Entering the workforce as a teen or early-twenty-something-year-old is a disillusioning experience. Fresh out of whatever school you just graduated from (or whatever stage in life you're coming from) and eager to take on your working life, you quickly find that the next 39 years of your life aren't going to be quite what you expected.
Managers have their ears turned off to any good ideas that don't directly make their own tasks any simpler, even if they're in the best interest of the company and the greater good. (The greater good.) Coworkers who are as old as the furniture in the place gatekeep every little facet of the job to belittle you and keep you in your place. Simultaneously, others still seem not to do any work at all, yet seem disgruntled about the fact that they've never been promoted; they, too, view your enthusiasm as a threat and actively mock you for it.
It's not all bad; you'll meet some interesting people, and there will be mentors and seasoned colleagues who teach you invaluable lessons about work and life. Some of them might teach you these lessons inadvertently, like, for example, Dave here, who inadvertently taught this young worker a lesson about proving her worth. Don't be like Dave.
The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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