...one year later.

happy anniversary!

two days late, i thought it might be a good idea to post on this, the one year anniversary of my quitting my job working for the brooks brothers wearing devil himself. and what a year it has been! i've since completed almost one full year at my new (ish) job in providence, which has been such a welcome change--at the beginning, my new boss had to remind me from time to time that i wasn't working for the governor anymore, and that she wouldn't yell at me if i did anything wrong, but it's been a little while since we've had that conversation.

when i interviewed here, it made me feel like i was doing something horribly wrong--lying to make an excuse to not be in the office, and then getting the karmic kick in the ass from a dead car battery. it took from my interview on december 22nd until the very end of january for them to offer me the job--this time including several emails in which i tried to figure out if somebody else had been hired for the job, and one response in which the HR rep, peter, basically told me he couldn't give me a "yes" or "no" answer, but warned me against looking for another job--and i started on february 11th, just in time for valentines day.

the 11th was always going to be my first day, here, but the 4th was never supposed to be my last day with the governor--it happened that day when, already cranky from a patriots superbowl loss, he instigated an argument with me, which concluded with him yelling "you can just leave, you know," and me yelling back "fine, maybe i will," taking my bag, and replying to his "where do you think you're going?" with "i'm leaving, i just quit."

"you did not quit," he spat back at me.

"oh. ok," i replied, rolled my eyes to myself, and made my way around my desk.

as i reached the doorway of the office, the phone on my desk rang. i looked down at it, smiled to myself, and thought i'll never have to answer that again.

"excuse me. the phone is ringing. EXCUSE ME," the governor called after me. i ignored him. mentally, i turned up the triumphant music i imagined would be playing in the background if my life were a movie, and took the last steps to walk out of the room.

i went out to my car before it occurred to me to stop into my old office and tell the ladies there that i wouldn't be back. they provided me with another afternoon of wonderful support, bringing me to the top of campus for lunch, letting me cry--a mix of latent shock, and the typical reaction to being yelled at by a scary old man--and coming with me while i snuck back into my office, gathered together my things, and finally, handed in my key to sharon, the assistant to the vice president of administration. "i'm not coming back," i explained as i handed it to her, and she smiled. "god bless you for staying with him for so long," she said, rolling her eyes. i had to laugh. "thank you."

days later, nancy, one of my old office suite-mates called me to make sure i hadn't made the mistake of going back to work for him--this was not our first big fight, and i had been known to take a day off and return. i assured her that i was taking the week off before starting here, and she paused for a minute before adding "you know, he's telling people he fired you."

"what?!" i exclaimed. "he didn't--i--"

"sarah." she replied slowly, calmly, with a hint of a smile in her voice. "everybody knows quit. everybody heard you quit."

i had to laugh. it was true. and i'm sure he did it so that he wouldn't have to admit that another assistant had left him after finding a better job.

in the end, i find myself feeling sorry for him. he is a once great man who will always be remembered as a crazy old person who couldn't let go of his former quasi-celebrity. he's got a new secretary, now--we only spoke once, a few days after i left, when she called to ask how to sign into the computer. and from what i've heard, she's had the same complaints and concerns that i had--and i find myself smiling, a little, remembering all of the times i called people and wrote emails, insisting that somebody had to tell his wife that he needed to not come into the office anymore, that he should be supervised by a trained professional, that i wasn't the person who should have been hired to take care of him--and all of the times that those i spoke to reminded me that it wasn't really my place to make those statements.

when i finally left campus that day, i called my new boss, maria. when she'd offered me the job, she asked when i could start. "i'd like to be able to give him two weeks," i explained, "but it wouldn't surprise me if he just says, why don't you just leave now."

"well, sarah," maria said, "you have a job here, now. i'll give you two weeks, but you call me if things go wrong. you can start here whenever you want."

"maria, it's sarah s******," i said, searching for an explaination for why i was calling. "um...things didn't end...so well...with the governor."

"sarah." she said in a very serious voice, "was he fresh with you?"

"a little," i had to laugh. "but, i was wondering..."

"why don't you come in on monday," she suggested. "take the rest of the week off."

and i did. and it was wonderful.

and i am so, so happy to still be in a job where the people are nice, the pay isn't shady at best, and the work isn't totally, totally insane.

when i posted on my facebook account today that it had been one year since i quit my job working for the governor, my old boss, mark, made a suggestion:

"You should honor him by calling some important person late, late at night for some insane reason-ex: "the guv needs to know where the two of you ate lunch in New Mexico in '74 that one time, and he needs to know NOW"."

it's...funny because it actually could've happened.