Today (March 30, 2007) is my last day working at the company. Due to the acquisition of our company by another German company, more than half of the employees, including myself, have been laid-off. I have packed most of the stuff last weekend. However, there still seems to be many things that need to be taken care of. I backed up all my personal files onto a memory stick, deleted all my personal files from my office PC, clearing my desk, talked to a few colleagues about unfinished work, etc. At 11am, I handed over my laptop, my ID card and other stuff to the IT, purchasing and HR. The purchase rep Janice came over and hugged me. “It has been so nice working with you…..” she started crying. I stood there, telling myself “don’t you cry”. Several women behind me have tears in their eyes. I said something to Janice, but it was awkward. The HR personnel talked to every one of us. I don’t know how many times they cried.
On the way out of Bldg D, I said goodbye to people I met. Then I loaded my personal stuff in my car. On the short drive out of our company, I saw one employee stopped his car in the middle of the road, taking pictures of Bldg B. So that’s it then. I had a strange feeling which is hard to put into any other words. My five years of working in this company has officially come to an end. I felt that part of everything was leaving with me as I was driving out of the main gate, and part of me was left behind. Losing the benefit of working in such a good company is sad. This place has seen me become a father of two children. I am leaving something I've come to know so well to a somehow unknown future, and I know I am going be missing the people and beautiful campus where I have spent most of my time for almost 5 years.
At Ranch 99 some friends and colleagues got together for a farewell lunch. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of photo shooting, and a lot of memory sharing. In the afternoon, a few colleagues came to join us after their party at a microbrewery. It seems some of them were loaded with alcohol. Around 3:30pm, I had to leave for another farewell party at our department head’s house. Most of people stayed and went to a karaoke party nearby.
The party at my boss’s house lasted forever. It seemed nobody wanted to leave. Everybody talked to each other at length, but did not remember what I or everyone else said. In the evening, my neighbor B asked me to give her a ride. We decided to sneak out without saying goodbye to everybody. It was weird and sad. I did not have the courage to say goodbye to everybody. Because I felt I was connected to my colleagues than ever before.
On our way home, I told B that I was not myself today. When we arrived at her home, B kindly invited me to their home to chat a little more. Her husband Z and I are both from the northeast of
