Free at last, free at last

The picture you see here is an item we call "The ECS Relic". It was given to our old team manager years ago as a white elephant gift at a Christmas party for the managers. When she left Email Customer Service (ECS), she passed it on to the "Acting" manager, who passed it on to her friend when she (the Acting Manager) left ECS, who then passed it on to me when she in turn left ECS.

I liked having the Relic around because if it wasn't the ECS Relic, then I would be. I have now been on the ECS team longer than anyone, ever. I have watched my teammates get promoted, have their contracts end, quit in disgust, get fired, and have their jobs outsourced from under them. I am still here, nearly seven years later.

Or at least I will be for another hour and a half or so. The picture of the ECS Relic above is of it sitting on Will's cube, for I have duly passed it along to him today, on my last day on this job.

It feels so strange. I have been doing this job so long, I have trouble remembering what it was like to not be doing this job. As I box up my stuff to take home, recycle all my old training papers, and delete all my e-mails, I just feel weird. Odds are I'll be right back here in this same building sooner than you can say "contractor", doing a different job as a temp through Volt. But this is still the end of an era of sorts for me.

Alright...I'm outta here now. MATTBEAR OUT.