Sunday, October 15, 2006

The Circle of Life (Work Life That Is...)

In a strange coincidence, I saw several old bosses from my first job at the mouse eared company this week. On Thursday night, I ran into my first boss at the Century City mall as she was leaving the Container Store grand opening party while my curious Spelling Bee friend and I were trying to crash it. We didn't get in but we did get a nice giveaway gift and I did get to catch up with my old boss.

I temped for her right out of college and she was kind enough to eventually hire me on permanently. Being one of the few Asians at the company at that time, we bonded on a certain level and I considered her a friend though she was eleven years older and newly married. By the time the tumultuous project ended and we had gone through 3 years together, we needed a break and I realized there was too much of a generational and cultural gap between us to remain close friends. We both stopped trying though there weren't any hard feelings between us and I still inquired about her life through mutual friends.

To see her again after a couple of years, though she's left the business and I've done well career-wise, still brought me back to the 22 year old kid I was when I started working for her. I almost felt silly and a fraud telling her my title now. At the same time, it was refreshing to realize how far I had come and that she was genuinely happy for me.

On another note, I attended a baby shower for another old boss from that first project this weekend and again saw two old supervisors from that first job. They were both very nice but still had an unaffected air toward me just like when I was that 22 year old assistant running around trying to please. Luckily, I met a lot of other nice women there and even one girl who worked for all the same bosses after me. I'm going to try to hire her to work with me.

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