  Did I Do The Right Thing? Instead of contemplating the situation, I should really be preparing, but I need to expunge my thoughts. I got a new job. I thought I'd agreed with my outgoing boss that I'd keep working parttime in the evenings until it picked up. I was sick on Tuesday, and came back on Wednesday to pandemonium. A job ad had been placed without my knowledge or input (I had actually volunteered to do just that the day before), and resumes had already been submitted. It turns out he changed his mind and wanted someone in tout suite so I could train them before I left. So I started looking over them, but didn't see any that really jumped out at me. There were 12 in total: 8 were grossly overqualified people with engineering degrees from foreign countries, 3 were supposedly recent or about to be recent grads from the same program as me, and one wanted a change of pace from his current career in telecommunications or something. So later that day, I ended up going out for coffee with a friend. I knew she was desperate for a new job. Even though I knew my boss wanted someone technically knowledgeable, I did the math: friend who needs job + boss who won't leave me alone until I have replacement = me not having to read resumes, interview strangers, and then train one of said strangers. So I suggested it to my boss this morning. Said if you're really that desperate to have someone in here right away, I have a friend who can be here tomorrow morning.
I said - very truthfully - that I could teach her all she needs to know, but that she wouldn't be able to do as much technical stuff as I do right now. It seemed like a win-win situation at the time - friend gets job she thinks is just the bomb, boss gets replacement on short notice.
But it leaves me feeling slightly guilty. I know the company would probably do better with someone who had the background knowledge to eventually do more with the position (like I had intended to do), but I also feel like I wasn't left with many choices. I could have taken another 3 weeks or so to see if any really good candidates applied, and then could spend half the time training them. I'm not saying my friend isn't capable - just that she's not familiar with the industry, and there's a lot more I'll need to explain to her so she can do a good job.
But no, everything's got to be a huge panic. I know my boss well enough that I should have anticipated this, but I guess I was worrying about other things at the time. So now I'm filled with self-doubt. Despite his assurance that he doesn't, is he going to hold this against me? I don't want to lose another potential reference. Is my friend going to be overwhelmed by what there is to learn? Am I going to make her feel dumb trying to teach her this stuff? Is she going to hold me responsible if this job isn't all she thought it was going to be? Is my boss going to hold me responsible if she decides it's not her thing in 6 months? Am I going to be able to teach her everything in the little time I have? Am I going to make it sound too complicated? Basically, if things don't work out, is either party going to hold me responsible?
I think it's a little much that this was all put on me to begin with. Although it was said half-jokingly (my grandpa says all joking is at least 50% true feelings), I was basically told that since I was inconveniencing the company by quitting, the least I could do was find and train my replacement yesterday . I don't know many companies who put this much responsibility on their employees. Heck, I even offered to continue working for a while. But I don't want to be responsible for this indefinitely. I'd like to add that I gave them 2 weeks' notice. Yesterday, one of the field techs up and quit with no notice. Maybe in hindsight I should have done the same.
Even though I've given up on church and religion over the last several years, you may find me praying for help to get through the next few weeks gracefully. Because not only am I still going to be stressing over a job I've technically quit, I'm going to be learning new rules and a new job description. And the new company uses the old company for work on occasion, so grace is going to be of utmost importance. I think I need a beer. =) 
