I resigned!

The waters appear calm, as a group of animals drink by the river bank. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a crocodile's head pops out of the water. The crocodile grabs the neck of one of the drinking animals, gripping it & dragging it into the river.

Got the picture? Yeah? Well, my resignation today was as sudden as that crocodile attack. It would appear sudden to my colleagues, anyway (it certainly was to my boss). But not so to me - because last week, I had already accepted a job offer with another organisation (a global/multi-national accounting & business advisory firm). So the wheels were already in motion, & I started this week knowing (& planning) that I would be handing in my resignation notice today. And I did so, much to the dismay & disappointment of my boss. The resignation took him by surprise - he appeared shocked & claimed that he never expected this to happen (presumably, he was oblivious on the days that I turned up to work more well-dressed than usual - for job interviews). Uh huh, after the relatively calm waters of the past few working days, bang, my resignation notice this morning (just before 11am) did seem like a crocodile ambush attack out of nowhere.

And while still in shock & feeling rattled, my boss proceeded to grill me with lots & lots of questions, to probe into the reasons behind my resignation. He obviously didn't like my decision (he said he was struggling to understand it), & he obviously felt there was more to it than I told him face-to-face. And with the boss going about it the way he did, & with his office doors closed, it certainly felt like a police station interrogation. But I remained steady & calm, as I did expect my boss to come out firing with questions. Finally, the interrogation was over, after it was clear that I would not revoke my decision to resign. Then I left my boss' office. And well, no, I didn't do the Michael Jackson moonwalk on my way out, & I didn't offer my boss any high-fives, either. Neither of these would have gone down well (plus I might have looked so silly if I attempted the moonwalk).......

Once out of the boss' office, I informed my closest 2 colleague/teammates (Tammy & Wei) about my resignation. Barely a few minutes after that, Tammy was called by my boss to his office (with the doors closed). Then Tammy came out & then it was Wei's turn (again, with the doors closed). My boss had questioned them both, as to whether they knew I was going to resign., & assessing if both were happy at work as he didn't want any further staff departures. Maybe he was also trying to "fish" around to find out if there was anything I told Tammy & Wei that I didn't tell him. I went out to lunch with both of them, & we recapped the day's events & had some good laughs. My colleagues found it "amusing" that they haven't seen boss so stressed & worried in a long time. Yeah, we did poked some fun at our boss, but we didn't say anything too mean about him.

Even after we came back from lunch, my boss was still at it. He popped by my workstation & asked: "Just wondering, with that email u got yesterday from the client, did it push u to the edge?". My response: "No, I made my decision well before yesterday, & it had nothing to do with that email. Having said that, I'm pleased to know I'll never have to deal with clients like that again".
And then later, Tammy came out of a meeting/discussion in the boss' office & told me: "You know, we were just talking about work. Then when we come to talk about Greg, he asked me: 'Do u think he resigned because of Greg?' " (Greg is the team manager, whom I pulled an office prank on a couple of months ago. He is on another vacation & will come back next week - he'll be shocked that I resigned).

Sheeeeesh. What an eventful Wednesday this turned out to be! I knew my boss would be unhappy, but I didn't expect him to go about things the way he did (interrogating Tammy & Wei etc, because of a decision I made). Tammy & Wei said it is because he regarded me so highly that he went about it like that. But goodness gracious, I didn't think he'd value me that much. I mean, in a way, it's nice to be thought of like that by my boss. But I feel like telling him: just get over it, cop it & move on. Hopefully, he will get over it quickly. Otherwise, between now & my last day at work, it's going to be a bumpy ride......