When people leave a company or organization, sometimes before you put your dying plant and all the post-it notes you can steal into the old copy paper box, you swing by HR and tell them why you’re leaving, why the job sucked, and ways you think it should be improved. Sometimes I wish dating came with mandatory exit interviews.

Don’t you ever wonder why a person just suddenly loses interest in you after a few dates and a million text messages for seemingly no reason? Or do you ever wish you can tell that online date that his profile picture was obviously photoshopped and that his personality is about as dull as my high school algebra teacher? Even in my brutal honesty, I like to maintain an amount of tactfulness and kindness, so I swallow what I really want to say and say something less ego damaging and then come home and blog about it.

My roommate recently went out with a guy she met on an online dating service. She was a bit excited about this guy after a few back-and-forth conversations, and they made plans for a first date. After the first date, she said he was nice, didn’t seem as excited about him, but was willing to go on another date and get to know him better. They continued to text daily, and they met up for a second date which was exponentially better than the first. It was comfortable, they talked well into the evening, and she was excited to see him again. Then he simply stopped responding to her texts. She was frustrated and a little sad, but she knew this was part of the world of dating. Then about a week after she last heard from him, he sends her a random text and then nothing else. So, what the heck happened??

See, this is where an exit interview would come in very handy.

Possible Exit Interview Questions: (replace “job” with “relationship” and voila!)

• What is your primary reason for leaving?
• Did anything trigger your decision to leave?
• What was most satisfying about your job?
• What was least satisfying about your job?
• What would you change about your job?
• Do you have any tips to help us find your replacement?
• Were you happy with your pay, benefits, and other incentives?
• Would you consider working again for this company in the future?
• What did you like most about this company?
• What did you like least about this company?
• What does your new company offer that this company doesn’t?
• Can this company do anything to encourage you to stay?
• Any other comments?