Chapter II
It has been sometime during October 2000, and it has been her first working day ever! She laid her hand on her first job! What a feeling!
She was a fresh graduate; actually she has only graduated three months ago, the top of her class, a brilliant accountant.
It has always been such a surprise for people when they knew she studied Accounting! What would a girl do as an accountant?! It has always been for them such a masculine field and that always bothered Leila! She loved numbers! Is it that strange for someone to love numbers? Even for a girl! So what? She loved equations! She loved auditing! She loved budgets! She loved financial analysis! She loved all that! And she took it as a career.
For someone with her skills and talents, it hasn’t been such a hard thing to find a job. She was smart, confident, and eager to learn. You could sense professionalism in her attitude, she was simply a catch. A piece of clay waiting to be shaped! Raw material ready to be manufactured!
Waiting at the reception, she looked around her. The light blue room; the walls, the floor, even the couches, they were all in light blue. “They’ve always said light blue is such a soothing color, it gives you peace and hope, but I guess in certain situations light blue is not good enough!!” she thought. “am I too early, but she was the one who told me to be here at 8am sharp, maybe she got busy, what if they changed their minds! What if they suddenly recognized that they don’t need me anymore!” she felt a drop in her heart. “Come on Leila, it is not that bad! The receptionist already informed her, she must have got a little busy that’s why!” she thought, trying to push herself to relax..
It was around 8:30am when the HR officer showed up extremely apologetic for the delay.
After a little chat, she took her into an introductory tour around the company. Leila could definitely feel the butterflies in her stomach. She was now an adult, a responsible one who joined the rest of the world in their battle for achievement! The idea of change has always frightened her but it didn’t matter anymore; she was on the right track, building her professional career and a little bit of anxiety wouldn’t stop her.
She walked through the corridors and into the offices, lots of faces and lots of designations; she managed to memories some though. Now they reached to the Accounts Department, her final destination, and the butterflies wouldn’t stop now, would they!
She has met the Head of Department previously, Mr. Ali an elderly man with such an aura, a decent gentleman rapped in wisdom and solemnity. But what about the rest of the team? Would they accept her? Would they consider her an intruder? Would she be the “newbie”? How would they treat her? “Well, everything is about to get revealed anyways! It is kinda too late for such questions, isn’t it Leila!” she thought.
At the door, Mr. Ali waited for them and from there he took the HR Officer’s job to introduce Leila to the rest of the team.
“So! Welcome on board & the best of all! Don’t forget us at the HR Department! We’re here to help ok!” said the HR Officer while heading it to the stairway.
“Thanks!” replied Leila while all the voices inside her head screamed “Wait! Don’t Go Now!”. After all Susan was the only familiar face around since they have met several times during the interviews.
Leading her through the way, Mr. Ali welcomed her into the department. It was such a huge area divided into 5 cubicles and one separate office. The big separate office was vacant along with one of the cubicles. The vacant cubicle was for her and the office for Mr. Ali she assumed. Taking another look around the room she also noticed that she was the only girl at the place! She was shy by nature; confident but still shy- of men. What a weird combination!
They were Adel- the nerd with the thick glasses and who was obviously more nervous than she was, Walid- the chubby dude with the messy desk, Omar- the well-dressed guy with the good manners and the Deputy Head of Department, and Sami- the guy who was busy on the phone (apparently with a female, a girlfriend maybe) and who waved her a hi from above his screen without even looking at her. Those were her colleagues, the faces and brains she’d spent 8 hours a day, 5 days a week with! “God be with me” she thought.
She was a fresh graduate; actually she has only graduated three months ago, the top of her class, a brilliant accountant.
It has always been such a surprise for people when they knew she studied Accounting! What would a girl do as an accountant?! It has always been for them such a masculine field and that always bothered Leila! She loved numbers! Is it that strange for someone to love numbers? Even for a girl! So what? She loved equations! She loved auditing! She loved budgets! She loved financial analysis! She loved all that! And she took it as a career.
For someone with her skills and talents, it hasn’t been such a hard thing to find a job. She was smart, confident, and eager to learn. You could sense professionalism in her attitude, she was simply a catch. A piece of clay waiting to be shaped! Raw material ready to be manufactured!
Waiting at the reception, she looked around her. The light blue room; the walls, the floor, even the couches, they were all in light blue. “They’ve always said light blue is such a soothing color, it gives you peace and hope, but I guess in certain situations light blue is not good enough!!” she thought. “am I too early, but she was the one who told me to be here at 8am sharp, maybe she got busy, what if they changed their minds! What if they suddenly recognized that they don’t need me anymore!” she felt a drop in her heart. “Come on Leila, it is not that bad! The receptionist already informed her, she must have got a little busy that’s why!” she thought, trying to push herself to relax..
It was around 8:30am when the HR officer showed up extremely apologetic for the delay.
After a little chat, she took her into an introductory tour around the company. Leila could definitely feel the butterflies in her stomach. She was now an adult, a responsible one who joined the rest of the world in their battle for achievement! The idea of change has always frightened her but it didn’t matter anymore; she was on the right track, building her professional career and a little bit of anxiety wouldn’t stop her.
She walked through the corridors and into the offices, lots of faces and lots of designations; she managed to memories some though. Now they reached to the Accounts Department, her final destination, and the butterflies wouldn’t stop now, would they!
She has met the Head of Department previously, Mr. Ali an elderly man with such an aura, a decent gentleman rapped in wisdom and solemnity. But what about the rest of the team? Would they accept her? Would they consider her an intruder? Would she be the “newbie”? How would they treat her? “Well, everything is about to get revealed anyways! It is kinda too late for such questions, isn’t it Leila!” she thought.
At the door, Mr. Ali waited for them and from there he took the HR Officer’s job to introduce Leila to the rest of the team.
“So! Welcome on board & the best of all! Don’t forget us at the HR Department! We’re here to help ok!” said the HR Officer while heading it to the stairway.
“Thanks!” replied Leila while all the voices inside her head screamed “Wait! Don’t Go Now!”. After all Susan was the only familiar face around since they have met several times during the interviews.
Leading her through the way, Mr. Ali welcomed her into the department. It was such a huge area divided into 5 cubicles and one separate office. The big separate office was vacant along with one of the cubicles. The vacant cubicle was for her and the office for Mr. Ali she assumed. Taking another look around the room she also noticed that she was the only girl at the place! She was shy by nature; confident but still shy- of men. What a weird combination!
They were Adel- the nerd with the thick glasses and who was obviously more nervous than she was, Walid- the chubby dude with the messy desk, Omar- the well-dressed guy with the good manners and the Deputy Head of Department, and Sami- the guy who was busy on the phone (apparently with a female, a girlfriend maybe) and who waved her a hi from above his screen without even looking at her. Those were her colleagues, the faces and brains she’d spent 8 hours a day, 5 days a week with! “God be with me” she thought.
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