You’ve done it! You’ve landed your first office job and you’ve gone out and splashed the cash on some beautiful workwear pieces. Lucky you, you feel like a real #careergirl now, but on your first few days, things don’t go so smoothly. Here are 7 things that happen when you work in an office for the first time.
#1 You’re the butt of the joke
At some point, the office joker will take advantage of your inexperience and ask you to do something ridiculous like visiting the fifth floor in a building with only four floors, or getting “a long weight” for them, you’ll probably fall for it because you’re eager to please.
#2 You’re too scared to approach the fridge
You keep watching people go and retrieve their lunches/yoghurts/snacks from the fridge and you want to go over there but you kind of feel like everyone is looking at you. You also think you won’t be able to operate any of the super complicated machinery (like the fridge door) and aren’t sure you won’t make a fool of yourself.
#3 Lunchtime is a source of panic
It’s like that scene in Mean Girls where every table has a clique, and you’re just not sure who you want to align yourself. Is it cool to sit by your boss?
#4 You’re not too sure who everyone is
When someone tells you to take your question to ‘Brandon’ you realise you have no idea who he is or what he does, despite the fact you’ve probably been introduced more than once. It’s time to sit down and wait until you hear someone say his name.
#5 You use your desk as a personal bragging space
You feel super important with a stack of papers and a keyboard that was probably used a few times before you got there, but now you can put photographs and cute desk ornaments on your desk, so you spend a silly amount of time finding a really interesting photo that will make your co-workers think you’re really cool.
#6 You can only stand by the copy machine and scratch your head
You watch others using the copy machine and you realise you probably need to take another University degree just to understand it. Sometimes you just stand by it to make it look like you’re doing something.
#7 You get the best gossip
It’s great when you’re in an office for the first time, and you can hear everything everyone is gossiping about right out in the open, even though you have no idea what it all means. It’s juicy, though.
Working in an office for the first time is actually pretty intimidating, hopefully you find the colleagues who’ve got your back, you learn all those pesky names (and job titles) and you decide to actually put your warm yoghurt in the fridge…