Letter to My Boss

G-Chat Status: Meredith Cooper
is over the corporate ladder.


TO: Roz, Regional Manager, Owner of my employed soul.

FROM: Meredith, Director

SUBJECT: Performance Review

BODY:

Tonight Shelly and I stayed at Prep until 11:45 working on her college essays. Finally home, I'm coming down off the adrenaline rush that kept me patiently editing, musing, discussing--a smile or joke to boost morale--and finally we close the day. This is a bearable exhaustion: to accomplish a task that means her world.

I don't intend to make a habit of staying late, knowing full well that better planning would have prevented my over-extension, but tonight, it was my joy. I signed on with Prep for nights like these. I'm tired, but it's the good kind of tired. The drive home was different than it has been for the last weeks, months even. Today mattered.

I must confess, my heart has never been in the numbers. When Keith, yourself, and I have time to sit and discuss my performance, I plan to leave salary by the wayside. Nights like these give more purpose to my position than any billing report ever could. They remind me that I never intended to climb any corporate ladder in the first place. In the last few months, I believe I've mistaken what I could do with what I should do and got caught up in the anxiety of selling programs, a yes-man looking toward the financial pay-off that I assumed would make it all worthwhile. I abandoned myself in the process.

By all means, I will continue to do what needs to be done at Prep Center. I have every intention of honoring my commitment to stay for at least two more years, and I will continue to strive toward excellence in my work because I feel that my performance here is a direct reflection of who I am and what I believe. If there is a review to be had, perhaps these are the things to discuss.