I never thought my work bestie would be a bit of a jerk whose mind was chaos and creative was genius. I am the complete opposite. I am (too) nice, my mind is orderly and my creative is controlled. Our areas of expertise meant we were desk buddies though, and in no time we bonded over our get shit done work ethic - if not our polar opposite approaches. We unintentionally did the good cop/bad cop act on all shared projects.
Work bestie left the team for the opportunity of a lifetime in Victoria a couple of weeks ago. To make his last day memorable, I plotted with Sweet Cakes to make sure he knew he’d be missed by the team because Other People's Happiness makes us happy. She's a kindred spirit like that.
In the morning, we gifted him his favourite fancy Moleskin diary - but in the financial year so he could replace his calendar year diary and start his new life with a clean slate. This was a genuine gift and totally what he’d expect from me (not that he expected any gifts but, well, have you met me?). This gift also acted as a handy misdirect to make him think this was all he was getting.
When we went for team lunch, I left everyone to their meals long enough for Work bestie to think it was an ordinary team lunch. And when everyone was settled, I stood up and made a big deal to embarrass him then presented him with an “Uninstall Guide” - a parody of the Install Guides he did for the company.
Instead of instructing people on how to install the latest campaign in stores, I instructed people on how to remove him from the company, featuring everyone’s favourite stories and photos of him from the past four years. The surprise worked a treat and he spent the rest of lunch reading the guide and cackling while he shared moments and photos with the crew.
And THEN when he thought it was all over again, I sent a faux Memo to the entire office to action the Uninstall Guide at close of business. And the folks who couldn’t make it to team lunch got a chance to share a laugh with Work bestie.
Then at the end of the day, the whole office gathered to say farewell. It was the perfect send-off.