'Ohhh, a complete change of direction then!?'

I left my job of seven months yesterday. It was only ever meant to be a temp job, and by temp I mean one that I could do for a few days or maybe weeks, with no stress, no input, no responsibility other than getting the job done - an admin job, a disposable job that would pay a few shillings to keep me (barely) afloat.

Unfortunately, my idea of what a temping job is and what Ikea defines as a temping job are apparently two different things. Alarm bells should have rung on my first few days when it transpired that 2 of the 4 people already working in this 'project' - (for twas not yet a whole department) had been there for a year already - and were temps. Before very much longer I was a fully esconsed member of the team, waiting for the right vacancy so I could jump ship. The existing manager applied for her own job when it was given full department status, having been considered a riproaring success (I saw the numbers, it was). She was turned down, no replacement apparently there to fill her shoes. So what happens? A department that recovered millions a year for Ikea, ends up being run by a temp, a temp who could go at any moment, all knowledge of the depts operations going with him. Except nobody expected this temp would want to leave....Why would I, for £6.30 an hour!! I'd be a fool!

I told a few people that I would be returning to an industry I know, that I would be picking up my largely successful and lucrative career in Account Management and Sales and was met with "Oh, a complete change of direction then!?".

Yesterday afternoon that temp left Ikea the only person with any working knowledge. The department will descend into chaos. It never fails to astonish me how inept British industry is, I've seen it at close quarters many, many times. They have replaced me with another temp, who has a very strong sense of the word temporary, and in all likelihood will not hang around having seen what the job entails. Bang goes an entire department. It will be complete anarchy. Nobody knows how to do anything. A department that recovers millions every year for the company will disintegrate. Genius. I could hear the roof falling in and taste the plaster dust as I walked away and I loved every damn second of it.

Of course there's always the human cost, there are good guys there who I made friends with, tellingly something that didn't happen in my previous job in Canary Wharf and they will have to endure the chaos of the coming weeks. For me though, although a frustrating affair, the stress levels were nonexistent and I could remain aloof from it. It was a welcome relief from the stress, unfriendlinesss and exhaustion of the previous 9 months working for the company who's name shall never be uttered. Time to move on though, new challenges finally await.