The Second First Day

I remember my first day as a professional geologist. Monday, August 21st, 1980. I had finished school in May with a bachelor's degree, and worked the summer installing vinyl siding, which I'd had experience with before. In mid-summer I got word of an opening at an engineering firm in Rochester, where the boyfriend of a classmate at Geneseo with was quitting, because they were headed off to Texas for grad school. I sent my resume, got an interview, and sealed the deal.

I'd had a lot of jobs up to that point. My first was at the Rochester public market when I was about 14. Then it was the Bernunzio/Randisi family-owned RanCora Bakery, around the corner from the market (they later moved it to Webster). Later it was a painting business with buddy Rick, painting the new homes his dad built. My sister got me a job at the old Village Grill at the Four Corners in Penfield, as a busboy. I stuck around there for a while and became a lunch cook, then on to dinners. I did some carpentry, and more siding of apartment buildings. I did a stint at a plastics injection business, on the night shift while I was going to MCC. I made all kinds of wierd plastic parts for Xerox copiers. So I'd had a few "first days" at work before.

But this was going to be different. This was a career gig. I now had a career, not just a job. This elevated everything. I had to act different, think different. And look different. I knew I'd be doing a lot of field work, but there would be office time, too. I needed some new clothes. I bought some some new khakis, and a shirt or two. I remember looking in the mirror wondering if I really looked the part. I also remember thinking, no.

So I reported for duty on day one. Dressed in my new duds, my introduction to the consulting engineering business was painting the walls in some new office space. I got paint on my khakis.

Twenty eight years later, still at the same company I was part of a reduction in force, a downsizing, an adjustment, a lay-off. I got fired.

Fast-forward four months. I got hired by another engineering firm. Similar but different. A smaller company than my previous employer, but almost four times as many people in the building as I was used to in our branch office. My first day was filled with introductions - I night have met forty people. CEO, President, Department Heads, HR and Admin people, and most of the people in the environmental department that I'd be part of. I told someone that even though I had all this gray hair, it was only my second first day at work ever, at least as a professional.

There happened to be that day a company-wide meeting at lunchtime, with over a hundred people in attendance. There were several presentations by group leaders, and the HR people talked about all of the new and recent hires, including me. One of the presenters even referred to me as "an expert in natural gas exploration," which I am not by any stretch of the imagination. Somehow in going from my resume to that powerpoint presentation, my experience morphed into something that sounded waaay too important. I sat there thinking "what did I get myself into? Isn't there just a room somewhere that needs painting??"

I wiped my sweaty hands on my new khakis.