Surviving those last few weeks of work

[Hank Scorpio]

@butterfingers2010

I wish they would paid me a lump sum right now so I can leave sooner for grad school.

I hear ya there!

[Cici Beanz]

We've made it to another Friday! Everyone enjoy your weekend.

[Sigaba]

Finish strong.

Don't put your employer in a position where he/she will look skeptically upon future applicants who mention that they may want to attend graduate school in the future. (If you're slacking, your team mates will vent after you leave.) Through your hard work, build a bridge that will allow your return to your employer down the line. Build a relationship that will allow your employer to be a reference. (If you're working hard, your team mates will sing your praises after you leave.)

My $0.02.

[Nerd_For_Life]

Three more shifts!!!! Hiphip, Huray!!! For one job anyways. My ft job that pays the bills is in retail, customer service, and I have three shifts left (but will get paid for four shifts since next week includes the Canada Day stat!). Fingers crossed that I never have to work in customer service again.

My other job I will do to the end of July (research assistant at the uni I did my undergrad at), which is fine since I like the work

One more time for good measure: HURRAY!

[butterfingers2010]

On a totally unrelated note, is anyone else trying to plan a move out of state? I'm moving to Chicago (from Wisconsin) the 1st of September and apartment-hunting-or lack of it- is totally stressing me out. Since I work full time, I can only go visit on the weekends. The problem is that in Chicago you apparently cannot sign a lease unless it's a month or less beforehand, and you're damn lucky if you can find a place two weeks before you want to move! Which gives me about two days in August that I am actually able to go apartment hunting (one weekend will be devoted to moving out of my current apartment). The thought that I am moving in two months and have no idea where I will be living is kind of terrifying to me. As if moving so far away is not stressful enough already. I wish I could enjoy the rest of my summer without having this in back of my mind all the time. : (

[OregonGal]

I know someone who recently moved (within Chicago) using a broker and had a positive experience. Maybe that's something to look into? Reputable brokers are paid by the landlord--they receive your first month's rent in exchange for finding them a tenant. They may have listings not available to the general public, and can do the hunting for you.

I'm moving across the country but thankfully I have graduate housing. I just need to furnish my room once I get there, in the 2 days before classes start.

[SeriousSillyPutty]

I really truly love the people I work with, and I thoroughly enjoy what I do, so beside the financial necessity, I wanted to work as long as possible. One of my biggest concerns about grad school is that I would be leaving such a supportive, emotionally-healthy environment for one that was bound to be more stressful.

BUT, this summer, policies and politics in our over-all organization are driving me CRAZY. I don't know if the ridiculousness in the organization is making me happier to be leaving, or if the fact that I'm leaving gives me the luxury of being more pessimistic about how insane it all is. Either way, I'm kind of surprised by my attitude. Friends outside of work -- who know how much I love it there-- ask if I'm sad about leaving. Never thought it'd be so easy to say, "Nope. I'd miss the people, but I can keep in touch with them."

... Of course, in three months, after I have my first grad school break down, I probably WILL miss the comforts of my work "home". All part of the growing process, I guess.

[Hank Scorpio]

I don't know if the ridiculousness in the organization is making me happier to be leaving, or if the fact that I'm leaving gives me the luxury of being more pessimistic about how insane it all is.

My own experience inclines me to think it's the latter. Though my summer job is undoubtedly providing a much less warm and supportive environment than yours is, I too find myself less tolerant as the day approaches.

[antecedent]

A bullshit thing just happened at work, and I am so regretting getting out of bed this morning. This almond milk latte is almost making up for it...21 work days left!

[jsandler]

Just handed in my resignation for my banal corporate job. Feels strange. 7 weeks until grad school!

[lydibird]

I really truly love the people I work with, and I thoroughly enjoy what I do, so beside the financial necessity, I wanted to work as long as possible.

I'm working two jobs right now. The first I've had on and off since I was 18 and I'm really going to miss it. The people are awesome and the nature of the job (wedding dinners, receptions, etc) combined with my coworkers make it feel less like a job and more like a social hour where we happen to be in charge of giving strangers food. Thinking about leaving makes me so sad that I haven't even decided when my last day will be.

The other has been a good experience; I'm grateful for it and like it well enough, but I'm itching to just move on already. I still have over a month left, unfortunately.

[kriskros]

Tomorrow I pack up my office in preparation for transferring everything to my replacement at my job. She starts on Friday and my last day is next Friday. I can't wait!!! It has been nothing but non stop stress for the past month. I am so excited to start my graduate program in August and this feels like the last barrier in my way. Its finally happening!!

[Chasely]

Just gave my boss notice of my last day (5 weeks from now). I've got plenty of work to finish this month. I can imagine that last week or so is going to be very difficult. I've given myself two weeks to prepare for the fall. I hope that's enough time. We'll see.

[FSOJN]

19 work days left. The countdown has officially started in earnest.

[OldGrad2012]

I just gave my boss a notice of my last day ( two weeks from now Aug 3). Is this too soon? I will not have a break. I will start my graduate summer program starting Aug 1( should have been in July but I delay it until Aug); and ending until my class start on September 21. I still have lots of thing to finish up at work and I hope my boss understand that I have to start my summer program in order to receive the full summer stipend.

[legallyproper]

Man, it's weird my last day isn't until August 24th! So excited for grad school though. We should hang out while we're both in DC before we depart for grad school wonders. I was just chatting with one of the Pickering Undergrad Fellows (Hermes) had dinner with him last night.

19 work days left. The countdown has officially started in earnest.

[OregonGal]

Yeah, I now have less than two weeks left at work and less than three weeks before moving/the start of the pre-term program... this is crazy!

[butterfingers2010]

I had always been under the impression that a 2 week notice is standard (unless you are in a management position, in which case a month or even more is appropriate). I work in a tight-knit office where my boss, co-workers and I all know each other well, so everybody has known that I will be leaving since I told them in February where I decided to go to school. My boss has been subtedly pushing for me to turn in my notice, even though my last day is not for another six weeks! Basically, she is very anxious about filling the position because it tends to take us a long time to do so. She can't start interviewing, however, until I give formal notice. I definitely understand her point of view, as I have felt the frustration also of having staff quit and then it taking seemingly forever to find a new person. It's hard on all of us when we are short-staffed, so I would feel bad if my turning in my notice later meant that they were short a significant amount of time. I'm thinking of turning in my notice sometime next week, figuring it will take them at least three weeks to find a replacement, plus another two weeks or so for that person to actually start working. I know it's not the normal way of going about things, but they have been really great to me (for the most part) and it's my way of saying thank you.

[DeeLovely79]

I have 7 days left of work and a two full weeks until I leave DC behind!!!

@butterfingers - Your boss may be pressing you to put in notice because HR probably won't post the position until you do (As a manager I know how frustrating it can be to have opening not be able to advertise/interview because of some archiac HR policy but that's life).

You can put in your resignation letter with whatever date you want (In my letter a gave a date 8 weeks in the future to give my PI some lead time to plan as it didn't seem to be sinking in that I was leaving). Just make sure that you are certain about your departure date as that's harder to move. If you're not a 100% certain on the day you want to leave I'd advise you not to put your letter in until you are sure. This decision will definitely have financial implications so don't let anyone rush you to make it.

[Hank Scorpio]

I have about a month left of work! It will zoom by because there's a week in the middle where I'm going to Toronto to look for an apartment and to take a little tour of Ryerson University's campus. Then I come back home, work for a week, and I'm gone! For the time being, I spend my days on here, the Ikea website, and the site I'm using for apartment-hunting.

39 days till I leave!

[OregonGal]

@Dee... bet you're happy to be leaving this horrible weather behind!

[GreenePony]

On a totally unrelated note, is anyone else trying to plan a move out of state? I'm moving to Chicago (from Wisconsin) the 1st of September and apartment-hunting-or lack of it- is totally stressing me out. Since I work full time, I can only go visit on the weekends. The problem is that in Chicago you apparently cannot sign a lease unless it's a month or less beforehand, and you're damn lucky if you can find a place two weeks before you want to move! Which gives me about two days in August that I am actually able to go apartment hunting (one weekend will be devoted to moving out of my current apartment). The thought that I am moving in two months and have no idea where I will be living is kind of terrifying to me. As if moving so far away is not stressful enough already. I wish I could enjoy the rest of my summer without having this in back of my mind all the time. : (

DH and I did a possibly foolish thing and have never actually seen our new condo/apartment except through pictures (which at least are current and make it look immaculate). I could have theoretically visited earlier this summer but I hate apartment shopping on my own, and he used all his vacation time for the last 12 months on the honeymoon and Christmas. Just spent hours scouring the apartment sites. Packing up our stuff is enough stress- its taken me a year to find a place for wedding gifts and left over wedding stuff and now it's back into boxes, ugh!

DH is counting down until we move (10 work days since he gets the last Friday off) since that means he gets 2 weeks paid vacation until he starts up again as an at-home contractor. His department seems to be starting to panic (he's the "normal" one) and they just implemented a new system this week that it looks like he'll have to be the point on.

[butterfingers2010]

I have 7 days left of work and a two full weeks until I leave DC behind!!!

@butterfingers - Your boss may be pressing you to put in notice because HR probably won't post the position until you do (As a manager I know how frustrating it can be to have opening not be able to advertise/interview because of some archiac HR policy but that's life).

You can put in your resignation letter with whatever date you want (In my letter a gave a date 8 weeks in the future to give my PI some lead time to plan as it didn't seem to be sinking in that I was leaving). Just make sure that you are certain about your departure date as that's harder to move. If you're not a 100% certain on the day you want to leave I'd advise you not to put your letter in until you are sure. This decision will definitely have financial implications so don't let anyone rush you to make it.

I had an open conversation with my boss about this and she promised that I will get to work up until the end of my notice period (about six weeks from now) even if they do find a replacement before then. It was good to get it out of the way and now I am relieved of the guilt that I am holding her back from starting the hiring process : ) The way things go around there, they will be lucky as it is to be able to provide a solid job offer to somebody by the time I leave, let alone have them fully trained. My boss just hired someone today for another position and it took about two months of searching, calling references, looking at background checks, etc. for her to get to this point. I do feel a bit guilty that I did not turn in my notice sooner, but I wasn't quite sure what my plans were. I'm sure they will survive, though.

[DeeLovely79]

I'm sure they will survive, though.

This. This company was in existence before you came and I'm sure it will continue after your departure (if it doesn't I'm pretty sure the place would have shut down had you stayed). End of the day, you have to do what's best for you because they are going to do what's best for them.

[antecedent]

IT'S MY LAST DAY AT WORK MUAHAHAHAHAAA!

I am NOT going to miss this place.

Though to be honest, I'll miss my coworkers and my paycheck.