Resignatory Bliss - Part 2

why the cartoons? well firstly just exploring the Picture upload function and secondly both the cartoons sum up my state of mind. i'm going to give you shit back if u give me shit, and i'm getting out with my common sense before even that is sucked away from me. (psst: i know people that lost theirs in 5 mins after they joined here)

so i think i'm on day 5 now after the 'talk' it's a Friday so obviously there is no work being done by me or others for that matter. so what to do what to do. yesterday i spent the day listening to online radio and watching YouTube videos'a and reading wikipedia (damn do they have a lot of random information). but this situation of bliss was brought to an abrupt when i get a call -

ring ring

me: hello

hi this is idiot calling from DNOC (it's an abbreviation that no ones knows). we are witnessing very high usage from you machine. is it work related usage? (sure listening to absoluteradio and reading wikipedia is part of my JD) we request you to please stop.

me: okay sure. sorry for the trouble

Damn now what do i do? all options revolved around the usage of the internet, so what i did was to first download a bandwidth tester. just to be sure. last thing i want to get fired for is using the internet too much. that can be taken in so many different ways. so ya. and then i ended up reading the entire sporting regulations for formula1 (strange it's called 'sporting regulations', it's not a sport). although, if someone asks me what my favorite sports to watch are i would say F1, Cricket and to some extent Golf, the choices do reflect my style, cricketers get ppl to bowl to them, hit the freaking ball and then 11 ppl chase it down for them. F1 drivers drive around the same place 72-73 times over an entire race weekend and get paid upwards of $20 million to do that 19 times a year, and golfers? well do i need to say how cool their 'sport' is. hit the ball - walk/take a buggy - hit ball again - repeat process till ball goes in hole. the payoff? close to a million for every major tournament won. nice!!! before u fanatics beat me up, there is immense skill required to actually play/part take in any of these sports.

but as a television viewer, this is the easiest sport to criticize ppl on. i mean when have u not driven down a road in bombay thinking - if i had to race against Michael Schumacher in traffic i would beat him hands down? when have we not screamed at the TV saying, "bastard, why the hell did he have to play that shot, the run rate was so achievable." and when has a golfer ever sunk a putt that u know u would have made with your eyes closed.

sorry that was a long side bar from the topic. anyway coming back to the point. so i sit and read the rule book, and that kinda finishes my day off. well i did go to the cafeteria and walked around the place randomly throughout the day so ya. day 4 completed. day 5 started with b'fast and then plannin to go out for lunch and lunch gets over and now i sit and try and kill another 3 hours or so.

so what have i learnt in the last 1 week after 'the day' well, here goes

• there are some people who have immense skill to seem to work when they do nothing
• i still care about work, i.e. if other ppl don't have work i don't intend giving it to you. i want to look busy at well.
• there has been only 1 semi effort to ask me to reconsider my decision (makes me feel so valued)

what awaits the next week? well the big boss is in town. might have a meeting with him. will tell u how that went. but more importantly, i'm one week closer to October 16th.

Resignatory Bliss

so here's the thing, yesterday i resigned from my job. no job in hand no 'security' except for the support of parents (ya i know what your thinking 'ooh what a baby', ya so??). so ya i resigned intending to serve out my 2 month notice period. so now as i sit serving out this 2 month notice period i hope to write a lot more blog posts.

what i found most perplexing was how to actually convey this message that i want to resign. i didn't want to do wht the guy did in the advert ('H' for hitler, A for arrogant...blah blah) also spelling out my managers name using abusive or suggestive words would have been difficult, what can i say with 'V' that is derogatory? Volcano? Vulgar? Vimp (damn if only his name began with W). so u see the problem i faced, so i used the alternative 'nice' approach.

go in to the cabin, and just tell him 'i want to resign and this is my two month notice, i'll send you an email CC'ing HR tomorrow .' now think about this situation without email. me walking in and slamming a piece of paper down on his table sliding it across and tell him 'what i want to say is on the paper' and walking out. i mean talk about dramatic.

what i eventually did just felt like expecting a root canal and coming out with a simple filling (damn u email!!!!). no drama, no awkward and unnecessary hand gesturing (i'm south indian so my hands do move faster than my mouth(hey you, get u'r mind out of the gutter, your obstructing my view)). so once the words came out my mouth, i got the whole slew of management talk, 'why? who? when? what? u have such a fantastic opportunity?' at that point i wanted to go, 'yeah i know about the fantastic opportunity that awaits me OUTSIDE this company' but i didn't (oh how i've matured)

day 2: reached office on time. resignation not 100% official since i'm yet to send out the mail to HR. (btw i posted it on facebook b4 i sent HR an email. i sooo have my priorities in the correct order.) so i sit on my computer and try to come up with some corny line on what to start the letter. coz i didn't want to write, Dear V*&$&..... I resign.. Regards. (now i wonder why i didn't do that) neway so ya i've been in research only 3 years so i should know to write a resignation letter correct? WRONG!!! i googled couple of templates and some mails that friends have sent over the last couple of months to try and piece together a decent and presentable resignation letter. curious as to what i finally wrote? really? well here goes,

"Dear blah blah. I wish to thank you and the company for having provided a wonderful work environment since I started. However due to reasons beyond my control i have to resign."

I thought it was simple and elegant got to the point of and i opened with a joke. talk about perfect rite?

so what do i do over the next two months? to put it in management words 'knowledge transfer' (whatever the hell that is?) i figure i'll take 20 mins tops, i'll transfer whatever knowledge i have. i couldn't possibly tell them that, so i say okay and i've been assigned a task of coming up with an 'on boarding & training' plan for the next two months (how the hell do i do that??)

neway so now i'm on day 3 after resigning. still feeling nice to do nothing (would it be wrong to say i'm living in the afterglow of resigning?) Around me it's a strange situation to see people working towards something, the next deadline, the promotion thats up for grabs next year and to think just 3 days ago i was doing the same thing. And me u ask, what am i doing? well goin through the motions really just chilling and trying to kill 9 hrs on a daily basis (pretty much what iv'e done the last 2 years)

work has reduced to formating documents for americans who first accuse indian's of not knowing to use MS word and then sending a mail where the subject line reads "Word Expert?" coz they can't figure out how to align things on a table in word. Americans i tell u....Useless. new job description, ' formating and aligning data to make copy pasted graphs and research look more presentable and (here's the kicker) succinct'

wait a minute isn't that what i've done for the last 2 years????