Quitting Like a Ninja

I mean really isn't that what we'd all like to do. Sneak in after hours, clear our desk and leave the boss a note " Today was my last day. See ya!"

That's what my friend Emily did. We knew she was unhappy at her job for some time. And then one day on Facebook there was the message " Start new job on Monday - yay!"  Huh, What? Wait a minute , we didn't even know she was looking. Just like a ninja, she conducted her job search undercover , landed a new job and cleared out her office in the middle of the night.

This is, of course ,easier to accomplish if you are a salaried employee who can take a 2 hr lunch and no one questions you. If you are, however, an hourly employee, like me and millions of others, planning an interview is more like a comedy of errors.

Let's take today's interview:

1) Since I have to account for every hour I work, I clock in when I get to work and clock out when I leave. This does not leave a lot of time to interview.  My "lunch hour" rarely covers both travel and interview time, which means I have to create the oh-so-common-in these-cases-fake-Drs-appointment. (ff course you can only have so many of these before your boss starts to get suspicious.) (and I will have to make up the time I am gone later this week.)  So this morning I went to the "Dr."

2) I am fortunate at my Present Company to be able to wear what ever I want to work- which in my case means  jeans and t-shirts every day.  You , of course,  cannot wear jeans and t-shirts to an interview though,  and if I wore my interview outfit to work it would definitely be raise eyebrows. So now I need to change clothes, before AND after the interview.  I should have used the downstairs bathroom , but it was only 8 and no one from my dept had come in yet. So after a quick change in the bathroom, I cracked the door and peeked out  into the hall, No one - phew! I do a fast walk down the hall before anyone else comes in so I won't be seen ( remember, I am wearing "interview" outfit now) and that's when the receptionist appears in the front to open the office - crap! I am hoping she did not see my face or notice me and continue , unseen by anyone else thankfully,  to my car.

3) I should mention at this point that I am not entirely sure there is even going to be an interview today. I had confirmed an interview for Thursday at 9 am and thought all was good. Unfortunately they called back to move the interview to Wednesday morning but my phone never rang and I missed the call. As soon as I got the message I called and said Wed would be fine but never heard back. Crap. So do I have an interview Wed or Thurs?  I figured if there was not to be an interview today I would tell my boss I got the date wrong on my "dr" appt and would have to go back tomorrow. I leave for the interview at 8:10 and plan on calling on my way down to see if it's happening today or not. I'm in luck! They call at 8:12 , they got my message and today is a go! Crisis avoided. All this makes me realize what a crappy spy I would make. I hate lying and I am horrible at "sneaking around".

4) The interview goes well I think. But then I always think that. It is a hundred times more stressful getting to the interview, so the interview itself never bother me.  We shake hands in the hall, - "Thank you for coming in"  Thank you for taking the time to interview me"  after which I head , probably surprisingly to them - not out the door bit to the bathroom - where I change back into my "work" clothes and head back to work.  I am exhausted.

And this folks is the reason I hate interviewing and why I can't do it as often as I should. I have , in the past,  been unable to make an interview because they only did them at certain hours and it was impossible for me to get out of work.

I was "found out" at Past Company but was lucky not to get fired or even reprimanded. They were "sorry to see me leave but I wasn't chained to my desk" - I swear that's what my boss said! Not surprised I left huh. Not even an offer to get me to stay.

And now I need to get back to work. I have to make up the time I lost this morning from going on the interview. I'll get to leave here.............eventually....