Nothing is more cringe-worthy than that transition from being a reckless college student to trying to adult and to prove at work why you were hired… without being awkward. 

Once done with college, one expects life to go easy and smooth. Honestly, no, that’s not how it rolls. Without another chance to breathe, you’re pushed into the work atmosphere and before you can get the hang of it, you’re expected t give a presentation and attend a conference already! Phew, being the youngest employee at work can be tough… until the next year. So, hold on and read these highly relatable moments you face at work.

1. Phone Buzzes During the  Meeting

Fresh out of the university, everyone gives you major advices on what to do and what not to. What they forget to mention is the silent 3-seconds-humiliation-stare that you get when your phone rings in the middle of a meeting or during a brainstorm session. And don’t even get started on the horror of you getting a follow back call which makes you wish you could go invisible through the session.

2. Presentation Laptop Conflicts

Finally, the time is here, you’re facing your CEO, manager and colleagues. You connect your laptop to the projector and without another thought (or look), click the play button to start your slideshow… and everything goes something like this:

You: “I welcome you all here. Today’s presentation is about the importance of social media marketing for our applications.”

*Nicki Minaj starts singing ‘Anaconda’ through the speakers*

*Everyone looks disgusted, amused or angry and stares at you*

You: *turn around to see the screen to find Nicki Minaj twerking at your face*

You: Sorry for the inconvenience. Wrong window.

Inner You: Might as well kill myself now.

3. Office Gossip With Colleagues? *GULP*

Just when you thought you were free of all the high school and university drama of mean girls, you were wrong. At work, this is about 10 times worse, especially when you’re new. Colleagues brainwash you into giving some nasty comments to use them against you to get you vulnerable. Not everyone is as bad or good as they look on the on the outside.

4. Office Baby

Being the youngest of the lot isn’t that great. You’re expected to act like an adult while everyone around you treats you like a baby. Occasional pats on your head, ‘aww’ing at everything that you do and asking you if you really know how to deal with the task given to you or do you need help.

*Major eye roll*

5. Talking to Yourself

Nothing can be more embarrassing than someone catching you giving yourself the beautiful, strong and confident young lady/man speech on your work desk or in the cafeteria. They stare at you like you’re an alien and you aren’t normal, making you question your sanity and making you want to hide from them for the rest of eternity.

6. “Free” is Exciting!

The endless supply of scribble pads, pencils, sticky notes and rubber bands gets you excited. The pens that you’ve lost while in school and university can finally be replaced. Though, what gets you even more hyped up than a sale on Michael Kors is the time you hear that there are free donuts/cupcakes/anything that’s edible available in the pantry! (And you step in when no one’s looking to hide some in your bag/tissue paper and grab as many as your hands can hold).

7. And You Just Can’t Remember Names

Every single time a person introduces himself/herself to you, you tend to daze out and concentrate on everything except what they are saying. And after realizing that they’re done introducing, you smile at them warmly, while contemplating over asking their name again and decide not to… just to show that you were paying attention (and secretly hoping that no matter how awesome that person is, you don’t meet him/her again). All your future encounters sound like this: “Oh! Hieee… … … you!”

8. Pushing the Pull Door

Working in an office teaches you that, pushing a pull door (or vice versa) in public, while surrounded by a bunch of strangers whom you’ll never meet again, is not as embarrassing as doing the same while exiting the conference room or while getting out of your boss’s room. Add on embarrassment: when your boss tells you that the door says ‘pull’.

9. Conference Calls Over Skype

Most of the conference calls that you attend are so funny (before they get serious) that you try to maintain your smile and poker-face while your boss, CEO and the client start off like this:

1: “Hello, Ameena.”

2: “Yeah, hi, hello, Raj.”

3: “Hello, hi, can you hear me?”

1: “Raj, Ella, I can hear you both.”

3: “Hello, okay. Let’s start. What’s on schedule today?”

2: “Hello? Hi? Have we started? Hi, Ella, how are you?”

10. Someone Else Praised For Your Work

Nothing, nothing on earth is more disheartening than your boss and CEO praising someone else for the work that you’ve done! At that moment, nothing gets you more annoyed than that colleague, who stole all your credits, standing there beaming with happiness and pride. If they receive a salary hike because of that particular work, you go all berserk “Cash me ousside. How bow dat?” in their face.

Hang in there young human, you’ll learn some of the office survival 101s… and soon there’ll be a new, younger-than-you intern, that you can order around, treat like an intern, scare and gossip around with. *Wink*

Have you been through any weirder moments while at work? Comment and let us know!