Work Experience, three weeks of pain and suffering, which turned me from a school boy into a grown man, was it for good or just an ordeal that never should have taken place? You decide...

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Work Experience, three weeks of pain and suffering, which turned me from a school boy into a grown man, was it for good or just an ordeal that never should have taken place? You decide…

My torment began early Wednesday morning my daily schedule involved meeting my supervisor. This not only petrified me but also my work colleagues. For the supervisor was no mere man. He was a huge sack of revolting comments. He was a cold, harsh man who held no compassion for his workers and besides all that he absolutely loathed me. For reasons unknown to me, since day one, the supervisor had made me the subject of all his jokes, his multitude of insults always seem to fall upon me.

Walking down the dark pathways, climbing the stairs till I reached the very top of the building, my heart seemed to drop an inch with every step. I dreaded the encounter but it was unavoidable. I turned the corner ready and willing to confront my fate.

Instantly I noticed the first of many different strange occurrences. I entered the room and the whiff of cheap perfume hit my nostrils. The room was a small dark area but sparse inhuman furniture made it look larger. The room’s personality matched that of its occupant. It was cold, grey, dull and uninviting. Speaking of the occupant he was sat in the middle of the room, in front of the desk. He was waiting for me to take my seat. I did just that.

It wasn’t long before the shrill voice the supervisor spoke in began to speak. I was expecting a lecture on my late arrival but I didn’t receive that, instead I heard the supervisor utter words that I’d never believe a creature of his posture would ever say.

The supervisor rummaged in a drawer behind him and pulled out three ties. He turned and asked me “Which do you think suits me?”

I was shocked, I stuttered. Then I said one of the stupidest things I could ever have said. “The Red One, Sir!” I had barely spoken before I recognised my mistake. Amongst the three ties laid out on the table not a speckle of red could be seen. My face began to glow the same red I wished would magically appear on one of the ties laid out in front of me.

“Red One… Did you say red one?” the supervisor muttered, I could sense he did not want me to answer the question and more so out of fear than desire, I decided to keep my mouth firmly shut. The supervisor had stretched the ‘R’s’ in the sentence. He swivelled in his chair and pulled out the entire drawer out of the desk. This was the drawer from which he had laid out three utterly disgusting designs of formal wear I had ever seen and quite possibly would ever see in my life. The supervisor once again picked out three from the drawer and flung them in my direction. Having played for my local cricket team, I was in a great position to catch the supervisor’s wild flings. My supervisor was clearly not the next “Nasser Hussein”.

“Well what are you waiting for? Choose one!” … The supervisor impatiently muttered. I looked upon his desk and my eyes settled on a plastic cup. I wondered what my sentence would be for attempting to murder someone with a plastic cup. But time was running out and this obscene man with no regards for personal hygiene was awaiting my reply. Out of instinct I made yet another stupid mistake. It was than that I took the time to curse the genes which made me who I was and mentally smacked myself on the head. But thankfully the tie I had chosen seemed to appeal to the unfashionable tastes of my supervisor; all in all I had escaped the encounter unscathed, something that I truly am grateful for. To save me from further moments of shame, my guardian angel rang the supervisor’s telephone, ironically my guardian angel was also the reason why I ended up in a hospital ward with three tubes coming out of my one nostril, but then again that’s life, you have to take the good with the bad.

The supervisor amazed me ever so slightly more, he had of course answered the phone with his trademark frown, but that frown soon melted as he became aware who the caller was. I began to shrink in my chair. For a split second moment of madness, I began to wonder whether I was born unlucky, then I realized in my life there are no moments of madness! I must stop at this point and address all my devoted readers who are probably thinking I’m some paranoid pessimist. “Pessimist and paranoid I ain’t folks”, after all it’s not you who was born on Friday the 13th of December and it wasn’t you wishing God has bestowed the powers of invisibility upon you as a special gift for having to endure Mike McGraw, supervisor from hell… I mean that literally, I really do!

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It seemed the supervisor had forgotten all about me, killing the supervisor with a cup didn’t seem like that bad an idea after all. Whilst the supervisor droned on to whoever was on the other end of a line, I amused myself with different ways of terminating him. But by the time my thoughts had drifted to putting a baked potato in his car exhaust and watching him crawl out of the car with a blackened face, his attention was unleashed upon me like a rabid dog. I made a mental note to remind myself that the supervisor was ...

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