Thursday, January 8, 2009

Thou shall not burn bridges.

Thank goodness I was raised in the south* where we tend to have an obsession with thank you notes to the point where it is essential to our pure breed make up. Even though I may be very late sending the sentiment it is still sent – which is the most important part. Right?


So tell me – in the business world is it normal to give a gift to your coworkers when they leave? Well I have been. I don’t know if it is ‘normal’ or acceptable but I did. As I mentioned before – I am a consultant – and I have learned a lot in the past year and a half. The one of the most important bits it to not get attached to anyone because people are going to change projects and I will be left to deal with it. One of the main attractions to this job from college was that I would be moving and traveling and figuring out where I fit best. With that being said, I didn't take into consideration that the people I would be working with would also be traveling and moving. My parents aren't in the ‘business world’ my mom is a mom and dad is a doctor, therefore, they have very little insight into what is customary business behavior (if there even really is such a thing).


Why am I somewhat compulsive about gift giving and thank you note writing? I want to build a good work relationship with the people who can write me recommendations and who I could possibly work with later. I also don’t was to come across as unprofessional or naive. But for now I am going to keep on going – writing some bull on a note to those that have more experience and connections then I do.


And then there is this one team lead, she to is a GRITS and while I took over her responsibilities when she left (post on that to come- let me tell you there will be some bitching) she can make people think she is the best at what she does – without actually do anything. It has been almost a month and I finally got around to mailing her gift – just a small piece of pottery from a southern artist that I have been collecting for a while. You have a year after a wedding to send the gift – how long do you have to a thank-you-for-all-you-contributed-to-the-project gift? I took a month.

*For those of you who don’t know…GRITS = Girls Raised In The South

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