A night with friends, saying goodbye to hell
When I was planning my finale happy hour, I had no idea Hachette would actually ask me to leave on Tuesday instead of working thru the end of the week. I had already planned on Thursday being the date of what I began to call my emancipation celebration. Not that I wanted to change the date. After all, Thursday has over time become known as the first night of the weekend around here. Bars have specials, people are quick to go out and I guess we all slack off a bit on Fridays.
Oh, speaking of leaving the building on Tuesday (3/7). I wound up staying until about 9:30 at night just bullshitting with my friends Madeline and Rob. One thing I will really miss about Hachette is the friendships I’ve made and the people I got to hang with on a daily basis.
Anyway, as I tried to leave, security stopped me because of the box which contained all of the stuff I cleared from my cube. They told me without a pass, I’d have to leave it and come back. I tried to explain that I was not coming back but to no avail. Luckily there was someone in the mailroom who gave me a pass. It’s funny how the security of the building late at night rests on a worker in the mailroom who doesn’t know me from anyone. But I digress …
So instead of simply taking an elevator down 45 floors and walking across the street to the Harmony View (210 W 50th, NYC) on Thursday (3/9), I hopped the bus, sat in traffic, fell asleep, arrived at the Port Authority and walked the ten or so blocks. Not to worry, all was well once I got there.
I first saw Stewart. He’s a new guy at Hachette working as a consultant but decided to take a permanent position. He was unaware that he was actually being considered for my job just hours after I resigned. He got a kick out of it when I explained it. He also decided not to take the job.
Sitting inside were my friends Scott, Amy and Rebecca. I can say this now since I no longer work there; I have the biggest crush on Rebecca. She is a doll. Too bad she’s spoken for. Scott handed me a bag in which was a bottle of Jameson’s. This made me very happy. I would later find out from my friend Mel that tragically the bottle fell to the floor and shattered while I was away from the table. Such a loss, so sad. I will be mourning until the next bottle comes. Shouldn’t be long now.
Each person that came in greeted me with the same word, “Congratulations!” I was not surprised since dissatisfaction is on the rise at Hachette. Among those coming by was my now former online editor Deb. I had recommended Deb for the management portion of my old job. The idea was to bring in two fulltime producers, promote one of the existing editors (Deb) to the management position.
This was predictably denied yet she is still doing the work and not being paid properly for it. In fact, she is awaiting a four-month old raise like I was. I was asked in my exit interview how long I felt she’d be at the company. I said that it was not my place to offer a guess and that they would need to speak to her directly. AS of yet, they have not.
Others came and went, wishing me luck as the spirits flowed. Bar owner Emmett bought a round of drinks for us. This was an ideal way to celebrate my resignation. Although I do wish I could have spent more time with everyone.
At one point the phone rang and it was my friend Helen. She told me she was coming by the bar with her hot cousin and that I had to promise I wouldn’t hit on her. I felt this was an unfair set of rules but reluctantly promised that I’d be a perfect gentleman.
When they walked in her cousin, who is adorable by the way, came up and gave me a hug. At that point all non-flirtation notions were off. Everyone knows my weakness for Asian women. If they don’t, they quickly learn.
I enjoyed my time with Helen and her cousin whose name sounds like ‘key’ but I’m not too sure how of it’s spelling. I’ll assume Ki. We laughed and joked about starting our own business. The nature of which would be bank robbery. It is of course the fastest way to make money, if not the most wise.
Before I knew what happened, I was saying goodbye to those left in the bar and was off with the girls to McCann’s in the Port Authority. It was karaoke night and we were bound for some fun.
As we sat and partied with the jovial crowd, two friends of Helen and Ki walked in. They had phoned Vicki and Angela earlier in hopes they would join us. I was certainly glad they did. Hey, two more attractive Asian girls … who am I to object?
I confess to monopolizing Angela’s time. I was smitten with this Filipino beauty who shared my fascination with travel, politics, Europe and so on. She was wearing a t-shirt that said, “Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go to London.” As the night ended, I asked for her number and stumbled to my bus. Thankfully we were still in the bus station. I felt happy for having such a fun night with old and new friends and hoped that this girl would cross my way again.
