Yes, yes, yes, we are indeed back. Same faces, a little tanner and thinner, and with “old” as the prefix to our section identifier instead of “new.” And for the Class of 2004, oddly enough, this period resembles that of a year ago, except that, “so what section are you in?” has been replaced by “so which classes are you taking?,” and “so where were you before b-school?” has transformed into “so where were you for the summer?” Most important, those shifty eyes are back.
You know those shifty eyes; in fact, you are guilty of them even now. Yeah, just then. Yeah you! There you are, sprawled out skimming your Harbus in Spangler lounge, looking up and around after each sentence to see who is watching you and are they worth going through the 10 second script. What’s with that, anyway? Can’t anyone in this joint hold eye contact for 10 seconds? Now I know what busty women must feel like when talking to men with them looking down all the time. And while the shifty eyes seem normal at HBS, I assure you that they are not, in fact, normal “out there.” And out there, you will also rarely execute one scripted conversation in infinite loop like you will here. YOU know the one…
A script for every conversation between ECs that will occur over the next two weeks:
EC2: Hey, er, EC1, how was your summer?
EC1: Great. How about you?
EC2: Yeah, good. Had a great summer.
EC1 (eyes beginning to shift): Umm… You did banking, right.
EC2 (looking anywhere but EC2):
Consulting.
EC1 (lying): Oh, that’s right. I remember now. With BCG wasn’t it?
EC2: (thinking about calling that girl from the ed school): Bain, Chicago. It was great. You?
EC1: (nodding to sectionmates in the vicinity): Banking. Solomon, New York. Great. Then Thailand.
EC2: (desperately hoping the 10 seconds is wrapping up): Great.
< Enter EC3 >
EC3: Hey guys, what’s up?
EC1: Consulting, Bain, Chicago, Burma, Great.
EC2: Banking, Solomon, NYC, Thailand, Great. You?
EC3: Some job, you don’t care, you’re not actually listening to me are you? Great.
EC1: Sounds awesome!
EC2: Yeah, great.
EC3: Later
EC2 (to EC1): What’s her name?
EC1: Beats me.
Yes, yes, to be back again. And if you are wondering, I too had a great summer. Ask me sometime and I’ll tell you about it while looking anywhere but at you.
