Saturday, January 21, 2012

Small Talk, Profound Effect

I was at another branch of my company the other day boxing up files to ship for storage.  A guy from our storage facility came in to empty the shred bins.  As he was leaving, he looked around.  He asked, "What are they doing with this office?"  I said, "They're closing it down."

He simply replied, "Thank you for lettin' me know.  Have a nice day." And he just went about his business.

I didn't think much of our exchange at the time.  But, once I got back to my home office, and had all of the boxes unloaded, I sat at my desk and this overwhelming feeling of letting go washed over me.  I all at once felt so utterly exhausted.  All of the stress of 'when do I get my notice,' 'how long do I have to clean up my stuff' just went away.  I realized that just thanking my company for letting me know was all that needed said. Now I can get on with my life.

I went in to my manager and asked if I could leave early.  She allowed it.  I got home, had a couple cocktails, looked at David, and said I was going to bed.  This was 5:30.  I slept until 5:30 the next morning (I never sleep more that 7 or 8 hours) and woke up so rested and feeling so relaxed.  Amazing what a few words from a stranger can do to change your outlook.

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