The last working day - Jonas (8 days until the world trip)

One last look at the mobile phone ..... 5:59 am ..... any second now ..... 6:00 am - Work-Work! And like every morning, I jumped out of bed to get ready for work. But this one should be special, because it was my day - my last working day and I was full of energy like never before. It's really a shame that motivation only reached me at the end of my career.

After I finished my usual morning routine, I went to the kitchen to check on my casseroles. I had placed one on the stove with a plate on top. I left the other one in the oven overnight. Since the casserole from the previous evening had not cooled down, the entire oven was completely "sweating" and gasping for air. I put it out of its misery and took the casserole out, allowing the oven to breathe for a moment.

Armed with the two casseroles, I drove to work. Standing at the last intersection at the red traffic light, I looked in the rearview mirror and recognized our CEO behind me. That sucks. This ruined my rather semi-legal plan to drive my car onto the company premises to unload my casseroles at the office. So instead of parking directly in front of the barrier and waving to the lady at the information desk with a pleading look, hoping that she would recognize me and open the barrier for me, I turned onto the train station parking lot and let our CEO pass first.

From a safe distance, I watched as he held his chip in front of the barrier system and drove onto the company premises. Now it was my turn. I drove down from the parking lot to the barrier, rolled down the window, and started waving to the lady at the information desk with a big smile. The barrier opened! =) I drove over to her and got out of the car briefly to explain myself and to thank her for our many years of good cooperation. Then I drove to the administration building, quickly unloaded the treats for lunch, and then parked my car in front of THIELE's gates as usual.

Back in the office, my colleagues gathered curiously around the gifts I had brought. However, they were covered with aluminum foil and they couldn't see what was inside the two casserole dishes. So everyone was eagerly waiting for lunch break. But before that, I was asked to come into the office of my immediate supervisor. My colleague from payroll followed. The three of us formed the so-called "South Wing" of our office. We liked to boast that we were the better-organized part of human resources and often chuckled at the trivialities that our "North Wing" produced.

When I arrived in the office, my two colleagues from the South Wing closed the door. We exchanged a few warm words and they had prepared a small gift for me as well. We talked for a while about our past collaboration and its highs and lows. The impression I left behind was probably positive, especially recently.

At 11:30 am, I put the casseroles in the oven in our office kitchen to warm up and set the table in the meeting room that I had reserved.

Back in the office, the room already smelled delicious from my homemade dishes. I took the casseroles out of the oven and brought them into the meeting room, preparing the portions until my colleagues arrived and eagerly gathered around the set table. My mother's secret weapon also made a big hit with the taste buds of our human resources team and everyone was absolutely thrilled with the food, eagerly asking for the recipe right away.

After an hour of pure enjoyment, another lovely gift from my colleagues, and lively conversations mainly about my upcoming trip, we cleaned up and returned to our workstations.

Afterwards, I discussed a few things with my successor, cleaned up my desk, and diligently tidied up my desk and its immediate surroundings. At around 3 pm, I put on my cap (South Wing insider for "putting my feet up on the table" with greetings to the North Wing) and waited for the impending end of the workday at 3:30 pm. After clocking out, I handed in my chip and said a warm goodbye.

My colleague from the South Wing accompanied me on the way to my car to help me carry the casserole dishes and my belongings from my desk. A final wave to the lady at the information desk and it was all over.

I had completed my last working day before the world trip.