My friends and family will all attest that I am an awkward clumsy dumb blond in an unassuming package. This is probably why I attract a similar type…even in the workplace.
Last week my girl Ash started a new internship at [insert name of American car company here]. Like me she is a bit uncoordinated and smart as hell but a little, well, ditsy. She humbly shared her first couple days on the job with me and what do I do? Share her embarrassing stories with the world! Love you G!!
Day 1: Orientation
Monday at orientation we were finalizing paperwork and sitting in a big conference room with all the new interns (about 75). We had just completed the token awkward ice breaker. The exercise didnt seem too difficult, just ask the person next to you three interesting facts about themselves and write down their name and school. So, I’m sitting there cracking jokes, and talking non-stop to try to dispel the difficulty of communicating with an engineer and the lady organizing the orientation walks up to me and says “Go ahead, dear.” and hands me a microphone. Ummmmmm Whaaatt????? Naturally I didn’t read the instructions on the ice breaker so I just stood up and start introducing myself and saying Go State and how I’m doing purchasing and I’m all excited to get started and how my last names is goodenough but i love it anyways, blah blah blah. Basically just rambling on and on about myself and trying to crack some jokes (Apparently this is what I do when I’m nervous??). Then I get a little tap on the shoulder and the woman tells me that this was the second part of the ice breaker and I was actually suppose to be introducing the person next to me for the last 3 minutes… But OH!…not to end there… I was then so just, like confused and embarrassed that I forgot my partner’s name and asked if I could “consult my notes” because I forgot what to say. Allll while the microphone is right up to my mouth.
Lessons learned:
1. Never be the first to take the microphone
2. Always read the instructions
3. Pretend it didn’t happen
Day 4: Keep Your Head Up
My head’s still spinning with all this information but after the third day I’m happy to report things are getting much better. I’m putting together large concepts and figuring out how to analyze the smallest parts of a car. Right down to the $0.02 tooling it takes to screw in a weldnut…exciting I know. It actually is very interesting. I like it. Anyways, today my supervisor and I were walking back to our desks after a long meeting about financing and piece prices. If you know me, you know that I am horrible at paying attention to my surroundings. We had just rounded the corner of the office cubicles when my supervisor ecstatically asks me if I just saw the man that walked by us. I looked up and around and said “No, shoot! I wasn’t paying attention. Was he cute?”. My supervisor responds “Umm no. That was [insert name of billionaire car company heir here]“.
Lessons Learned:
1. Walk with your head up
2. Always say hello
3. Figure out if that guy is single 
just kidding
