Well gang, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've fallen prey to the blandishments of filthy lucre, and will start a regular 9-to-5'er on Monday, after 18 months of voluntary semi-idleness.
But it's a strange story that may illustrate the benefits of being appreciated by former co-workers.
From 1986 to Dec 2000, I worked for a large public electric utility in South Jersey. One of the people I did several database systems for, who also left around the same time I did, is now the Marketing Director for
Godwin Pumps a $200M revenue, privately owned industrial pump manufacturer and sales/rental outfit about 20 miles up the road from me.
About two months ago, they decided they needed a database guru wth marketing, finance and training skills. I saw the ad in the paper, and just out of curiosity shot them up my resume - what they were looking for nearly mirrored my experience and background so I thought what the hell....
That afternoon, I get a call - Marie (the M. D.) nearly yells in to the phone "Jim!!!! I can't believe it's you!" Long story short, she had actually said to the President of the company, "Geeze, I wish I knew where Jim Hare was, he's the guy we need for this job." She went on yada-yada-ing for 20 minutes about how much I had helped her at the electric Co. and that kind of junk until the Pres was nearly blue in the face from disgust.
I went up, got glad-handed and back-slapped, entertained the Pres with a couple of jokes and stories, and they went on bended knee to offer a nice package. Private office, parking space, accelerated vacation, 401K, Profit Sharing (the '06 bonus to all eligible emps was 3% of their gross), Med/Dental/Vision/Life, etc etc. I start Monday.
So the moral of the story, I suppose, it that if you make a good impression on co-workers and supervisors, it might just come back to haunt you when you least expect it.