was self-discovery. Now don’t ask me to explain that one!

The next time, I told the big shot (over phone!) that my husband got an overnight transfer to a romantic city in France and that I had to follow him immediately the loving wife that I am! LOL. That guy got so freaking angry and annoyed that he started questioning me about the kind of visa one needs to get to Paris. I blabbered some nonsense and hung up the phone in a hurry : ))

So now am thinking.....what other outlandish ideas are there that catch my fancy?

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