Weekend with the CEO

No tears at farewell party as I get down with the millennials

ca

It is hard to imagine that I will be starting a new job in two weeks. I must say I am a bit excited. It helps somewhat that the HR team of my new employer told me that I will be spending the first two weeks in South Africa for some training and induction. I am looking forward to that since it has been forever since I visited that country.

My last week in the office was a bit weird, for a few colleagues insisted that we needed to have a farewell party. I did not want such a party. I wanted to disappear quietly, especially because I was not happy with the workload during my last days. But three of my office mates came up to me and said: “Stop being such a coward! We are going to have the party. Leave the planning to us.”

To be fair to them, they did a good job of choosing the venue, securing a DJ and sending out the invites. I was humbled when I showed up at the venue to find over 100 of my workmates. I quickly noticed that none of the members of the senior team were present. One of my colleagues must have read my mind for he whispered in my ear, “we did not want the big boys here – they will cramp our style and give boring speeches.” He had a point and so I decided to go with the flow. I looked around and noticed that there very many young men and women who seemed to be having a good time. I could not help but ask Nancy my colleague, “Who are all these millennials?” She laughed and said, “you clearly were not walking around, these are all from the company that deals with our sales— they are our sales team.”

I laughed and said, “based on their looks, I am not sure if they are selling our products or themselves.”

Let us just say, I got to learn what these millennials were good at, and for sure itwas partying. They kept o heckling the speakers—the staff who insisted on giving “tributes”. Listening to them, I felt like they were describing someone else. Some called me “diligent, empathic and a people person.” It is only one guy who had drunk too much who said I had been a pain since I kept insisting on following procedure.

After the speeches, the party really began, with the millennials taking centre stage.

My recollection of the events is hazy though I do remember chanting to Wamlambez-Wamnyonyez at some point in the night. I also recalled doing some shots with the millennials chanting my name, “Josphat! Josphat!”

I also recall getting home at about 9 a.m and finding the househelp calling for an Uber to take the children swimming. She gave me a harsh glare, indicating she was not pleased with me as she said, “Mama has been calling looking for you since 6 a.m. I told her you had not come home.”

That is when I realised that I had switched off my phone at midnight- only because I kept feeling tempted to call Gacheri. I told the nanny, “please text her and tell her I am fine. I was at my farewell party.” I could see that the househelp wanted more details on why I was having a farewell party but I was not going to humour her, so I said: “ You take the kids swimming. Here is some money for lunch. I have gone to sleep.”

When I woke up after six hours of intense sleep, I put on my phone to find many messages from Shiro. But what caught my attention is that I had been added to a WhatsApp group with the title Josphat- Wamlambez Crew.