Today, Friday, was my last day working for the Firm That Will Not Be Named, and Voldemort himself. I won’t say too much, and you know what? After 12 months of complaining, I’m done talking about it.
The last two weeks had to have been the most contentious two weeks ever in my life after giving notice. I’ve always had great relationships with all of my former colleagues and senior management at previous organizations. I’ve continued to keep in touch with former managers and colleagues, meet up with them for drinks or lunch when I can. Sometimes even dinner. I’m looking forward to meeting up with my former Prudential mates for dinner sometime in the next few months.
The last two weeks here? Not so good. “Someone” accidentally deleted all of my system access as part of the termination request submitted on my behalf. I tried to catch up on some of my work early Wed Dec 24th (around 3 AM), but couldn’t log in. I went to the office early (before 6:45 AM), but confirmed that my access was revoked prematurely. So the two weeks of closure / wrap-up / transition was cut short, and I sat at home while access attempted to be restored. I spoke mainly to my soon-to-be-former colleagues in order to help their transition by phone, but not much I could do. I returned to the office on Wed Dec 31st once my access was returned, but rushed through everything I could on Wednesday and Fri Jan 2nd.
Most of the team was out due to the holidays that week. I had lunch on my last day with one of the new team members who recently joined. I wrapped up for the last hour, sent out my farewell email, handed off my laptop to Desktop Support for scrubbing, and cleaned out my desk. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named never even showed up this past week. I had to hand off my badge and other items to another new hire. No exit interview. No following any termination checklist. I walked out with my few personal items, and that was it.
The end of the most ridiculous year of my professional career. Good riddance. It’s not over yet, as I’m still fighting over an HR matter. No more fighting with me for the sake of fighting. No more abusive staff meetings. No more performing a job I would never have agreed to in the first place.