changing companies

[tbonus]

I posted this on the UG as well...
Would like to know others experiences with this.
The past couple of weeks have been a stressfull time. I had been with the same company for not quite 5 years. (in sales) The last couple of months I have been researching going with a new company (basically the same work, but much like a franchise) Of course over the years, I became friends with the two owners of the company I was with. So it's not real easy to approach them and let them know my intentions.
Well word got out that I had been entertaining this new job and they asked me about it. I said yes, but that I didn't want to make a move for a couple of weeks. I offered to close out the business I had and wrap things up. They said that is fine, but asked me to go ahead and clean out my desk. Now, they have no real sense of urgency when it comes to my customers (actually their customers, since its their business).
I can't access my voice mail or email or deal with anyone to close out my pipeline.
Now if it were my company, I would be doing everything necessary to let those customers know, that they were being taken care of. I spoke to a customer and was told that one of the owners was kind of a dick to them. you think you know someone, but oh well. I get the feeling that they will just reneg on what they told me when I left and just told me that to avoid confrontation. The thing is, I could have taken all of that business, taken a lot of their data, and done all kinds of things to hurt them, but that is not me. I couldn't imagine doing that. If one of my friends and business associates said, "I have an offer that is paying me about 35% more than what I can do here", I'd have no problem with them taking advantage of that opportunity.
So has anyone gone through this before? I am sure they might have bruised egos or hurt feelings or something, but that just sounds like some shit that little girls do.

 

[lilkoreangirl]

First off, I totally get what you're saying with the whole, "You think you know someone." I was caught up in a similar situation with an advertising agency. Such reactions as ours are usually garnered for a number of reasons:
*Our employers are initially hurt/disappointed that we are leaving and get pissed about it in the end
*They don't want us to take any sensitive client info with us so they TRY to catch us off-guard (as if we didn't already take what we needed before we let them know we were leaving as a precaution for ourselves...)
*They realize they actually don't control you and take back whatever control they do have..which at that point is reduced to letting you go...

Lesson learned:
Although I truly felt like I had just been stabbed the back. I had to realize that my employer felt the exact same way. Everything I was feeling about them, they had already been feeling when they found out I was leaving. It's not personal, it's business. The real friends last through the "break-up" haha.

My advice-Let it go. You know who your contacts are. You know who you can call when you need them. Your employer knows you know, and I'm sure it pisses them off. You'll be fine..remember, you DID find a 35% increase...

LKG

 

[tbonus]

thanks LKG, it has worked out pretty well. I am happy that I made this leap and I have had a conversation with one of the owner's of the old company and he was cordial. We're not going out for drinks every week, but that is fine with me anyway, I am not in a frat house anymore