It All Ended in a Whisper

 Today is my first day in nearly 16 years that I haven't worked for a Fortune 500 company.

Jobs are a funny thing, we like to say that if we won the lottery, we'd quit and never work again.  But the fact is, as people, we find a lot of fulfillment and purpose in our work.  If we work in an office we see the people we work with, more than we do our own families.  The truth is, despite our protestations to the opposite, we really do get a lot of enjoyment from our jobs and coworkers.  I'm still friends with a number of people from when I first started in the corporate world.  Some of them even have children in college now who were just little toddlers when I first met them.  It's been a ride.

I posted back in August how my company was implementing a vaccine mandate that I was opposed to.  I went through the process for a religious exemption, and after 2 1/2 incredibly stressful months, I was rejected as it would be too much of a burden for the company to have me as not vaccinated, even though I'm mostly remote and if I had to travel it would only be to locations where vaccine aren't required for those employees.  I even ended the year with Covid, which most experts agree gives you at least 6 months of immunity, but alas, reason and science didn't matter.

This fall was incredibly stressful trying to figure out options.  Luckily, I had options where I know many others don't.  I had an alternate career in academia as a college Professor teaching completely online.  I've been working to build up this career for the last 3 years, with the intention of eventually transitioning to only teaching, I just didn't expect to have to need it yet.  What was amazing in all this, was looking back and seeing how God directed my steps for reasons I didn't understand, well ahead of my ever needing them.  We prayed so much this fall for direction and lost much sleep, but eventually, as that direction became clear, our fear and stress were filled with joy and peace.  How can I argue with having a career that requires few meetings, no travel, and an opportunity to do something I love and am surprisingly good at?  I'm even on track to become a program chair in the next few years.  Every prayer I put out there, God faithfully answered, many before I even asked them.  In one final Gideon-like moment, I said that this would be a lot easier if I had just one more part-time position.  That week I got a call out of the blue with an offer for another job (that I hadn't applied for) that paid more per class than any position I had ever gotten prior.  God is faithful to provide, even in the moments we are the most terrified.

After I received notice that my religious exemption didn't matter, I spent the next two months transitioning my project and saying my goodbyes.  It wasn't easy on a lot of fronts, I really did enjoy what I did and the people I worked with.  It feels good that many people choked up when saying good bye to me, my boss included.  I've never had people cry before that I left; I must've done something right.  My last day was listed as 1/7/22 if I didn't comply and I didn't.  I expected a call or something on Friday officially firing me, but in the end, all I got was a generic form letter a few days prior.  I never heard from anyone that last day.  I assume I'm fired, but I really expected a little more as far as theatrics.

I read once that when the world ends, it will end in a whisper.  I'm not sure if that's true for the world, but it certainly was true for my career in the corporate world.  I'm lucky, I'm blessed, and I'm thankful.  But it still does feel a little weird yet.