Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too.
Other times, you get a pie in the face when you think that you can tell your boss and colleagues that you’re ready to seek other employment.
Things start to happen…sort of like eating pie outside at a picnic table. Like a fly buzzing your pie, you fan away the rumors you hear about why you’re really looking for another job.
Then there are a few more flies, but you think you can still swat them away because your boss has just given you an evaluation so flattering about your accomplishments that you’re embarrassed.
Because of the increasing number of flies, you cover your pie carefully and put it in a safe place.
You tell your boss that you are a finalist in your search for a new position. You are asked to withdraw your application and stay one more year because you are needed. Your boss – who said that they would help in your search – tells you that the higher-ups are questioning your commitment to the institution.
You forget about the pie completely.
You make an appointment with the higher-ups. When you enter the office to attest to your commitment – WHAM! The pie you forgot about smacks you right in the face.
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Gwen Dungy 