A Young Man Performs Office Tasks

I’ve described my previous work experiences from a kid’s perspective, even though most of these work experiences took place in my teen or young adult years. I used the term kid because that’s what I was like during those experiences, even if my age was not that of a kid. I suppose age is all relative, and when you’re 16 or 20 or 22, you don’t realize quite how young and inexperienced you are and how little you know about the world.

I write this from the perspective of a young man fulfilling the expectations of working in an office. These jobs were short-term, summer work or during the end of college.

The first office job I had was with a relatively well-known documentary filmmaker. My father had been in a couple of his films, so he agreed to pay me five hundred bucks for a summer’s work. The first part of the summer was quite a lot of fun. He was in the process of finishing a series of films for a major broadcaster that had to do with politics. I essentially served as a production assistant on many of the shoots. There’s nothing glamorous about being a production assistant. At the same time, you get to see the behind-the-scenes work that makes filmmaking interesting. Further, I got to meet some interesting political figures.

After the completion of the film, however, the work fizzled. There was more time in the office and less time supporting production. I worked with a couple of graduate students, albeit on separate issues. We were story developers, and no one took my ideas seriously. I don’t know whether this was because my presence wasn’t taken seriously or my ideas were terrible. No one gave me feedback.

Because I was the youngest, other people in the office asked me to do tasks for them. Fine, for the most part, I did them. But one particularly humiliating experience occurred because I didn’t know how to shrink a page on a copy machine. I’d honestly never used a copy machine before. But this inability to perform this task resulted in severe ragging, bordering on unprofessionalism. It wasn’t really all in good fun. After that, I recall having much less respect for other people in the office because they treated me with disdain for not knowing how to reduce the size of something on a copy machine, as though this had something to do with intelligence or ability.

In addition, my space was in a closet. I had no access to sunlight and no computer. Of course, it was 1996, and the internet was still in its infancy. But still, I had to write everything by hand. Needless to say, after that, I had no interest in returning. It was a one-and-done job that led to no future offers or connections of consequence.

This wasn’t the worst work experience I had, but it was one of those places where it was clear that no one cared about me or my development. I was a token who’d gotten the job because of a connection. Sure, that was true. But I wasn’t without any ability. I was there to learn. I wanted someone to take me under their wing to tell me or show me everything there was to know about documentary production. But that never happened. It wasn’t just part of the workplace culture. Or rather, I was deemed unimportant enough not to provide such guidance.

Addendum: In the middle of writing this, I discovered a goodbye card from everyone at this company at the end of my time there. There were, in fact, quite several friendly and even hopeful messages in there. Perhaps my memory of this time isn’t perfect. Maybe I’m focusing too much on the bad experiences that stuck with me and ignored what went well. Perhaps that’s another lesson to take forward: look at the positive and the negative in every job situation and take what you can to help your future self work better.

My second office job was much different. I worked at a non-profit organization, helping to organize an event. I was only there for about a month during the summer of 1997. But the workplace environment was pleasant, the people were friendly, and the work was meaningful enough to remove the boredom of sitting in front of a computer.

I ran a lot of errands, I recall. I also did some organizing of a database on a computer. I was there for eight hours a day. But it didn’t seem so onerous because I was there for only a month. I wish I could recall more about that brief time besides being pleasant. But it left a minimal impression on me. Or rather, it left the impression that non-profit work, even in an office, could be more meaningful. This was a small lesson that would later impact my work choices.

My third and final office job during this college period was on my college campus. I wish I could recall the department or the name of my supervisor, but I simply can’t. I wouldn’t say I hated the job with a passion. It was the most boring office job I’ve ever had. I don’t mean to suggest I didn’t have work. I did have work. Lots of it. All of it was insufferably boring. And again, I wish I could articulate the precise tasks I had to do, but I can’t remember.

I remember that my supervisor eventually came to believe that I wasn’t doing as well as I could have been. Whatever that meant. I’m not sure that we had a specific discussion. There was nothing complicated about any of the tasks. For me, it was simply a matter of being unable to concentrate on the functions sufficiently and, therefore, not doing things quickly enough for her liking. Fair enough. I stayed on longer, but then, as it was my senior year, I realized that I had other things to do with my free afternoons and therefore quit the job.

This job, in particular, made me realize how excruciatingly tedious many office tasks are and how little supervisors may care about stimulating their employees. In her defense, my supervisor didn’t have me there as a learning experience. I wasn’t a lab assistant, and my work wasn’t about furthering my education. She just needed simple administrative tasks done. And I was too slow for her liking. I fully understand why she didn’t like the way I worked. But my goodness, it was boring. The never-ending inbox made me feel like I had never accomplished anything. And my mind began to drift. I was a drone who had no interest in being a drone and was only there to make a bit of money.

I don’t want to suggest that these three experiences entirely shaped my vision of office work. But they didn’t make me believe I would enjoy office work. Instead, they offered a glimpse into the boredom and feelings of uselessness that I would often feel in the future.

Looking at these, I may have always been pessimistic about office work. Even in good moments, I’ve mainly focused on the bad. But I think that’s because the bad weighs so heavily and has a much more significant impact than the good.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. More on my immediate post-college work next week.