Welcome to Elisa's Blogosphere!: Last Day in Plano!

So last night was my last day in Plano....for good.

For the first time ever, I actually did too little work for my own liking. As some people might have noticed, I waited to the very last minute to pack up my stuff. I walked in there and looked for the first paper box I could grab and proceeded on putting my belongings in there.

I swear, if I didn't know that I was leaving on my own doing, you would have thought I had been fired or something by my face. I was displaying a sad one, to say the least.

I'm starting on the packing and Ms. Virginia comes by and asked what I'm doing, and I respond, "packing my junk," and of course could not contain my tears. I had promised myself I would not cry, but my emotions were just too much to hold back my tears. If anything, I'm a pretty readable person, if I'm happy, you'll know it, if I'm sad, you can tell, and if I'm angry, I'm either crying because I'm just that upset, or I've got the longest face you've ever seen.

I grab my composure again and continue with my packing. Minutes later Ms. Virginia comes by again saying her son, Daryll, Mr. Daryll, as I like to call him, has come by to wish me goodbye. Well he's got a sense of humor on him and so of course could not let me get away with leaving without incident. I'm sitting in my chair talking with him, Ms. Virginia and Eva when out of nowhere he bust out with his handcuffs (you see he is a Detention Officer in the Jail) and proceeds to place one on my right hand and put the other on my chair. He's like "and where do you think you are going?" We all cracked up laughing. Funny side note, on my very first day there, he did my fingerprints. Now I really can't do anything bad because I'm in the database. He finally was kind enough to let me loose.

I continued on with my packing and oh I guess it was around 7:30 again (seems to be the magical time), Ms. Debbie comes on by and says's "okay Ms. Elisa and everyone else, to the back, please." I thought to myself, "oh no, now what?" Ms. Debbie is like okay we don't have anymore new food, just leftovers from the other night, but we've still got food.

She continued on saying they had a certificate they wanted to present me with. Ms. Debbie, I swear is such a great boss, she attempted to start reading my certificate, and just couldn't continue. Of course, I was just so upset, and couldn't hold back my tears. She turned and asked Ms. Jill to please read the certificate for her, and I quote:

"For her dedication, consistency, strong work ethic, and numerous contributions to the Plano Police Records Department. In 2008 Records received 896 returned crash reports from TXDOT which required follow up on each one. Elisa completed this project in January 2009. In addition to her normal duties of window coverage, translating statements, entering warnings and crash reports, Elisa took on the daunting task of prescreening crash reports prior to sending them to TXDOT in order to cut down on the amount of correction letters from TXDOT. Because of Elisa's efforts to catch and correct errors before the crash reports were sent to TXDOT, the amount of returned crash reports has been dramatically reduced. Elisa accomplished all of this as a part time employee, as she is also employed full time by the City of Garland. Elisa's courteous, respectful, and polite demeanor set an example for all around her and made her a joy to work with. We will all miss her smile, her laughter, and her "yes ma'am" and "yes sir" replies. On behalf of the City of Plano Police Department we would like to extend our deepest gratitude for a job well done to Elisa Morales on this 15th day of April, 2009."

I swear, this nearly floored me....I mean, honestly, I am undeserving of such recognition. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that people around me care about me and appreciate every effort that I gave to my work. I have to give all the glory to God, because seriously you can't imagine just how nervous I was on that first day not knowing what I was walking into and having that gut fear of wondering if I would be qualified to do the job.

The nice gestures continued and Ms. Virginia presented me with a gift. It was a picture frame that read "The gang," and had a group picture we took earlier that week. Then came Ms. Donna with yet another gift (she had left one on my desk earlier...this beautiful wooden woman with metal flowers & a gorgeous card), and gives me this little box.

I opened it up and see that it is a fan and then she proceeds on showing me the neat deal about this special fan....I swear, only Ms. Donna and her creativity would find these little gadgets.....she turned it on and guess what that darn thing did.....when spinning, you know to blow air, in red letters it read, "Elisa loves TXDOT!" The loves part was in the shape of a heart. I was just floored....this is the neatest little gift I've ever gotten.....I'm so in love with it. Of course everyone just got a kick out of it because we all got what that phrase means. I don't want TXDOT to die or anything like that, but I've got my reservations about "them." I seriously thought I was picky, we'll I've met my match - they all must go through some boot camp training to be SOOOOOOO picky, seriously. :)

We all took some time to take some pictures for the memory book or in my case....my blog since I love posting my stories and pics here. I unfortunately did not get one with Ms. Debbie with my camera so I asked Ms. Jill to follow me into her office and get one of us. I get in there and say "Ms. Debbie, may I please get a picture with mi jefa?" Okay, before I go on, I have to explain so that this makes sense because it was super funny what happened. Jefa translates into boss, mi is my. So what I asked was basically "May I take a picture with my jefa?" Next thing I know my boss is asking, "Are you calling me a heffur?" I was like "oh goodness no, I'm asking if I may take a picture with my boss." We of course start cracking up and I'm almost on the floor laughing, all the way begging for Ms. Virginia to come from the front window and rescue me and confirm what I really said. Ms. Jill, Ms. Debbie and I had a good laugh.

I went back to my desk and finished getting my stuff together. 8:30 p.m. finally rolled around and I said my final goodbye's. I went and saw Ms. Debbie one last time to make my resignation official and my entrance to the department illegal. I turned in my badge and my office and desk key. That's when it really sunk in and I realized that I was really leaving this place.

I was on my way out the door when a narcotics officer offered to help take my box to my truck saying he couldn't let a woman walk out with a box in tow and no help.

I tell you, and I say this with all seriousness. If one thing I take from Plano and working in the Police Department, everyone there becomes like your 2nd family. If anything is needed, I saw it first hand, everyone pitches in and helps out...it is a very tight-knit department.

I'll admit, I got into my truck and parked right in front of the office across the parking lot, let all my feelings just flow for a good 5 minutes before I decided I was okay enough to drive.

I seriously will miss this place a TON!