Casual Fridays

My first week has been rather hectic. I'll do my best not to bore you with everyday details and try to focus on a broad reflection on life in the world of employment. Right from the get go, I was thrown into the deep end by my otherwise benevolent bosses. Between conference calls on topics I had never heard of and reports on projects I had never been introduced to, I felt like I was drowning. Faced with problems my otherwise rigorous college education had failed to even moderately prepare me for, I retreated into what I did know; social media. As many young interns quickly discover, the member of the office with the most recent birth is almost always the most up to date with the fast moving world of information technology. Finally there was something that I could do better than my colleagues and I quickly embraced it.

Asserting myself as something of a Google Documents guru, at least in the eyes of my coworkers, I began setting up a network to bring my office into the world of 2011. A robust Google Documents network, a well-managed Doodle account, and a colorful office Picasa later and I had safely steered myself away from any actual work my employment was supposed to entail. Suddenly, what my coworkers had thought of as cowardice to confront any issues--and in their defense, it was--was improving office efficiency and encouraging unprecedented levels of communication. I had found my niche and was thriving; traditional paper-pushing be damned. Throughout the week, I set up accounts and created tutorials for the more senior members of our work force and as I went along my merry, tech oriented way, I began to understand the other office projects.

What had started as a retreat from the unknown had become my gateway to it. As countless position papers came through my Google account, I slowly began to understand them. Where before I had balked at large spread sheets of budget details and long lists of antiquated acronyms, I began to embrace them as my own. Before long, through my network, I was so deeply integrated into the office framework that senior officials were coming to me for advice, not on how to create accounts or utilize internet applications, but on ideas for papers and proposals. After an extended adjustment period, I suddenly felt at home. While a week is perhaps too soon to declare victory, I now feel confident in my ability to work in the world. Whether other employers will feel the same when I graduate in a quasi-recession afflicted economy remains to be seen.