"In the month before this email, a long-time coworker passed away suddenly with no one to fill his shoes."

Let me preface this post by stating that the dates on the post reflect the dates actions were taken and not the date I am writing this blog post. I wanted to make it easier to track the story of my resignation. So if you're starting here at this post, I think you should start with the post-dated 26 February 2022.

Let me explain the monthly communications that you see along the side. When I started working for my employer in December of 2017, there was no such thing as a monthly communication. I needed a way to let my staff know of changes and updates that took place throughout the year. Time management skills are one of my stronger attributes, so I sent my monthly communication emails to my staff on the first day of the month or the last day of the previous month. When I sent the communications newsletter depended greatly on if the month ended on the weekend versus the weekday.

In the month before this email, a long-time coworker passed away suddenly with no one to fill his shoes. The only person who stepped in and stepped up was my direct department leader, whose title was Director of Training. While we were in limbo, my staff - whom, if I might add, was already having issues completing their usual task started to become stretched thin while being given new directions moving forward. This, coupled with the pandemic and general distrust that my coworkers had for one another started to surface.

For most of my job, I was content. But as my co-parts failed to submit documents in a timely manner or respond to emails I sent regarding status updates, I had finally seen the truth. They weren't happy. They were stressed and tired and worn down. There was nothing to delegate to anyone because everyone's cup was already spilling over.

I sent out my monthly communication on October 1, 2021. This was a special newsletter because the first page was dedicated to our fallen leader and the second page went over general employment topics regarding the decline in our membership. My staff did what they always did and ignored my communications. I was always upfront about my job with my staff. I tried to keep an open-door policy and allow anyone to come in and just vent. I seldom cared for gossip, I disdained it actually. But I knew the office politics well enough to know that I had to play ball. I started to find myself constantly complaining. The complaining all the time started to annoy me. I wanted so badly to just have a day of joy.

I still wanted to keep the place professional, at least on the surface.