Frankly speaking

Thursday, my boss wore a tie and a suit. He doesn't usually do that so it was very unusual. Turns out he just had his meeting (I call it the exit interview) with HR, and was put "at risk of redundancy" (we all know it really means retrenchment). As mentioned in an earlier post, he had already decided to leave, so it was no surprise. But still it was a very sad day for me.

A few reasons why I'm upset. He's a really good guy. He's one of the last remaining people from my original bank before the takeover. He thinks highly of me. There is no-one now to fend for me. I'm like a little fish in an ocean - exposed to sharks and other predators.

That evening, he offered to drive me home (since he lives about 5mins drive away from me). After more than a year of working with him, I finally had a very frank conversation. I asked him questions like, "how do you decide who leaves?". He says usually the weakest leaves. I asked, "how did you decide on X?" (X is one other colleague who works for him and had to go.) He said that it was between X and Y and X hasn't had a lot of work to do. Then he reassured me that I really had nothing to worry about.

I asked him also about Z, this guy that doesn't really do much, who's a lot more senior than me. Unsure of how my boss would feel, I phrased it carefully... "What about Z? I don't know what he does." His reply was so damn straight... "Z? He fckin pisses me off man. I told N (his boss) that we should get rid of him, but he's too good friends with N. They were saying that they needed more senior people, especially if I'm leaving." Wow. I wouldn't have expected to hear something like that.

Sigh... All good things will come to an end. Its time to move on...