Well, Bye-Bye now

Well, today’s the day, I guess.  

I joined the company in 2011 as a bright-eyed and perhaps somewhat over-eager new product manager.  Today, a shave over eight years later, I say goodbye.

As the saying goes, “the only constant is change”.  This holds true for my journey here and can be seen by the myriad changes I have been through since starting the job:

• I survived the company buyout in 2012
• I lived through the re-brand of 2015
• Originally employed to manage South America, to date I’ve had 7 portfolio realignments
• I have reported to 5 different line managers
• My “big boss” has changed thrice
• I have moved offices 3 times and had my desk relocated 5 times (and am thus an advocate for minimalism)
• I leave Zanele as the last remaining member of the 2011 product team

In between all of that, I’ve surfed the wave of highs and lows along with all of you, my colleagues and friends – both current and “ex”.  It has certainly not been all smooth sailing, but instead of a long, soppy goodbye (stop crying like a bunch of girls…), I’d rather take a trip down memory lane to remember the good* times we have had together.

*also, there were no photos of the bad times…

Stuff like:

Being passive aggressive about the temperature of the air-conditioner…

…dressing-up…

…a lot…

…like, loads…

…perhaps too much?

Travelling together…

…hosting workshops for the trade…

…coordinating collections for charity…

…learning first aid…

…getting excited about that one time it snowed in Jo’burg…

…playing the Chicken Game…

…sneaking around for Secret Santa…

…eating a lot of sushi with the team in Cape Town…

…attending events…

…hanging out with the ex-boss-now-competition while abroad (shhhh)…

…this…

…doing whatever the hell this was…

…attending spinathons for the Smile Foundation…

…toilet-papering the boss’s office…

…attempting a Guinness World Record for beading…

…just generally being awesome…

…and still managing to squeeze in a bit of work in between!

“If you’re not busy growing, you’re busy dying” – William S. Burroughs

Eight years is the longest I’ve stayed in one place. The job has changed, as have I.  It was time to leave the comfort zone and grow in a different direction.  

Goodbyes are always hard and they are meant to be for a reason – passing so much time together, the people we work with end up being like a giant, somewhat dysfunctional family.  

After spending just short of 3,000 days annoying you all with music trivia, I felt compelled to include some sort of musical titbit and decided to leave you with this verse penned by lyricist Marilyn Bergman:

“Nothing lasts forever, forever is a lie

All we have is what’s in between hello and goodbye”

I will miss you all and hope you will, in some small way, miss me too.  Of course, you can always keep in contact by following me on Instagram (@megamalist) or subscribing to my blog (subscription box below) *wink wink*

And so, as I walk out of the office and into the unknown, I say for the last time (in my most fabulous Southern accent)…  “Bye y’all!”