It’s always a little awkward when one second you’re a P&G employee and another second you’re almost public enemy number one. As I mentioned previously, I wasn’t expecting to be walked out of the office since I didn’t think OneCare was considered a competitor. In fact, after I called to tell them I could start earlier than I expected because I was let go early, they asked “Really? Why?”
My manager also wasn’t expecting an issue, but after checking with HR it turns out I had to go right away. They let me go back to my desk to get any personal stuff I needed. I looked around and really didn’t have anything that was urgently needed and couldn’t be shipped back to me at some point. Then I saw the little Betta fish that I got for myself after launching a project. He couldn’t be shipped back. So I tried to figure out how to bring him home; it’s not like I was prepared to bring a fish home that day.
So I went back to tell my manager and our admin that I really didn’t need anything, except for the fish. They were both very helpful under the circumstances (I’m sure they both had better things to do than help me figure out what to do with my fish), and we problem solved the fish into a Millstone styrofoam coffee cup with a plastic lid. The lid even had a drinking hole in it, which acted as a perfect air hole. Plus it fit into the cupholder in my car. It all felt pretty comical to me. I know a lot of people back in the office had gotten to know that fish, so I’m happy to report he made it home fine and is swimming in his own bowl at home:
After I told my friend Dave about this, he said it felt like a scene out of Jerry McGuire. I found it on YouTube, and after watching it, it definitely would’ve been a lot more fun to flip out and yell “Who’s coming with me?” and to have Renee Zellweger leave with me.