Change is Coming

My supervisor announced her retirement at our staff meeting yesterday. When she told me a few weeks ago, before she made the official announcement, I was caught off guard. I was happy for her, but also devastated.

She has been a caring, accommodating boss. She trusts me to do my job and supports me whenever I need her. She gives me the flexibility to take care of my family. In a decade working for her, she never said no when I needed to take time off, even on short notices. We never had any conflict or friction. She has been the reason I had stayed at the law school until this day. I turned down several opportunities because I didn’t think I could find a boss like her even if the pay was higher. Even my wife has encouraged me to stay for our kids.

I am not sure what the future will be after she’s gone. I might get pulled out of the library and restructure under the school communications office. Even though I don’t do anything related to the library, I have had a wonderful working relationship with my colleagues. They are a diverse group of talented librarians and technicians. With a supervisor who shields us from office politics, we are able to focus on doing our job. I hope that her successor will do the same.