Something Corporate

As we grow up, we all go through trials and experience events that act as markers of our age. They are the significant events that come with moving to the next stage of our lives—our first R-rated movie, our driver’s license, graduation, first time at the casino, first alcoholic beverage and college diploma. Between each one, we mature and prepare to handle the responsibilities and reap the rewards of the next marker.

This past year I have made great strides in my growth from a kid to a young adult and have had the good fortunate to reach several milestones. I reached the magical age of 18 last June, which unlocked many privileges. I haven’t had much opportunity to take advantage of these privileges, however, as few of my friends are as old as I am.

More significant than my 18th birthday, however, was my introduction to the working world. I had held several jobs as a tutor, lawn care specialist (neighborhood lawn-mower) and baseball field preparer before this year but nothing that was very official.

That changed last spring when I landed my first official job working in the guest services department at Target Field over the summer. The entire summer was filled with fun, and it will be a time that I will always look back on fondly.

The most significant parts of the job, however, were not the paychecks, long hours or the team on the field, but the corporate experiences that I had.

The process of applying featured my first job interview, which had me more nervous than I had ever been, my first rejection letter and—in a surprising turn of events—my first official hiring. I had never been more excited to commit myself to so much work.

Before the season, I had my first corporate training sessions. They were at times boring, but for the most part a new and exciting experience. During the summer months, I had to fill out my first tax form, got my first work-related e-mail and participated in my first company softball game.

In December I had my first holiday party at Target Field. I enjoyed thinking of it as my first business party and had a good time listening to Ron Gardenhire and other Twins representatives speak and share their appreciation for my coworkers and my work.

Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with my Patch editor for this column, which started me reminiscing about the business-related experiences that I’ve experienced recently. As with the holiday party, I enjoyed viewing it as another milestone—my first business lunch—and it got me excited to start a career and be able to have business lunches more often.

As I slowly begin to get accustomed to the adult world, I become more and more eager to experience more business-related events and learn more about how to carry myself while at work functions. I am excited to see tangible progress in my life that is not connected with school.

As I talked about in last week’s column, one of my biggest frustrations is feeling as if I am not making any progress in school now that I’ve been accepted to colleges. Having a sense of growing up outside of school is a nice substitute to the stagnancy of school and is one of the biggest joys in my life at the moment. Each week I take great pride in my column and, with my first training session for Target Field coming up this week, I am excited to be able to get back to working with a great company, surrounded by fellow Twins fans.

Conversely, it becomes more and more frustrating to have my elders treat me like a child. This past week my parents had a conversation with me regarding the type of media that they want me to see or hear while I’m still living with them. It was a good conversation, but at the same time it was frustrating to have someone tell me that I’m too young or immature to handle the things that our world offers.

It is the same in school when teachers say that I cannot go to the restroom during class or tell me that their method of taking notes or doing homework is better than mine. As a young adult, I become frustrated when I am not given the ability to make basic decisions like whether I can risk missing 3 or 4 minutes of class to use the restroom or whether I can concentrate on my work better at home than at school.

It is especially infuriating to be told to act like I’m a senior and behave—and then be told that I am not old enough to make decisions that will serve me best. It is an annoying double standard that I hope will begin to lessen as I reach more milestones.

My hope is that at the end of the year, when I reach my next milestone and graduate, I will get “promoted” from inexperienced high school student to mature young adult.