The Rite of Passage

He had spent four years
Earning his degree
And was ready
For a change.
The thought of not having
Any more exams
Or late night cram sessions
Excited him.
Frankly, he didn’t care
If he ever opened
Another book,
Certainly not a textbook.
He had pinched pennies
And scrimped on costs
In every conceivable way
Just to make it through,
And he was anxious
To get some real money
In his pocket for a change.
The new job gave him
The prospect of radically altering
His whole mode of existence.
That was intoxicating.
He couldn’t wait
To start spending the money.
The first day on the job
He realized he didn’t have a clue
What he was doing.
It took him half the day
To find the bathroom,
And he got lost
Wandering around the office
Three times.
He was introduced
To so many new people,
They all became a blur.
He quickly realized
His work wasn’t a bit like
The stuff he studied in school.
Not only did he
Not know what to do,
Or how to do it,
But he had no idea
What questions to ask
In order to find out,
Or who to ask.
Even the phone system
Confounded him.
He had no idea
What he should
Or shouldn’t know
And felt really stupid,
But he couldn’t admit that
To anyone but himself.
Like most new grads,
He decided to fake it
Until he made it.
In time,
The initially incomprehensible
Corporate procedures
Became routine,
And in very short order,
He was confidently
Strutting around the office
Like he owned the place.
In three months,
His salary, which had seemed
So incredibly huge
When he was a broke college grad,
Had become a mere pittance
Compared to what he thought
He was worth.
It would be a long time, if ever,
Before the company
Would agree with
His self-valuation.