A Memorable Farewell

Our previous Sales Director for Asia Pacific, who has been with our company 30 years, is retiring. One week from today, he returns to Idaho where he has bought a piece of land by the lake. One imagines he will spend his days fishing and boating by the lake, building his house, and playing with his grand kids. We were all invited to his farewell dinner at il lido, an italian restaurant in beaufort hotel on Sentosa beach. It was quite a posh place with a seaview and golf course right beside. The view was amazing at night. Sad too say, we were all a little giddy with good wine and high humor to really notice.

As the restaurant was at Sentosa island, we had to charter a bus there. So four of us gals decided to go for happy hour while waiting for the bus. We talked about the rich and retired, which eventually led to the multimillionaires we (or rather, Steph) knew. A round of drinks later, we all met up with the rest of our colleagues to board the bus.

We were noticeably the "loud" group as we joked and shared pretend gossip and talked about how the 4 of us should start a band and who should do what. By the time we reached the restaurant, we were in good mood and ready for our drinks - lychee martinis all around. We were the first, and only gals to hit the bar counter the minute we stepped in, and with drinks in our hand, we headed for the spot with the best view, away from our bosses. This was of course after we had congratulated our Sales Director on his retirement. He claimed to have started working for our company before we were born, which was in 1980. We were not about to correct him on that.

When the lovely maitre'd gave the signal that dinner was ready, 2 of us were assigned to grab seats at a table where there wouldn't be "shop talk" and the other 2 to help grab our belongings from where we had dropped them - the first empty couch nearest to the bar counter. We succeeded in securing a table where the 4 of us could sit together, at least 3 tables from the "top brass". It was mayhem after that. Dosed high on drinks and almost reaching rowdy status, there were people who headed straight for our table, who were looking to be entertained. And true to form, we lived up to expectations.

Inevitably, it was speech time, and while I knew that our Steve was a humorous guy, I was amazed at how sporting he was. He obligingly acceded to all our photo requests and jokes, and made everyone feel glad that they had come. Our Marketing GM presented him with our gift - an A3 sized card with photos of all the good times they had with him, and with all our good wishes on the back. In addition, there was a book about sailing which he could use to spend his free time on. Not to be outdone, our current Sales GM also made a toast.

After that, it was dessert and port time, and by then, Christina and myself were ready to go home and miss out on our dancing arrangements with Tweet and Steph. While we were all making our way out, it was time for last minute photos with the 9 litre Champagne bottle (costing 2K), waiters and more photos with Steve. The coach driver ferrying us back to Singapore was kind enough to drop me 10 min away from home by car. It was easy to grab a cab and I was home soon. So here I am journaling this night. While it was to a farewell to a much loved Steve (whom both Christina and myself hardly knew), it was in true spirit of the man - he knew how to have fun and in true legacy up to his farewell - we all had a blast of a time. Thank you Steve. Hope you have a great time enjoying your lake in Idaho. We really wanted to get you a fishing rod but found that too big and clumsy a gift for you to carry home. Kia ora.