Style
Chris sure leaves a company in style.
Yesterday was his last day with his old company. They had a going away party with expensive food and he got told he was the best employee they'd ever had, and asked if he'd be willing to work for them again. This, from a company that has pretty much only had acrimonious departures. Generally either giving notice and then being marched out the door by management, or people quitting same day no notice. Management there is not easy to work for, it takes concentrated effort and a cheerful disposition to keep things peaceful and smooth.
It probably does help that Chris was an insane financial value to the company, flat out. Between overtime and traffic, he put in some pretty intense hours here in Houston. I'd go with him on the weekends to hang out at the office sometimes so we'd have time together and he didn't get too frustrated having to work on weekends. He'd play music on the computer while he worked and I'd read books and we'd chatter about all sorts of stuff, then we'd go out to eat together.
Our official line for why we were leaving the company was because Houston wasn't a fit for me, but it was more that something had to give. It's tough being the only engineer on deck. The company has tons of managment, but few people with real technical expertise. Chris was handling designs, meeting clients with sales people, contract enforement, parts of operations, all sorts of everything for many hours every week, with little vacation.
He did it all very competantly, and he got told on his final day that he was the reason the company is in the position it currently is in (they got another big win in same day he was leaving), but man, that's high octane even for Chris. It was so busy that we moved from OKC to Houston in a single weekend last year. He stayed late on Friday helping to finish things for the old branch, we packed Saturday, moved on Sunday, and he was at work at the Houston office that Monday.
We have a whole week to move back to OKC and start with the new company :) One of Chris' coworkers said that was cutting it close, but a week for moving is easy for us. Most of his coworkers have tons of furniture, multiple cars, kids, a huge mortgage, all sorts of logistical things that make moving tough. We're pretty mobile still, just our cat and a paid off house.
I did hope Chris would have more of a break between leaving and starting at the new place, but he seems happy it was a rare peaceful ending at the old place, and is looking forward to having a yard and less traffic. Also, yay no rent costs! :D Just electricity, since we're on well water.
I think we'll try home recycling bins rather than a trash service when we move back. There are many very fine things about OKC, the lakes, libraries, parks, etc., but our area wants us to pay for trash, and then pay even more for a recycling bin. We don't produce much trash, just a paper bag full per person each week. If Chris is traveling, it can be a month and half or more before I need to wheel the garbage can out, and most of it is glass and metal from sauce bottles and cans and the like. I'd like to try sorting things into bins at home, then driving them to recycling centers every couple months or so ourselves.
We'll see how it all goes. But I'm glad things wrapped up peacefully for Chris. He's a good guy :)
Yesterday was his last day with his old company. They had a going away party with expensive food and he got told he was the best employee they'd ever had, and asked if he'd be willing to work for them again. This, from a company that has pretty much only had acrimonious departures. Generally either giving notice and then being marched out the door by management, or people quitting same day no notice. Management there is not easy to work for, it takes concentrated effort and a cheerful disposition to keep things peaceful and smooth.
It probably does help that Chris was an insane financial value to the company, flat out. Between overtime and traffic, he put in some pretty intense hours here in Houston. I'd go with him on the weekends to hang out at the office sometimes so we'd have time together and he didn't get too frustrated having to work on weekends. He'd play music on the computer while he worked and I'd read books and we'd chatter about all sorts of stuff, then we'd go out to eat together.
Our official line for why we were leaving the company was because Houston wasn't a fit for me, but it was more that something had to give. It's tough being the only engineer on deck. The company has tons of managment, but few people with real technical expertise. Chris was handling designs, meeting clients with sales people, contract enforement, parts of operations, all sorts of everything for many hours every week, with little vacation.
He did it all very competantly, and he got told on his final day that he was the reason the company is in the position it currently is in (they got another big win in same day he was leaving), but man, that's high octane even for Chris. It was so busy that we moved from OKC to Houston in a single weekend last year. He stayed late on Friday helping to finish things for the old branch, we packed Saturday, moved on Sunday, and he was at work at the Houston office that Monday.
We have a whole week to move back to OKC and start with the new company :) One of Chris' coworkers said that was cutting it close, but a week for moving is easy for us. Most of his coworkers have tons of furniture, multiple cars, kids, a huge mortgage, all sorts of logistical things that make moving tough. We're pretty mobile still, just our cat and a paid off house.
I did hope Chris would have more of a break between leaving and starting at the new place, but he seems happy it was a rare peaceful ending at the old place, and is looking forward to having a yard and less traffic. Also, yay no rent costs! :D Just electricity, since we're on well water.
I think we'll try home recycling bins rather than a trash service when we move back. There are many very fine things about OKC, the lakes, libraries, parks, etc., but our area wants us to pay for trash, and then pay even more for a recycling bin. We don't produce much trash, just a paper bag full per person each week. If Chris is traveling, it can be a month and half or more before I need to wheel the garbage can out, and most of it is glass and metal from sauce bottles and cans and the like. I'd like to try sorting things into bins at home, then driving them to recycling centers every couple months or so ourselves.
We'll see how it all goes. But I'm glad things wrapped up peacefully for Chris. He's a good guy :)