Microsoft and Apple thought. Linux, either, for that matter.
“So,” she finished, “why don’t you introduce yourselves, tell me a little about what you do here at Marathon and a little about yourselves?”
Their answers would tell her what to train and where to focus it.
Looking at each person as they spoke, she tucked the pertinent information into the back of her mind.
The receptionist, Claudia, was in this group, so she’d need to review the section about calling up the files and finding where she’d need to direct a call to the right person. Others she listened to, knowing she’d be lucky to remember their names before the last one gave his but she made certain she looked interested. As she listened, she assessed the group, trying to gauge the dynamics – who might be an ally, and who might become an enemy. She knew she had to step carefully, as if she walked through an imaginary minefield. Someone in this office considered themself the go-to person on the software system Marathon already had. Whoever that was needed to be converted from enemy to friend or half of what she taught would be undone by backbiting and nay-saying.
She also had to find an ally, someone to guide her through the intricate interrelationships that dominated all offices. Who to watch out for and who to kowtow to. Who was the dragon at the gate, the person whose self-appointed job was to make things difficult? She also had to be careful who she picked as an ally. If she picked the wrong person, she was sunk again.
As much as she disliked it, it was essential. Every office was like high school in a way, with its cliques, its losers and renegades. If her ally was one of the losers or the renegades, she’d be relegated to whatever status they had in the corporate pecking order. Some renegades were respected, some weren’t. A loser or geek, no matter how nice, would take her to the bottom with them. The same was true of the cliques. Pick the wrong clique and the other cliques got their collective noses out of joint. What she needed was the one or two people who were tolerated by everyone.
There was one girl who caught her eye.
Normally, Ariel might have passed her over.
Big and big boned, with dark hair and eyes, the girl was chipper and enthusiastic but dressed wrong for this office, her clothes too cheap, cheery, too brash. As Ariel watched and listened to the others, however, especially as they related to this girl, she realized she might have found her ally. The others seemed to view the girl in the same way family members accepted a new puppy, as awful as that sounded. That’s what this girl was – the office puppy. Bouncy, happy and eager to please. She was also nice and definitely friendly.
It was a good session, with some decent people in it. This group was more attentive than some of those in the last office had been and more dedicated to learning the software they had to know. Maybe someone had clued them in as to how important this was and how much of a pain in the neck it would be if they didn’t learn it.
They were so good she broke them for lunch ten minutes before noon, to give them time to order something to eat, decide where to go for lunch or catch up with their snail mail, e-mail or voice-mail.
“Hey, Ariel.”
Ariel turned.
The dark-haired girl peeked around the doorway, grinning.
She’d actually seemed to pay attention during the session, which was a nice change of pace. Many blew off their training sessions and didn’t really give it any attention. Two days after she left they’d call tech support to walk them through a simple procedure and claim she never trained them in it. Sign-in sheets covered some of that but she’d still get complaints. So this was more than she could have hoped for. It would make it so much easier.
Besides, she liked the girl.
Ariel had never had a problem making friends. She liked people in general and could usually make conversation with strangers easily but having the
“So,” she finished, “why don’t you introduce yourselves, tell me a little about what you do here at Marathon and a little about yourselves?”
Their answers would tell her what to train and where to focus it.
Looking at each person as they spoke, she tucked the pertinent information into the back of her mind.
The receptionist, Claudia, was in this group, so she’d need to review the section about calling up the files and finding where she’d need to direct a call to the right person. Others she listened to, knowing she’d be lucky to remember their names before the last one gave his but she made certain she looked interested. As she listened, she assessed the group, trying to gauge the dynamics – who might be an ally, and who might become an enemy. She knew she had to step carefully, as if she walked through an imaginary minefield. Someone in this office considered themself the go-to person on the software system Marathon already had. Whoever that was needed to be converted from enemy to friend or half of what she taught would be undone by backbiting and nay-saying.
She also had to find an ally, someone to guide her through the intricate interrelationships that dominated all offices. Who to watch out for and who to kowtow to. Who was the dragon at the gate, the person whose self-appointed job was to make things difficult? She also had to be careful who she picked as an ally. If she picked the wrong person, she was sunk again.
As much as she disliked it, it was essential. Every office was like high school in a way, with its cliques, its losers and renegades. If her ally was one of the losers or the renegades, she’d be relegated to whatever status they had in the corporate pecking order. Some renegades were respected, some weren’t. A loser or geek, no matter how nice, would take her to the bottom with them. The same was true of the cliques. Pick the wrong clique and the other cliques got their collective noses out of joint. What she needed was the one or two people who were tolerated by everyone.
There was one girl who caught her eye.
Normally, Ariel might have passed her over.
Big and big boned, with dark hair and eyes, the girl was chipper and enthusiastic but dressed wrong for this office, her clothes too cheap, cheery, too brash. As Ariel watched and listened to the others, however, especially as they related to this girl, she realized she might have found her ally. The others seemed to view the girl in the same way family members accepted a new puppy, as awful as that sounded. That’s what this girl was – the office puppy. Bouncy, happy and eager to please. She was also nice and definitely friendly.
It was a good session, with some decent people in it. This group was more attentive than some of those in the last office had been and more dedicated to learning the software they had to know. Maybe someone had clued them in as to how important this was and how much of a pain in the neck it would be if they didn’t learn it.
They were so good she broke them for lunch ten minutes before noon, to give them time to order something to eat, decide where to go for lunch or catch up with their snail mail, e-mail or voice-mail.
“Hey, Ariel.”
Ariel turned.
The dark-haired girl peeked around the doorway, grinning.
She’d actually seemed to pay attention during the session, which was a nice change of pace. Many blew off their training sessions and didn’t really give it any attention. Two days after she left they’d call tech support to walk them through a simple procedure and claim she never trained them in it. Sign-in sheets covered some of that but she’d still get complaints. So this was more than she could have hoped for. It would make it so much easier.
Besides, she liked the girl.
Ariel had never had a problem making friends. She liked people in general and could usually make conversation with strangers easily but having the
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