Leaving the office: Connie’s story
Connie Thanasoulis has just left her job at Merril Lynch after seven years, for a much-needed break. She worked at Merrills most recently as Director and Chief Operating Officer for Campus Recruiting, having spent a total of twenty-one years working in the industry. She’s taking time out to enjoy the things she hasn’t previously had the daylight hours to accomplish…
Today was my last day at Merrills. It’s a strange feeling, I’m both exhausted and numb, but very excited at the prospect of having time to myself for the first time in recent memory.
Like being able to linger over the non-work things that I don’t normally get the chance to linger over. I thought I’d be a bit emotional about leaving the office, but funnily enough, I’m not.
Maybe it’s because I managed to clear out all 355 of my outstanding emails (thanks, guys!), packed up a few boxes, handed over my responsibilities to a variety of people, and then walked out of my office. Ran for that bus for the last time. I’m too tired to be emotional!
I’ve just come out of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and I can’t help thinking about things I’ll miss and things I won’t…so here they are:
Things I won’t miss:
Tight budgets; Deadlines (that don’t have to be deadlines); Complainers; 10-12-hour workdays; Missing the bus when I’ve run to catch it; Senior management referrals – the ‘must’ interviews; the odd obnoxious candidate.
Things I will miss very much:
My friends, all of them – those in the South Tower, my assistant, some dear colleagues; Lunches with friends – and the guy who makes the best stir-fry vegan lunches in the canteen (he always added veggies from the salad bar for me. What a prince!); The nice security guard and front desk team that makes the visitor IDs so cheerfully; I will miss my peeps and the funny people and the ones who made me laugh.
I’ll even miss the scary people and the ones who nodded off in meetings! And some of the nightmare projects that turned out to be amazing. And I’ll certainly miss the great pleasure of finding candidates the perfect role and placing them, knowing they’ll be happy and fulfilled.
Oh – and I’ll really miss my Staples office supplies – how I loved them!
So, I’m tired and on my way home, and tomorrow I get to do whatever it is I do when I don’t have to go to work. I’m not sure what that’s going to be right now, but I am sure it’s going to be interesting…
