Background: ISB happened on Nov 20. While it meant moving on in pursuit of my dreams, it also meant that I have to quit my current job which I simply love. Let me be honest on this: I have a dream job in Ashok Leyland where inspite of being the youngest in the regional office I was given the best of responsibilities which gave me a lot of exposure (read importance) - the kind of stuf we dream of when passing out of college ! So quitting was tough and telling my boss (who had been instrumental in giving these responsibilties to me) was tougher. Everybody in office knows that my departure is a big setback to him coz' I am handling all his key projects and responsibilties. So replacing me will be a daunting task to him ! So this the story on how I managed to tell him and how he took it !
Since Nov 20 I have been waiting for the right time to tell my boss that I was moving on. But I wasnt sure what his reactions would be. I was worried that if I told him immediately he would keep me jobless till March. And joblessness is something I cant handle right ! To quit, I had to give a month's notice and considering the volume of work I handle I decided that January would be appropriate as it would give me 2 months to handover responsibilities. In that way my boss would be hit too bad as he would have time to recover.So it meant he had to wait to know.
Come January I knew the time had come. Now it was all about choosing the right time ! December 15 to January 14th is a inauspicious time for Marathis (my boss is a marathi) so I didnt wanna tell him and reinforce his belief in that ! So I decided to spill the beans after 15th.
Attempt 1 (16th Jan 2009): I reached Office at 9am. A bit nervous ! A bit anxious ! But eager to get it out ! But my boss was not to be seen. I waited and waited ... still no signs ! Tried calling ... phone unreachable ! God .. where was he? Finally he turned up around lunch time. I wasted no time and went to his cabin. I didnt wanna start my conversation with "I am going to quit" so I am told him of all the pending issues which I had managed to resolve. But he was not listening ! Then he started saying about issues that were of concern and told me about the meeting he attended in the morning where he was screwed royally. He looked really agitated (thats his natural reaction to problems) ! Oh Oh !! Wrong time to give him the news !! ABORT ABORT !! I quietly left the cabin after offering some suggestions on how to handle the issue.
Attempt 2 (17th Jan 2009): After reaching the office I was told that an review meeting had been called. All of us gathered in the central hall for the meeting. The review meeting started by 10am. My boss presided over the meeting and quickly started to first discuss general issues. Then he started to take up issues individually with each one of us. When my turn came he started adding new responsibilties to me by stressing how important they were and told me that the company was going to give me a new laptop. I was bewildered ... my colleagues who knew about my plans couldnt help getting a smurky smile on their face. I was thinking "In a few minutes you will be wondering what hit you" ! Finally meeting ended around lunch time. He must have got really hungry coz' he straight away started munching his lunch (Chapathi and bhendi fry). Seeing that I got hungry myself and went for lunch. Later around 3 when I came back to him to give him the news, he said he was kind of busy and that he would call me. Around 4 he wanted some data. By 5 I got all the data ready and gave it to him. Since we stayed very close by I decided I would travel with him in his car back home ! That way I would have his undivided attention ! At dot 5.30 I went to his cabin .... Shoooshhh .... he was gone ! He had left early because of some work ! Guess god didnt want me to ruin his weekend !
Attempt 3 (19th Jan 2009): This attempt was thwarted even before I made it. He sent me on a special assignment to meet a customer, conivnce him about our truck technically and close a sales deal. So I decided to tell him in the afternoon. When I called around lunch time to tell him that I was coming to office he told me not to as one my colleagues had lost his father. So everybody was leaving for his place ! Somehow it didnt look appropriate of me to break the news ! So plan aborted .. again ! But to ensure that I got his time on Tuesday I messaged him in the night "Sir, Will you be available in office tomorrow in the 2nd half? We need to discuss a few urgent issues". To this he replied "Yes." Gotta make this one count !
Touchdown (20th Jan 2009): I had a meeting to attend at a customer's place in the morning. The meeting dragged abnormally long and ended by 3pm. I called up my colleague in the office and he told me that my boss had not yet shown up. It was a bit frustrating to hear that but I was sure he would turn up. So I left for office and reached by 4pm. When I reached my boss also had turned up ! So had to nail this today at any cost. He was really busy till 5.30 but I let him know that I was waiting for him. Luckily he had plans to stick in office till 8pm as he had a few reports to send to HO. At about 6pm he called me ... after talking about how I managed to close the deal with the customer .. I broke it to him !!
He was shocked and taken aback ! He took 2 minutes to digest what I had just told him ! He got melancholic after that and told me a lot of senti stuff and then he wished me luck in my future endeavors. After about half'n hour we were done and I left as ISB - Mumbai 6.0 was waiting for me ! By the time I reached the rendezvous point, my colleague called and told me how depressed my boss got and left for home immediately after I left his cabin. "We'll do the report tomorrow. There is no hurry" he quipped to my colleague as he left !
Somehow I feel sad for him but in life nothing is for forever. Each one of us has to move on !
