Was it something I said? I asked about the raise and then....

Seriously, I think this is a great move, and I think your second thoughts are entirely understandable.

Their fate is NOT your problem. You've given them excellent value for their money, extraordinary service, and it's probably kept them going longer than they deserve. (weird metaphor alert:) Bernie is a chaos addict, apparently, and you've been codependently trying to keep him functioning for a long time. Your liberation may well precipitate his collapse, but that doesn't make it your responsibility.

Yay!! It's the right move, you know it is. The only thing staying on would do is delay the inevitable. Work out your two weeks, take a few days to rest and get over the lingering insanity and then start the great job hunt *g*

Oh, after your last day, maybe you should change all your phone numbers and your email addy so Bernie can't find you to ask for bits of help...

Thanks, both of you. I appreciate the support.

And, no, Jonathan, it wasn't anything you said. We all know this has been coming for months.

I hadn't thought of Bernie as a chaos addict. I've known people like him before. I think it as as a sort of liars pathology.

It's something I've seen before in people who tell lies casually--they say whatever they think someone wants to hear (they don't even think of it as "lying"), regardless of whether or not they mean or believe it--and then they go mad trying to cover their tracks and keep from being caught out. Which means they need to keep making up more lies or, like Bernie, just boldly claim that reality is different than it is and trust that in the ensuing confusion the truth of the matter will be lost.

I'm not necessarily truthful because I'm a person of high moral values. It's just that--I don't tell lies because it takes too much energy to keep track of them and I'm far too lazy to live in that kind of turmoil. Nor, as I've finally decided, do I want to work for someone who considers that kind of turmoil a sign of "productivity" in a company.