Chapter 97

I headed out of the meeting room and down to HR. I tapped on the office and Miss. Hunter motioned me in.

“Thank you for seeing me.”

“Leah, I am sorry about what is happening.”

I held my hand up to stop her. “I’m not here to appeal. I actually wondered if the 7 days holiday could be used on the notice period?”

She looked taken aback by my question, “We can allow for that to be taken, yes. Are you looking at taking the full entitlement?”

“No, I would prefer to finish on Thursday if possible, meaning I would be using 6 days. Which now I am saying it out loud seems a little pointless to not take one of the days.”

Elise burst in the door wanting to appeal her letter. She looked shocked to see me there but carried on demanding answers and spouting questions out. Another HR personnel took her into another room. We could hear her through the wall.

“Anything not taken will be paid to you in your final salary, but it is entirely up to you. I can put it through on the system however you like.”

“Let's just do it. Use them up and I will finish on Wednesday.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

She put it through on the system and I had my final date. It was a strange and surreal feeling. I was happy that I was no longer in limbo but sad it was me. I headed back to the office. I was stopped along the way by other workers and explained I was being made redundant. There was a general consensus of people not happy I was being let go. It was nice to see people would miss me and felt I was a valued worker. I felt a little more valued by them than I was valued by the rest of the company.

As I walked into the office, it fell silent. It was like I had walked into the middle of a conversation. Everyone looked up waiting for me to say something. I sat back down and went back to work. Elise never returned to the office, which only made everyone's suspicions grow more. I saw my boss just before lunchtime and I asked him not to say anything about me being one of the employees that was leaving. He reluctantly agreed.

The weekend and my last three days flew by. I had secretly been handing work off to others without them realising it, along with taking a little bit more of my personal item's home each night with me. I didn’t want a fuss, I wanted to just leave. Everyone was still suspicious, and Elise made it very clear she had received her letter. I had managed to convince her not to tell the others about mine.

Wednesday afternoon came and Miss. Hunter came to see me. I thanked her in the office for all her help and everyone then realised. There was an uproar in there about me leaving. The fuss I didn’t want was happening. It took everyone by shock. I think I was more shocked that they had not heard it from the workers on the floor that I had told, after the meeting. I grabbed a box to put the last of my things into and as 5pm approached they all begged me to appeal like Elise was, but I refused. I bid them all goodbye, one by one. There were a few tears from everyone including myself. The drive home that night was strange, knowing I would not be going back the following day or ever again.