The gift was ours to borrow*...

The job ended Friday.  My efforts in support of representational democracy are done.

I knew it was temporary when I took the job.  I just never expected to find it so meaningful.  Or to have such wonderful coworkers.

I never expected to care so much when it ended.

I knew the end was coming -- I had been told a week ago.   I was not alone in going -- the office is paring down to a skeleton crew in preparation for closing.  Of the crew in field ops, three clerks other than myself were let go.  There was similar attrition in the other departments.  Even before then, I knew it would not be long: all field operations had finished a week ago.  I was pleased that, just as with NRFU,  I got  to enter the last EQs for NRFU Res, the last operation, closing it out.

On Friday, we had a pizza party for lunch, followed by a lovely session in which the LCOM (Local Census Office Manager) spoke to us about how well we had done and all we had accomplished.  He insisted that everyone speak. When I spoke I said that I had no regrets, other than it had not lasted longer. I reminded him that he had told us the first day that we would be working with people who were all vastly overqualified for the jobs they were doing, and to enjoy them.  He was right.

I stayed for much longer than I expected, much longer than I had any right to expect.  I ended up being the most junior clerk in field ops, and possibly the most junior clerk  in the office.  It was an honor.

One of the wonderful things about staying was that I got to know my bosses better.  Especially my grandboss, a warm man with a wicked sense of humor.  And I got to know the few clerks that remained, especially those who tended to work in other parts of the office.

Friday, I said the things to people that I felt I needed to say.  To one boss, who left on Wednesday for a trip, and to whom I said goodbye early, I told what a wonderful and supportive influence she had been.  I told my other bosses how much I had enjoyed working with them, and thanked the boss with whom I worked most closely for his support through some of the difficulties I faced.  I told the LCOM that I firmly believe that the tone of any organization starts from the top, and thanked him for fostering such a wonderful work environment.  I told the supervisor in QA how much I had enjoyed his silliness over the months. I told AL, a fellow clerk, how he had always been the clerk I aspired to be.

Walking away was hard.  I find myself wondering things, from the serious -- how will shipping the field binders back go with so few people -- to the silly -- what's going to happen to the field ops rubber band ball?  (It had started out when one of the crew leaders had returned her rubber bands in a ball the size of a baseball, and we had just added to it over the following few days.  When I left it was almost the size of a miniature watermelon.)

It is rare that you can be part of something that matters so much with such great people.  As I said, I have no regrets.

How often can you say that about anything in life?




*A line from What I Did For Love, from A Chorus Line.  I had it stuck in my head the entire week.