People and the Place

A handful of incidents came together to spark off an idea; a random conversation between my mom and an uncle involving her friend, a friend from the ex-company who had called to ask me for gift ideas, and a very poignant article in the Readers Digest.

None of these incidents are connected, but somehow all of them put together did make sense to me. I’ll tell you how and why.  Sometime back, Amma and an Uncle were discussing about somebody they knew in common and that was her friend. What my Uncle couldn’t fathom was – how can you have friends at work? Those people are called colleagues. I walked into the corporate world with the same notion ingrained in my system.

When Senthil had called a couple of days back, I was meaning to get in touch with him for a long time, only to realize that I had lost his number. We got discussing about the company, on how much it had changed from being Jurassic Park to Joggers Park in the last 13 odd months, about ex-employees who had made a comeback and life in general. Suddenly he remembered why he’d called – they were playing Secret Santa; he wanted me to help my ex-Team Lead choose a gift for another friend.  Quite a long shot, but what took me by surprise was the fact that they zeroed on me to choose a gift for Shilpa.

There was an article in the Readers Digest some 3-4 months by this guy who was reminiscing about the man who taught him the ways around during his first job. It traces the journey from how he found the senior pretty irritating in the beginning, grew to liking him and how much he missed him once he left the company.

Am sure you are still wondering what connects these three; it is my corporate life. I’ve been on the salaried class list for like 19 months now, quit my first job in 6 months flat, moved to another company and been sticking out like a sore thumb ever since.  13 months and counting in the current job, I walk into the place every morning with a steadfast smile plastered on my face and with that flicker of hope that today will be better than yesterday.  I look around and see a lot of faces; sadly I don’t connect with any of them. 

To clear the clouded brain off the confusion I received the following pieces of advice: 

You don’t go to work to make friends, they simply happen. – Best Friend

They are paying you no? Then why are you screaming? – Liverpool FC Loving Boy Aka A

And here’s the best piece of Corporate Gyaan I received from my first boss. When we walked out of a particularly bad client call, I was shell shocked by the intensity. It was my first ever project. This is what he had to say “Yahan pe, aise hi hota hai. Ek din khud seekh jaoge”.

My interpretation of the same would be – Kuch log seekh jaate hai aur kuch log sehna seekh lete hai.

Bottomline: I’ve learnt to live with it, being alone is definitely not that bad a thing. End of the day, it’s the experience that counts. The rest of them are plain props.

PS: Santa, I’ve been a very nice girl all through this post. I haven’t used a single swear word, that I planned to use. So, here’s what I want – a Punching Bag, slick black gloves and don’t forget that helmet. I promise to put them to good use.
PS1: If you think I need classes on how to make friends and not feel weird-ed out, I have an answer, I will simply say - Eff-Off.
PS2: A colleague told me people thought I was weird, I would request you to read PS1. I have better things to do in life than worry over inconsequential issues like this.
PS3: This post was meant to make my point clear - I don't give a rat-ass about what you think about me :)

– Peace Out