Like Rats Fleeing a Sinking Ship

The Sarcastic Brit and I had an interesting conversation with the Enlightened One on Thursday. He had been off for a week due to a bout of Bronchitis. Since he is technically retired, and not coming in for the money, it seemed perfectly reasonable to me that he would not stress coming in when he was ill.

Unfortunately for the Mecca, he had time to think while he was gone. It seemed that the Enlightened One had become somewhat desensitized to the mayhem and foolishness that is working at the Mecca. Apparently, the Enlightened one had an epiphany: with only one notable exception, the entire senior management team is completely clueless. (Not to mention lying weasels.) They are unable to make a decision, and despite the fact that they are planning on selling instruments very soon, can't even figure out the basic market specifications.

This, coupled with the fact that the Enlightened One (who has done some pretty ground-breaking work in the field) is left managing a couple of clueless, arrogant, and conniving punks (that he refers to as "the children"), has left him questioning if this is really the way he wants to spend his golden years. Although the work is interesting, we are never allowed to finish anything, and are forced to cut so many corners that even good ideas are reduced to stinking turds. The Enlightened One has decided that he can find less frustrating pursuits to occupy his free time. Hence, he decided that he would finish out the week (that just passed) and call it quits.

As of last Friday, he hadn't broken the news to the Fearful COO, who is apparently an old friend of his from way back. I have not yet figured out if he is going to just stop showing up, or if his old friend will convince him that it's worth it to keep showing up.

Jaba (also an old friend of the Enlightened One) was not having a good week. About a month ago, he hired a team lead (to lead his team of duds) who was actually good. She made it about four weeks before deciding that risking her life on the highway for the Mecca was not a good thing to do. She took a rather large demotion (and pay cut) to get out and gave her one week's notice. Although she cited the commute, and the fact that she can walk to her new job as the reason for leaving, it was less than a 20 mile drive, and quite manageable by local standards. I suspect that she was feeling much the same way as the Enlightened One.

Personally, I didn't think things had been any worse lately than they were before. It's amazing how easy it is to get used to the pain.

I believe that this marks the beginning of the end for the Mecca. When the good people start leaving...

And the band played on.