Lunch with the ex-colleagues

One of best thing about my current department is the people here.
(1) All are in my age group (Age 20-99).
(2) There is no conflict of interest (because there is no room for promotion).
(3) We are a very united family (because we badmouth the same people, Mr Blinky).
(4) We care about each other (by gossiping).

And the interesting thing to note is that the people who always claim that they will quit the company, never leaves!
Mr All-Rounder has been claiming to leave my company for the past 10 years, and is still here.
I have made the same claim for the past 5 years. Damnit!

Its always the low profile guys that catch us by surprise with the resignations. Those sneaky little b*****ds.

Anyway, I have lunch with ex-colleagues now and then. We are still very close despite being in different organisations.

It dawned upon me yesterday's outing that those ex-colleagues who were at the lunch all went for overseas trip within 1 year. Mr Cockroach went Sydney, Australia. Mr Oil-Station was stationed in Hong Kong for 2 years. Even my colleagues who have crossed over to other departments are going overseas working trips. Ms Cabbage went to Mumbai and Mr XiaoDingDang went to Belgium.

And I remembered. I have never went on overseas company trip for the past 5 years!
There were many situations when I was close to going for one, but some event will occur at the last minute to dash my hopes.

Coming back to the topic on ex-colleagues, they are all doing very well, both in terms of pay package and job satisfaction. And incidentally, they don't work for local companies.

Eating lunch with them was a great time to catch-up. ^_^
Its an eye opening experience to see the wonderful culture of other companies.
And the places to go to when overseas.

Its also a reflection of why we are still remaining here when the grass out there is greener.