It was the night before I started my job as an office worker. I was excited as well as nervous. Finally, after 15 gruelling years of studying, I was about to start my career.

I set my alarm at six in the morning, leaving myself three complete hours to get ready and have enough time to calm my nerves, after all it’s good to wake up early. I was still groggy when I woke up and slowly glanced at my clock it was eight fifty-five!

‘What!’ I was shocked and yelled as I jumped out of the bed. I should have been in the office by this time. I immediately got up, bolted to the washroom, got myself dressed and rushed outside. I walked or rather rushed to my car.

Oh, my God! I had forgotten my car keys inside in the rush. When finally I got myself organised, I raced to my office. On my way, I almost collided with another car. After a hectic 15 minutes of struggle, I finally reached my destination.

I rushed inside, not noticing the “Caution Wet Floor!” sign. As a result I fell face down with my documents all over the floor and myself completely dishevelled. What a disaster! I got up and gathered my documents and made my way to the reception where I asked for Mr Ahmed, my boss.

In the meantime, I took a quick glance at the clock. Whoops! Half an hour late, not quite the first impression I had been hoping for. Mr Ahmed came towards me and after a long lecture on punctuality, he led me to my cubicle where I was assigned a truckload of work.

I rushed inside, not noticing the “Caution Wet Floor!” sign. As a result I fell face down with my documents all over the floor and myself completely dishevelled. What a disaster!

Finally, after an eternity of reading mails and going through documents, it was time for tea break. I went to the cafeteria and took a cup of tea. I realised I had no money in the pocket as I left my wallet in the drawer of my table in the office. So I swirled to get it, and guess what? I collided with Mr Ahmed and all my tea fell on him!

Mr Ahmed’s face turned as red as a beetroot and it seemed as smoke was about to come out of his ears. I have no words to describe the wrath of Mr Ahmed, so I am fast-forwarding to the moment I was sent back to my cubicle. I didn’t dare to come out of it even at lunch time.

After a couple of peaceful hours, I got a chance to have a conversation with other employees, which was the only good thing happened on the day. Then I saw some papers and files, lying on top of a shelf, that seemed ragged, thus seemed unimportant to me, so I thought of cleaning the clutter off from my cubicle and threw it in the bin.

After a few minutes, I got a message from Mr Ahmed who wanted to see a Leichester File. I searched for it but couldn’t find. Just then, I realised I had thrown it in the bin. I had to empty out the bin and was on the way to deliver the stinking file to Mr Ahmed’s room when an idea struck me I sprayed cologne on the file. Mr Ahmed didn’t realise a thing.

But as soon as I stepped inside my cubicle, the phone on the table rang. On the line was Mr Ahmed who was infuriated that the print on the file was all smudged and he couldn’t make out a word. Of course, the cologne to blame for it!

Fortunately, Mr Ahmed had a meeting in five minutes and I was spared from facing his wrath. The office hours finally came to end and before anything else could have happened, I picked up my stuff and went home without wasting a second.

After an early dinner I immediately went to bed and fell asleep hoping that the next day would be a better one.

Published in Dawn, Young World August 19th, 2017