Stories of goodbye

My week outside of class was fairly consumed with the fact that this was my boss’s last week working for my company. She had provided several weeks notice but there was a bit of a rush to make sure everything was in order before I took the helm until a new manager had been provided. In addition to going over the technical my boss and me shared a lot of stories from the last year about strengths and weaknesses of the program. Additionally on her last day we talked about the company and this time more as friends then as coworkers we discussed some of the internal issues that I might hope to distance myself from to try and keep the program from facing. She told me about previous management members who had left after adversity with other executives and the lack of preparation many of the previous employees had found too little too late when we had been audited the previous year.  The stories my boss told were instructional and sought to prepare me for the coming months where I’ll be responsible for getting the new program members up to speed.

The stories I told for the most part were ones of friendship. My boss and I had become quite close as a result of working in a two-person team for over a year and in many ways I wanted to express my gratitude for her mentorship and leadership. Our program had been incredibly successful and it would have been impossible without her oversight and determination. I believe my boss could tell my stories were genuine and that I was truly grateful for the experience of working with her. Both of us understood that our friendship as co-workers was somewhat restrained because we did not want to overstep the employee boss relationship but we both seemed to agree that we would try to stay in touch as friends in the aftermath. It’s entirely possible that we may not stay friends although it is my sincere hope that we do as every week for a year we have been relying on one another very directly on both items that are professional and on occasion personal.

My boss and I have always been careful that occasionally we should censor ourselves a bit to keep from making the relationship inappropriate. As we got closer to my boss’s departure we weren’t too concerned with this and my boss talked about a time when she was pretty hung over. She seemed genuinely concerned about telling me this as she felt in might be inappropriate but there were plenty of things she knew about me that I’m sure made her understand that I wouldn’t judge her on something like that.

I’ve thought a lot about the stories we decide on sharing especially in the work setting. Work can be a tricky place to navigate and the impressions of our personal lives can often dictate how we’re perceived professionally. I’ve been really lucky over the last year to have a kindred spirit as a boss whom I relate to in many ways.  That said I would soon be faced with a new boss who may not be as open or understanding. I imagine that my future with the company will be a little less fun and perhaps that could be a good thing. Still I am sad to see my boss go and hope that we do remain friends.