Out with a whimper

I've been complaining about my job for a while...pretty much since I started a year ago.  It wasn't that the job was too hard or the commute was too long or the pay was too low, it was the people were...odd.  This was, after all, a tiny consulting firm that built its own proprietary tool; I expected it to be a very supportive atmosphere.  Instead, my questions and emails often went unanswered, I could not get anyone to review my work, and my boss even told me design was a waste of time!

I could give many outrageous and ridiculous examples, but I think what happened when I gave notice sums it up nicely.  I had to give a months' notice, but I only had one week's worth of work, and my new company wanted me to start right away, so I asked--both verbally and in writing--to be released early.  Both requests were ignored.  Instead, I sat on my hands and nobody contacted me for three weeks!

On my last day, I received an email from the company secretary:

Please find attached the payslip for the final salary payment to you. I will pay that into your account together with balance of expenses.  I presume you will be returning the laptop, wheelie bag and keys to the flat today. If you find no-one in when you arrive, please leave the keys and computer stuff on the table and when you leave just close the front door behind you and pull the gate to and I will lock up later.

Wow. I want to believe they were upset with me, but they paid me to do nothing for three weeks--if they were trying to punish me for leaving, that was an odd way to do it.  But as I said, everything about the company was just odd.

In any case, I start my new job on Monday, and I can't wait.