Employee Training
The day after Labor Day, I arrived at the office in a pair of black pants and my favorite pink and black striped shirt. Because I am so fond of this particular attire and how hip yet professional I believe I look in it, I had worn the same outfit for each of the three rounds of interviews it took to get this job. But hey, they must have liked it or I wouldn’t be here, right?
Employee training consisted of inching through an intimidating black binder, one section at a time, in hour-long sessions led by the people who in a week would be my coworkers, but at the time seemed like idiot-savants confidently babbling incoherent explanations of accounting conventions, financial statements, Excel procedures and Powerpoint styles.
It didn’t take long to realize that I was the idiot and that it would be really hard to fake ‘savant.’
After ten hours of this I was simultaneously hoping for the end and terrified by what the completion of training would imply about my capability to provide valuable services to the company. The final presentation was on company policies, concluding with a brief discussion of the company dress code. Finally, something I felt equipped to handle. “Alright,” our Managing Director finished. “Any questions on this?”
I looked down at my shirt and smiled. “Nope.” With that, we left the conference room, ostensibly fully initiated and productive members of the team.
It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized I couldn’t wear the Pink and Black shirt again for at least another week.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Count your blessings. I’d be lucky if I could wear a pink and black shirt any day of the week.