Her First Day

A very short story

Photograph by author

It was her first day. The smells, the sounds, the light , artificial, ambient and natural , all were new and unfiltered. The privilege of being an unknown, gave her permission to be whatever she presented as. Like a newly laundered hand towel that you can hold to your face, breathing in the freshness before it’s undone by wet hands.

Watching staff and managers pass by, interacting with each other in their environment, she’d guess the place each had in the organisation and community of employees. As an outsider, no one had more than an impression of her, framed by their own experiences.

The office manager introduced himself describing his role in a single sentence, then proceeded to let her know where she could find the cafeteria, kitchen, toilets and stationery cupboard. She should familiarise herself with the staff handbook after which he suggested she should get a coffee in the cafeteria. He’d meet her back here at 10-15.

As she drank the unremarkable coffee, she mused that her window of anonymity was closing. She could spend lunch alone, appearing shy or unsociable, or join her colleagues and begin her inevitable, though unstated, social initiation.

Back at her desk, she was introduced properly to her colleagues. As the manager welcomed her to the team, she recalled from her interview…