One less key tonight...

For a few reasons, I left a job at the end of February 2020 I had been working there for nine years. Short retirement, I was to start another the following Monday in March. Pandemic hit and we all took extended vacations. Coming back, lots of potential leads had drifted away and sales were below monthly quotas. Not ready to be retired, I gave it another shot and another shot but I wasn't happy there doing bathroom renovations.

The owner tried to convince me to stay... several times actually, but I wanted to be elsewhere. I promised to finish my projects and not leave him hanging (as 2 of his last designers/salesmen did) and to stay until he found and trained a replacement.

The new guy wasn't fitting well and his top salesman was scheduled for back surgery. COVID-19 came through the office on three occasions knocking out 6 of the 8 people working there. Thankfully, I was spared but my exodus was delayed a few times.
Every week, I checked a placement site for positions available in any related field. Some came up and I interviewed with a few companies, but nothing materialized.

I teamed up with a coworker and surprisingly, our success at closing jobs improved. My plan to leave hadn't changed and at some point I needed to refuse any new projects.
Currently, I'm finishing 1, starting 3 and have a large renovation in July.
All the detail drawings are done, materials have been ordered and I'll have to appear on a few jobsite meetings over the course of 2 months. Hopefully, nothing more.

The owner is going away for a few days this Easter weekend so today I turned in commission reports and got a check. He knows where I stand to project manage the last group of jobs and said it was great having me work there... even if it wasn't profitable for either of us. The part that impressed him was my calm demeanor and high standard of professionalism. I handled everything they could throw at me.


I didn't 'burn a bridge' and know if I ever wanted to try there again, the opportunity is always available. Not 100% finished, I have to go back tomorrow collecting some furniture a computer station and have a short meeting with the field manager to pass needed information for the difficult projects.

A year out of my life and I learned many different things about that facet of manufacturing and supply. The goodbyes included thanks from both sides... as expected I'm carrying one less key tonight...