– And the flowers? Have you thought about buying her flowers? »
When our colleague and “queen” Manon announced to us that she was leaving the company to move to other places, we only thought of the sadness of losing this little bit of sunshine in our open space. That was before, in a final gesture of affection for a five-year-old friendship, she gave us the hot potato: the organization of her farewell party.
Let’s go to launch the kitty on Le Pot Commun. And to carry out the 15,000 reminders of emails so that everyone participates – a voluntary way of re-renting you in the street to save the Tibetan red pandas. And the notebook to be rotated so that everyone can go there with their tearful words. And the choice of gifts. And, you will have understood, these famous flowers. And again, the beauty graced us with finding her bar herself like a grown-up.
“An unhealthy competition” for the best pot
We are not the only ones to have had such a stain fall on our frail shoulders, due to a particularly hot transfer window of employees at the moment. Count 500,000 resignations per quarter on average, and five million permanent hires over the past year, according to INSEE. In short, a lot of departures, and therefore drinks to say a last alcoholic goodbye to the old life.
Until indigestion for Marie, 33, who responded to our call for testimonials. “It’s the berezina, everyone is leaving” from his company specializing in digital. Not a month without someone jumping ship. A skewer of starting pots which, by force, “creates unhealthy competition. We compare the parties, the jackpots, the number of guests” … And inevitably, no one wants to be the one who organized the zero pot”. But the more time passes, the more the risk of a pot less well than the others increases: “People are not going to drop 30 balls each month in the pots. By force, you really have to pull the worms out of their noses. Ditto for them to come. Weariness sets in, and it takes even more energy to motivate people. »
“His kitty was only 40 euros”
The potpourri whose organization falls on you, Ivan knows. A colleague “unappreciated and very introverted, who never spoke to others”, and who gives him the heavy responsibility of helping him leave. “His kitty was only 40 euros, against around 500 for the others. I was so ashamed of the few gifts I could buy that I gave 70 euros out of my own pocket, just to get something pretty good. At his party, no one spoke to him, it was anxiety, ”says the thirty-year-old seller.
Leslie, 33 and director of a crèche, is no more convinced: “But what shit to organise! Between the souvenir booklet for which no one finds the inspiration for words, the colleagues who desert when it comes to putting their hand in their pocket and the discomfort during the emotional speech of the quitter, we are almost sure not to never set foot in gear again. »
“The impression of forcing the hand and begging”
If there is indeed a torture that comes back systematically, it is this famous pot, source of all the headaches, testifies Ryo, 42 years old: “Nearly half of the colleagues pretended to have missed my reminders by email . A “tip” that I was given was to go and do the reminders in physics, but I would have the impression of forcing my hand and begging ”. A charge of revenge for Ryo: “I noted the names of those who did not participate, in order to ‘put the trick’ when they left”.
Not everyone has the leniency to find a bar themselves and draw up the list of guests like our national Manon. Again, hello anxiety. “Between people who find the bar too far, too out of the way, too expensive, too noisy, it’s difficult to reach a consensus,” said Lucie, 38, who works in sales. Even worse pressure for guests. It’s because corporate life is long and intense, and employee relations are not exempt from dramas. “I had to organize the pot for a colleague who had fallen out with his best friend from work for years, continues Lucie. I hesitated for a long time to invite him. Eventually I did, thinking it would be a shame if he didn’t come. They got fried during the pot, and the starter blamed me for inviting him. »
On arrival, a lot of effort “which falls mainly to women”, and a festive event which becomes more boring than anything else, judge Marie. For Lucie, “there was always the unpleasant feeling that the person leaving would have done less for me. There remains the satisfaction of a job well done for David: “It’s still a moment that I really appreciated, even if it requires a lot of organization and it represents additional work”. It was the same for Manon. But it was well worth it: she loved the flowers.