When doors were finally opened and we entered SecC (Sex-ta-C? I am sorry, President Alex, I am sorry!), with our brand new name-cards, we, simply, didn’t know.
We didn’t know many people, we didn’t know much about cases, we didn’t know the feeling of cold calls… we didn’t know a thing.
Then, we started learning.
Our names, in the first place: Melissa, the ‘most favorite name’ by our professors, Arjun (please hold your breath while you DO NOT pronounce the J), Eli (who wouldn’t think of his sister Lilly?), Ivan (read like Ivanhoe…), Jaime (real name of Hendrix), Barb (some people don’t yet know where she sits…) and Xi, Feng, Ningfeng, Qiongwei, Li Jun… well, these proved too difficult even for SecC girls and C-men, and thus became Steve, Nancy, Jason, Allen and Julia. Linlin made China a much easier matter.
We kept on learning, day after day. From work experience: Thomas dispensed wisdom matured while at the Bain Modeling Agency, cinema stars of the caliber of Noah and Elizabeth complemented the expertise of our Hasty-Matthew, we enjoyed great live performances from Gambler-Monique, supermodel guitarist Chris played for our two great dancers, Kelly and like, you know, Cindy.
We learned under every aspect. Geography: the capital of coffee? Kent knows (yeah, Seattle). The best marathon? Opposing views: Oli could not live without watching London on TV, Sara prefers running the streets of Boston, as Casey does when he’s not busy with his Big Huge Oversized Bertha. Kentucky? There’s not much Jason would show to us. Switzerland and the EU? No way, cows are too important! (Spencer) Germany? According to Randy, with a few bananas Frank should be fine. France? Nicolas’ grandpa is having fun on its southern beaches. Talking about culture? We have a PhD, people (Shasa). Other Sections had guests, we had case protagonists embedded in the section! What do you think of ARod? Come and ask, please.
We learned a lot, but some concepts were more difficult to retain than others: how do you make sure you know which of the 6 Davids is speaking? Ask Jose. Which one? ‘Perhaps’ Renzo has an answer.
We organized events: Ziad gained popularity even beyond US borders (Jerry forgot his fleece over there…), Marin taught us how to pole-dance, Mark emptied 26 Twinkies’ packets in 10 minutes, Julia and Tatiana poured a little vodka in our glasses, Adam preferred to drink from somewhere else, and Quyen took pictures of memorable sport moments…
We had it all in one room: Brian took care of our safety, Susan and Staci of our look, Julie and Natasja of our dinners, Aleem of our wifebeaters, Warren of our summer jobs, Dan of our votes (I mean, we did have some polls to fill out!), Demetri of our projector, Herve of our souls. While we lost Lynette in her wine, Rob found enough time to burp over Joint Juice.
Not everybody was well integrated, though: Zac, for instance, always had to leave 25 minutes after the exam had started, and Anne followed soon after.
We asked ourselves challenging questions: were we really more than just money and good looks? Paul thought so, but probably pecuniary David (which one which one?), tech-rep Neeraj and off-my-glasses Betsy would not agree. Yu-Jin would take the money and run, for sure.
Have I forgotten somebody? I don’t think so.
David (which one which one?) and Kathy are in the article, but I guess they are hidden behind one of the pictures. Sherry? She’s heading toward Florida. Jessica? Getting ready for her wedding. Captain Alex? Organizing our team for next year soccer victory. Daisuke and Fabio? Already in Tokyo organizing your trip. Aamir? Trimming his goatee. Mike? Well, you know Miki, don’t you? He keeps his dad busy! Ellen? We need to be Alumni to be of interest to her! Ian? Growing his mullet. John? Playing poker. Russell? Preparing for his next passed on cold call. Bernardett? Preparing ‘a passage to India’. See? Talking to Leon. And Ricardo? Talking to Luis…
Who? Meghna? She simply couldn’t make it on time, today…
I really hope Jay and Tim will appreciate this article.
But we are SecC: as we learned long ago (Raghdaa c 2003), in the end, it doesn’t make sense.
We didn’t know.
