The Great Resignation - I quit my job, too

Like millions of Americans who are quitting their regular, stable, income-consistent jobs, I joined "The Great Resignation" and quit my job as well.  It was a great job, I had been there for 2 years, 9 months.  I implemented data analytics to enhance many fraud investigations and a couple of audits as well.  I will greatly miss my awesome coworkers.

Awesome Coworkers!

More Awesome Coworker and Former Coworkers!

However, I will not miss:

• Commuting
• Spending fifty percent of my time in meetings or preparing for meetings
• Taking annual leave so that I can help Alex get his school work done.  

I also have the opportunity to chart my own path and perform my own goal-focused strategic planning.  

Commuting!  

It's a thing.  Does anyone remember it?  During October, I ended up needing to PHYSICALLY GO INTO THE OFFICE to try to reset the network connection on my desktop computer.  I had been using remote desktop to connect to it for THE ENTIRE PANDEMIC and didn't have any trouble except that one time when I accidentally chose "Update and Shutdown" instead of "Update and Restart."  Fortunately, one of my awesome coworkers happened to be in the office and went over to my desk to push the restart button.  However, this time, my computer completely disappeared from the network and wouldn't come back.  So I WENT TO THE OFFICE.

The metro looked like this:

Masked Metro Men

Most people were wearing their masks as required by federal law.  They distributed themselves as far apart in the seats as space allowed.  The few individuals who did not wear a mask were also flaunting another metro law, the one that prohibits eating in the metro.  So yes, they removed their mask to eat on the train.  <sigh>

After surviving the trip to the office while employing the tactic we all use now when we walk by people... you know, the one where you exhale as you pass close to a person, I found myself in the nearly deserted building with very few others.  

Yes... I remember... working in a cubical

I had forgotten that everything takes longer in the office than it does at home.  The coffee is in the breakroom and I have to walk all the way over there to make it myself, waiting for the brewer.  At home, Dan makes coffee before I wake up and I just have to refill my cup as needed.  The bathroom at work is outside our secure area and down the hallway, not down the short, unlocked hallway from my home office.  Even replacing batteries is an issue in the office.  Because you see, all of the batteries in my wireless keyboard and mouse had started to corrode during the past year and a half.

In offices across the world, batteries are dying

I had to raid the long-abandoned office supply cabinets, which were devoid of batteries.  I then had to Teams-message a colleague to learn of the secret stash of AA batteries.  Then I had to search for the secret stash and retrieve batteries to bring all the way back to my desk and install.  Even after getting the computer peripherals working, I still couldn't get the computer to connect to the network, so I had to do the full commute again later the next week.  Unfortunately, there had been a metro train derailment on the day of my first trip  to the office which resulted in all of the new train cars being taken out of commission.  This meant that normally when there would be trains every 11 minutes at my origination point, they were only coming every 45 minutes or so.  Also, during my transfer at Metro Center, I ended up waiting for an additional 30 minutes for a crowded train which is less than ideal during a global pandemic.  

No commuting?  Definitely an improvement over commuting.

Now What?

So no more commuting.  What do I do now that I am not commuting?  Well, I don't have any pictures of me sitting down with Alex arguing about how he can, in fact, write if he would just stop arguing.  But, I did take the time to bring Will to the DMV one early morning for him to apply for his driving permit.  And I took a photo.  

When the pandemic started, he was only 13, now he can get a driving permit!

We stopped at McDonald's for some energy food and beverages (orange juice and coffee).  We arrived before the DMV opened. Even so, all of the parking was full, but we found a spot on a nearby street.  The line of people was 3/4 of the way around the building!  So we hung out and reminisced about the other times that we stood in line to get documents.  

Will and Alex were with Dan and me when we got our driver's licenses here in Virginia.  I showed Will my driver's license photo with the super frizzy hair because on the day we went to get the licenses, it was very humid Virginia summer day and I had to literally run over to Staples and print an additional document to verify my identity.  

We thought back to our time in France where I would bring the children along to get visa paperwork as well as my French driver's license.  This was similar to standing in the line here at the DMV before the office opened along with many other people trying to get in first thing in the morning.  

I told Will about when I was pregnant with him and needed to persuade the officials at the Japanese prefecture to give me the mother and child health handbook book, the boshi-techo (母子手帳) even though I was not Japanese.  Surely acquiring a learning permit for Will would prove more simple than the bureaucratic challenges of the past.  

Alas, no.  After standing in line for quite a while, checking in, filling out paperwork, waiting some more, and passing the eye test, Will went off to do the written test.  He returned later with the news that he had not passed, disclosing that the questions on the test were not covered in his school-sponsored driver's education class.  So when faced with questions such as, "What do you do if you accidentally damage someone's car that is unattended?" he stated "Wait until they return" instead of the correct answer, "Leave a note with your information."  He will be reading the Virginia driving booklet before his next test!

Getting Started on Being Self Employed

Well, I am making progress.  I set up my desk, did paperwork with the government, and have everything I need ready to go to start helping others with data analytics.  Best wishes to everyone as they reconsider their employment and contemplate launching out into other endeavors.  I'm ready!

Drinking Peppermint Tea out of a mug gift from another (not pictured) Awesome Coworker

Batteries at work

Corroding in devices

Will workers return?