And Another Thing I'll Miss About Work

Today, our regular Tuesday server at Boston Pizza gave me a hug goodbye. Every Tuesday for the last 6 to 8 months, we have gone to Boston Pizza for lunch. All the staff know us, and we always have the same server. If she's serving in the lounge, we sit in the lounge. If she's serving in the restaurant, only to sections of 6-person booths, and we have 7 people, we stick a chair at the end of the booth and sit in her section. As soon as we've sat down, she's there with our drink orders, and she pretty much knows what we are going to order for food and what to recommend. We all get along well with her and have fun every week.

In addition to our server, one of the managers always comes over to say hi and talk for a bit. We joke around a lot. Our IT guy used to order pizza bread every Tuesday, and one week, after a few of us had already ordered pizza for lunch, the manager told our IT guy that they were out of pizza bread. The IT guy totally believed it, there were good laughs all around, and the next week the manager brought us free pizza bread.

So, as silly as it sounds, I'm really going to miss Pasta Tuesday at Boston Pizza, even though I never ordered pasta. It was fun being a "regular." Maybe I will just have to find a new place to be a regular next year.

What I'll Miss About Work

Today one of my co-workers sent around this link to a few of us. To understand why it is funny, check out step 30, for starters. After a few reply-alls, another co-worker distributed a cartoon that mocked Google maps.

This banter I will miss. Especially because we have a culture that openly mocks people who aren't funny, but attempt to be, so the comments in the reply-alls are generally actually worth reading.

Although you can't call them all meetings, I had several discussions today with co-workers that drifted between personal and business. While some people may view this as counter-productive, I actually think that we accomplish more and experience more collaboration when everything isn't specifically work-related. I love that working together in this way is encouraged at my job.

My co-workers are fun. Though we definitely view the world in different ways, we get along well and there are a few co-workers that I consider genuinely good friends. Seeing people every day opens the doors to talk about things that go beyond work, and I'm going to miss talking to them every day.

When my mom came in a few weeks ago to help me with some computer-related stuff, she was amazed at how much access I had to our database. It takes a long time to build up trust within an organization, but having that trust has meant that it's five times easier to do my job, since I don't have to go ask for permission every time I need access to a network or specific information.

There are many more things I will miss, but so many of them seem like inside jokes. With only four days left, I will definitely make sure to appreciate all of these things over the rest of the week!

Of course, all that said, I was very happy to finish my last "Monday" today. I can't remember the last time I had three weeks off in a row, and the first two weeks back at school, spent in orientations of various kinds, will be a good transition into a semester of insanity.

Farewell Lunch Announcement

One of my co-workers posted this on the company intranet, and I thought it was funny.

Best of Luck, Julie

After two faithful years at [the Company], Julie is heading to Darden School of Business in Virginia to pursue her MBA. We will appreciate all her hard work and accomplishments during her time here and wish her the best.

Come join us at Earls, on [Date and Time]

Sign-up is at the front desk.

Then come join us at Earl's 2 years from now when she comes back as our boss and tells us what to do.