First Day At Work

What’s up guys, back again!

Feels like I never left right?

Hope everyone’s having a great week so far, I know I am… because it’s the fortnightly payday today!

Yay! Money from our corporate masters – Huzzah!

To be honest, I was tempted to transfer some of my hard-earned into a crypto account.

But then I remembered that I don’t like speculating. So I transferred it to my Sportsbet investment fund instead.

Today’s also the day that a whole bunch of graduates started their careers and a couple of them are in our team.

I love having grads in our team – their fresh-faces, keen-eyes and enthusiastic minds remind me of many joyful memories I experienced when I was that age, my first day of work out of uni.

~~~~

Flashback to a long, long time ago.

8am. 

A young man, seemingly unsure of himself, walks through the glass doors of BigMoneyCorp.

“Smell that TheFrugalSamurai, we’ve made it” he quietly mutters, moving across the marbled concierge to the triple elevators.

He presses the elevator button and waits.

Next to him, a middle-aged woman is having an intense discussion with her younger colleague.

“…I can’t believe she would say that, especially after the last conversation… can you believe…”

The elevator arrives and they all step in.

At level 4 – the young man steps out.

“Focus, this is it – time to be somebody!”

10am.

The young man finishes a conversation with a new colleague and walks back to his desk.

“Whew, managed to survive the first couple of hours fine – everyone seems nice and I hope I didn’t come across as too eager – now let’s get onto some of this training”.

Suddenly, he hears his name being called over by his manager, “THEFRUGALSAMURAI”.

He immediately gets up and walks over to his manager’s desk.

“Can you please help NotFrugalAtAll with this project, he’ll walk you through it”.

Fuck yes, the young man thinks – his first task, he wants to do it well and do it fast.

12pm.

The first task is harder than the young man originally thought – he is having trouble finding the relevant information.

But he is determined, he wants to impress, he wants to show his new colleagues he is capable.

Suddenly, Eureka! A breakthrough – he is able to find the missing piece. The puzzle is unraveled.

1pm.

At the foodcourt around the corner, 3 young men and 2 young women are sitting around discussing their first day at work so far. The mood is light with much laughter.

“Yep, and then my boss said – LC do this…”

“Ha ha ha, some of the older guys are so funny…”

“Yeah I know – but they told me to avoid him, think he’s gonna get fired soon…”

“WTF – $9.50 for some chicken and 2 slices of bread… when’s the afternoon specials…”

330pm.

The young man is in conversation with a different colleague, the colleague asks the young man to help out on another task, the young man readily agrees.

“Awesome that I’m being exposed to so much, love it”.

He tackles this new task with relish – eager to make a good impression.

5pm. 

The young man’s manager calls him over.

“How’d your first day go?”

“Excellent, I love being here, people are nice, the work is challenging, LOVE IT”

“Great! You did really well, you’ve got a great attitude so glad to have you with us, remember, its your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude. So go home, rest up, have an early mark, see you tomorrow”

The young man beams inside at the positive feedback, goes back to his desk, packs up his things and walks out the door.

“A great day! Can’t wait for tomorrow – really fortunate to be here!”

~~~~

Can still remember my first day like I was there, twas the first step of a very long and winding road.

When I spoke to the grads this morning, it reminded me of that day.

It’s a good memory, when I was more youthful and innocent.

Sometimes as we grow older, we become more aware of the corporate way, of playing the game.

We may start to be a little bit tired, a little bit jaded, a little bit over the bullshit.

Somewhere along the way we turn into cynics, and criticisers and excuse-makers.

That’s why I wrote this post for myself as much as anyone else as a reminder that its your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude.

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