REM // Van McCann

66. Keep in Touch

Today was Bondy's last day of work. Despite knowing his time was coming to an end, his enthusiasm for and quality of work never wavered. He taught me everything he knew as his last trainee before they hire someone to replace him. But I don't want him to leave.

Our time together was brief but we got on well. We'd go on smoke breaks together and just chat about nothing and everything. DecodeREM is an interesting company. We have study participants keep a dream journal and our job is to perform quantitative analysis on them. We'll categorize dreams, assess the frequency these categories occur, turn these frequencies to percentages and rates, and compare findings to determine what's unique about the person or group being studied. It's interesting work and I can see why Bondy found it difficult to leave.

"Has it hit you that it's your last day yet?" I questioned. Bondy shook his head.

"Not yet. I don't think it'll hit me until I bring my stuff home and turn in my badge," he answered.

He didn't have much at his desk. I thought it was because he didn't accumulate much being here for one year but Bondy never likes to sit in one place for too long. Change excites him and he's always looking forward to the next opportunity. If he gets comfortable, he'll never want to leave.

It's funny because I thought companies like it if you stay with them for a while. You're their investment and they'd hate to train you only to have you leave. But Bondy told me that's how you broaden your knowledge and increase your pay. He was making 20% more at this new job which made him decide to leave. Plus the work was more interesting. He said something about visualizing dreams but I didn't know what that meant. I always forget my dreams when I wake up.

Our group which was made up of six people went out for lunch to wish Bondy nothing but the best. Bondy didn't like to make a big fuss. He kept reminding us he was in the same building but on a different floor and that we could meet up for lunch or head to the pub across the street any time. However, that didn't stop us from making sappy speeches about him which only embarrassed him further. It seems like everyone had something nice to say so when it was my turn, I gave him shit for leaving us. I called Bondy a cunt (in an affectionate way) and was surprised at how quiet it got. One of them spilled water on themselves, another person's jaw dropped to the ground, and I shrunk back into my chair in embarrassment. Bondy later told me that Americans found that word more offensive than Brits did. I'm sure I made a great first impression on them.

Towards the end of the day, I helped Bondy carry his stuff to his car. He didn't really need help. He could've carried it all on his own but I offered because I wanted to spend more time with him. When we put the boxes in the boot of his car, he closed it and sighed.

"It's hit me now. I've got to surrender my work badge." He showed me his work badge photo which was of him smiling, showing off his teeth. I've never seen someone so happy to work. "I've got to tell you the story. This photo was taken on three hours of sleep. I didn't give myself much time to get used to living in Seattle. I wanted to make the most of my time saying goodbye to everyone so I decided to fly in two days before. On the day of my flight, I actually missed it because of a bad car accident. They had just closed the gate and wouldn't let me on so they helped me rebook my flight. Of course, all the good flights were full so I had to take three flights with two horrible layovers. I didn't land in Seattle until it was almost midnight and most of the shops had closed. I couldn't even check into my apartment! So I booked a hotel for the night close to work and stayed there."

"Wow, you wouldn't have guessed it looking at this photo," I said in awe, looking at the photo again.

"Adrenaline, man. And I took a shower in the morning." I laughed and then it went quiet.