Because the offer happened RIGHT at the end of my work day, I wrote a very brief resignation letter to my CEO and VP just before 5:30 PM when they would be signing off. I wanted to be sure they saw it so that I would be giving a full two weeks' notice for them.

I had written a straight forward, "I am giving my notice. My last day will be two weeks from today. Thank you so much for all the opportunities you've given me to grow and learn".

Something like that. Well, my CEO called me and clearly wasn't happy with the way I wrote my resignation. He said "so, you learn things here, then take it elsewhere?" in a snide way.

I tried to give him a lot of positives about my experience in the company, but then eventually told him our team is lacking leadership and that we as a team need a strong leader -- I mentioned the high turnover in that role. Then I told him some of the negatives that had driven me to want another role: that I was far too overloaded with clients, that my plate and workload was far too stressful, and that I am very burnt out. I also mentioned that this other company is willing to pay me more and has strong leadership in place. I told him that I have to look out for myself at this time in my career - that I am not getting any younger and that time is ticking by.

So then my CEO twists all of that around to basically tell me I am selfish. He also said he had defended me a bunch when the VP griped to him that I wouldn't help out. How could I help, I told the CEO, when my own workload, deadlines AND clients would suffer if I did put my work aside to help others? I told him, I helped as much and when I could, but really, you need more staff on the team, plus a team leader. In the end, he told me he is surprised and disappointed.

But otherwise, I felt anything positive I tried to say, he poisoned it with a negative spin. We hung up the phone, and I could tell he wasn't happy with me. ARGH!!

I am SO glad I am leaving, but at the same time, I REALLY need a positive reference from my CEO for the future, and I need to maintain a positive rapport with him. And now he's not happy.