Saying goodbye is so very hard to do.
For about four months now I have been working with this guy, Nick. I have never actually met Nick, we have talked through e-mail and on the phone, and he's accessed my desktop so we could better train remotely. He was my go-to guy for all of my questions as I learned a new timekeeping system so well that I could train all the other employees and become a little bit of a subject matter expert.
Sometimes I thought Nick was the greatest, sometimes I was disappointed with his answers to my questions/requests. Slowly, I didn't have to call or e-mail as often. This morning, I ran the end of period stuff all on my own. It was a process that started Monday (e-mailing managers reminders and checking to make sure people had their time in). I finished up this morning and when I got back from lunch I had a voicemail from Nick. He sounded pretty chipper, he was checking in on me, had seen that I ran the end of period and wanted to know how it went.
I had one question for him, so I went ahead and gave him a call. I let him know everything went well, but I had a random question for him. We went through it (I felt stupid afterwards for not finding it on my own first - but that's just how I am). He asked if I felt ready to go to tech support for my questions...this was it, graduation...moving on...letting go.
He went on quickly, saying that I could still call him if I needed to, but I would also have access to tech support if he was unable to take my call (the equivalent of letting me down easy). I told him I felt maybe I was ready, got to let go of the implementation specialist sometime, right?
Then he went on to thank me for the chance to work together and for making it pretty easy for him. I laughed because I had always felt we were probably the most complicated clients. We talked a bit more, both thanked each other, and then hung up.
Three minutes later he e-mailed me. Just wanted to tell me how he had found the answer to the question I had, not that I would ever need it again (it was a pretty unique situation) but thought I should know it anyway.
I thought the trick was neat, but I didn't know what to write back. I am really bad with goodbyes. I had to laugh at myself because I don't know the guy, but it's so final. It won't be, "Let me call Nick" now, it will be, "Let me call tech support." Different person every time...boo. I'm beginning to think I get attached too easily.
This is almost like when I had to say goodbye to Matt at Delta Dental when we switched carriers. Except, I was a little bit in love with Matt (ignore that I never met him, he had a very attractive voice), Nick and I are just friends.
Dear Matt,
Who knows what you look like; your height, your age, anything - to me you are the most handsome dental rep I've ever worked with.
Sincerely,
Jessica with James River
1 comment:
That was me with my Office Depot rep. He was in Minnesota, but I loved getting calls from him. Sadly, he did not make me aware of his departure. I found out because his replacement Nicole started calling me. Le sigh
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