I’ve been at Worx for precisely 43 minutes and have been tasked with writing my first blog post. As a person who’s been employed at various restaurants for the past five years, this whole working-before-sunset thing is throwing me for a loop. But challenges are good and my brain needs a little stimulation so here I am – writing! Since this is my first day, I’m not sure how my experience at WORX will be. Everyone seems really nice – I’ve now received a grand total of two tours of the office (thanks Melinda!) Although, I should admit now that I’m so directionally challenged I’ll probably be using my GPS to navigate the place for the next two weeks. But I have made a mental note of the important things: coffee machine, water coolers, bathrooms.
As I drove here this morning, buzzing with first day jitters, I missed my Exit. On any other highway, missing an exit is inconvenient but fixable. But on 84 in Waterbury, it might cost you your life (maybe I’m being dramatic, but things flashed before my eyes). I cruised right past exit 23, almost blissfully, before realizing what I had done. The next five minutes were filled with stress sweat and angry swearing as I tried to reroute my GPS. This proved more difficult than normal because my GPS was under the impression that I hadn’t missed the exit but instead was off the highway, driving on the road running parallel to 84.
Turn right at the light, Siri politely prompted me. But I wasn’t near any traffic lights and if I were to turn right, I’d smash into a guardrail. I shook my head in anger. The cars around me were crawling at a snail’s pace. It was like no one cared that I had missed my exit and was now in the biggest rush of my entire life. I glanced at the clock, frantic. Being late on the first day was such a me thing to do. One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to stop being late (along with teach myself how to code and bake a pineapple upside down cake, but those unattainable goals are for another blog post).
And then my favorite sentence echoed through the car speakers: Rerouting to 18 Waterbury Road. Take exit 25a. Siri was coming through for me after all. God, I loved her, that smart little A.I. Suddenly Joaquin Phoenix’s love affair in Her made perfect sense. I understood how humans could fall in love with robots. Siri saved my life. She saved my internship. I should put her down as a reference. I checked my arrival time. Somehow, missing my exit had actually shaved off 4 minutes of traveling. I would arrive an embarrassing 12 minutes early. C’est la vie. So now, I’m here at WORX. I’m sitting at this cool desk, typing on a cool Dell computer. I’ve got a WORX branding email, too. Forty minutes ago – this desk didn’t even have a keyboard or a mouse. Now it has both. And a real live human. I’m Robin Morris. I’m a new intern and I’m hoping to learn a lot and avoid 84 at all costs. Thanks for reading.
