I quit today.
Here's a copy of the email I sent via my personal Gmail account at 8:08 am:
Dear Kathleen,
I find myself suddenly dealing with worsening medical concerns that are affecting my ability to stay on at Ridge Area Arc. Unfortunately this means that I will have to resign my position to effectively deal with this issue and focus on improving my health.
The laptop computer and the MiFi are in the bottom right-side drawer of Mike's desk in the SE office.
Thank you for the opportunity and thanks also for your understanding. I wish you and all at Ridge Area Arc the best.
Sincerely,
Michael Chausse
Not sure if I'll get any calls. I mean, the email is short and sweet (well, sweet for me in that I'm now free) and it says everything that needs to be said clearly and unambiguously. It doesn't talk about the topics I brought up during the big meeting two weeks ago. It'll be up to her interpretation as to what any of that had anything to do with my decision to leave. Of course we know that's the heart of it. Plus the fact I really don't like the job duties. And I can't shake the knowledge that I did the budget and the math is good...I can chug along on savings to October then I'll start to withdraw from the IRA and should keep going like that, if I want, until age 62 and one month...May 9, 2026.
So today isn't just the last day of my employment. (Technically that would be last Friday since I didn't clock in today at all...but actually, would last Friday be accurate since I clocked in for the day but did absolutely no work?)
It's the first day of my renewed early retirement!
And like one of my favorite songs from Saturday's musical, "with a little bit of luck" I should be able to continue on my path without having to beg for a "brass farthing."
EDIT: Maddie called around 8:40 on my cell, I didn't answer. She left a voicemail message wondering if I was in transit to today's 8:30 Job Camp planning meeting. A few minutes later, I called the main line, extension 116 direct to the Supported Employment office. Mike answers. He's all like "What's up, buddy?" I ask him if he's spoken with Kathleen this morning. He says no. I break it gently to him that I've resigned and asked if he could bring the laptop and MiFi up to the admin building after disclosing where it is. He agrees. I say I'm leaving due to medical reasons and I'm sorry this comes at this time but I've been holding off on this for some time. He asks if "I'm okay...medically." I guess that loosely translates to "Is it a fatal diagnosis?" I assure him I'm okay. He bemoans that he wished I were able to help out with the Job Camp. I assure him that's not going to happen. He then says "Can I ask you a personal question? Is this in any way due to the meeting with Dale last week?" He picked up that I wasn't pleased with Dale, an outside instructor, talking down to me. I reiterated the main reason was medical but yes there are some aspects of the job I really didn't feel comfortable with. I didn't hear Maddie say boo on this call yet it was obviously speaker-phoned. He wished me luck, I said "Well, have a nice day." And we left it at that.