This week has been very busy keeping all the various projects moving forward. I had hoped that once the German exhibition was out of the way things would calm down a little, but the mailshot campaigns still need to go out, and the launch of the new corporate identity means a range of products need new artwork (very complicated process involving several stages of “sign off”). My assistant is very good at getting the routine things done, once I have started him off, but if there are any problems (and there are frequently problems) he tends to get a bit lost.
Rob Hanlon (works in Purchasing – bulky build, fair hair cropped short, pugnacious way of speaking) came over to marketing yesterday afternoon and told me he was just about to hand in his resignation (waving a folded sheet of white paper).
I asked him the question he obviously wanted me to ask: “Why are you leaving?”
He leaned back on a filing cabinet next to my desk (stood very close to me, invading my personal space) and talked in a loud emphatic tone, his eyes watching for when Marion Conway (Human Resources Director) would become free.
“It started about a year ago when I first thought: I’ve got to get out of this place. At the time we were nominally reporting to the Finance Director and there were changes in the department I needed to make and I went to the Finance Director and said to her this just isn’t working, I need to make changes and you’re not supporting me…”
He shook his head in disbelief at the shortcomings of the Finance Director.
“…plus Rachel Mills was being difficult and stopped talking to me, and Mike Slattery used this against us by going to Marion Conway saying we weren’t getting the work done because we weren’t talking to each other. I lost all respect for Mike Slattery for doing that – he’s a snake in the grass…” he stopped suddenly and waved his finger vigorously “No he’s not, he’s a slow-worm as he’s slow and a worm and his bite doesn’t have any venom” – he laughed at the metaphorical image he had conjured up.
“All I got back from the Finance Director was Things will get better, things will get better, but they didn’t. So I started looking around for other jobs. Then six months ago Simon Lloyd was appointed as Purchasing Manager, and I thought things were really starting to improve. I had just been offered a job with the NHS but I turned it down and stayed here because things seemed to be getting better and Simon knew what he was doing. I had several big projects which he let me do, and I was really beginning to enjoy my work. Then recently he’s started to run into obstacles, and his work’s being blocked, and he’s getting pulled up all the time, and that just brought everything back to me about how bad things were last year, and so I started looking round again for something else. Then this job popped up, and it’s more money, plus more holiday and a proper pension…”
His eyes darted over to Reception (other side of the big floor) where Marion Conway was still occupied.
“Doing my Purchasing exams has taken a lot out of me. Three evenings a week after a full day’s work. It ruined the relationship I was in, and I had to give up playing football, but the company’s seen the benefit from it. We’re doing well in Purchasing and in the last few months we’ve turned things around. I’m leaving on a high. I intend to walk out the door with dignity, everything up to date and my replacement fully trained.”
“How old are you?” I asked him.
“Twenty-seven” he said.
“You’re very confident for twenty-seven.”
“I’m not always confident, I think and worry and do stuff. I’m only confident when I’m at work.”
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