Insulted

Shakespeare Insult
Originally uploaded by dramamath

(To see the highlighted text in the picture, click here)

Remember my post about a colleague's resignation? Boy, how I wished it is truly his funeral.

Close to lunch time today, a colleague asked whether I have any lunch appointment, of which I didn't. I didn't perceive anything unusual about that since it is usual that if she is free for lunch, she would normally ask around. As expected, she did. The colleague who resigned ("the resignee") also joined in.

Earlier on, it was revealed that the resignee is having trouble with HR about leaving on the date he wants, which is mid-next week. However, there was already talk on Monday of having farewell lunch for him.

So off we went for lunch at a restaurant. There was even joke that this colleague was paying for lunch since he should have a nice increment moving over to the new job.

It was another colleague who paid for lunch first. So naturally, someone wanted to know how much his share is. I took a look at the receipt and used my handphone to calculate, dividing the total bill by the number of people who attended the lunch.

Later in office, the resignee sent e-mail to all of us thanking us for the lunch although he did not know why he was asked to pay for his farewell lunch especially since he treated us dessert and said something about being disgusted at the person who caused this.

I was livid! Firstly, I didn't know it was supposed to be a farewell lunch. Secondly, I was planning to have the farewell lunch next week instead, which is closer to his intended last day. Thirdly, it's juvenile to think that we should treat him lunch simply because he treated us dessert. Lastly, there is absolutely no obligation on any of us to treat him lunch.

Later, after I told him that I didn't know about the supposed farewell lunch (and added more, without shouting (thank goodness) to indicate how insulted I feel), he half-heartedly apologised. In an e-mail sent only to me, he again tried to imply that I knew all along but stated that if I did not, it was alright since he has apologised.

That was definitely not a sincere apology. Oh well, I give up. What made me really upset is the fact that I was upset. That it mattered to me. Although in my opinion, he is not good at work (disorganised, afraid to try, does not take initiative) but he is quite a nice person and I was hoping he'll keep in contact. Not any more.

However, in keeping with my word, I'm still organising a farewell lunch for him next week since my manager will be back in office then and it's going to be a joint farewell lunch for another colleague whose last day is this Friday.

Any spare coffin around?