Let’s make things straight from the beginning, Jay is not dead!
In case you don’t know whom I am talking about, Jay is the person that until now has answered your questions on Facebook, and has published these amazing blog posts for the past 9 months. If you read his interview, you know that he is from Australia.
As I am also a foreigner working abroad, I can perfectly understand homesickness. When it kicks in, there is not much you can do besides going home. And that’s what happened with Jay. He decided to leave the company and go back to the country of kangaroos.
He will be deeply missed in the company because he is genuinely a sunny-natured person. He is literally bringing the sun in those rainy German days. There are SO many stories to tell about him that I don’t really know where to start.
Personally, I will remember him for his “take it easy” approach to life, which managed to release my own stress too. Thanks for that, Jay! His smile was contagious and, after working with him for a while, I started to recognize his “question mark face”, as you can clearly see in the image below.
And let’s not forget to mention that time it took us more than 7 hours to film one AskTravian episode because it was just impossible not to laugh at every take. In case you need a reminder, check out this video!
Out of curiosity, I asked some colleagues what they will remember the most about Jay.
Martin, our Brand Manager, told me „column hugging“. Just to give you some background here: in the middle of our office room there is a column and, from time to time, Jay was hugging it for comfort (well, I also did that a couple of times). You know what they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Priya, our Senior Project Lead, will remember him as the „purest and most innocent heart“ on earth; one of those very hard to find straightforward people. He always mean what he says.
Kasia and Yuliya, some of our QAs, for sure will remember him as the “random question generator”. Just imagine him entering the room, out of the blue, approaching you and asking, “If you were an animal, which one would you be?”.
Dimi, one of our Developers, looked at me, smiled and said, “What a nice guy!”. I assume there’s some secret business going on between him and Jay. But he was nice enough to share this picture with me. And, trust me, I think it represents Jay very well. Spot on!
Jake, our Game Designer, said that the first thing that comes to his mind when he thinks about Jay is that he always cheered everybody up with his jokes and his ability to ask super random questions.
And last but not least Nick, who was probably the closest person to Jay within the company. This is what he said about him:
«Jay, Jay, Jay. Where do I start? This man has made me laugh more than any comedian ever has. I remember when Jay started here, and we went outside to take a quick break. He got so excited by something, that when we set off back inside, he started running so fast that he fell flat on his face. I remember thinking „Okay, this one is special“.
Or how about the time Jay held a presentation in front of the whole team and the stakeholders, and accidentally typed in the password to his account into the name field. Everybody could read it projected on the wall. I’m not going to tell you what it was, but it was naughty.
Jay is also the master of shit-talking. You could talk to him to no end about literally anything, as silly as the premise may be. And it would always end in laughter.
Jay I’m going to miss you, you kind, funny, quirky soul. People say“stay who you are“ all the time, but I really hope you do. And I really hope you enjoy your new place as much as we all enjoyed being with you.»
We are really losing our sunshine with you leaving the company, believe us, you will be greatly missed!
Have a safe trip back to Australia, Jay!
P.S. Don’t worry, you won’t be left alone on Facebook, Giulia will take Jay place and soon you will get to know her.
