Sit Up

I have the privilege of speaking at our new hire orientation every two weeks. I introduce myself, the creative department and talk about the importance of brand consistency both within and outside our four walls.

Not only do these new hires get to hear from me, they hear about benefits, perks, our charity causes, our parent company, they get a tour, they see demonstrations of our proprietary technology, they get to shop in the employee store, and they have safety training. A big, long day filled with everything to get someone started off on the right foot. I myself found the day fascinating when I was a new hire.

Now of all places to sit up and show interest, I would imagine new hire orientation is probably one of the most important.

Cut to two weeks ago. I am doing my section, which is all of 10 minutes. There is a young women a few rows up that is slouched so far down her seat that her head was resting on the back of the chair. Not only was she slouched to oblivion, her eyes were half mast. It is 10:15 in the morning.

Call me ADD but I get easily distracted when I am speaking to an audience. It comes from my teaching days when I literally would ban students from their phones and computers when I was lecturing. All eyes on me.

This young woman was killing me. It was one of those times when I was thinking about saying something when all of a sudden I realized I was saying something. "You may want to sit up," I tell her. "Huh?" she answers. "If you sit up, it will be easier to keep your eyes open," I say back. She seems confused when I finally say, a bit forcefully, "Sit up."

Folks! It is your first day. At a new company. You should be EXCITED. You should be oozing interest and passion from your pores. Sit up and pay attention. Sit up and participate. Sit up and be grateful that you were chosen over others to have a place in that orientation. You must remember you reflect outward how you feel and if you are feeling slouchy half-mast on your first day at a new job, man, things will only get worse every day forward.