When Is Your Last Day?

Bruce had been with the company for 15 years, and was pretty good at his job.  After years of hard work Bruce was given a project lead role on a highly visible program, unfortunately that meant working with King Kong on an almost daily basis.  After feeling the furry of King Kong’s primordial rage after asking why multiple times, Bruce had finally had enough so he decided to start looking for jobs elsewhere.

Having been at the shitshow for 15 years this was not an easy decision, however dealing with King Kong and others had pushed him to the limit.  Bruce finally found a new job at a competitor, once the job offer was verified Bruce broke the news to his functional manager.

Bruce: “I’ve decided to take a job at a competitor”
Functional Manager: “Congratulations, when’s your last day?”

After 15 years of solid performance, Bruce decides to leave the shitshow in the middle of a highly visible project; the only thing the functional manager asks is “when is your last day?”

I would have expected something along the line of:
“Are you set on this decision?”
“Is there anything we can do to make you want to stay?”
“You’ve been here for 15 years, it will be a great loss if you leave especially in the middle of this project, are you sure about this”?

But of course not, not from the shitshow.  On his exit interview he specifically named King Kong as a reason for leaving.  Not that the shitshow would do anything as a result of this feedback about King Kong, at least Bruce felt like he was throwing a rock.

Because 15 years of service is greeted with “when is your last day,” I throw rocks.