Just three months at my new job (the Death Star), and the familiar churn of corporate change has started.

I report into an Emperor (boss) who is located at a remote Death Star.  I am  also reporting, dotted line, to another Emperor at my site.   Matrix reporting is not fun but it is what it is.

Well my direct Emperor is leaving the Death Star. He has been recruited by another evil corporation as often happens as people look at climbing the never ending career ladder.  He was a decent guy but after three months I wasn’t that attached to him. So I thought I was ok with him moving on.

I realized this morning how painful basically starting over with a new boss will be.   

It takes a while to build any work relationships, especially reporting ones.  I was just at the point where I had built some trust with my boss  and we had figured out how the other worked.  Today in my first meeting with the new “temp” boss I realized the impact.  I’ll basically be going back to scratch and starting over.

Did I like the emperor who was moving on?  Yes. I knew him enough to know his warts and his style.  He had the bigger than life personality which often gets promoted in companies.  But he knew his stuff and he was decent to me.  I didn’t maybe agree with his approach with his team but you could see how he was playing the game and in the end it did not affect how I do my work.  

How is my relationship with my dotted line Emperor that I am colocated with?   It’s nonexistent.  Although we are at the same physical death star and are working towards the same goals he has basically ignored me to now. He works through one of his Commanders when dealing with me so there is little interaction.  He likely has one foot out the door to retirement so I get it. Why invest in a new relationship if that’s the case.

So it feels like it’s my 1^st day with a new boss again.  Which means I will need to go through the niceness routine and the typical dog and pony show.  It shouldn’t be a big deal but today I am just not in the mood so it feels a little unbearable.  I will get over it.  

Is there a point to this whining?  Yeah.  It is another example of how work is just work and how you should not build any long term expectations around it.  People come and go based upon corporate politics. Meetings are scheduled.  Reorgs happen.  

To start with my new boss I will need to be “nice”. To put my best foot forward. With all boss relationships there is a fakeness about it. The sucking up to a person who controls your work and your paycheque. In the last eight years I have had six different bosses and I am getting tired of it. It doesn’t matter if the boss is totally nice there still is a falseness that is built into it.

The only thing you can depend upon?  Change happening for little to no reason. For the most part, your work life is completely out of your control.

Over time the “face” we put forward at work is automatic regardless of who we interact with. This face is an act to protect us. It helps us deal with people that we can’t avoid. We don’t get to choose who we work with. Don’t get me wrong, there are many nice people at work. But there is a percentage I would choose to avoid if I could.

There is a big portion of my current job that I don’t care about.  The same goes for people I need to interact with.  All for the game.  All for the structure and how it is set up. I am forced to play the corporate game that has little to do with the job they hired me to do.  

This is one more reason why the thought of leaving a career becomes increasingly easy to do. Why retiring is what I need to do.

To get control. To be able to choose who I play with. To stop playing games