Employee of the Month? Ha! Ask me about being employee of the month. I'll tell you what it means. What, you want to know? Well, it's like this...
I left school at age eighteen and promptly found work in the offices of a small manufacturing company near out town. Very different from school. A teacher you can snow, bringing up all sorts of excuses for not doing something, but not your manager.
Managers tend to be nasty people who expect you to do the work you're paid for. Still, I adjusted. The staff were a friendly lot, and that included the managers and the big boss (once they were satisfied that you will actually work).
The firm had built up little traditions over the years. A couple of these being casual dress day (the first day of each month) and Employee of the Month. Employee of the Month was always announced on casual dress day and we were given this dinky little trophy ($5 for a pack of twelve, I think).
Most of the female staff seemed to favour jeans on casual dress day, these jeans being of varying degrees of tightness. Quite frankly, I can't see how some of the women get into their jeans, let alone get them off again, they're so tight. I saw one of the girls with jeans that looked as though they were sewn into place and I couldn't help wondering what would happen in she got the trots. She'd be in real strife.
Me, while I like jeans, I'm not really comfortable wearing them to work, even if it is casual dress. What I like to wear, especially in the summer, is a shift dress that just covers my butt and brightly coloured tights. I think I look real cute wearing them.
I'd been working for nearly a year and I'd never received one of the Employee of the Month awards. I'd like to think the contest was rigged, but I guess it was really just a case of me not having the experience, but I'm a fast learner and I was getting better all the time.
The first of the month fell on a Friday after I'd been working for nearly a year. That was fine by me because with my casual dress day clothes on I wouldn't need to go home after work but could stay in town and have some fun.
One of the tasks shared amongst the office staff was the job of getting to work early and unlocking the place. This happened to be my week and I arrived bright and early. It's infuriating when someone arrives early and finds whoever is in charge of opening up is dragging their feet, so I make sure I'm not the one to do that.
I was somewhat surprised when I arrived to find the place already open. I waltzed in, checking that the lights were on and that the kettle was full (and on. I wanted coffee) and generally doing the odds and sods that the opener had to do.
I'd already noticed the light on in the boss's office and guessed that he was the early arrival. I was just heading towards my desk when Mr Branis stuck his head out of his office door.
"Ah. Carlene. Just the person I wanted. If you've got a minute?"
I found out very early in the piece that an 'if' from the boss is a polite way of saying 'do this now'. I smiled and headed towards his office.
He ushered me in, closing the door behind me. Sitting on his desk was the little Employee of the Month cup, and I was shrieking inside myself 'Yes!'.
"I like your choice in casual style, Carlene," he told me. "Very colourful."
I smiled and thanked him and waited, because there was no way known that he'd just called me in to say that.
"Ah, yes. I can see you're looking at out little cup and wondering," he said, and there was a smile on his face. "Wonder no more. You've finally got one. Both I and Mr Farqueson are quite pleased with the way you're doing your job and we agreed that you deserve a cup. You may take it home or put it on your desk, as you please."
