Juice Makes Peace With Former Boss

Quitting my job was a great decision, but I've been harboring a certain sadness about losing the relationship with Greg, my former boss. We had a lot of fun over the 2-1/2 years that I was there. I hated knowing that there was this crunchy situation out there, and I hadn't talked to him--or others in the firm--at all since the, um, divorce. And then of course there are pragmatic things, like...I need a good reference for upcoming job interviews, and I want to use a brief I had written for him as a writing sample.

Well, I decided to just suck it up. I marched into the office about two weeks ago with a bag of cookies. Although Greg wasn't there at the time, it was great to see everyone else, and I spent some time chatting with everyone. I sent Greg a little email to say I was sorry I missed him, and we swapped a few emails over the past week. Then, he invited me to attend an asylum hearing today for one of the clients I had worked on. Awesome!

So, I went down to the immigration court this afternoon. It was a great case, practically a slam-dunk, despite a few issues. He won the case without even having to do a direct examination. The hearing took only one hour, which left time for us to chat afterward. He asked about my work situation. I told him that waiting tables is the best work for my schedule right now, and that I was preparing to whore myself out to big firms in a few weeks. He asked if I wanted to come back. I thanked him, but said no. I need to do something else. I do love that firm, and if I ended up there, I would be happy, but I want to try out some new things. I need to interview this fall and just see what happens. He understood all of that. He told me I had an open invitation to come back anytime. In the spring, next summer, after practicing for a few years, whatever. Wow. I hadn't expected that at all.

We made tentative plans for lunch later this month, and he has invited me to attend the asylum hearing of one of my favorite clients in a few weeks. And, he might call on me to write briefs every now and then for him on a contract basis. So, let there be peace. We even hugged. Good-bye crunchy crunch!