“Starting Monday, I’ll need you to stay until at least seven,” my manager, Karen, said one Friday afternoon.
I looked up from my computer.
“Every day?”
“For the next few weeks,” she replied.
I assumed there had been some misunderstanding.
“Is this for a temporary project?”
“No.”
She smiled.
“You’re going to train our new hire.”
I glanced toward the glass conference room where a woman I’d never seen before was sitting with someone from HR.
She looked confident. Professional. Completely unaware that she was about to become the center of a situation nobody had anticipated.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “What position is she taking?”
Karen hesitated for half a second.
“Yours.”
I actually laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because sometimes your brain laughs before it has figured out how else to react.
“My position?”
“Yes.”
“So I’m training my replacement?”
Karen nodded.
“You’ve been with us long enough to know the systems. You’re the best person to teach her.”
