The end of the end.

I've spent the last 6 months acting as one of 4 support and trainers to a rookie team. I've worked from home aside from a rotating week spent on-site with the team. Gradually the 4 has diminished down to me alone, and today was my last day.

Today marks the end of over 5 years employment. I've been looking forward to this day for some time now, in this job I've seen many more lows than highs. For the last 3 years I've found myself trapped in this job, I've disliked my role and more so the company but have been quite literally unable to do anything about it. I couldn't move forward, I couldn't find another job and I couldn't bear the financial consequences of just quitting. Having passed up what I truly feel was my one real opportunity to get out on what turned out to be an outrageously false promise I've twice found myself on the brink of breakdown.

When the redundancies were announced there was a lot of resentment and sadness throughout the company but in my case at least it was a light at the end of the tunnel. During this employment and all of my co-workers have been under-valued, neglected, cheated and lied to on regular basis. I've even brought up on disciplinary charges once and that time I didn't even deserve it.

But it's not all bad. As I've settled into my 6 month role as a trainer and my future plans have slowly fallen into place, I have managed to find some of the enjoyment in my work again. I put this down mostly to my trainees. While I dread my monthly office visits I do enjoy working with the team while I'm there and I dare say that I'll miss it. I'm sad to see the end of what is a strange relationship, I probably won't ever see any of them again but I hope to. Part of me wants stick around as a spectator for the next few months just to make sure they're OK, despite all the other parts screaming 'GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!'

Anyway... To the team I say farewell. The last 6 months have been enlightening. As I've worked with and gotten to know you all I've come to realize that I want go on teaching. I'm nearly thirty years old now and this is the first time I've ever had any sense of direction. So thank you all for allowing me to find and explore that role with you.

Here's to the end of what has been my longest stretch of continuous employment. I now leave the company with a great many more gray hairs, a battered spirit and a bottle of whiskey. I've learned quite a few lessons during these years that I'd just like to state here.

1. Staying positive, even if it's just finding humor in little things, can make even the worst situations bearable.
2. Take good care of your golden goose.
3. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.
4. "Compromise" is just a another way of saying everybody lost.
5. Any man who chases two rabbits will inevitably lose them both.
5. Spending all of your resource on the new, big, demanding prospects at the sacrifice of your existing customers is idiocy.
6. Cherish even the smallest victory, because it might be the only one you get.
7. Don't set your house on fire just because you're a bit cold.
8. Be wary of any man with a pig farm.

For those of you who may be wondering what I plan to do next. I'm taking the summer off. I've enrolled at Stafford University on a 4 year diploma/degree course on Computer Games Programming starting in September.