And now for a load of boring shite
Apparently all the people who told me that working in financials involved long hours were entirely correct. I have not even been here for a month yet, and I spent an hour at home last night finishing a report I needed for this morning, because I had training all day yesterday. Since week one I have not left at 5.30. This is of course my own doing. I plan on doing pretty well here. I have no qualms with putting in some effort to that end. I don’t want money I can’t earn.
When I started here, I realised that I was significantly younger than everyone else, and wondered if this would be a problem. Because you see, I never mentioned my age in the interview, it is not on my CV, and they didn’t ask. In England it is not only normal not to finish secondary school until 18/19, it is normal to take a year or two out before going to college, presumably because fees are not paid by the government. So logically, even if I was quite young I’d have started college at say, 19, done 4 years, and then had the year and a half+ of work experience that appears on my CV, making me around 25, at the minimum.
My mild concern was validated yesterday, when I mentioned that my birthday was just after St. Patrick’s day, and a colleague asked what age I would be. After dissembling for a minute I eventually just sheepishly told her, at which point she laughed, and said something like “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to you know, you don’t have to make one up�. This girl is 7 years older than me. Dilemma. I didn’t lie, but what do I do the next time someone asks? “None of your business� is not a good way to make friends in a new workplace. And I’m not lying about it. But I have no desire to be seen as a kid.
At this point, I could rant on about my emotional state, which has fluctuated lately, and been of some significance. However, I have zero intention of using this blog for anything but opinionated ranting, and updates on my activities for anyone who’s interested. I will not be talking about my feelings, my relationships, or any other drivel like that. That’s nobody’s business but mine, and if I ever had a blog that contained that stuff, it would contain all of it, and I would certainly not be telling any of my friends about it, because it would be about them.
In other vaguely relevant news, we had our first house party, which I deem a complete success, we were all hammered, but no-one made a fool of themselves and nothing got broken. And the clean-up was in no way horrifically tedious the next morning. Ali made lamb curry for dinner last night, and it was incredibly good, I was previously unaware that Indian food is meant to be eaten with your fingers, and found this fascinating, which was doubtless somewhat off-putting for poor Ali.
That’s about it I think. For anyone who wants to know, I will be coming to Limerick on Friday night, and staying till Sunday afternoon, so if you want to meet me during that time let me know in advance if possible, by email or text. And anyone who doesn’t have my English number should mail me if they want it, I think I screwed up my contact details mail somehow and it didn’t get to several people.
January 25th, 2006 at 12:11 am
Being seen as a kid? I dunno. I think the assumption that older people will treat you as a kid because you’re years younger than them is a bit, well, presumptious. I know when i worked in tecnomen there was only one guy whom i worked with that was anywhere near my age, the average age in my group would have been about 30. Decent people will treat you based on merit, those who don’t should just be disregarded anyway.
January 25th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
I have made no assumptions whatsoever. What I am talking about is the risk of being seen as a kid, not a certainy. I agree that its entirely possible no-one will care about my age. In fact, I hope that’s the case. Because when my birthday comes around I would like people to be aware of my actual age, certainly if they ask I’d like to tell them, and I think that I will, regardless of the outcome.
However, saying that people who judge based on something foolish should be disregarded is a bit pointless. Noble as the sentiment may be, if it matters to my boss then it matters to me however indirectly that might be. Personally, I think judging someone based on their age instead of their ability and maturity is ridiculous. But in work, my opinion, wonderful as I may regard it to be, is irrelevant. Likewise your advice to disregard people who are not “decent�, wonderful as it may be, is irrelevant.
January 26th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Is that a dig at my blog?
January 26th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
That, if you are serious, was a stupid question. :) The only problem I have with your blog is that you always expect me to have read it.