Jettisoned

I took a work lap top to a job interview I had on the west coast; I am based on the east coast so I had to fly across the country for the final interview of the process and I was pretty confident the job was mine. When I looked into my carry-on bag and saw my work computer, I almost jumped out of the UBER to swap it out with my personal lap top, but it was 4:30a in the middle of winter, so it was freezing and dark, so I decided to ignore myself and off we went… little did I know there was a tracker on my computer and the CEO was watching my every move, so he knew I was on the west coast (ie: not out 'sick') when I called out that Thursday and Friday. I was fired at the end of the following week and to make matters worse, I didn't wind up getting the new gig.

If I had to do it again, I would have approached the CEO about the fact that I felt the role/company was not a good fit for me, and that I was starting to consider leaving/taking meetings for another gig after only being there for a few months. I didn't feel comfortable doing something like that at the time, and when I realized the company/position just wasn't right (practically on my first day!) I was hoping to just find something else and leave as opposed to being honest and trying to come up with a solution that was workable for me and the company… looking back, I realize now I just REALLY didn't want to admit the fact that the risk I was so excited about wound up not working out. I mean, on the other side of it, it's obvious it wasn't going to work out, anyway. If I had listened to my gut and just been honest and brave enough to have had a difficult conversation up front (or to grab my personal computer!) it may have ended more gracefully for everyone involved. And who knows - maybe I would have gotten the new role!